BlueDongle- PC Cant see it?

Hi

I have just baught the BlueDongle from SparkFun.

I have connected the mini USB to my laptop, and a “straight through” RS232 cable to the dongle and to my laptop.

The red led flashes periodically.

I have tried using Hyperterminal on COM1 9600baud rate, 8 bit, 1 stop bit and N parity. Hardware Flow control.

I cant type in “AT” on the terminal. Nothing happens. Echoing on Hyperterminal allows me to see “AT” typed (with great delay), but nothing happens this way either.

Can someone please help me to get the PC to see the BlueDongle?

Thank you in advance.

a.

Sounds like you’re doing everything right. You might try other baud rates…9600 is default, but…

One thing you could try…I just thought of this…if you’ve got the thing on a com port and you establish a bluetooth connection with it from another device, you’ll get “CONNECT blah blah…” on the port from the Bluedongle. If you get this, the device might have a disconnect on the TX line. But at least you’ll know that settings are right.

If all else fails, you can send it back to me and I’ll have a look. I’m supposed to be testing all of tehm before they ship, but it’s possible that one got to the shelf before I got to look at it.

Pete

Do you need to enter the escape sequence to enter command mode like you do on the BlueSMiRF device? ```
+++


Another thing to check is that you have the RTS and CTS lines connected to the PC or have the pins tied together if the lines are open. That tripped me up when I first hooked up my BlueSMiRF.

Hi

Thank you for your replies, Pete-O and Riden.

I have managed to get the PC to communicate with the BlueDongle (I can now send an AT command, an ATSI,2 and ATSI,4 commands.

Now I switch on teh remote- BlueSMiRF unit (powered through a voltage regulator by 5V). I connect the RTS and CTS pins together as well as soldering a blob across J1.

I see a green light flashing.

BUT when I type +++ to configure my SMiRF unit, on my Hyperterminal- i get nothing- ie no OK is returned, the Hyperterminal just sits there.

Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong?

(my TX and RX lines are unconnected at the moment on the SMiRF).

Thank you

a.

Hi

Just to follow up on this question.

Upon the suggestion of Peter-O I downloaded TermPro- a freeware off the Internet which I used instead of Hyperterminal.

In order to have the PC see the BlueDongle I found that I had to set the baud rate at 9600 as the manual states, but I had to set the Flow Control to NONE (not hardware control as specified in the manual).

This allowed the sending of AT type commands with no problem.

I messed around with the settings, and then there was no reassuring echo of “OK” from the dongle. After panicing and contacting Peter-O, I reset the system. This is done by pressing on the RST Switch. Keeping it depressed

and switching on the power. I held the switch depressed for 5 seconds.

Then typing the AT command returned the familiar “OK”.

So that was sorted.

Next I flipped to page 33 of the BlueRadio manual, and followed their instructions. In summary I set the BlueDongle as master, and the remote SMiRF as slave. The LED’s light up differently depending if its master or slave. I can then go into Data or Command mode at will. Page 33 has to be followed EXACTLY; and then the power of the system becomes apparant.

I had a PIC connected to the SMiRF. As soon as the connection is established, you can transfer data (but NOT BEFORE). I stream an

innocuous D23. and that appears on the TermPro.

So I am pretty happy with the Blue system.

The next step is to get my Visual C++ program to send the AT commands

to the SMiRF, and to read the data comming off the remote PIC+SMiRF.

Cheers

a.