nPM1300 EK - External PMIC

[Nordix]

Hi,

we have noticed some charging issues with a nPM1300 on a custom board. The nPM PowerUP software seemed to be the right tool to debug this issue but I realized that it requires a compatible Nordic evaluation board, e.g., nPM1300 EK. So my plan was to buy the EK to use its "nPM Controller" and connect it to the PMIC on our custom board via I2C (TWI).

To my surprise, I noticed that -although the I2C signals are routed to pin headers- the onboard PMIC is hard-wired to the bus via the level shifter! Due to its fixed I2C address, connecting our PMIC to perform some in-situ debugging would therefore not be possible -- as this would result in 2 devices with the same address on the bus.

I am really surprised that there is no option to disconnect the onboard PMIC or am I missing something?

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,
Nordix

[ketiljo]

That seems to be correct. The EK  isn't meant to be used like that. The best is probably to remove the nPM1300 from the EK and connect you external nPM1300 instead.

[Nordix]

Thanks. That's of course an option. It would be nice to see this possibility in future versions of PMIC dev boards though. A 4-post pin header should be all that's needed to make it possible to disconnect the onboard PMx.