I don't believe the TX and RX are working on my BlueSmiRF

Wireless & IoT
1

I can’t get the BlueSmirf to talk to anything via a serial cable. It does however connect to my laptop via bluetooth and the appropriate COM ports are installed. My applications recognized the virtual port, but will not communicate to the device connected.

I tried connecting COM1 to the RX and TX of the BlueSmirf. I opened a terminal for each port (com1 and com8). Anything I send from the BlueSmirf comes back to COM1 as garbage. If I send a “Y”, I get a “S” back on com1. If I send anothe “Y”, I’ll get “!!” back. These two receive characters will alternate everytime I press “Y”. All of the received characters are like this.

Also, I can’t receive on the BlueSmirf at all.

Do I need a RS232 level converter? I’m at the end of my things to try.

2

Yes you do need a level converter. In fact - you may have damaged the bluesmirf by using it without a level converter.

Cheers,

–David Carne

3

busonerd:
Yes you do need a level converter. In fact - you may have damaged the bluesmirf by using it without a level converter.

Cheers,

–David Carne

How can I tell if the Bluesmirf is damaged? It still seems to be working the same since I got it.

Let me clarify: if I connect TX and RX together on the smirf, I can see the recieved characters in HT.

4

Its probably ok for now - but if you’re going to connect the bluesmirf to rs232 voltage levels, you really need the level shifter.

Cheers,

–David Carne

5

MAX232?