Print Date: 24/05/2005 Product Manual BL-819 / 830 RS232 Bluetooth Adapters Version: 6.0 Brainboxes Limited, Unit 3C, Wavertree Boulevard South, Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool, L7 9PF, UK Tel: +44 (0)151 220 2500 Fax: +44 (0)151 252 0446 Web: www.brainboxes.com Email: sales@brainboxes.
1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................................4 1.1. PREAMBLE ............................................................................................................................................................................4 1.2. PRODUCTS AND FIRMWARE ..................................................................................................................
10.1. SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT DATA LOGGING: ...........................................................................................................................37 11. CUSTOM FACTORY CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................................................37 12. TROUBLESHOOTING........................................................................................................................................................38 13.
1. Introduction 1.1. Preamble Brainboxes’ RS232 Bluetooth adapters are fully embedded, stand-alone Bluetooth solutions, which will Bluetooth enable any device with an RS232 port. Unlike many of Brainboxes wide range of Bluetooth products, the adapters do not require any additional Bluetooth software. For many applications, a Bluetooth Adapter used in combination with another Bluetooth product (e.g.
2. Physical Product Features 2.1. BL-819 / 830 Reset button See section 6 for more details on how to use the reset button. LED The Green LED on the top of the device indicates the current device status. There are 3 states that the light will indicate; Permanently On – The device has power but no Bluetooth Connection Flashing – The device has power and has a Bluetooth Connection On when power is applied, then permanently off – This occurs when the device is in Upgrade mode. 2.2.
3. Product Configuration This device contains a comprehensive set of Bluetooth and COM port features which can be changed from an easy to use Windows Configuration Application. This section gives full details about the changes that can be made, how to make them, and the implications the changes will have on the manner in which your Adapter behaves. 3.1. Configuration features at a glance Below is a quick list of the configuration options that are available from the configuration application.
3.3. Opening the Configuration Applications After attaching your Adapter to an available COM port on your Computer, either start the application by double clicking the new application icon located on your desktop or go to “Start/All Programs/Brain Boxes Software/RS-232 Bluetooth Adapter Configuration Tools/RS-232 Bluetooth Adapter Configuration Utility”, as shown below. The Configuration Wizard is also opened in the same manner. 3.4.
This Screen will allow you to change the RS-232 Port settings for communication to the Adapter. Baud Rate, Parity and Stop Bits can be changed to suit the type of connection your applications require. NB It is possible to select higher baud rates than a standard RS-232 port can achieve. If this does happen and configuration becomes impossible please perform a long reset (See Section 6) The Standard Bluetooth Properties of the Adapter are presented next, along with the MAC address of the device.
The Low power modes can be turned on or off here. The settings button will allow you to configure the particular parameters that are used for both Sniff and Park Mode. The Last configuration options are the Bluetooth Connection Settings.
3.5. Using the Configuration Utility The Configuration Utility will display allowing selection of the appropriate COM port settings for the Adapter device you have attached to the port: COM Port: Select the port number of the COM port to which you have attached your adapter. Select “Auto” if you don’t know the number and the utility will attempt to find the device for you. Other Settings: Select the other parameters to match those that have been set on the adapter.
The application will now load. There may be a short delay whilst the device is detected and its current configuration is queried and the appropriate fields are populated. As a rule, sections on the left-hand side of the application display information about your device. Settings cannot be changed here. Sections on the right-hand side are where settings can be changed as well as viewed. Useful “tips” are displayed if the cursor is “hovered” over various fields to help explain those options.
3.6. Current Settings The Current Settings section is broken down into two sections; Local Device Settings and Partner Device Settings. Each field will be discussed further below. When the Current Settings has been selected, an additional section appears in the left-hand section called Default Settings. Both sections can be expanded at the same time to enable the user to view the current settings and the default settings at the same time.
PIN Code The PIN (Personal Identification Number) is used to create a secure and trusted connection between 2 Bluetooth devices during a process called pairing or bonding. The PIN can be any combination of printable characters. The PIN is only used when the adapter is configured to be in security mode 2 or 3 (High or Medium security). The factory set PIN is “1234”. This can be changed and you may enter your own combination up to a maximum of 16 characters.
Connect Using Clicking the arrow on the far right of this field shows a drop down list of the available service options. It should be noted that this feature does not actually query the remote device for its supported services, so you must be sure that your remote device actually supports your selection. This feature can be used to connect to remote devices that support DUN, LAN or FAX services i.e. some Bluetooth phones will only let devices that are Dial Up Networking clients to connect to them.
3.7. Advanced Settings The Advanced Settings section contains a more detailed range of settings that are least likely to require modification for any particular scenario to work. Each field will be discussed further below. When the Advanced Settings has been selected, an additional section appears in the left-hand section called Default Settings. Both sections can be expanded at the same time to enable the user to view the current settings and the default settings at the same time.
Security Mode The factory set security mode is 3 (Highest). This field has 3 available settings from the drop down list: 1) Selecting option “1” will immediately place your adapter into security mode 1. This is the lowest security mode that the Adapter can be configured to. Connections, including service discovery, can take place without the need for “pairing” or “bonding”.
Switch Role This Function will allow an RS-232 Bluetooth Adapter to connect to another device as a Client, then when the connection has been made, to switch the role to Server. This option is required if you wish to connect two or more adaptors to a control device, with the adaptors initiating the connection. NB, the adaptors are only capable of being connected to one other device at time. Class of Device Some remote device applications will only communicate to devices of a certain type.
Low Power Mode This setting allows the selection of either Park or Sniff low power modes. These can be used to reduce the power consumption of the adapter when an active Bluetooth connection exists. These settings only reduce power consumption when a Bluetooth connection is present. They do not affect the power consumption of the adapter while it is inquiring, waiting for a connection or trying to make a connection. The setting requires the connecting device to also support the selected low power mode.
3.8. Default settings The “Default Settings” section is simply a display page showing all the configuration options either as they were set in the factory (default or custom) or as the user has chosen to update them from this application or menu. These are the settings that will be restored if the “Restore Default” icon is selected at the bottom of the page.
4. Alternative Product Configuration 4.1. Accessing the configuration menus and commands. The adapter’s configuration menu is available at any time that there is no Bluetooth radio connection established with another device (unless of course you have selected the option to disable the menu). As soon as a Bluetooth connection is made, the data sent to the Adapter will be sent over the radio link to the remote device.
Select the Port that you have connected the adapter to. All other fields will then be “greyed out” then Click OK. Select the communications parameters that your device is configured to. In this example we have used the factory defaults normally applied. If you have previously reconfigured these values, then you will need to make sure the settings here match those you have configured to device to be. Click OK HyperTerminal should now be running. Now hit the “Enter” key once.
4.2.2. Main Menu Sending the “Enter” character to the adapter accesses its main menu. This is also sometimes referred to as “Carriage Return”. All basic configuration options for adapter are accessed via this menu. Advanced features are not available from the menu interface. Users wishing to alter “advanced” settings can do so by either using the Windows Configuration application documented above, or by using the commands documented below. 4.2.3.
Next the user is prompted to set the adapter’s Parity. Options here are None, Odd or Even. “Esc” skips this selection leaving the current setting unchanged. Then the user is prompted to change Stop bits. Options here are 1 or 2. Pressing “Esc” skips this selection leaving the current setting unchanged. The user is then asked if they wish to Apply the new settings immediately. If settings are not immediately applied, the changes will only take effect after the Adapter has had it’s power cycled.
The Currently configured partner device is shown (if any). The user is then prompted to enter a new partner device address. To keep the same partner, or skip this option, press the “Esc” key Next the user is prompted to choose a role for the device (the current one is identified). “s” chooses Server, “c” chooses Client or “Esc” skips this section leaving the current setting unchanged. The user is then prompted for a new PIN to be entered.
The first screen that displays shows the current state of the adapter’s settings. If any settings have been modified by the user following the instructions above, then this list will differ from the default (factory) settings Selecting option 2 from this menu shows the original factory settings for the product (if viewing for the first time). The one item that will be different for each individual product will be the local device setting.
4.2.8. Upgrading Firmware 3.0 This feature is only available from firmware version 3.0 onwards. Upgrade DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) is an option to be taken seriously as it has the potential to leave your product in an unusable state.
4.3. Command Interface This interface has been developed primarily to support programming access to the configuration settings by an application such as our own configuration application, but can also offer a powerful human operated (e.g. via HyperTerminal) command driven interface in it’s own right. Additionally, the commands can be placed in a Text/script file and sent (e.g. by HyperTerminal) in one go to the adapter. The “scr” command is strongly recommended for use in this scenario.
5. Remote Configuration One of the great features of Brainboxes RS-232 Bluetooth Adapters is the ability to be remotely configured. For example, a Bluetooth connection can be created from a second device and that second device can change the baud rate, local name or any of the settings of the adapter over the Bluetooth link. This is achieved by the adapter presenting two services to connect to; one is the standard serial port service and the other is a remote configuration service.
7. Upgrading your device If you have installed the Configuration Utility already, the Upgrade application will also have installed and a shortcut will be placed onto your desktop. Otherwise browse the CD, navigate to the “Adapter Configuration Utility” directory, and run the “Setup.exe” application. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the application. This will create an entry in your start menu as well as a desktop shortcut. Run the application by selecting it from the “Start” menu.
Select the COM port to which you have connected your product. (Remember to close the Configuration Utility or Hyper Terminal application if you still have either open) Then Click “Next”. Point the upgrade wizard to the upgrade file you wish to use. These upgrade files all have the extension .dfu and the latest version is available from the Brainboxes website. NB The BL-819 and the BL-830 have their own distinctive version of firmware.
Assuming you have selected the correct options, the wizard will detect the product connected to the selected port and begin the upgrade. This may take a few minutes, as the wizard will automatically make a copy of the firmware currently on the device before uploading the new version. A progress bar indicates how the procedure is going. If everything went well the final screen should show indicating any further action that may be required.
8. Physically connecting to your RS232 device 8.1. Configuring the communications parameters. The adapters do not have the ability to auto-detect the communications parameters (e.g. baud rate) so they must be configured to match the data rate used in the application to which they are connected. Please refer to section 4.2.3 above, for details on how to do this.
9. Connecting adapters over Bluetooth. There are 3 scenarios in which adapter can be connected via Bluetooth. This section details all 3 methods. a) Client/Server Pair: 2 adapters, configured to perform a “true” cable replacement.
9.1.2. Configuration by Menu Select option 2 from the “Main Menu” menu to display the Bluetooth settings menu shown below left. You should enter here the Bluetooth Address (BD_ADDR) of the remote (server) device you wish to pair (in our case this is 000A-4F-00082D) followed by ENTER. This should be in the same format as indicated on the products label (NAP-UAP-LAP, for those of you who know) Press “Esc” to skip this section Press C to select the client option.
Access the Adapter you wish to change to “Client” for command mode as documented above and send the following commands: padd = 000A-4F-00082D svr = 0 Now power cycle your Adapter and it will attempt to connect to the server device. 9.2.
9.3.4. Secure the relationship This is where you must “Bond” or “Pair” with the device. This is a feature of Bluetooth, which allows secure communications to take place. It is also used to stop other devices from performing unauthorised connections. You can start the bonding process by selecting and right clicking on your adapter from the main screen. This brings up a context menu from which you should select the “Bond” option.
9.3.6. Connect your application to the new COM port In our initial testing at our labs, we use the HyperTerminal application included in Windows to open the new COM port. See documentation above for details of using the HyperTerminal application 10. Worked Examples 10.1. Scientific equipment data logging: In this example we have connected a Tektronix TDS220 Oscilloscope to a adapter and plugged in the power adapter included. No additional cables or gender changers were used in this application scenario.
12. Troubleshooting In the rare occasion that you experience difficulties using this product, please read the following suggestions from the table below before contacting our support team. Symptom Description Solution Data doesn’t seem to be received by the product, but seems to be sent by it (e.g. data only travelling in one direction) This is normally the result of the product being configured as requiring RTS/CTS handshaking, but being plugged into a device which does not support it.
13. Technical Specifications Qualified Output Power: > 0 dBm < +4.0 dBm @ 25 oC Receive sensitivity Single Slot = -83 dBm with 0.1% BER 13.1. Storage and Operating Environment 13.1.1. Storage Temperature: -10oC to +60oC Humidity: 8% to 95% non-condensing 13.1.2. Operational Temperature Humidity : 0oC to +40oC : 20% to 75% non-condensing 13.2. Power requirements 13.2.1. Input Voltage Requirements The product was qualified using a fully rectified AC/DC power supply supplying 550mA @ 5V.
14. Regulatory Information Bluetooth product operating in 2.4GHz band for Home and Office use. 14.1. Europe – EU Declaration of Conformity This device complies with the R&TTE Directive 1999/5/EC, and the following standards: EN 301 489-1 EN 301 489-17 Electromagnetic compatibility and radio spectrum matters( EMR); Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standard for radio equipment and services.
Version History Version Date Author 1.0 2.0 06/01/2003 10/01/2003 Gav Gav 2.1 3.0 14/01/2003 03/04/2003 Gav Gav 3.1 11/04/2003 Gav 3.2 11/04/2003 Gav 4.0 26/08/2003 Gav 4.1 5.0 5.1 04/09/2003 26/09/2003 10/12/2003 Gav Gav Gav 5.2 22/03/2004 Michelle Best 5.3 20/09/2004 Michelle Best 6.