Enabling DC/DC mode on the NRF BEACON

[nugget]

Hi Nordic,

I am trying to enable the DC/DC converter on a PCA20006 rev 1.3.0. I am using the softDevice S130.

1. Using the sd_power_dcdc_mode_set(NRF_POWER_DCDC_ENABLE) function.

I tried to activate the DC/DC converter using the "sd_power_dcdc_mode_set(NRF_POWER_DCDC_ENABLE)" function after the activation of the softDevice. I've checked the POWER register on debug, the value of NRF_POWER->DCDCEN has changed from 0x00000000 to 0x00000001. But i didn't see any effect on the power consumtion during RX transmission.

2. Using the NRF_POWER->DCDCEN=1 .

I tried using this method, it was the same effect: the value of the NRF_POWER->DCDCEN was set to 0x00000001 with no effect on the power consumtion RX transmission.

3. testing program:

here is my testing program in case i did something wrong:

	//NRF_POWER->DCDCEN = 1;
	ble_stack_init();										
	sd_power_dcdc_mode_set( NRF_POWER_DCDC_ENABLE );
	
	//NRF_RADIO->TASKS_TXEN = 1;
	NRF_RADIO->TASKS_RXEN = 1;	
	NRF_RADIO->TASKS_START = 1;
    while(1);

Could someone help me ?

Thanks.

[Sigurd]

Hi,

The PCA20006 don't have the components required to enable DC/DC. I.e. it's missing the following components: L5(15nH), L4 (10uH) and C12(1uF).

[nugget]

I Sigurd,

Thanks for the quick answer !

So i can't use the the DC/DC mode on my nrf51822 bluetooth smart beacon without doing any hardware modification ?

[Sigurd]

That is correct. There is not much space on the PCA20006, so there was no room left for the 2 inductors(L5,L4) and the capacitor(C12) on the PCA20006. Sorry for any inconvenience.