nRF51822 beacon kit - programming and detecting

[Dan]

I have the nRF51822 beacon kit, using Keil uVision, downloaded the beacon app and all associated files. Compiles, but how to program the beacon board?

I've done two things: Thing 1: I have connected a programming cable between my NRF52-DK board and the beacon (using the 10 pin "Debug Out" connector). Using nRFgo Studio, I erased the device, then "program softdevice", then "program application" without error. I think it is really programming the NRF52-DK (NOT my beacon target board).

Thing 2: Plugged in a nRF51-Dongle and programmed this the same way as above, again with no errors.

Now, I am trying to use the iPhone app "nRF Beacons" to detect my beacons, and I get nothing.

In "thing 1" above how do I use the nRF52-DK to program the beacon board? in both things above, why doesn't the iPhone app detect my beacon? Is there another app that I can use that will sniff them out?

Thanks in advance - Dan

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Dan,

It is important that the external device you're programming has the same voltage as the nRF5x-DK board. There's logic present that will automatically switch when it detects the same voltage on the DEBUG_OUT header.

Have you tried powering the beacon with one of the "VDD" pins on the nRF52-DK ? (note: Do not use the "5V")

Cheers, Håkon

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Hi

Try to use nRF Connect app instead of nRF Beacon app. The nRF Beacon app may not detect the default beacon. Make sure you flash S110/S130 softdevice and a compatible application, since there is nRF51 on board of the beacon kit. Otherwise use any softdevcice and SDK combination compatible with the nRF51.

There should be no trick to connect the beacon kit to the nRF52-DK. Just connect the beacon kit to the 10 pin connector on the nRF52-DK, marked as "Debug out" on this image, power up the beacon kit by installing a battery, and nRFgo Studio should detect the beacon board automatically. When you flash anything to the nRF52-DK it will be flashed to the beacon kit instead.

In the ble_app_beacon application in nRF5 SDK 11.0.0, make sure you define BOARD_PCA20006 (beacon kit) instead of BOARD_PCA10028 in Keil -> options for target -> C/C++ tab -> Preprocessor Symbols, to have the red LED on the beacon kit flash when advertising. Prior to flashing the ble_app_beacon application, flash the S130 2.0.1 softdevice. If it does not work, try to erase the flash content of nRF51 by pressing "Erase All" in nRFgo Studio, then flash softdevice and application.

If you wish to use the beacon firmware 1.1.1, you should only use that with softdevice S110 7.1.0/7.3.0, as shown here. Some info on how to operate and configure the beacon firmware 1.1.1 is here

[Dan]

Thank you for the reply. First, there doesn't appear to be a nRF52 development kit user's guide. So I don't know where to connect the programming cable. If I try to flash from Keil uVision, I get an error: "No Cortex-M Device found in JTAG chain. Please check the JTAG cable and the connected devices." That's with OR without the beacon board connected to the nRF52 development board. So I have been using nRFGo Studio to flash the device. Which seems to work, except as I said it does not flash the beacon connected to the nRF52 board. If I try to program the softdevice to / through the nRF52 board, it fails, whether or not the beacon is connected to it. I can only program the softdevice to the nFR51 USB dongle. The documentation is horrible. Thank you for any help.

[Dan]

Thanks - yes, I powered the beacon from a separate lab supply (3.1V). I had some progress. Turned out my 10 pin (FTSH) connector was backwards. When I put it in the right way, I think it detected the external beacon. However, it won't program. In Keil, it doesn't see anything in the "target driver setup" when I plug in the beacon. If I remove the beacon it sees the nRF52 development board. The beacon is working, it transmits, so it's alive but I can't program it. Maybe the backwards header damaged the interface? I've ordered a new beacon board. One of the docs I found said that I should ground P0.30 on the dev kit when programming the beacon. Do you know if that's true? I also read that there may be issues with the programming clock speed, so I lowered that, with no change. Any other ideas?

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Sorry, my mistake, there is only nRF51 user guide, but the nRF51-DK and nRF52-DK are identical in this regard. I have created a link in my answer above to documentation that shows the location of the connector on the nRF52-DK that you should use to connect to an external board. Try that. As said before, there should be no tricks involved, just connect the external board to the nRF52-DK, power the external board, and nRFgo Studio should detect automatically the external board. If not, try to close and reopen nRFgo studio, and repeat the procedure