nr51822: No radio with custom PCB

[Henry]

Hi,

I have created a custom PCB that more or less follows the Nordic SmartBeacon design: Beacon_V2.pdf

Instead of BAL-NRF01D3 I used the BALF-NRF01D3 as this is supposed to be compatible with the QFAAG0 chips, which I use.

So now, when I load the SmartBeacon FW, everything seems to operate fine: LED pulsing, change to orange LED on button press (DFU mode)...

But what is missing is that I cannot capture any signal on my iPhone on the custom PCB... With the original Smart Beacon HW everything works fine. On the custom PCB I use the same shape and dimension PCB antenna.

I already switched from external 32Mhz crystal to internal but everything stays the same.

Now, how can I find out what is going wrong? Is there a way to see wether the soldering of the Balun was ok?

Thanks for your help!

Henry

[Audun]

Hi Henry. To clarify: did you mean to write 32 kHz crystal or 32 MHz crystal? The nRF51822 requires a 16 MHz or 32 MHz crystal to operate the radio. A 32 kHz crystal is optional. In the case you're using a 32 MHz crystal this needs to be configured in firmware, because the default behavior is to assume the high frequency crystal is 16 MHz.