This post is older than 2 years and might not be relevant anymore
More Info: Consider searching for newer posts

Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Dear Nordic Tech Support and Developers,

Hello. I have implemented the Mesh Demo (light switch example) with Nordic Thingy 52. I would like to inquire an info on the side of hardware.

I always receive my information (RSSI, time) via connection of a J-Link during the debug mode of the mesh demo. To make the demo more presentable, I would like to have the data displayed on a display which is connected to the thingy 52. For instance, the data about whether a node which originally belonged in the mesh network is missing or out of range.

Had anyone connect thingy 52 with a display (e.g. a smart LCD with BLE) before? Which cable is suitable for the communication between thingy (e.g. PIN 0.02 and GND?) and the display? From the side of codes programming, is it possible that the transmitting data in the mesh network to be passed on to the display and how is it done?

I am sorry for the long questions. I would be very thankful for any insights that I could receive. Thank you!

Best regards,

  • Hi,

    I have soldered a male header 20-pins connector to the connector P4. I have a display adapter with Vcc, GND, GND, Data, CLK, CS, RST, RS (DC). According to pinouts, I would assume that Pin 19 (VDD) is connected to Vcc (display), Pin 20 (GND) to GND (display), Pin 1 (SCL_EXT) to CLK (display), Pin 2 (SDA_EXT) to Data (display).

    Then I would look into generic_on_off_server, perhaps in function handle_set_unreliable_cb to forward the data to the display. How could I feed the data into the display?

    I apologize if I've asked rookie questions. I would keep trying. 

    Am I doing the things so far in the right direction?

    Many thanks,

  • We have a long range demo with a display using the 52840 DK. The connection was done over SPI. Unfortunately, this display was made internally. The problem with using the Thingy:52 to run a display is that you do not have many GPIO pins available to drive the display. You could maybe consider removing some of the functionality in the Thingy code to make more GPIO pins available for driving the SPI display.

    It would be easier to achieve this functionality if you use a 52832 or 52840 DK. I know we have gotten a demo working with an Adafruit Touch Display. My colleague knows more about this, but he is unfortunately on a business trip, but will be back on Friday. I will ask him when he gets back if that is ok for you.

  • Is it possible to do over I2C? I had read the TWI Master Driver example from Nordic Infocenter. Yeah you are right, as we need more GPIO pins for MOSI, MISO and CS's. I saw two external I2C with P5 and P7 and even two pins on P4. It would be easier than SPI if we do it over I2C?

    Oh yeah, that would be great if you could help me approach your colleague. Thank you very much!

  • I think it's easiest if I ask my colleague about this question tomorrow, as he has a lot more experience on I2C & SPI than I do. Hopefully you can wait until a response tomorrow. Slight smile

  • Hi Bjorn,

    Thanks for your reply! I would like to update my progress and my questions here:

    I had created a function twi_master_init in the main.c. I have given .scl = 1 and .sda = 2, since I want to connect the SCL of P4 (Pin 1) and SDA (Pin 2) to the display. After I had tested, it seems to had some conflict because of the definition of .scl and .sda m_my_ui_init and board_init, so I have it commented out.

    After that I create an instance of twi driver. Then I send the byte data to lcd and write the string. Oh yeah, the display address (slave address) i had set it equals to (static int) 0x27, as other testers of LCD 8574 with adruino board did.

    My display backlight is turned on (yes since VDD and GND is connected :P). Unfortunately it does not display the string I had send over.

    Thank you for your concerns into this matter!

    Best regards,

Related