Using Bluetooth UART Module - HC-06 linvorV1.8

Time to try the Bluetooth Module I bought in China. Obviously other than a mark “SJ” it had no other information so I can not search any web site for more information. Fortunately the 4Pin bergstick has the signal named VCC, GND, TXD, RXD. There are two pads in the PCB in beginning and end of the bergstick with names WAKEUP & STATE. Further in the middle of the PCB there are 3pads name PIO5, 3V3 & PIO4.

Searching in Google, revealed the below facts:

1. The module I got is slave only & uses HC-06 firmware
2. The commands supported are
1. AT responds OK
2. AT+BAUDn where n=1 ... C (1=1200, 2=2400, 3=4800, 4=9600 (default), 5=19200, 6=38400, 7=57600, 8=115200, 9=230400, A=460800, B=921600, C=1382400). Responds OKnnnn. Retained across power offs.
3. AT+NAMEname where name 20 or fewer characters. Responds OKname. Retained across power offs.
4. AT+PINnnnn sets the pairing password. Responds OKsetpin.
5. AT+Pn where n is N (no parity), O (odd parity) or E (even parity). Firmware version higher than Linvor 1.5 only.
6. AT+VERSION responds with the firmware version

Sending SMS from PC to Samsung Galaxy S2 over Bluetooth

I have been a Nokia cellphone user for quite some time and I was fond of Nokia PC suite. Using this, I used to send SMS very quickly from my notebook. The connection between notebook and cellphone was through Bluetooth so I do not have to fiddle around with USB cable to connect / disconnect which will be a pain. Further Nokia PC suite gave all the facilities like, call monitoring (pop up message), contact management etc.

When I switched over Samsung Galaxy S2, I lost such facility. Yes, S2 has Kies & Kies air. Kies, I did not like because of USB cable and it did not support Bluetooth. Kies Air also did not serve the purpose because it called for S2 and Notebook being in the same Wi-Fi network. This also did not work for me as in office I use wired Lan with notebook and that is the networking method provided in office.

My initial search in web & google play gave lot of apps but all were effectively using USB or Wi-Fi. So finally I lost interest and used only the phone touch screen (though the speed is not as that of typing in Notebook keyboard).

Recently I started searching again and I stumbled upon the app "MyphoneExplorer" and finally it gave me the solution I was longing so far. It was not so straightforward and various web sites I searched was not giving a clear message whether it worked or not. So I thought of sharing by experience and wanted to say it works!

The steps I followed

1. My S2 firmware (just to establish the environment) - IMM76D.XWLPW 
2. Notebook OS - Windows 7 Ultimate
3. Enable Bluetooth in Notebook and S2 and pair them (OS will identify some drivers for S2 and still you may get the message driver not found - it is OK . Check in Control Panel as shown in the image below whether S2 is shown or not (ignore the exclamation marks - driver issue??).
   
   
4. Right click on the S2 phone go to properties. You will get a screen as show below. See that In services Tab, Serial port is shown and it is enable with a tick. If not, enable it and apply. Do not worry if your Notebook shows some other COM number instead of COM3, it is ok.
   
   
5. Install "MyPhoneExplorer Client" in S2 - The version I have installed is 1.0.22
6. Start MyPhoneExplorer Client - See images below. 




7. Download MyPhoneExplorer, PC side application from www.fjsoft.at/ . I downloaded version 1.8.4
8. Install the MyPhoneExplorer (should be straight forward, just couple of mouse clicks)
9. Start the application, goto File->Connect menu and see the below screen shots.
10. Select "Phone with Google Android OS" and click OK.

11. Select Bluetooth and click OK. 

12. Application will auto-detect the COM port and it is connected see below 

13. That's it, enjoy. Thanks lot to the developer F.J.Wechselberger (yes, I made very small donation to him).

Arduino + Bluetooth Module

My experiment with Aruduino + Bluetooth. Ordered Bluetooth module at ebay (approx $8). Got it in 8days. Had issues in making it work. First tried making connection in bread board and found soldering wires in the bluetooth module will be difficult. So took a small general purpose PCB and soldered few components.

Arduino working at 5V so for TX (arduino) to RX (Bluetooth) put 1K8 + 3K3 resistor voltage divider. For RX I just put 200R resistor in serial.

Two LEDs connected to PIO8 & PIO9 through 1K resistor to show activity & pairing status. Put Arduino Standard Firmata fw. Set baud rate 38400 in Firmata thinking bluetooth module default baud rate is 38400 (this is what I got from the bluetooth module PDF file).

Tried connecting from my Samsung Galaxy SII using Arduino Commander app. No response. Ultimately need to use scope to find out that bluetooth module default baud rate is 9600. Once I changed to this baud rate in Standard Firmata fw, I could connect to Arduino and communicate.

What is further? - Going to make this as IR transmitter to control TV etc