If you are looking for a replacement of a Bluetooth HID, v6.15 firmware on the Bluetooth Mate Gold https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12580, BlueSMiRF Gold https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12582, Bluetooth Mate Silver https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12577, and BlueSMiRF Silver https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12576 will have the ability to use the HID protocol. You just need to change the configuration settings of the bluetooth to use HID. We also have the that has lower range. Just look on page 60 of the product manual that is posted on the product pages of those bluetooths.

1. I wired CTS-I to RTS-O because I wasn't going to use any flow control. Then I gave the board 5V. Found the device with the Windows XP Bluetooth utility in control panel just to see if it was alive. "1234" is the passkey. Cool. Disconnected it.
2. Using a SparkFun FTDI Basic Breakout, I wired the connections for ground, TX and RX. Opened Hyperterminal. Connected to it at the default 115200. Typed $$$ and CMD appeared, red light flashed fast instead of slowly. Typed "SU,96" to change the baud rate to something my PIC could communicate at. AOK was response.
3. Wired up a PIC and programmed it to pause 5 seconds, then serially output "Hello World" followed by a return and line feed. Goto start of program.
4. Restarted, paired, opened Notepad. Pause. "Hello World" CR "Hello World" CR "Hello World." Success.
   This device will become the transmitter of a transport for a digital audio workstation. Record, undo, play, return-to-zero. Transmit all keyboard shortcuts and macros with hardware buttons. Record guitar and vocals in acoustically good rooms of the house, away from computer noise. Longer range than a wireless keyboard. This is a good product, just read all the stuff. I hope this conceptual framework gives somebody a start.

Is there any way to switch this from HID profile to SPP profile. I am inexperienced with Bluetooth. I bought the HID version by accident, since I am a bit short of cash for DIY projects, I don't want to buy another. Thanks for any help you can give!

Where are the arduino examples?

Any chance you guys could show an example on how to interface this to an Arduino?

I posted a RN42-HID python console that can be used with the FT232 break-out boards for easy prototyping and configuration. The console allows you to enter/exit command mode, set HID configuration mode, and send raw HID packets. I would not recommend this product for new development though as Microchip provides no support whatsoever and HID-gamepad functionality is crippled. Look into the Bluegiga WT-12 module for this application.

You can find the link here: https://github.com/shraken/rn42-hid-console

Hello. I am trying to get this into SSP as I bought the wrong one ( I didn't want HID). I can't get it into command mode, and I read in the datasheet that I can factory reset to restore the profile to SSP from HID. I have tried to tie the PIO4 high three times, as in the datasheet requirements, and have been unable to get a factory reset. Anyone else try a factory reset?

Is it possible I have a damaged modem? It responds to some commands, but to others it returns ERR. The Get commands work, as do the standard E, D, O, and X (they display a list of various settings). Example (copy/paste from serial monitor):

[SEND] $$$     // enter command mode
CMD
    [SEND] S~,6    // set the profile to HID
AOK
[SEND] SA,0           // set authentication to None
AOK
[SEND] SN,something     // set name to Something
ERR
[SEND] SH,0220   // set HID register to Mouse
ERR
[SEND] SF,1             // reset to factory defaults
ERR

The order of commands doesn't matter, the commands that don't work just don't work no matter what I do. Any ideas?

Hi,

I just received by BlueSmirf HID today, and the keyboard mode (default) works fine, but how do i change it to mouse mode?

I cant enter command mode, as when i turn it on, the red stat light blinks at 1 second interval indicating the config timer has run out! I'm not sure, why that is! The literature says it should be blinking at a rate of 2 flashes per second for the first 60 seconds, but that is not the case.

Why is this so?

Does anyone know if it is possible to send 3DOF information using any of the HID profiles included?

The joystick profile seems to send X1, Y1, X2 and Y2, is there any Z or do I use X2 in its place????

Hi I am just wondering will this be able to create a bluetooth keyboard that can work on a PC or anything that supports a bluetooth HID profile? Thanks.

Hi Sparkfun, why this model is not available anymore? I have an old one that went bad (cannot factory reset the device or communicate using TTL), and I want to replace it. Is seems the my only alternatives are your newer models, all come without the breakout board or without HID, or buying Adafruit's Blufruit EZ-key for prototyping. Can you please enlighten me - did I miss something? Or did you simply stop providing HID prototyping solution?

Really pleased with these! I just got 4, and they all work out of the box, no questions asked. Super easy to configure, very stable connection, no problems when pairing. I have 4 of them connected to my mac tower now, as keyboards, been stable for hours now!

hey everyone I am kind of new to this so I have a question. I would like to buy and build a Bluetooth device that can receive and output data. what is the parts that I would need? I know I need the Bluetooth Modem - BlueSMiRF HID and the a breakout board, but I know I need more then that so can someone show me a list of things I would need. So again I'm very new to all of this and if there is a good starter kit I would like to see it, if anybody knows of one.

Hello, is there a way to check whether a device is connected to my BlueSMiRF HID? I'm trying to realize a Bluetooth Presence Detection. I want to trigger events when a smartphone automatically connects to the BlueSMiRF HID. Using the HID profile was the only possibility to enable the automatically connection of an iPhone. Now I just need to check if a device is connected to the module. Unfortunately the module is switching from command mode to data mode when my smartphone is connected. Is there any way to send a status string over the serial port to my Arduino when the connection state is changing? Many thanks in advance for your help.

Is there any way to get this working as a MIDI HID? Or are there any other products that could assist with plug-and-play MIDI over bluetooth?

Got the device to connect with a pc as a keyboard but no keystrokes get to an app i.e. notepad. Using HID raw reports. but no keystrokes at PC end. Any ideas about what might be happening.

hii sir i have bluesmirf silver bluetooth and i configured in arduino uno board but after changes in command it wont b discoverable it cant b seen in my bluetooth devices the red light is on but it cant connect or shown in my bluetooth scan list so how can i do waiting for ur reply

Anyone know what could be wrong with my configuration if I'm getting an interrupted signal every five seconds? Everything else is functioning properly and it immediately re-pairs. Here's how I configured the BlueSMiRF: S~,6 (HID profile) SH,0220 (Mouse) SU,38 (correct baud rate for program 38400) SA,4 (authentication mode, all seem to work fine) SM,6 (Pair)

Also can't seem to make the F,1 command work (fast data mode). I have a feeling this might be my problem, but I'm stuck.

Hi, I purchased this module (firmware 6.15 if I'm not mistaken) and was unable to keep a steady link to my Mac, having it setup as Mouse (SH,0220), it would start communicating correctly, but at around 7 seconds would stop communicating, as if the link went down, but it showed as it was still up.

I tried a couple of different settings and ended up setting the timer to 0 with ST,0 and Trigger Mode with SM,2 . Well, this didn't work either, but now I was unable to change the settings as the timer was set to 0. But at the time I din't worry because I could always use PIO4 to make a factory reset.

Well, this is where I'm stuck right now, seems like PIO4 isn't working for me, I tried starting PIO4 High and then low-high several times. Once I power it, it blinks really fast, but I can't be sure if it is 2 or 3 times, seems like 3 times. According to the manual this should trigger the Factory Reset and now I would only need to go low-high-low-high and it would Factory Reset the module and I would just need to power-down and use it again with the default settings and start-over. But this isn't working.

I was wondering if someone could help me out on this.

Thanks for the time.

Trying to get a serial msr to transmit to pc, got it to send something, "FFFFF", have read manual over but cant figure out what i'm missing, hardware or settings...

Can't make sense of toggling the virtual keyboard in the Users Manual. Does anyone have some code they could share? Looking to build a bluetooth barcode reader with an Arduino so I need to be able to toggle the keyboard. I can currently scan barcodes into the iPhone via HID but I can't get the keyboard to toggle for the life of me!

I will say that I bought two of these a year ago and they now collect dust after many failed attempts to get them working. I would not expect to be able to create your own hid device with these. The manuals roving networks supplies are like reading hieroglyphics. They don't give any examples anywhere on how to setup custom descriptors. You won't find any tutorials on using them unless you want to use the factory setting of "wireless keyboard". I think Sparkfun should supply tutorials for products like these if they are going to sell them. But from what I've seen of the USB hid stuff is, people just expect you to copy and past other people's vague interpretations of HID tables. So unless you are going to become a HID/USB guru over the course of years, find something else. these boards offer very little in simplifying anything. It's a shame.

Can the D+/D- of a USB device send data through the TX/RX pins of this device? I ask because the RN-42 has dedicated USB D+/D- pins that are not broken out. My project is to make a USB game controller into a wireless Bluetooth game controller.

For you that have problems with this module, I wrote a arduino library for the communication between this module and a arduino leonardo.. Try it out here: https://github.com/baselsw/BPLib

//Basel

Hi,

Good module but it seems to disconnect and never keep the connexion to my computer, I saw a few settings in the manual I'd like to activate but I can't get to the config mode. ( also oddly I don't have any PIN code on my unit )

I tried what @ElectronicsNerd suggested to get to the config of the bluetooth module I've been using my lilypad FTDI to try to configure it but it won't communicate as the FTDI is detected but using goSerial on Mac OS X doesn't output anything. Also I've tried uploading a sketch to an arduino Uno in the hope of having the sketch configure the bluetooth module but for some reason I think that using Serial.print() doesn't quite work to get to the config mode. And, I'm speculatingm but I thing that when I turn on the serial monitor the code from the sketch prints out instead of going to the bluetooth module.

Has anyone been able to configure this module via a sketch or FTDI recently?

PS : to upload sketches I have to take the bluetooth module offline otherwise I get upload errors.

hey i am new to this stuff how does this have only 6 contacts while the RN-42 has 32 how does it work? is it capable of everything the bluetooth module itself is?

I'm having trouble using the BlueSMiRF HID as a mouse. I've been able to enter command mode and switch the flag to the Mouse HID profile and have successfully paired with a computer as a mouse. However, I cannot find any documentation on how to send reports for mouse operation. The HID user's manual only describes keyboard operation.

I have attempted to use 0xFD, 0x5, 0x2, 0x1, 0x0, 0x0 to press the primary button and 0xFD, 0x5, 0x2, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0 to release.

Has anyone been able to figure this out?

Just a heads up. I recently got the 'HID611' version of this board, and it needs some changes.

From p3 of the manual it says: "In firmware version 6.10 and higher, the SPP profile is enabled by default" (http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/RN-HID-User%20Guide-1.1r.pdf) Which is a bummer since people buy this module specifically to use the firmware as a keyboard, not a serial port.

So you can either set it back to HID mode two ways: 1) using serial '$$$' and entering CMD mode, and send some further commands to change to HID and reboot. This needs to be done each powerup, and is tricky as it'll only enter CMD mode within a minute of the bluesmirf being powered up. I.e. if you use an arduino, which gets reset, the bluesmirf ignores config requests, and send those strings to your keyboard instead, which is either messy or disastrous depending on your application. 2) Wire from GPIO11 to high. This forced HID on startup, and you don't need to do any software stuff. Downside is that the board has no breakout for it and you need to solder the tiny wire: http://imgur.com/wLfY7T7

Hope this helps, Gav.

The RN-42 HID comes setup as a keyboard by factory default. Is it possible to change the HID mode of the BlueSMiRF HID module to a mouse? I know there's somethings in their manual you can't do with this breakout board setup and other things can't be done outside their factory.

Hi, I have been trying to use this module and I want to save power when I am not transmitting. Here is the user manual - http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/rn-bluetooth-um.pdf

Now My requirements are these 1. keep the module connected to my pc 2. transmit "Hello" to pc when a button pin 12 goes high on the arduino, this will happen by button press

So when I am not transmitting, I want to be able to keep the device in sleep mode. The command for that is SW,8000 However my module is still consuming 25 miliamps when not transmitting. Has anyone tried this?

"Using Sparkfun’s Bluetooth Modem – BlueSMiRF HID to interface between an arduino Pro Mini and a desktop Computer as an Human Interface Device (HID)."

http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3310

I hate to be that guy, but "We recommend the purchase a USB dongle to..." should be "We recommend the purchase of a USB dongle to..." and "Hardy frequency hopping scheme..." should be "Hearty frequency hopping scheme..."

Perfect chip! Check out howto on https://github.com/Nepherhotep/doomsday-button . It might be helpful for initial configuration. Also it includes sample codes for working with ATTiny2313

Has anyone else been unable to pair this with a PC? I've tried numerous configurations (authentication en/dis, all modes, etc.) and this thing will not pair with 2 popular BT modules I've tried. It never asks me to enter a pass code, it just fails and there's no place for me to disable asking for one or pre-enter one in the software for either of my adapters.

Can I use this Bluetooth Modem to connect to a PS3 controller? I know a PS3 controller is an HID device.

Thanks!

As a previous poster noted, it's worth emphasizing that Sparkfun's "Bluetooth Modem - BlueSMiRF" products have a different pinout from the "Bluetooth Mate" products, even though they look similar and have the same number of pins. I got caught out by that one...

Would this work as the BT modem for my custom android game pad? Using arduino to make the game pad and wanting to interface it with my phone as a Keyboard.

Did the header pinout for this device change? The pinout picture here matches the BlueSMiRF header on the Arduino Protoshield, but the actual device (shipped 2-10-2012) has a different pinout.

Here is the update manual, its much more useful. Also read the Advanced Guide

http://www.rovingnetworks.com/files/resources/RN-HID-User-Guide-v1.0r.pdf

http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/rn-bluetooth-um.pdf

This site appears to have all the documentation for the module shown in the picture.

I don't get why this is ~$5 more for a firmware difference? Unless there is more than just a firmware difference? I'm looking at making a bluetooth controller to use with my Android phone, altho If I get bored of that I'd probably like to reuse it for other things that I'd have to communicate over bluetooth.. So what would people suggest? This or the Bluetooth Mate Silver?

Can the non HID version of silver be turned into HID or used as HID through a firmware change/update?

I've noticed there are a number of iPhone apps for controlling Arduino based devices for movement (cars, bots, etc.) Will this work with any of them?

can we flash this back to non -HID I bought this and found out that the HID is not what I needed for arduino to receive serial commands from computer. This is more of a arduino sends serial commands to computer. That is what I have read so far. As far as receiving cmds I have tried everything except a small sacrifice to get it to work both ways.

What's with the users manual pdf? It is all full of black bars where text should be when using OS X "Preview" program as a pdf viewer. Totally useless.
Can this unit be set up for "force feedback" HID applications?

Is it able to pair with iOS devices?