HC-05 Bluetooth on Mac

Hi,

I just received my four-pack with bits, and first things first, connected via USB, upgraded the firmware, disconnected and soldered on the two HC-05s as described in the tutorial. Via USB, it all works fine. However, via Bluetooth, connecting the IDE seems impossible.

Now, I can connect to it via command-line screen /dev/tty.HC-05-DevB 9600, but not via the IDE: after "Refresh Serial Port List", only the generic /dev/{cu,tty}.Bluetooth-{Incoming-Port,Modem} ports appear. I suspect this is a lack of an appropriate pattern-match.

This is on OS X Mavericks 10.9.1. I've tried this with two Espruinos with the two supplied HC-05s, powered via a known good USB power supply (the one RS supplies for the RPi).

(Also, I figure this is a limitation of the Mac Bluetooth UI, but if left unused the Bluetooth device disconnects after a little while and won't come back. This is via the Bluetooth preferences panel: it goes to "Not Connected" and there's no clear way to get it to connect again.)

Lovely little boards, by the way! Can't wait to think up a use for mine. :)

Tom

Hi Tom,

Glad you've got started with them so quickly! I just tested this on Mac and I have the same problem. I've checked the Web IDE's code, and it appears to be chrome that isn't reporting the ports correctly. You can solve it by going into a terminal and typing the following:

sudo ln -s /dev/tty.HC-05-DevB /dev/ttyusbmodem12345

I've just contacted someone who was working on serial support in Chrome, so hopefully I'll get a better idea what's going on soon.

The bluetooth disconnect is a pain. I'm actually not sure if it's the computer or the module itself - I'll have to try and see if it happens on a PC (how long did you leave it?). If it's a module problem it's probably solvable with it's AT-command interface mode.

Just heard back from them (good service!). Apparently on Mac, the accepted types of device are hard-coded. I'm not sure when it will be fixed, but probably not for a while so for now the symlink is your best bet.

I've created a bug for it if you want to follow: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=334698&thanks=334698&ts=1389806409

Neat albeit hacky solution... if I'd thought about it a bit more, I'd've tried a symlink too. :)

The disconnection seems to occur after roughly 30 seconds after pairing. However, I just tried it with the IDE and the symlink and it looks like it reconnects successfully. Oh, now it looks like it reconnects okay using "screen" as well... which I'm sure it wasn't doing before. Hrngh.

Thanks,
Tom

Hello, I really need help on this. I have an HC-05 and An HC-06. I can pair them with my Mac., On the Mac's bluetooth preference, it shows connected. However, the connection doesn't last long. Fir the HC-06, it lasts about 30 seconds, for the HC-06, it lasts about 60 seconds , the in the bluetooth preference, shows "Not Connected. " I heard that this is a common problem on OS X,
But when I do a search, there is hardly any solution. Please help if you have one.

I have tried it on OS X Yosemite and OS X Lion. At the time of testing, the only wires that are connected to the HC-05 or the HC-06 are the Vcc and GND, I also tried 5V and 3.3 V from the Arduino. No Rx or Tx are connected.

Thank you.

Are you using an Arduino, or an Espruino board?

Also what module are you using - do you have a picture?

The bare Bluetooth modules should definitely be run from 3.3v (not 5v) - but it sounds like you have a breakout board and that may have a voltage regulator on it.

It's actually possible that the power supply to the board is too noisy (maybe even because of the wires you're using) - you may find that putting a capacitor (around 10uF) across the power lines on the Bluetooth board will sort out any problems you might be having.