SparkFun Forums

[dlc]

Hi all,

I have the $49 Bluesmirf dongle that I've connected to an Acroname serial/RS232 converter to a Keyspan USB/RS232 converter to Zterm. (whew) and a Bluetooth USB dongle in a Macintosh running Tiger 10.4.11. I'm trying to use the Bluetooth Setup assistant to pair with the Bluesmirf and getting no joy.

I've tried using both "default" and "1234" as the passkey but the Bluetooth Setup Assistant gives me a "The pairing attempt was unsuccessful. Hmph.

I also found a Bluesmirf AT command set PDF and tried talking to the Bluesmirf itself to see if it could tell me anything. That also failed. although I was able to "+++" in and "AT" gives me "OK", not one single AT command past that lonely "AT" works, they all send back "ERROR" with no other explanation.

Can some kind soul have pity on me and help me get this thing to work? I knew BT was hard to use, but I didn't think it was impossible!

Help me Obiwan Kenobi, your my only hope,
DLC

[Ryansway]

I'm experiencing similar issues with a bluesmirf received a week ago.

It shows up as "Firefly" with the default "1234". I can receive data on zterm, but it's complete gibberish.

I'm wondering if they've had a batch of bad ones, it's supposed to be easy and other BT devices are a breeze.

[dlc]

I'm experiencing similar issues with a bluesmirf received a week ago.

It shows up as "Firefly" with the default "1234". I can receive data on zterm, but it's complete gibberish.

I'm wondering if they've had a batch of bad ones, it's supposed to be easy and other BT devices are a breeze.

I got mine working on accident by trying different things in the BT setup assistant on my Mac. By checking the "this device does not need a passkey" option I got mine to pair up with a randomly selected USB/BT dongle that I had plugged in. That was cool. Tech support recently sent me a link to the proper control code documentation for the unit as well and now all is good. Send questions to "spark@sparkfun.com" the tech support has always answered well for me.

The SFE modules are nicely done, the main problem appears to be documentation. It is kind of chaotic (like my lab). A big help would be links to documentation and "how to's" on the product page pertaining to the device so that we could see what document went with which device. BT modules are particularly confusing and BT is not that easy to get working I've found. I've had several SFE devices and all worked great and were a decent deal and easy to use, but documentation is sometimes hard to find.

Keep trying and don't forget Google!
DLC

[Ryansway]

Thanks

I've spent about 18 hours on the problem so it's probably time to give up. Emails have been sent and received, but there was nothing in the replies that offered much enlightenment.

The ArduinoBT (BlueGiga WT11) suffered no such problem, and took less than 5 minutes to be set up and connected.

There's glibberish coming out of Bluesmirf on mac zterm, so it's connected and talking, but it's sending rubbish instead of ascii.

On the pc, XP sets it up alright, but nothing will connect to it. The Arduino IDE on the mac, won't show it in the serial monitor, because it says the com port is "busy".

So it's a real nut buster, it identifies itself as "Firefly" rather than sparkfunBT or bluesmirf, and yes, there is a real shortage on documentation. I got through 20 pages on google and still found nothing that would help.

So I'll wait to hear back from the ppl at sparkfun again, it's looking like I'll be sending it back to them because it's not working as the literature suggests it should.

[dlc]

Thanks

I've spent about 18 hours on the problem so it's probably time to give up. Emails have been sent and received, but there was nothing in the replies that offered much enlightenment.

The ArduinoBT (BlueGiga WT11) suffered no such problem, and took less than 5 minutes to be set up and connected.

There's glibberish coming out of Bluesmirf on mac zterm, so it's connected and talking, but it's sending rubbish instead of ascii.

On the pc, XP sets it up alright, but nothing will connect to it. The Arduino IDE on the mac, won't show it in the serial monitor, because it says the com port is "busy".

So it's a real nut buster, it identifies itself as "Firefly" rather than sparkfunBT or bluesmirf, and yes, there is a real shortage on documentation. I got through 20 pages on google and still found nothing that would help.

So I'll wait to hear back from the ppl at sparkfun again, it's looking like I'll be sending it back to them because it's not working as the literature suggests it should.

Rubbish coming out is a pretty good sign that the baud rate is mismatched. Check the commands PDF link on the page of the device to find out how to change the baud rate.

Yeah, I found probable commands reference on the page of the device, like I said would be useful. But it would be nice to see matching documentation. Everything I found that explained the devices was always for another device than the one that I had.

DLC

[Ryansway]

Thanks

I've spent about 18 hours on the problem so it's probably time to give up. Emails have been sent and received, but there was nothing in the replies that offered much enlightenment.

The ArduinoBT (BlueGiga WT11) suffered no such problem, and took less than 5 minutes to be set up and connected.

There's glibberish coming out of Bluesmirf on mac zterm, so it's connected and talking, but it's sending rubbish instead of ascii.

On the pc, XP sets it up alright, but nothing will connect to it. The Arduino IDE on the mac, won't show it in the serial monitor, because it says the com port is "busy".

So it's a real nut buster, it identifies itself as "Firefly" rather than sparkfunBT or bluesmirf, and yes, there is a real shortage on documentation. I got through 20 pages on google and still found nothing that would help.

So I'll wait to hear back from the ppl at sparkfun again, it's looking like I'll be sending it back to them because it's not working as the literature suggests it should.

Rubbish coming out is a pretty good sign that the baud rate is mismatched. Check the commands PDF link on the page of the device to find out how to change the baud rate.

Yeah, I found probable commands reference on the page of the device, like I said would be useful. But it would be nice to see matching documentation. Everything I found that explained the devices was always for another device than the one that I had.

DLC

It looks that way, except on the PC the Arduino IDE serial monitor should be spewing out the same glibberish if the baud was mismatched, instead, it does nothing.

If I knew what baud it might "possibly" be programmed at (the manual says its 115200) then I could change the arduino code to match.

On zterm, I've run through all the rates. But the serial out is configured at 115200, and initially I did try 9600, so it must be somewhere inbetween perhaps.

I'll try others and see what happens, its a labor having to rewire it for the USB serial, make the code changes, then wire the smirf back in.

[dlc]

Thanks

I've spent about 18 hours on the problem so it's probably time to give up. Emails have been sent and received, but there was nothing in the replies that offered much enlightenment.

The ArduinoBT (BlueGiga WT11) suffered no such problem, and took less than 5 minutes to be set up and connected.

There's glibberish coming out of Bluesmirf on mac zterm, so it's connected and talking, but it's sending rubbish instead of ascii.

On the pc, XP sets it up alright, but nothing will connect to it. The Arduino IDE on the mac, won't show it in the serial monitor, because it says the com port is "busy".

So it's a real nut buster, it identifies itself as "Firefly" rather than sparkfunBT or bluesmirf, and yes, there is a real shortage on documentation. I got through 20 pages on google and still found nothing that would help.

So I'll wait to hear back from the ppl at sparkfun again, it's looking like I'll be sending it back to them because it's not working as the literature suggests it should.

Rubbish coming out is a pretty good sign that the baud rate is mismatched. Check the commands PDF link on the page of the device to find out how to change the baud rate.

Yeah, I found probable commands reference on the page of the device, like I said would be useful. But it would be nice to see matching documentation. Everything I found that explained the devices was always for another device than the one that I had.

DLC

It looks that way, except on the PC the Arduino IDE serial monitor should be spewing out the same glibberish if the baud was mismatched, instead, it does nothing.

If I knew what baud it might "possibly" be programmed at (the manual says its 115200) then I could change the arduino code to match.

On zterm, I've run through all the rates. But the serial out is configured at 115200, and initially I did try 9600, so it must be somewhere inbetween perhaps.

I'll try others and see what happens, its a labor having to rewire it for the USB serial, make the code changes, then wire the smirf back in.

I put a serial LCD on the Bluesmirf device and used zterm to connect to the BT dongle serial port on the USB - I too got tired of the fiddle. Remember that the baud rate at the computer does not have to be the same as the one on the BS module.

If you have another USB/serial dongle, hook that one up and use Quickterm to talk to it. Zterm is a primitive terminal emulator and only allows one instance of it, so you have to use another terminal to have two terminals open at once.

DLC

[Ryansway]

Woa, something just happened. I typed in AT, and "it replied!" with "?"

... a few hours later

So it all works happily now on zTerm, but still won't work on ArduinoIDE mac, or pc.

I'll write a RB application and see if I can duplicate zTerm's success.

I discovered some very helpful information, at a blog (but I can't post it's address because of a rather bothersome word blocking thing this forum has. I'll try another time.)

For anyone using these "new" Bluesmirf / FireFly's with Arduino's, it's worth a read.

Try these key words in google

Project 3 Complete Bluesmirf

Thanks to TriggerDog and everyone here for their assistance. If I make any new discoveries, I'll be sure to post back.