Bluetooth Datalogging options

[roachdogg28]

Im truly sorry for how this has been covered, but i feel this is somewhat a different question.

Many bluetooth rs232 db9 adapters are out there, with the one sold with shadowlogger being the best plug and play in my opinion, during research i came across these little chips. Is it possible or worthwhile to hardwire these into the pins on the bottom of the pcb at the serial port? If it could work, it would be entirely internal and at 10$, a good budget option. Its stated to have a default 9600 baud rate which would work for MS1 extra, but not for ms2/3. Even if it works in theory i would be concerned it would create unnecessary interference with all the other crap going on in the ecu.

Am i taking the dreaming to far? Let me know if im crazy.

Example:
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/serial-bluet ... rs232.html

[Dale M.]

I would buy one.... Hook it up to DB9 connector/cable and plug it in for a test.... IF it worked in a test configuration, there is probably not any problem putting it on circuit board....

Only problem I see is antenna would be shielded inside metal box of ECU.... Range (signal in/out ) may be a issue...

Dale

[roachdogg28]

Too true, i agree signal would most likely be an issue, but it looks like the board antennae is a copper trace. Maybe can solder on an extension? I recently demolished a wireless router for IC parts, and i gots some antennae to check out when i get home tonight; i think they have nuts to mount to a case.

[roachdogg28]

Sorry for the link to ebay, but this one is even better. Ships from my state, has a header with cable, and its encapsulated. From what i can find online, most of these have 6 VDC limit and actually have adjustable baud rates, but i wonder how its adjusted.

I think it would be hard to adjust the baud rate on these from the partnered bluetooth device.

[roachdogg28]

O nvm. I just researched more and found what i was looking for in the msextra forums. Apparently Pile has already thought about it amongst others and they concluded its too riskay to be worth the 40-50$ savings.

Also the wiring to even try it seems like a nightmare. Maybe i'll think about it further after i finish advanced circuit classes, and if i decide to go BT datalogging ill go with a db9 adapter.

[Piledriver]

You can get a basically plug-and-play setup for ~50 shipped.

To set the baud rate, you use any terminal program (hyperterminal, minicom, puTTY , whatever)
Some units even have DIP switches for some settings or a custom setting Windows program, but they tend to cost a little more.

There's a fellow on ebay selling a kit for ~$30, seems to be viable, allows serial cable OR BT, but some assembly required.

I like being able to move mine, my MS setups have been breeding, now I have 3.

[MegaRookie]

This is the way I got it working. Its the same chip you describe, but it got two DB9 connections, one you can use for the setup of the rate, and one for the connection to the MS. The adapter is outside the MS, and I got the T and R signal from the bottomside of the PCB:





I started with using the "normal" db9 connection, but I just couldn't get it working in TS. After connecting it directly to the PCB it worked. (i got the idea of the MS extra forums) I can make some pictures of the final setup if you wish.

Mark

[roachdogg28]

That is awesome Megarookie!!! I kind of forgot about this cuz it thought it was to riskay, but it seems like its working out for you. I would love to see as many photos as you have of it. Also whats the range on the little guy?

[MegaRookie]

We'll, your lucky, cause I just finished another one for the MS1 of a friend of mine! so I had the possibility to take some pictures.

Also some more information which I used to get it working:

MS board schematics: http://www.msextra.com/doc/general/ms2v3schems.html:
Here you can find that pin 11 and pin 12 of the MAX232 chip will be the TX and RX connection to the adapter.

And you can also get the information of what pin of the DB9 you should use to connect to the adapter (pin 5 is ground and pin 9 is the VCC (5v +))

Here I got more information about the adapter I bought: (it took about 14 days from china to the Netherlands) http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=975008

And here some more of the connection to the MS PCB: http://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic ... 22&t=43883

Be sure you do the setup with hyperterminal the right way. The adapter I used was setup correctly for bitrate 9600, so perfect for MS1, and with typing the text AT+BAUD8 in notepad, and copying it to hyperterminal the adapter will be setup to the bitrate of 115200. (when it works you get the message 115200OK (or it was OK115200, i don't remember). Be sure you setup the flowrate of the COM-port to none at the Windows. I didn't need to use the jumper, but some do. I also removed the reset? button on the adapter, one was allready halfway removed at arrival.

I think thats about it with the writeup. If you have any questions please contact me, or post them here, so everybody can read it.

The range of my module was about 5 meters (= about 16 feet, then the TS gauge started to hesitate). And thats enough for me. When you turn off the ignition the adapter goes offline, but when you put the ignition back on it automatically reconnects.

Next thursday we will connect and test the adapter to the MS1, so i'll have some more information about using it with megatune and MS1.

Mark

The pics of the MS1 adapter:

[supaninja]

Megarookie, where did you order the adapter from?

[MegaRookie]

Hi Ninja,

I ordered it from ebay, I don't know if it is allowed to post it here, but when not, I hope the moderators will delete it:

click

Mark

[roachdogg28]

Not to question your ways Megarookie, but why did you opt to wire the VCC into the ecu when like in the rx7 forum they wired the VCC to the pin 9 on the db9 connector, that way it is easily removable?

Thankyou very much for all the info and photos on this, im going to try it. Hopefully i can find a nice fat piece on heatshrink to cover it. I may try to use an antennae on it though.


Also ran across this, the guy might make a little cash, but hes not really doing anything as you can buy the exact product for 12$. Basically he sells instructions and the bluetooth preconfigured shipped to your door for 38$ lol, but if someone is lazy, it might be an option.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Megasquirt-Blue ... 4cfe806e73

[MegaRookie]

Hi Roachdogg,

Thnx for your reply. If you check the schematics at the MSextra website, you'll see that pin 9 of the db9 is allready connected to the VCC inside the MS. So I didn't change anything to that. I only took the pin 11 and 12 of the 232 chip inside the ECU, which will not be easy to disconnect, but possible. I used two black and two red wires in my setup (I know it could be a littlebit confusing). And I used a longer red wire for the MS1 setup, because he doesn't have a lot of space were the MS is mounted.

Mark

[roachdogg28]

Im trying to think of a way to make it entirely removable. Those wires you ran to the ecu can't pull the signal from the db9 connector? I have an old school laptop that doesn't have BT, so usb/serial and BT is what im trying for.

[roachdogg28]

So today i got my bluetooth adapter after a little over a month.(hongkong-hate it). I followed this little write up, http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=975008. Im very appreciative for the write up this dude did, its amazing.

So i removed the F db9 and attached a jumper from vcc on the header to pin 9 of the M db9 connector. Popped tha SOB in and it worked right off the bat. It was only this easy fr me cuz im using 9600 baud for ms1. For ms2/3, one would need to attach a temporary jumper in place to set the baud rate in hyper terminal or similar program.

The thing has a tiny led that flashes pretty bright red when unconnected, and solid red when connected. Its entirely removable with nothing extra needed ran to the ecu pcb. These things are frickin' tiny. Its as small as the Male serial cable connector end, at about 3 times the size of a usb bluetooth dongle. Range was pretty damn good at around 10-15ft. Im still wondering if i should solder on one of these spare router antennaes i have...

For the entire bluetooth communication project i payed 30$ for a phone and 14$ for the usb adapter, so 44$ in total plus maybe a fat peice of shrinkwrap.

Here's a finised shot without flux cleaning and final shrink wrap.