nRF51822 rev 2 dc-dc detail?

[mikaelbdl]

This topic has been done to death but I was hoping for a bit more detail with regard to enabling DC-DC while using S110 V8.0 for BLE, but on second revision hardware nRF51822.

I ask because after a sampling mix-up I noticed both hardware revisions 2 and 3 appear to function the same. Also a cheap supplier will tend to purchase on the open market and revision identification is not so obvious with this part. I want to avoid such mix-up in production, but in case it does happen what can I expect the consequences to be?

Does this lead to full functional failure at hardware or software level or occasional intermittent operation? Does it affect regulatory compliance?

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Hi

Operating the DCDC with a softdevice on a second revision nRF51 is not recommended as stated in the release notes for the earlier softdevices that were compatible with nRF51 second revision. The DCDC was not used in regulatory testing for earlier softdevices, so it may affect regulatory compliance.

The functional penalty of operating the DCDC with the softdevice on a second revision nRF51 is unreliable radio activity, as DCDC may interfere with it. It may result in occasional link losses, etc. If consuming relatively high current just before a BLE radio event will increase the chances of successful radio transmissions when using the DCDC. More info on this thread.