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Fanstel BC832 (nRF52832 module) Dev Kit not detected over USB.

Hi everyone,

First post here, so apologies in advance for lowly questions!

I have a Fanstel EV-BC832 dev kit for their BC832 module, which uses the 516K Flash / 64K RAM flavor of the nRF52832.

It is not detected over USB by my (Win10) PC, though the board is powered properly.

The nRF itself is detected over Bluetooth and can be connected to using the nRF Connect app on mobile, though the nRF Connect desktop application sees nothing.

Has anyone used and successfully connected to this board? I will be contacting Fanstel as well to see if they have any input.

I could use an external JTAG programmer, but that seems silly for a Dev Kit.

Thanks for the help!

  • Here's what I found out from the schematic and datasheets:

    The board is not detected because its USB controller has no coprocessor and is no control in the pre-loaded FW of the eval module. It's just there in case the user wants to implement it.

    This particular eval kit is more of a breakout board. Unlike the nRF52 DK, no SWD programmer is built into the Fanstel module.

    It includes useful hardware peripherals like any breakout board, for example a SiLabs CP2102 UART/USB converter properly connected to a mini-USB port. To use it requires loading a USB stack onto the device and setting it to communicate with those ports. It also has reset and another pushbutton, a slider switch, a few LEDs, and EPROM with a 128 bit EPROM for storing an ID if desired. There are pads to solder a battery if desired.

    Fanstel does supply their eval modules preloaded with a nifty BT range test feature, but does not enable OTA updates with this initial firmware.

    Hope this helps others if they'd like to use these modules. I will say that the quality seems first-rate.

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