establishing mesh network by using a nrf52840 devkit and two nrf52840 dongle boards

[Sama]

Hello everyone,

I am going tp establish a mesh network by using a devkit and two or more dongle. take as an example, turning off a led on the dongle boards by using a bottom on the devkit through the mesh network.

Thanks for help in advance. 

[Mahendra Tailor]

First this will require merging the usb-cdc example code into the mesh example app you intend to run on the nrf52840 devkit before loading on the dongle.

I have just tried that (usb-cdc + lightswitch_client) on devkit and I get the weird behaviour that the firmware runs ONLY if the segger cable is also plugged into the devkit. IF that cable is not plugged in that the serial port does not appear in device manager.

However, I know the firmware is running as I see it waiting for it to be provisioned.

Frustrating indeed.
Additional frustration is that the usb-cdc example could have been written better so that it exposed a better api for integration.


If anyone has any suggestions as to why the serial port does not appear (yet I know the firmware is working because it is waiting for provisioning) then I will be most grateful.

[Sama]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your reply.

I could program the devkit as a client by adding the root of the example in the Global Macros.

I saw the devkit in the nrf Mesh application as nrf mesh switch. 

After which, I followed the instruction suggested in this link to program the dongle board as a server.

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/short-range-guides/b/getting-started/posts/nrf52840-dongle-programming-tutorial

I used the hex file built in the build folder in the server folder to program the dongle through nrf connect software. 

after witting the hex file, these messages appeared.

04:35:21.240

Reopen device failed: Timeout while waiting for device D4AC8646D4D6 to be attached and enumerated

04:35:21.240

Nordic DFU Trigger Interface was not found.Please physically reset device.

04:35:21.266

Device not found due to failure during DFU

04:35:22.283

Target device closed.

unfortunately I could not find the dongle as a server in the nrf Mesh application.

Could you please help me about this problem?

Thank you

[Hung Bui]

Hi Sama,

Please try to test first with blinky example as showed in the tutorial. 

Have you ever managed to program any example into the dongle using nRF Connect software ? 

I suspect that the bootloader doesn't run on your dongle. 

If you press the reset button on the dongle do you see the  red LED breathing ? 

[Sama]

Hi Hung,

Thank you for your reply.

I have run the Blinky example on the dongle.

I reset the dongle to program and the red LED was breathing and then I follow the instruction in the tutorial.

I don not understand where is the problem.

Thank you

Sama

[Hung Bui]

Hi Sama, have you flashed the softdevice when you flash the application via nRF Connect software ? 
Softdevice needed for mesh application. 

I would strongly suggest you to solder the P1 header to do programming directly via the SWD interface instead of testing using the bootloader as you are doing now.