Tag-Connect TC2030 cable: 6 pins vs. 10

[Mark W. Schumann]

Hi everyone.

I'm trying to program a NRF51822 Beacon using the nRF DK board. Of course I looked around here for advice on what type of connector to obtain.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

So I went and got a TC2030 cable from Tag-Connect and it doesn't seem to match the Debug output pins on the DK board. The TC2030 has six pins while the board has ten pins that are rather close together.

This is a photo of the Debug Output connector on the DK.

This is the corresponding connector on the TC2030 cable. Whoops.

Upon reviewing the Tag-Connect catalog again I noticed that there is a different series of board called the TC2050 which seems to have a ten-pin connector. Is that the correct cable? Or am I not understanding how to use the TC2030?

Thank you.

[RK]

Well whether you want 6 or 10 pins is all dependent on the connection pads you have on the Beacon board, is it 6 pins or 10 pins? I think it's 6 right, so you need one of the TC2030s. It's the other end that matter, the debug out on the DK board is the standard connector ARM Cortex uses, a 10 pin FTSH 105. So you want a cable which goes from the 6 pin bed of nails to a 10 pin FTSH-105 .. which is this one www.tag-connect.com/TC2030-CTX.

Looks like you bought the IDC-NL version which is for Atmel programmers.

I wish there was a bed of nails solution which was more cost effective than Tag Connect however I'm eventually going to have to give up and just pay them for one because soldering headers takes too much board space and isn't cheap.

[Mark W. Schumann]

The CTX! That's what I need! Okay. Thank you!

Also, just to make sure: the note on Tag Connect about the Amtel-ICE reversed pins problem doesn't apply to the DK, correct?

[RK]

Indeed - you want the normal connection because Nordic wires them up the right way around. :) You can look at the pinout on the cable data sheet and Nordic's circuit diagram if you like although with headers it's very often easy to convince yourself it's right, or wrong.

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Thanks for your input RK

I would suggest purchasing the cable that RK mentions with no legs. There was a customer reporting that he got the cable with legs, but the legs did not fit onto the beacon board to attach to it. So if you have the legs, you need to hold the beacon board and the adapter together with your hand while programming, or attach them together manually with some other trick. When you have he "no legs" adapter, there is attachment piece with it to hold the beacon kit and the adapter together.