Developing with the nPM1304 PMIC
The nRF Connect SDK provides support for development with the nPM1304 Power Management IC (PMIC), using the nPM1304 Evaluation Kit (PCA10195).
nPM1304 features
nPM1304 is a PMIC with a linear-mode lithium-ion, lithium-polymer, and lithium ferro-phosphate battery charger. It has two dual-mode buck regulators, two dual purpose LDO/load switches, three LED drivers, and five GPIOs.
nPM1304 is the perfect companion for nRF52, nRF53, and the nRF54 Series SoCs. It is ideal for compact and advanced IoT products, such as wearables and portable medical applications.
For additional information on the nPM1304 PMIC and associated kits, see the nPM1304 technical documentation, especially the nPM1304 EK User Guide.
Boards compatible with nPM1304
The following boards in the Zephyr open source project and in the nRF Connect SDK are compatible with nPM1304 PMIC through the nPM1304 EK:
DK or Prototype platform |
Companion module |
PCA number |
Board target |
Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
nPM1304 EK |
PCA10156 |
nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp |
||
nPM1304 EK |
PCA10184 |
nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp |
– |
|
nPM1304 EK |
PCA10095 |
|
||
nPM1304 EK |
PCA10056 |
|
||
nPM1304 EK |
PCA10040 |
|
PMIC samples and libraries
The nRF Connect SDK provides several PMIC samples that demonstrate the features and capabilities of nPM1304 using the nPM1304 EK. The nRF Fuel Gauge library processes battery measurements made by PMICs and provides a state-of-charge (SOC) prediction, along with other metrics.
PMIC tools
The nRF Fuel Gauge library is supported by the nPM PowerUP app in nRF Connect for Desktop. You can use this application together with the library to derive a battery model for your product. For this purpose, you can use the nPM1304 EK that characterizes the battery using an active load circuit. See Evaluate nPM1304 using nPM PowerUP in the nPM1304 EK User Guide for more information.
Importing an overlay from the nPM PowerUP app
The nPM PowerUP app from nRF Connect for Desktop supports exporting a full configuration of the nPM1304 in devicetree overlay format. You can use this exported overlay file to quickly configure the nPM1304 in your application.
If there is no overlay file for your project, include the file directly in your app.overlay in the application folder.
If an overlay already exists, append the contents of the generated overlay to the existing file.
For more information about devicetree overlays, see Use devicetree overlays.
Building and programming for nPM1304
There is no firmware for nPM1304 that can be built and programmed onto the PMIC.
Instead, you need to connect the compatible development kit to nPM1304 and program that kit with the firmware.
Connecting the development kit to nPM1304
If you are using the nRF54L15 DK, follow the steps in Use the nPM1304 EK with an nRF54L15 DK in the nPM1304 EK User Guide. For other Nordic Semiconductor kits, use the wiring steps in the documentation for PMIC samples as reference (wiring for the Fuel gauge sample and wiring for the One button sample, respectively).
If you are using custom hardware, the wiring process is similar to the one for the nRF54L15 DK, but board-specific steps are different.
Programming the development kit with nPM1304-compatible firmware
Follow the detailed instructions in the building and programming sections of the PMIC samples documentation to build the sample and flash it to the compatible DK.