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Extendability of the Nordic Thingy:52?

Hey,

Up until now I have only been dealing with software. Now however, I want to create a device that I can use to track my bike by GPS and heading. In the future, I want to act given certain light conditions, like turn a light on when it becomes dark.

So to me, it seems like the Thingy52 will make all this possible? But .. what I don't get is how does the T52 actually make things happen? It has a lot of sensors, but .. how can I use this data to turn on an external light? I would prefer that the lights dim in and out, so I can't use a simple electrical relay..

I assume I'll need to connect additional things to the T52? But can this be done?

Any and all input appreciated.

Thanks! 

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  • If you only need the gyro for compass heading from the Thingy:52, why not just add an external module to the Thingy:91? 
    There are some additional GPIO you can use. See this thread.

  • Why indeed :-)

    Well, the final product will probably have almost all the features of T52 combined with the GPS and LTE-M from T91. However, for the MVP we plan only on using the gyro from T52.. Down the line we plan to use almost every other feature as well.

    With no experience in this field, I wasn't really able to tell by looking at the PCB if any of the Thingy's can be extended. So how or where is the interface to hook up external modules?

    Also, I was a bit disappointed to read that the speaker (which also wasn't indicated on the PCB overview in the PDF of the T52) reduces the precision of the compass. We don't need the speaker.. Can I simply ... remove it from the board?

    I really appreciate your input Øyvind. Jeg antar du også er norsk? Takk for hjelp så langt.

  • Hei igjen Johan Slight smile

    Norsk her, ja. Sittende på hovedkontoret vårt i Trondheim. Men fortsetter samtale på engelsk, da dette er en public ticket Slight smile

    JohanHWB said:
    With no experience in this field, I wasn't really able to tell by looking at the PCB if any of the Thingy's can be extended. So how or where is the interface to hook up external modules?

     I could have been more specific with regards to that. The Thingy:91 documentation has more information about the topic. The Pin Map chapter shows which pins are spare, e.g. SPARE1 = P0.06 - Digital GPIO externally available. Note that the spare pins are connected to the board controller nRF52840. While the available connectors on the board are described in the Connectors chapter

    In Connector Pinouts, we see that P6 has spare pins 1 to 6. A more detailed overview can be also found in the Hardware description files found on the Thingy:91 download page, this includes schematics and layout in pdf format: PCA20035_Schematic_And_PCB.pdf
     

    JohanHWB said:
    Also, I was a bit disappointed to read that the speaker (which also wasn't indicated on the PCB overview in the PDF of the T52) reduces the precision of the compass. We don't need the speaker.. Can I simply ... remove it from the board?

    Removing the speaker or any other part by desoldering might be more timeconsuming if you are not experienced with HW, I would recommend getting an external module with gyro/compass e.g. the SEN-13762 from SparkFun. This will also add more functionality to the Thingy:91 with Gyroscope, (an extra) Accelerometer and Magnetometer (compass), along with the sensors already on the board i.e. color sensor and Pressure, Humidity, Temperature and Gas sensor

    And not to forget that the Thingy:91 already has an Asset Tracker application.

    Hopes this answers more of your questions!

    Kind regards, 
    Øyvind

  • Hei,

    So I got the SEN-13762 as suggested.

    Which means I'll be heading to a hackerspace to connect the two boards.

    For this .. having never done anything like this before, you say that P6 has "spare pins". All 6 are described as "GPIO of the nRF52840" - which I don't fully understand. I have never done anything like this before, so.. shouldn't at least one of the pins be "ground" or something - so there is a signal to read when combined with the other pins?

    I'm trying to figure out how to connect the two modules. Any additional pointers would be greatly appreciated.

  • Hei!

    JohanHWB said:
    I have never done anything like this before, so.. shouldn't at least one of the pins be "ground" or something - so there is a signal to read when combined with the other pins?

    Yes, all the pins are GPIO on connector P6. GND is found on P3, P4, P5, and P7. Just make sure to use the pins marked with GND or you might damage your module.

     

    JohanHWB said:
    I'm trying to figure out how to connect the two modules. Any additional pointers would be greatly appreciated.

     Sparkfun has a good "Hookup guide" on their page which shows how to connect your module. In your case, you could connect VDD and GND on the SEN-13762 to P5 (3V3 and GND), while SDA and SCL should be connected to two of the GPIOs on P6. You will need to configure these GPIOs as SDA and SCL. Or you can connect to TP9 (SCL) and TP10 (SDA).

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