Poor Data Transmission from Bluetooth Mate Silver

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello,

I’ve run into a bit of a wall trying to receive serial data on my computer being sent from an Arduino Pro Mini (3.3V / 8Mhz) connected to a Sparkfun Bluetooth Mate Silver module. More specifically, I’m attempting to receive MIDI data being sent from my Arduino over Bluetooth to monitor a connected battery’s voltage over time.

I use an application called Hairless Serial / MIDI bridge to do all the serial to MIDI and MIDI to serial conversions. This has worked great in the past and I’m fairly confident there’s nothing wrong with my code or my connections, and that the problem lies with the Bluetooth Silver for the following reasons:

  1. I’ve successfully tested my code and setup by connecting my Arduino to my computer with and FTDI to USB cable. When I do this, the Arduino transmits the intended MIDI messages to my computer and the Hairless MIDI Serial bridge is able to read them normally.
    .

  2. When I remove the direct FTDI USB cable connection from my Arduino and replace it with the Bluetooth Mate Silver, my computer does not receive the correct MIDI/serial information. Data is sent to my computer from the Bluetooth Mate Silver, but it seems like it’s getting garbled somehow in the process b/c the serial data does not survive the transmission and is only received as junk data.
    .

My Bluetooth Mate Silver is in “Slave” mode, so it should be capable of not only receiving data, but transmitting as well, right? I entered its command mode am pasting the information it provided about all of its settings below. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary that might prevent serial transmission to my computer, but maybe someone with more expertise with this module will be able to see something I’m missing:

Settings

BTA=0006666035FB

BTName=BlueTMate1

Baudrt=57.6

Parity=None

Mode =Slav

Authen=0

Encryp=0

PinCod=1234

Bonded=0

Rem=000666605C29

ADVANCED Settings

SrvName= SPP

SrvClass=0000

DevClass=1F00

InqWindw=0100

PagWindw=0100

CfgTimer=255

StatuStr=NULL

OTHER Settings

Profile= SPP

CfgChar= $

SniffEna=0

LowPower=0

TX Power=0

IOPorts= 0

IOValues=0

DebugMod=0

RoleSwch=0

Up until now I have only been sending data to the Bluetooth module, and this works fine. Now I’m stumped on how to receive data from it. Any troubleshooting ideas you have are very welcome. Many thanks!