Using dual IO Baseboard RAK19001

Hello. I want to use the following sensors/IOs on the dual IO baseboard (RAK19001). I want to know if there’s a limitation in doing that.

(1) RAK5860 (NB-IoT) [uses IO Slot]
(2) RAK15002 (SD Card) [uses IO Slot]
(3) RAK12500 (GNSS) [uses sensor slot]

Hello,

RAK5860 and RAK12500 use both the same UART. They cannot work together.
The RAK5860 has GNSS integrated, why do you need to use additional GNSS module?

But I have been using both RAK5860 and RAK12500 on baseboard RAK-5005 at the same time.

And regarding using additional GNSS module, BG95 can’t run LTE and GNSS concurrently, so that would require turning off GPS every time LTE is required (which is very frequent).

I guess on RAK5005-O you had the RAK12500 in Slot B, C or D? And you are communicating with it over I2C.
When using Slot A on RAK5005-O, there is an conflict of the UART’s. the other slots are ok.

I am not sure if the ublox chip shuts down his UART lines when used over I2C. That’s why there is a conflict on the UART lines.

I double checked with RAK19001 and it looks like it can be done if the RAk12500 is used over I2C and in Slot B, C, D or E. In Slot A and F it would be the same conflict.

On my baseboard, RAK12500 is attached on Slot D. And thanks for confirming that on RAK19001.

So in short, I can use RAK15002, RAK5860 and RAK12500 (all three together) , while RAK12500 is attached on RAK19001’s sensor slot B,C,D or E.

@beegee , am I right ?

It is difficult. RAK5860 and RAK15002 are using up all GPIO’s.
In every slot I put the RAK12500 I get a conflict with the 1PPS signal and/or the RESET of the RAK12500.

Right. Do you have any workaround in mind ?

Not without changing something on the modules.

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Would there be any conflict (on either RAK5005 or RAK19001) if I replace RAK15002 with RAK15001 flash memory sensor (sensor slot), keeping in view that I would also be using RAK5860, RAK12500 with the flash memory sensor.

Will be the same problem or even worse. The RAK15001 uses 2 GPIO’s for WP and Hold signal.

@beegee , you referred to the conflicts in pins IO5, IO6 (connector D). Actually I re-checked and I was using the connector C for RAK12500. Connector C uses the IO pins IO3 & IO4. So would there be a conflict now ?

The RAK5860 is not working where I live, so even I have the module, I cannot do much with it. It could be that you got lucky with the double usage of GPIO’s. I have to check the function of APP_READY and TRIG of the BG77 and what they are doing.

Hi guys

APP_READY is an BG77 input which by default is disabled. So it should be fine. (I understand a host can use APP_READY to signal that the application is ready to receive data.)

I only found PON_TRIG which again is an BG77 input and it seems to be used to wake the module from PSM (Power Save Mode). I don’t see a way to disable that functionality, but I would expect nothing to happen, if the module is not in PSM.

Thanks
Felix

@felmue
Thanks for the insights. That could be a work-around if the two inputs are not triggering anything on the BG77.