Recommendation for debug connector for nrf52 product

[Lakerno]

I am designing a BLE device. Want to make the PCB as small as possible. to download the code/debug etc I need the a connecter on the board which can connect to the nrf52 preview dk development board. Is there any recommendation for a tiny connector? 8 pins will suffice. Such connectors can be found in mouser etc. The main issue is how to interface those connectors with the 10 pin connector used in the nrf52 preview dk? because I probably need an adaptor to connect it. Is there any tried/tested recommended combination for this issue?

thanks

[Philip Freidin]

I had the same issue with nRF51822, and since I believe nRF52 is programmed the same way, my solution may work for you. Wojtek is correct, you only need 4 pins, and fortunately they are grouped in a 2 x 2 pattern at one end of the standard 0.05" pitch connector both on the nRF51 or nRF52 boards. The standard flat cable has a 2 x 5 IDC connector at each end that matches the connector on the DK boards (this is an ARM standard for Cortex processor debugging).

You can see my boards here www.oshchip.com, and here https://hackaday.io/project/7212-oshchip-v10

Scroll down to see some nice pictures.

The connector on my "chips" is FTSH-102-01-L-D made by Samtec (same manufacturer as Nordic uses for the connectors on the DK boards). There is also an SMT version rather than the through hole version I use.

To connect the DK board (or a Segger J-Link pod, or the programmer/debugger I will be selling), you just have to be careful that the cable is plugged into the connector using the 4 pins at the striped side of the cable, and rotated the correct way. I believe my solution is also smaller than any of the needle adapter solutions. Also, no adapter needed, just a standard cable.

The standard cable is FFSD-05-D-06.00-01-N

[Philip Freidin]

There is no schematic, it is just a cable. Look at the data sheet at www.tag-connect.com/.../TC2030-CTX.pdf and the info is all in the "Connections" table. Look here for the physical layout of the 6 pads: tag-connect.com/.../TC2030-IDC-NL.pdf These should match the pads on the Beacon board