Programming external/custom NRF52832 board using NRF52-DK

[Li]

Hi All,

We are trying to flash our custom NRF52832 board using NRF52-DK+nrf studio. With the same setup that's suggested by devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

However, from the nrf studio, we can never see the external board (nrf5x programming menu item is greyed out).

We've also tried to using a j-link/jtag but were still unable to see the external board.

We've tested the power supply on the custom board while connecting it to the DK board (2.8v, required 3.3v). Don't know if this could be the problem?

Thanks a lot!

L.

[Matt]

I have the same wiring setup to flash a custom board using the PCA10040. I don't think you will see the "nRF5x programming menu" light up as the programming is still going through the JLink OB in the PCA10040, so I just pick the menu item "nRF52 development boards - Segger xxxxxxxx".

[Li]

Thanks both. We can certainly apply external power to our board. Matt: As for the flashing, how do we know the firmware has successfully flashed on our own board. At the moment, we can only see the contents of the development board (flashed softdevice)?

[Matt]

Hmmm... that depends on what your application does after powering up. Are there LEDs on your own board that your application can turn on after the flashing? Or, just try to flash a standard Nordic Uart Service (NUS) onto your board and try to connect to it using the nRF connect app or the nRF Uart v2 app.

In my case I have the {bootloader, app, softdevice} in the PCA10040 and {my app, softdevice} in my custom board and as long as the custom board is powered up, the nRF go studio will display the {my app, softdevice} layout, so I know which board I'm programming.

[Li]

Hi Matt,

This sounds a bit more confusing. How do you know you've flashed the softdevice to the external board i n the first instance? Do you mean you can see two region infor under the development board menu in NRF studio? .

We can only see one region (the development board region).

Thanks

L.

[Raja]

Hi For this adafruit, module !(learn.adafruit.com/.../25156)

I can see SWD, SWC, VCC, GND

Should i connect them as:

Adafruit SWD ==> SWD IO Adafruit SWC ==> SWD CLK Adafruit VCC ==> VDD Adafruit GND ==> GND

Can i program it using my nRF51-DK like that?

[endnode]

Hi @rahulnrf, firstly always post new question unless yours is equal to the original (which isn't the case here). Secondly this is pretty much for Adafruit forum not here. And finally to your question: SWD pins on the back of this board seems to be connected directly to nRF5x chip on BLE module so yes, they are usable for direct debugging/flashing. However Adafruit warns you that you might end up in state where board won't work with their tools and environment any more. So as always with direct JTAG/SWD access to any chip make sure you know what you are doing.