MakerDiary nRF54L15 Connect Kit is a compact Nordic Semi nRF54L15 development board offering Bluetooth 6.0 LE, 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread), and NFC connectivity as well as two 20-pin headers for expansion.
It has the same form factor as the earlier nRF9151 Connect Kit board with LTE-M, NB-IoT, and GNSS connectivity, and still features an nRF52820 MCU connected over UART to the nRF54L15 to handle programming and debugging through the board’s USB-C port, as well as power management, and a button and a few LEDs.
nRF54L15 Connect Kit specifications:
- Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF54L15 wireless SoC
- CPU
- Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 128 MHz
- RISC-V coprocessor for “software-defined peripheral”
- Memory – 256 KB SRAM
- Storage – 1.5MB Non-volatile Memory (NVM)
- Wireless
- Bluetooth LE 6.0 (includes Channel Sounding)
- Thread, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4-2020)
- Matter
- Amazon Sidewalk
- Proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols with a new 4 Mbps mode
- NFC support
- CPU
- Interface MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52820
- CPU – Arm Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz
- Memory – 32 KB RAM
- Storage – 256 KB Flash
- Wireless – Bluetooth 5.2 LE and 802.15.4 radios (not used in this design)
- Purpose
- CMSIS-DAP support for debugging, programming, and modem firmware update support without any external tools
- USB-UART bridge for log, trace, and terminal emulation
- Interface Shell with commands to access the board-specific functionality
- Self-upgradable UF2 Bootloader
- USB – USB Type-C port for programming and battery charging
- Expansion
- 2x 20-pin headers and castellated holes with 31x multi-function GPIOs (8x can be configured as ADC inputs), VBUS, VSYS, GND; 1.8V or 3.3V I/O voltage
- Various test points/solder pads for USB, Reset, SWD
- Debugging – Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD) port
- Misc
- User and DFU/RST buttons
- 1x user LED for nRF54L15; Bootloader, UART, and CMSIS-DAP LEDs connected to nRF52820
- U.FL connector for 2.4 GHz antenna
- U.FL connector for NFC antenna
- Power supply
- 5V in via USB Type-C port
- 1.8 to 5.5V via VSYS pin
- TPS63901 buck-boost converter with 75-nA quiescent current and 1.8V/3.3V power supply for I/Os
- Dimensions – 55.88 x 20.32 mm
- Weight – 15 grams
The nRF54L15 Connect Kit ships with loose or soldered headers, as well as 2.4 GHz (WiFi/Bluetooth) and 13.56 MHz (NFC) antennas. It supports the nRF Connect SDK based on Zephyr RTOS, and MakerDiary published documentation, a getting started guide, and code samples on the wiki and GitHub.
We’ve covered two other nRF54L15 development boards so far: the official nRF54L15 DK from Nordic Semi and the tiny XIAO nRF54L15 USB-C board made by Seeed Studio. The nRF54L15 Connect Kit offers a middle ground with a more compact design than the official board, and more I/Os and NFC support compared to the XIAO board. However, it’s missing battery charging support.
MakerDiary sells the nRF54L15 Connect Kit exclusively on its online store for $21.90 with loose headers and $22.90 with pre-soldered headers. Both variants ship with NFC and WLAN/BT antennas. Prices exclude shipping and taxes.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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