Bluetooth not connecting in PoMoCo

Hexy Questions, Problems and Suggestions
#1

Hi,
I’m trying to connect PoMoCo to Hexy via Bluetooth, but it can’t find the port.
As im using Windows 7, I commentet out the ComList-method as suggestet in the wiki, but that doesn’t work either. I get a “ser 1 failed” (number changing) for all 99 ports (after uncommenting those print lines in servotorComm.py).
The bluetooth modul is paired and there is a serial connection startet from the Bluetooth manager (Blue Manager), the red LED is on. If i kill the connection in Blue Manager, the red LED is flashing but PoMoCo doesn’t find the comport either. Com 10 should be the one to use.
USB is working - with or without the bluetooth module pluged in.

If i try to connect via SerialMonitor in the Arduine IDE, i get an “Port in use” message. The only program I can see using it could be Blue Manager, but if i stop that driver, the bluetooth connection is gone and comport 10 can’t be found.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Ignatius

#2

Hi Ignathius,

Here’s a couple of suggestions:
1.) make sure the USB is unplugged. Having both the USB and Bluetooth in can sometimes lead to either not working.
2.) Give it some time. Bluetooth can take anywhere from 5-10 seconds to connect once the red light goes red.
3.) As a last resort, rebooting should clear any “Port in use” message. Ctrl-alt-del any process that was using it before (python, arduino, java, etc) usually does the trick though, if you don’t want to resort to that.

#3

Problem solved! There was a driver “hijacking” my USB Bluetooth dongle. Replaced the driver with a generic one, now I can connect to the bluetooth module und control Hexy wirelessly.

Best regards,
Ignatius

#4

I’m having a similar problem with getting bluetooth to work with my hexy. just completed the build. everything is working good via the usb cord. Im running Windows 7, got the proper driver installed to detect the arcbotics device under bluetooth, so it’s been paired correctly with using 0000. under the properties of it, I can see it’s using COM6. The red light is blinking on the bluetooth module. But when I open up the pomoco program, it doesn’t find the com port correctly and says servos not detected. But it can find/connect good using the usb cord.
as a test, I used putty to connect to Com6 using 9600 baud, and the window opened up successfully. At that point, the red light on the bluetooth module went from blinking to solid. So, that told me I had a good connection. I tried issuing an “at” and also an “AT” command, with no response in the window.
I made sure I didn’t have both the usb and bluetooth plugged in at once.
Any other suggestions?
Seems like pomoco can’t get to COM6, even though my terminal program can use it.

#5

“AT” itself isn’t a command, its just a method for communicating. The module also only responds to AT commands from the wire side.

You can try typing some of the Servotor32 commands from the terminal program and see if those work:
arcbotics.com/products/servotor32/commands/

#6

Thanks for the info and the help! I thought I would post my solution in case anyone else ran into this same problem. My laptop that I was using for this had bluetooth already installed on it, and serial drivers for multiple types of Arduino connections. I had suspected that this might be causing some conflicts with the serial communications with my hexy. So, I tried this same bluetooth connection on another computer I had, after I setup usb bluetooth on it. Sure enough, PoMoCo worked the first time after I finished the drivers install. Hopefully this will help someone else troubleshoot their connection issues down the road.

#7

Finally!!! Spend weeks over and over without success… I am using a USB Bluetooth doggle… Someone here mentioned to remove the driver that came with the doggle and just use Windows 7 default driver… I now can play with Hexy without cords!!! I just uninstalled the driver using control panel and plugged in the doggle into another port and Windows configured it fine… Icons even look different… Thanks!