NRF52840 Dongle PCA10059 UART issues

[Esteban]

Hello everyone, I am trying to send and receive messages over UART using Teraterm, the PCA10059 dongle and the UART Android app.

I was following the directions found in the sdk documentation

I was able to flash the example program into the PCA10059 found in sdk 15 using nrfutil: nRF5_SDK_15.0.0_a53641a\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_uart\pca10056\s140

I have two questions: 

• Is it possible at all to use this example app with the PCA10059 even though it is a project for PCA10056?
• If so, then how can I actually test my program? I can't seem to get Teraterm to recognize the COM port when the device is plugged in, although the UART Android app is able to read and connect to the dongle. Teraterm only recognizes something is connected to the COM port when the dongle is in bootloader mode. 

I appreciate any input from you guys, thanks!

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

Generally, you need to adapt the example to the specific board you are using to get correct pin assignment etc. You can see how to do that under Using the SDK with other boards. However, for the nRF52840 dongle there is no UART connected to the PC, other than the virtual COM port that is used for programming via Serial DFU (USB).

You should consider the nRF52840 DK instead if you want to develop firmware for the nRF52840. The nRF52840 dongle is primarily intended to be used together with nRF Connect for desktop, and is not well suitable as a development board. This is primarily because it lacks an onboard debugger.

[softorchestra]

Einar,

I'm not using the dongle, I have the DK AFAIK, it's a small card like the 51.

I haven't looked at this project in a while, but will be getting back to it soon.

Is there are part number on the board so I can be sure?

Alan

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi Alan,

If you are using a DK, you should see a white sticker on the largest IC on the board. The first line tells you the type of card. For instance, on the nRF52840 DK you should see "PCA10056". For the nRF52840 Dongle there is a white sticker on the PCB itself, and the top line reads "PCA10059".

[softorchestra]

Yes, I believe mine says that (PCA10056). I use the 10056 build when I flash it.

The 51 DK I had was a PCA10028 as  I recall.