MDBT42Q-DB-32 Nordic nRF52832 Module (MDBT42Q-512KV2 / Chip Antenna / 32 GPIO) Evaluation Board Dev Kit DK Bluetooth ANT+ BT5.2 BT5 FCC IC CE Telec KC RCM SRRC Demo Board

This is easy to review because it is exactly what it says it is nothing more nothing less it is a simple ble development board based on the NRF52832. It is 2 inch by 3 inch.or around 55 MM by 76 MM. The board comes with a USB Mini which you use to power the board. It states you can use it for coding and debugging but I am using a JLINKrather than the USB mini. The Jlink cconnector wire also comes with the development board. Not the Jlink probe just the wire. The headers are already soldered on they are pin headers not hole. you can attach a female jumper right on each pin. I am using it with the NRF 16 SDK. I am a blind programmer so rather than give you a picture. I had someone describe the board for me, so I know where everything is on it. This should help you decide if this a good board for you. The board is thin and flimsy, but I have not been able to damage any of the three boards I bought. In other words, it is sturdy enough for development work.Raytac demo board descriptionLooking at the board, in the picture they have the chip to the left, USB port to the right. I am going describe it kind of in columns, because it just seems natural to do so the way that it is laid out.Just above the chip is jumper J12.It has 16 pins.Top row of pins is labeled, from left to right, 22, 24, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 (yes 22 and 24 are swapped from what you would expect)Bottom row of bins is labeled, from left to right, 23, 21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9The labels refer to ports, so P0.22, P0.24, etcetera.Then comes the chip below that jumperThen below the chip is jumper J13It has 16 pinsTop row of pins is labeled, from left to right, 25, 27, 29, 31, 2, 4, 6, 8Bottom row of pins is labeled, from left to right, 26, 28, 30, GND, 3, 5, 7, GNDAt the top, to the right go jumper J12, is J14 NFC.It does not appear to be labeled on the board itself, I found the label on another drawing.It consists of 2 through hole solder pads. The left hole is a circular solder pad. The right hole is circular with a square solider pad. I believe the is intended for connecting an NFC antenna.Below the NFC jumper are solder pads intended for surface mount resistors and capacitors to complete the NFC circuitry.Below the solder pads is SW4This is a push-button switch.One end is groundThe other end goes to pin 4 of jumper J2Below the switch are solder pads for 2 surface mount resistors. 1 for a pull-up resistor to VCC. The other to connect to P0.28Below SW4 and its resistor pad is SW6This is a push-button switch.One end is groundThe other end goes to pin 6 of jumper J2To the right of the switch are solder pads for a surface mount resistor. This is for a pull-up resistor to VCC.Below SW6 is jumpier J11 (RS232)This is 2 rows of through hole solder pads, 4 per rowPin 1 is the lower row right-most pin.Top row, pins 8-5 left to right, are labeled 31, 30, 29, 28. However, in the schematic it shows them as going to pins P0.06, P0.05, P0.04, P0.03. So, I am not sure what is going on hereBottom row, pins 1-4, are all ground.Also, the RS232 port is at jumper J10, not J11.At the top, to the right of J14 NFC, is jumper J9 (J-Link)This is 2 rows of through hole solder pads, 2 per row.The top row, left to right, pins 1 2, are VCC and GNDThe bottom row, left to right, pins 3 4, are SWCLK and SWDIOBelow J9 is SW5This is a push-button switch.One end is groundThe other end goes to pin 5 of jumper J2To the right of the switch are solder pads for a surface mount resistor. This is for a pull-up resistor to VCC.Below SW5 is SW7This is a push-button switch.One end is groundThe other end goes to pin 7 of jumper J2To the right of the switch are solder pads for a surface mount resistor. This is for a pull-up resistor to VCC.At the top, to the right of the solder pads for J9 (J-Link) is J1 (J-Link)This is 2 rows of pinsThe top row, left to right, pins 9 7 5 3 1, are GND, unused, GND, GND, VCCThe bottom row, left to right, pins 10 8 6 4 2, are unused, unused, unused, SWCLK, SWDIOThis I believe is where you would use the provided ribbon cable to connect to the J-Link deviceBelow J1 (J-Link) is J6This is a row of 2 solder padsThe left pad is pin 1, VCCI, the right pad is pin 2 VCC.Below it is a resistor the goes between the pins. Appears to be a 0-ohm resistor.At the top, to the right of J1 (J-Link), are two large surface mount (I assume) pads labeled BTThe pads are in a columnTop pad is labeled +. It is VCCIThe bottom pad is GNDBelow the BT pads are jumper J7 with some circuitry to the left of the jumper.The jumper is 2 pins aligned vertically.The top pin is pin 1, labeled +, and this is 5V in.The bottom pin is GND.Directly to the left of pin 1, and connected to pin 1, is a cap to GNDBelow the cap is a chip, XC6288D332VR. I cannot find any info; I think it must be some sort of USB power regulator? This is a 5-pin chip - 3 pins at the top, 2 on the bottomTop row, pin 1 (VIN) and pin 3 (CE) are tied to 5 V. Pin 2 (VSS) to GNDBottom row, pin 4 (NC) is not connected. Pin 5 (VOUT) is connected to VCCIBelow the chip is another cap that goes between VCCI and GNDBelow J7 and to the right of the cap below the chip is small LED network'The network has 3 rowsRow 1 left to right there is a resistor connected to VCCI on the left, and on the right connected to a green LED. The other side of the LED goes to J2 pin 1. Also, on the right side of the LED are surface mount pads to add a resistor that would connect to P0.07Row 2 left to right there is a resistor connected to VCCI on the left, and on the right connected to a red LED. The other side of the LED goes to J2 pin 2. Also, on the right side of the LED are surface mount pads to add a resistor that would connect to P0.08Row 3 left to right there is a resistor connected to VCCI on the left, and on the right connected surface mount pads where you could add another LED. The other side of the LED goes to J2 pin 3. No additional resister, not additional connection to the main chipBelow the J6 and LED network, at the bottom of the board, is jumper J10This is 2 rowsEach row is 3 through hole solder padsThis appears to be RS232 rather than the previously mentioned jumper J11Top row, left to right, pins 6, 5, 4, are GND, P0.19/CTS, P0.17/RXThey bottom row, left to right, lines 1, 2, 3 are VCC, P0.18/RTS, P0.21/TXTo the right of the BT pads is jumper J4 - this is the USB mini connector.Only 2 of the 5 pins are connected, so only used for powerPin 5 (at the top) is connected to GNDPin 1 (at the bottom) is connected to 5V - which is why I think that chip must be some sort of USB power regulator?Below the USB mini port is jumper J2Column of 7 through hole solder padsPad 1 (top) is connected to the green LED. By adding a resistor, it can also be connected to P0.07Pad 2 is connected to the red LED. By adding a resistor, it can also be connected to P0.08Pad 3 is connected to the pads for the third LED.Pad 4 is connected to switch 4. By adding a resistor, it can also be connected to P0.28Pad 5 is connected to switch 5.Pad 6 is connected to switch 6.Pad 7 is connected to switch 7.

I have the unit and Jlink and want to use Arduino IDE. I have the board loaded and the Jlink going as the programmer. The IDE wants a com port. How do I get that? Do I need to load a bootloader first? I have searched all around with no answers. It looks like a perfect solution for my project. Thanks

Decent module and works flawless, you do need a jtag programmer. The pictures don't do it justice as to how small it is.

Great product to learn the nrf52 chip. Also helpful in programing self designed products.

Well made board. Worked wonderfully. Used it to learn the platform since I needed to for work.

The board I got doesn't match the schematic posted on Amazon, nor did it come or have any manual. Going to the Raytac site didn't yield any new information. Stay away unless you are willing to reverse engineer the board.The schema that the seller provides seems to match another board with blue PCB that I didn't get. What I got is a black PCB with different components. For example J11 has 14 pins vs 10, the 3.3V regular has 3 pins vs 5, and a bunch of components such as the 1.5v 3.3v and 3.9V resistors and capacitors are not included in the schema. The schema seems to match the blue board that is shown in one of the pictures here but it's not the one the seller ships.

Using this to develop for the nRF52. very basic board with just the module and a few break outs, exactly what i needed. Was able to program with the nordic dev board by connecting the jtag connector with the included cable to J19 on the nordic board, breaking SB9, and then using nrfjprog to flash. put a jumper on P22 to use the on board nrf52, remove the jumper and plug in J19 to program an external device. I would rate this at more then 5 stars if I could because it worked the first time with no hassle whatsoever.