How to configure SPI pins on nRF54L15

[Thomas Alex]

Hello,

I'm trying to connect an SPI device on the nRF54L15-DK kit. The Nordic support page says it needs to be configured using the board configurator, as seen in the screenshot below

However, in the board configurator, I see no such option (its up to date as well)

Not sure if I'm missing something, but any assistance would be of great help. 

Side note: The previous nRF54DK boards required soldering solder bridges and cutting a track to get SPI working. I was glad that the new ones didn't require that, only to come across this conundrum

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

The board configurator app has not been updated yet to support rerouting of the SPI lines, but it is possible to apply this configuration using nrfutil for now. The nrfutil command is:

nrfutil device x-execute-batch --traits boardController --batch-path nrf54l15dk_reroute_spi_flash_pins.json

And the json (I tried to match it to the configuration from your screenshot):

Fullscreen nrf54l15dk_reroute_spi_flash_pins.json Download

{
    "operations": [
        {
            "operation":{
                "type": "smp",
                "operation":2,
                "group_id":64,
                "command_id":0,
                "sequence_number":0,
                "data": [[6, true, 9, true, 20, false, 22, true, 23, false, 42, true, 45, true, 47, false],[1,1800]]
            },
            "operationId":"1"
        }
    ]
}

This sets pin 47 high which is the control signal for the SPI flash lines

Best regards,

Vidar

Update:

This configuration is now supported in the app as well:

[Thomas Alex]

Thank you. Seems to work! Have to add --batch-path flag before pointing the json file, though

I'm having another issue with the data coming through the SPI. It doesnt seem to work on the 4 nRF54 boards I have, but works on the 5th one. But anyway, thanks for the command

[Vidar Berg]

Thanks for confirming that it worked, and sorry for missing the --batch-path argument. I will edit my first post to correct this. 

Thomas Alex said:

I'm having another issue with the data coming through the SPI. It doesnt seem to work on the 4 nRF54 boards I have, but works on the 5th one. But anyway, thanks for the command

Could it be related to the VDD configuration? Is the SPI device supplied by the same VDD as the nRF, and does it support running at 1.8v? This nrfutil command will overwrite any configurations that you have previously set in the board configurator app. 

[Thomas Alex]

Nope, my SPI device works with 1.8V. In fact, I connect VDDIO from nRF54 to the VIO pin on my SPI device. I can maybe put up the pin numbers I'm using here in case anything obvious jumps out to you

SCLK -> Port2 pin 1
MOSI -> Port2 pin 2
MISO -> Port2 pin 4
CS1 -> Port2 pin 10
CS2 -> Port2 pin 5
INT1_1 -> Port1 pin 8
INT1_2 -> Port1 pin 9

VDD -> 5V

VIO -> VDDIO (1.8V)
GND -> GND

[Vidar Berg]

Where is the 5V being supplied? This is well above the maximum voltage the chip is rated for.

[Thomas Alex]

5V is supplied from the nRF board itself (P5V0 - used to be VBUS)
The 5V is going to the peripheral device and regulated down to 1.8V. 

SPI works on 1.8V as I provide VIO to VDDIO (which is 1.8V)

[Vidar Berg]

I see, thanks for confirming. If you are using SPIM instance 20 or 21 , please also check if you get the same result in debug interface mode or if you enable constant latency: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf54L15/page/chapters/pin.html#d380e188