Bluetooth-Serial Port Controller and Serial Wireless UART Cable Replacement

[zer0w1ng]

Hi all,

I had started a new bluetooth module project that I am planning to sell to students and hobbyist.  I want it to be low cost and easy to use and interface.  My target selling price may range from P1,000.00 - P1,600.00 depending on the quantity to be affordable.  Egizmo sells similar modules as this at P2,300.00 from their website.  My price is very low compared to them for it will be made by me and can be directly purchased and no third party dealers.

I have finished the PCB design and partial documentation.  The software will be done within next month, then I can start selling then.  I will be ordering the initial sampling batch of PCBs next week but I am not sure of the quantity to order.  If any of you are interested please state it here so I can order more quantity.

The draft specs is here http://www.microelektronics.com/files/btserial/BTSerial1.pdf .  Please give your comments or feature you want to include in this.

Excerpts from the partial docs:

BTSerial1
Bluetooth-Serial Port Controller and
Wireless UART Cable Replacement Module

BTSerial1 is a hobbyist friendly Bluetooth module that is easy to incorporate into projects.  It is on a wide DIP package that can be easily soldered into a through-hole PCB.  It has 10 general purpose I/Os that is controllable by the local serial port or remotely via Bluetooth.  Using as pair, the 2 controllers can be made into a wireless UART cable replacement.  Like a wireless link between a PC to a remote device or a mobile robot.

The controller may also be used as a wireless communications adapter to a Bluetooth cellular phone.  Using the standard Serial Port Profile (SPP), the controller can remote access the phone?s AT-commands via Bluetooth.  You now have complete wireless control of the phone and able to send/receive SMS, make modem calls and access the address book.

Technical Specifications:

Frequency	2.4000 ? 2.4385 GHz
RF Output Power	4dBm / Class2
RF Receiver Sensitivity	-82dBm
Built-in Antenna	Printed Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA)
Supply Voltage	3.0 - 3.3 Volts
Input/Output Ports (I/O)	10
I/O Input Voltage	+0.8V (low) / 0.7*VDD (high)
Input Pull-up Current	+40uA
I/O Output Voltage	0.2V (low) / VDD-0.2 (high)
Serial Port Baud Rate	9600 ? 115200 bps

[paranz]

very nice 

Sige po sir Zero post nyo lang po more infos dito i believe many are interested. I would like to buy one from you later

[zer0w1ng]

Thanks.  I will post more info here. 
And I need new ideas of features users want to include to add to the AT command set it will support.

Here is my second draft of the specs including the AT commands it will support and a sample session on one of its usage.
http://www.microelektronics.com/files/btserial/BTSerial1-draft2.pdf

[razalas]

I would like to buy at least 1.

[zer0w1ng]

Thanks for the interest.
I will post my updates here. I have been busy lately. I can only work on this during weekends for this is just a personal project.  I had found time during the holy week, so the project was started and 60% finished.  Hopefully around mid of April, I could have running prototypes.  It is now working on my bt demo board but have to test on actual hardware for the 10 I/O controls.

[mhondyhondy]

wow...mganda pong project yan...mura pa.... yaan mo po sir pag my proj uli using bluetooth bibili ako nyan....

[rdpzycho]

P1000 - P1600 

I am interested too...

[paranz]

sana final price is P1000.00 

tapos forum members have 50% discount 

[rdpzycho]

sana final price is P1000.00 

tapos forum members have 50% discount 

wala bang sample nito...

[zer0w1ng]

wala bang sample nito...

Hehehe...not yet.
But I am thinking, if I have them finished, I will donate 2 pairs here for PRIZES. Si sir Electron na lang ang bahala.

sana final price is P1000.00 
tapos forum members have 50% discount 

50% is too much! 
I have only a little mark-up here and spent a little time on the development.
But I am not greedy, I could give discounts to member on this forum. 
I am not sure yet also of the final pricing.  I have to buy the bt chips by bulk.  Its price is dependent on the quantity. So it is really dependent on how many I will build first.

wow...mganda pong project yan...mura pa.... yaan mo po sir pag my proj uli using bluetooth bibili ako nyan....

Thanks. And don't worry, if ever on your there are problems or you need help on using regarding the module I am here to support.

[zer0w1ng]

To those who haven't read the full specs, here is the list of AT-commands BTSerial1 supports:

AT<CR>
ATI<CR>
AT&F<CR>
AT+SETUART = <baud>,<stop>,<par><CR>
AT+IOSETDIR = <io>,<dir><CR>
AT+IOBULKSETDIR = <mask>,<bits><CR>
AT+IOSET = <io>,<state><CR>
AT+IOBULKSET = <mask>,<bits><CR>
AT+IOGET = <io><CR>
AT+IOBULKGET<CR>
AT+IOSETSAVE<CR>
AT+PINCODE = <pin><CR>
AT+SEARCH<CR>
AT+CANCEL<CR>
ATD><n><CR>
ATD <bdaddr> <CR>
ATDL<CR>
ATH<CR>
AT+LOCALNAME = ?<name>?<CR>

Their full description and usage is found here http://www.microelektronics.com/files/btserial/BTSerial1.pdf .
I may add others in the future.  I have not thought of any more.  But if you want to add a feature or a new AT-command, please tell me.  I could add it in the release if it is useful and needed.

[rdpzycho]

more power to you sir zerowing...

[zer0w1ng]

maganda yan pag na-add nyo sa labas ang control ng RTS pins o kaya pati na rin ang DTR. nakausap ko ang support ng actisys and sabi nila di daw pwede sa module nila yung manual toggling ng RTS pins. kaya di ko siya magamit for RS-485. ganoon din ang frustrations ng iba na nababasa ko sa net. malaking plus yan pag naisama yan imo...

I have already made the PCB design and ordered them.  There are already pins RTS and CTS but not on the DIP pins.  For DTR and DCD, 2 I/Os must be sacrificed for these.  I will try to add these feature.

[Supremo Mayor Kuya Johnaray]

Wow Im really interested Sir Zer0w1ng, hope I could purchase one this May. Sana turuan mo din kami paano paganahin ito thru experiments para sa mga newbie kagaya ko.

Sana nga 1K lang para affordable price at makapagstart na ako sa prospect hobby ko na Robot toy making!

[ahlburuto]

maganda sir yang project mu ah.... pwedeng pwede ko yang hook up dito sa smart relay ko sa bahay. magkano ba isa pag forum member ang bumili? I'm very much interested with it. anung span pala nang maging coverage nyan? at me pairing pa rin ba mangyari with other device?

tia

[Born2BeWired]

Very interesting and a good one. I believe you could well do it at your target price since you have minimal overhead and no bureacrazy to worry about .

Sir zer0w1ng, ano ang chipset na gamit mo? Pacopy ng SDK, he he!

Go for it and good luck!

[zer0w1ng]

Wow Im really interested Sir Zer0w1ng, hope I could purchase one this May. Sana turuan mo din kami paano paganahin ito thru experiments para sa mga newbie kagaya ko.

Sana nga 1K lang para affordable price at makapagstart na ako sa prospect hobby ko na Robot toy making!

Thanks for the interest.  I will post the final price when I will gave the bt chips.

maganda sir yang project mu ah.... pwedeng pwede ko yang hook up dito sa smart relay ko sa bahay. magkano ba isa pag forum member ang bumili? I'm very much interested with it. anung span pala nang maging coverage nyan? at me pairing pa rin ba mangyari with other device?

Pwede. The module is only class 2, it can reach 20meters if on low throughput but 10meters is the specified range like bluetooth cellular phones.
Yes you could pair this with a computer, cellphone, Bluetooth PDA or a Bluetooth GPS receiver.  This will use standard Serial port profile (SPP) and Dial-up Networking (DUN).  No final price yet.

Very interesting and a good one. I believe you could well do it at your target price since you have minimal overhead and no bureacrazy to worry about .

Sir zer0w1ng, ano ang chipset na gamit mo? Pacopy ng SDK, he he!

Go for it and good luck!

CSR chipset. The SDK is Bluelab 4.0 . I will PM you.

[7_SeVeN_7]

sir,

may balak kayo magdevelop ng Class 1?

[alyas]

Kindly reserve one for me.  Pwede ba pa maincrease output tx niya as in class 1 (100 meter range).

CSR chipset ang gamit mo .... the same CSR chipset in the blueetooth dongles that CDRKing is selling?  SO hhackable ba yung mga dongles na yun?

[zer0w1ng]

may balak kayo magdevelop ng Class 1?

Sorry I will not make one. Class 1 is expensive. It has a 2.4GHz amplifier, band-pass filters and RF switches additional.

Kindly reserve one for me.  Pwede ba pa maincrease output tx niya as in class 1 (100 meter range).
CSR chipset ang gamit mo .... the same CSR chipset in the blueetooth dongles that CDRKing is selling?  SO hhackable ba yung mga dongles na yun?

Sure.
Increasing to class 1 will increase the cost (see above).  Sorry, I won't make it on this release but if I can find cheap class 1 I may make one.  BTW, egizmo bt module is also class2.  Cellphones also are class 2.

For CDRKing dongles, I guess they are using BC4 rom-based module to be cheaper.  But I am not sure of this.  I have not bought and opened one.  ROM-based chips are not hackable. 

If you have one, you could check that if it has an additional 8pin eeprom chip, it is a rom-based module.  The calibration and settings are stored in the eeprom on ROM-based chipset.  If it is flash-based, it is hackable and all settings, firmware and calibration are stored in the flash.