I installed one of those cheap ebay bluetooth modules in my MS3 today. Thought some of you might be interested in a how-to.

 

Very cool, with the MS tucked up under the dash, this is much easier to connect to!

 

And did it work?

 

Yup, works great, both with Tunerstudio and Shadow Dash MS. Frame rate is about 12.
Range with the Nexus 7 is about 30ft with a direct line of sight to the antenna whereas with the Macbook Air I barely get 15ft.

 

Just as another datapoint, I just installed one with the built-in 9-pin serial connectors. I didn't want to do an internal installation.

I mostly followed the instructions here:
$14 Bluetooth now working on MS2 - RX7Club.com

Except I learned that the jumper that he said to install for programming was not required (and apparently was HINDERING my efforts, as I found no reference to it in the device manual... and it worked once I removed it). Also note that the "reset button" that they refer to in that thread was not present on my board.

That said... with power applied and plugged into my trusty old Dell-with-a-serial-port, set Hyperterminal to 9600 8 N 1 w/ no Flow Control and it responded to an AT command (note that according to the manual, a CRLF is not required, it responds to commands 1 second after they are typed... which means about the only command you'll be able to manually enter is "AT"). Other commands were typed into Notepad and copy/pasted into Hyperterminal and received appropriate response.

I sent the command AT+VERSION to verify that I was talking to the correct device
I changed the name to "Fred" with the command AT+NAMEFred
I changed the pin with the command AT+PIN#### because I don't like to use defaults
I changed the baud rate to 115200 with the command AT+BAUD8

Then I disconnected power, reset Hyperterminal to 115200, reconnected and verified communication. All was well.

Installed the V+ jumper to the serial connector as-specified, plugged it into the MS, turned it on, found it, paired it, had TS search for it, found it and connected without issue!

I happened to have a 6' serial extension cable, so I plugged that in and have the Bluetooth module under the dash next to the radio. Seems to be working well so far.

No more data cable. WOOT!

 

I found that I still need a cable to load firmware or an msq.

 

I'm not sure I'd trust Bluetooth for a firmware load. Seems to be working okay for tuning, though. Mind you, I've only been tinkering in the driveway. Haven't gone out for a drive and tried to autotune or anything.

I was stunned at how easy it was to connect once I got the module settings configured.

 

Just FYI for NASA PT racers, they've banned this for 2013 (no wireless ECU connectivity allowed).

 

Quick q for you guys:
I've got mine hooked up with a USB->Serial adapter, am applying +5v/GND to the specified pins on the board (+5v to white, GND to blue in my pic) and the board LED blinks every 100ms or so:



I can't seem to connect to it either via putty in Windows, nor iTerm in OSX (both open the terminal window when trying to connect, but I can't input any commands and it hangs/does nothing when I try to enter commands/etc).

WestfieldMX5, you refer to connecting RX and TX to your converter, did you literally connect the two pins next to +5v/Gnd to the male port pins #3/#2 on the opposite side of the board? I'm just trying to set the baud rate, but can't progress beyond trying to connect to the bluetooth device in the first place.

 

Hey SJP0tato.

I have the same module, have a look at my guide. Might be able to help.

Bluetooth x Megasquirt « omgpham…

 

I ordered my chip from the east orient and it must be traveling by ox because it has been 2+ weeks. I'm looking forward to ditching the laptop for day to day tweaks and changes, and gauges on my Note II. Anyone know if MSdroid will read knock?

 

Not to burst your bubble, but I had to wait about 6 weeks before I received mine.

 

Well damn, I may want to order that **** now then...

 

Yeah, but 'Merica...

I understand the whole thing, I'm just being impatient. Thanks again for your articles on your website.

 

Thanks!

Turns out I was a moron, and it was connecting fine the whole time. I just needed to actually enter the commands (AT to get an "OK" response, etc).

I was going to do a write-up, but it looks like you've got it covered.

 

Did you order yours from ebay, or meritline/similar?

I got mine on ebay, paid $14, and it took maybe 1.5 weeks. Not too bad at all considering it came from Wuhan City, Hubei China

 

Just a sidenote: With RFCOMM , there is a nondeterministic ~10-50ms break between packets. I don't know if I would trust this for autotuning.

 

Took about 2-3 weeks for mine to arrive from China.

 

I don't have permissions to PM, but this is the one I ordered and it looks like they increased the price by a few dollars.

DB9 RS232 Wireless transparent transfer Bluetooth Module HC-06 Slave Serial Port | eBay

 

I've done a bit more autotuning with mine lately. Still working well. Only problems I've had have been initial BT connection sometimes... and that seems to be the laptop, not the module. Once everything wakes up and connects, it stays connected.