nRF5 action!

[NeverDie]

@scalz
I'm very interested too. It probably beats my bumbling attempts at making a Sam21DE18, and if it's already working well, what's not to like?

[Terrence]

@NeverDie I love the Feather boards. Currently working with the RFM69 feather. Build in battery connector/charger is very nice to have.

[scalz]

@NeverDie @Nca78 oki noted!
@Terrence yeah, agree too. i have assembled one for testing as it was new and not available. Unfortunately, regarding Mysensors use, there are no flash for ota (in case for future), no signing, no eeprom for routing table (atsam has no eeprom, only emulation if i remember), no sma connector ...

[NeverDie]

@Terrence said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@NeverDie I love the Feather boards. Currently working with the RFM69 feather. Build in battery connector/charger is very nice to have.

Good to hear! :) I ordered one today (after my posting above). There's a good chance I'll receive it on Sunday. I look forward to trying it out.

[Terrence]

@scalz >>Unfortunately, regarding Mysensors use, there are no flash for ota (in case for future), no signing, no eeprom for routing table in mysensors, no sma connector ...

Well so one of you brilliant guys will come up with a FeatherWing that will add all of that functionality right? :thumbsup:

[scalz]

@Terrence and no usb goodies for protection. woops can't be added on an external board :) I'm kidding, well, i let others make this featherwing, enough busy on my side ;)

[Terrence]

@scalz Are you still working on that great looking PIR board?

[scalz]

@Terrence that's a bit OT ;) yep among others things, and i'm quickly distracted so i need to stay focused :)

[Terrence]

@scalz I think there is HUGE interest in a good working PIR solution. That gets my vote.:mag_right:

[NeverDie]

@Terrence said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@NeverDie I love the Feather boards. Currently working with the RFM69 feather. Build in battery connector/charger is very nice to have.

Have you found a cheaper source than Amazon for buying them?

[Terrence]

@NeverDie No, Adafruit is the maker/seller and before just recently you had to buy them from them and pay the shipping and slow order fill process.

I have Amazon Prime, so shipping is "free" and they show up in 2 days.

I have never seen them for lower than MSRP.

[Nca78]

Just discovered this, bought with no wifi (no need for it) and usb adapter. It's using a SAMD21E17 (so 16k/128k) but should be enough for playing a bit and I love the stackable usb adapter that you need to buy only once for all your boards.
http://www.wino-board.com/store/en/basic-modules/16-winoboard.html

[NeverDie]

What do you guys think of the NRF51822?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NRF51822-2-4G-Wireless-Module-Wireless-Communication-Module-Bluetooth-module-zigbee-module-DMX512/32726191346.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.16.u9URcX&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10136_10137_10060_10155_10062_437_10154_10056_10055_10054_10059_303_100031_10099_10103_10102_10096_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_5030014_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10178_10110_519_10111_10112_10113_10114_10182_10078_10079_10073_10123_10120_10189_142,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_4&btsid=bdb83fff-e500-45cf-becd-3dfdfd896dad&algo_expid=5ab8c3b2-cd02-4c0a-8ea8-941792ebfedc-2&algo_pvid=5ab8c3b2-cd02-4c0a-8ea8-941792ebfedc
The dev boards are really cheap, and they come with a capable mcu.

[NeverDie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCmqN2i_Xo

[NeverDie]

What I find even more interesting than that, though, is "extended range" Bluetooth, which might very well be the all-in-one tiny module that does it all: http://www.cypress.com/blog/psoc-creator-news-and-information/design-long-range-bluetooth-applications-new-ez-ble-psoc-xtxr
No need to add an NRF24L01 or an RFM69 module, because for home automation, the extended range version of bluetooth should have adequate range already. And it has a capable ARM MCU built in.

[scalz]

@NeverDie radio mcus are nice ;)

[Terrence]

@NeverDie I love the new 51840 (the one that does the long distance, the 832 is the High throughput chip) Please work with the 840.

I have the nRF52840 Preview DK, but have not fired it up yet. Still trying to understand how to code Bluetooth.
http://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52840-Preview-DK.

SiLabs has an interesting Gecko BT5 chip as well.
http://www.silabs.com/products/wireless/bluetooth/blue-gecko-bluetooth-smart-socs

[NeverDie]

1 megabyte of flash and 256K of RAM! And long range too! Wow, that NRF52840 takes things to a whole new level. When will we be seeing regular modules with it beyond just the developer kits?

Also, the inevitable question: is it programmable through the Arduino IDE? I sure hope the answer is yes.

[scalz]

840 is pretty new, and if i'm not wrong, final version is planned in few month for end of year (it's a bga package, and preview version), there are a very few modules actually, but expensive to order, for a beta though. So if there is a support for it in Arduino, it could be not complete yet. i'll tell you more when i'll get mine :)

[NeverDie]

OK, so if we wanted to make something today (or, at least before the end of the year), what module should we use now such that the nRF52840 will be an easy upgrade when it arrives later and sells for (hopefully) cheap on Aliexpress? Would it be the nRF51422 (which I don't believe does long range)? In fact, I'm not sure whether Nordic has anything long range before this nRF52840. That's kinda why I was looking at the cypress or silicon labs product lines, not knowing that Nordic had something in the wings already.

When it does become available, it looks as though it will be around $7 for quantity 1: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Nordic-Semiconductor/nRF52840-QIAA-R7/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMve4%2FbfQkoj%252bGh7uW9JJ8VYnj7XFjezTdQ%3D

Actually, it says 16 week lead time, so that's more or less consistent with what Scalz said.