How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

RE: How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

Salvo — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 10:30:21 GMT

Yes, you are right about P1 and J2 connector. I will take a PCA10056 for testing and to be able to flash whatever nRF SoC.

Thanks a lot for the help.

RE: How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

Matevz B — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 19:45:46 GMT

I think the P1 and J2 ports on PCA10059 are only used to program the 52840 SOC on it. nRF52 DK (PCA10040) and nrRF52840 DK (PCA 10056) have additional hardware and ports (P19 and P20 on 52) to program other boards.

I think you are correct about the DFU, but I don't have experience with it.

RE: How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

Salvo — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 08:19:01 GMT

Thanks MaAtevz and nar_tri for your answers, they are very useful.

I'm interested in programming the custom board with a nRF52 DK, becouse of the very out of budget Segger jlink programmer. So now i'm asking: is it possibile to flash a brand new nRF52840 with any DK like a nRF52840 dongle (PCA10059), which has a connector with SWIO and SWDCLK pins (J2 connector), or i need the bigger one DK like the PCA10056?

If i buy two nRF52840 Dongle, could i flash one dongle with the other with the same procedure i will use with my future custom board? I'm asking just to know if i can do some practice with this procedure.

Edit:
I read about the DFU mode to program the nRF52840, but this mode requires the presence of a bootloader inside the nRF chip, is it correct? And this bootloader for the DFU mode is not inside a virgin nRF52840 module, right?

Thanks a lot, this forum is great!

Salvo

RE: How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

nor_tri — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 23:48:27 GMT

Hi Salvo

You need 4 lines to program an empty nRF52 VCC, GND, SWDCLK, SWDIO
I found this nice image:
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/4/Programmer.png

We use Segger JLINK like this
https://www.segger.com/products/debug-probes/j-link/

If you already own an Nordic develboard. PCA10040 or PCA10056 or similar then you can also use that develboad to program you own empty nRF52 device.
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/20536/programming-external-custom-nrf52832-board-using-nrf52-dk
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/14058/external-programming-using-nrf52-dk

Software to Flash the Firmware on ot nRF52:
Install Nordics nRF Connect for Desktop on your PC which contains Programmer Software.
Segger JLINK contains the J-FLASH Lite which can be used also.

RE: How to upload firmware on custom board with brand new nRF52840

Matevz B — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 23:31:50 GMT

Hello!

I have had the same quesiton. We included 10 pin jtag debug port on our custom PCB for programming the nRF52840. I program it using the nRF52DK.

I use this cable: www.segger.com/.../

The wiring for programming is per this thread: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/14058/external-programming-using-nrf52-dk

I disconnected the connection to P20 VDD pin since our board has external power supply.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Matevz