Raytac MDBT50Q-RX Bluetooth 5 LE USB Adapter Features nRF52840 WiSoC

Bluetooth 5 has been around for a while, but apart from MakerSpot CC2640 Bluetooth 5 USB dongle and Nordic Semi nRF52840 USB Dongle both for developers (and without case), it’s been hard to find Bluetooth 5 USB adapters.

So far the only proper BT 5.0 USB adapter for consumers that’s easily purchasable I know of has been Fanstel USB840F available for about $18 plus shipping. Soon enough there should at least another alternative with Raytac MDBT50Q-RX Bluetooth 5 USB adapter- also based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 WiSoC – that the company very recently announced.

Raytac Bluetooth 5 USB Adapter

Raytac MDBT50Q-RX BT 5 dongle main features and specifications:

  • Bluetooth 5 Module – Raytac MDBT50Q-P1M
    • Nordic nRF52840 SoC Arm Cortex-M4F MCU with 1MB Flash memory, 256kB RAM
    • Connectivity – Bluetooth 5 Certified, supports BT5 Long Range Feature
    • Bluetooth Low Energy, ANT+, Zigbee, Thread (802.15.4)
    • Certifications – FCC, IC, CE, Telec (MIC), KC, SRRC, NCC, RCM, WPC
  • Bluetooth 5 details
    • Bitrate / Range
      • 1Mbps up to 250 meters in open space.
      • 2Mbps up to 120 meters in open space
    • -95dBm sensitivity in 1Mbps Bluetooth low energy (BLE) mode
    • -103dBm sensitivity in 125Kbps BLE mode (long range)
    • +8 dBm TX power (down to -20 dBm in 4 dB steps)
    • On-air compatible with nRF52, nRF51, nRF24L and nRF24AP Series
    • Programmable output power from +8dBm to -20dBm
  • USB – 1x USB 2.0 port
  • Misc – 1x switch and up to 2 LEDs, programmable peripheral interconnect (PPI)
  • Low Power
    • 0.4uA at 3V in System OFF mode, no RAM retention
    • 1.5uA at 3V in System ON mode, no RAM retention, wake on RTC
  • Dimensions – 43.1 x 18 x 9.3 mm
  • Weight – 5.8 grams with case

You’ll find detailed specifications in the “approval sheet“.

The downside is that it’s not available for sale to individuals just yet. However, the company offers the Bluetooth 5 USB adapter with either Raytac logo or no logo to resellers, so I imagine it will come to market soon. So far, I could only find MDBT50Q-P1M module  on eBay for about $9 plus shipping.

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8 Comments
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Ivo
Ivo
5 years ago

There is USB module already available on aliexpress for 10€ plus 3,25€ shipping. And modules for 6,77€ (CDSENET nRF52840)

Ivo
Ivo
5 years ago

That is the one, yes. The problem is, that this one does not have any IO-s exposed, so module is preferred option for me. Just received two modules, so i will dive into ZIGBEE/Thread/BT5.

rkantos
rkantos
5 years ago

Any news on the Zigbee support? Are there firmwares available?

RobBrownNZ
RobBrownNZ
5 years ago

What are people going to use these for? (Not a rhetorical question, I really want to know). Since this can’t do classic Bluetooth, it won’t connect to people’s headphones, keyboards etc. which will lead to a poor user experience for many (most?) people.

Jay
5 years ago

Yup. I was wondering the same. I was looking for a small dongle that would do Apt-X HD over BT5 for use on PCs/laptops that don’t have the hardware.

rkantos
rkantos
5 years ago

Probably the cheapest way to (if there’d be firmware available) determine heart rate (ANT+) and then switch on the Philips hue lights (Zigbee) to red :D… Ok you could still do it with BTLE and a cc2531 stick for around the same price.

animtakhnet
animtakhnet
5 years ago

This module is very handy if you want to avoid BLE driver stuff in Windows. Just load a firmware with all BLE settings and software with a cdc layer and some with some AT magic (or something else) and presto chango no more driver stuff.

Khadas VIM4 SBC