Connect an Arduino to a $7 Bluetooth Serial Module

By wolfgang
Time Required: 1–3 Hours 
Difficulty: Easy

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Connect an Arduino to a $7 Bluetooth Serial Module

The Arduino microcontroller board is a fantastic starting point for electronic and physical computing projects. As the standard Arduino board does not offer any wireless connection, such as WLAN or Bluetooth, this project shows how to easily connect a $7 Bluetooth serial module to your Arduino. The Bluetooth serial module enables your microcontroller board to communicate with every Bluetooth-equipped device, such as laptops, tablet PCs or smartphones.

Steps

Step #1:

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The image shows a $7 Bluetooth serial module that you can readily find on eBay. It offers 4 pins (5V, Ground, RX and TX), that you have to connect with the right pins on your Arduino Uno board. No additional electronic parts are necessary.

wolfgang

wolfgang

no specific library is needed, it’s normal serial Arduino communication. i added this code to the guide.
To receive the Arduino output, just open a terminal program and connect to your Bluetooth serial profiles com port (e.g. COM3).
komfushee

I’ve followed your tutorial, but when I try to open the terminal on windows, I get the error “Unable to open connection to COM3 – Unable to open serial port”, the serial connection is on the COM3 when I get the properties of the connection in windows, the speed is set to 9600 on both arduino and windows, but it does not work, any idea why it does that ?
Otto

How do you know the pairing key and how can you change it?
Also, your code is just writing to the serial monitor, it’s not using the bluetooth at all. Do you have a code that show the bluetooth working?
Mumble

what else can you do with this bluetooth serial module
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Gary

It should also be noted that in order for this to work, the RX and TX wires going between the Arduino and the Bluetooth module should not be connected until the sketch is finished uploading.
KentridgeEngineering

Does anyone know…is it possible to have two of these being used in the same room, without interference? Like if I have two Android phones, controlling two Arduino robots…could I pair them so Phone 1 communicates with Arduino 1, and Phone 2 with Arduino 2?
- Nilas Støhrmann
  
  When two bluetooth devices Ex. Phone 1 and Arduino 1 has etablished a WPAN connection (paired) they communicate with the same “spread-spectrum frequency hopping”. Which mean that the transmitter Ex. Arduino 1 changes between 79 communication frequencies every 1.6 ms and the paired device Phone 1 uses the same frequancy at the exact same time. Other WPAN connection Ex. Phone 2 and Arduino 2 will operate the same way and therefore it is very unlikely that they will interfere with another WPAN since the chances of communicating with same freq as Phone 1 and Arduino 1 at a certain time are very little.
Gait

Can the bluetooth module pair more than one device with the arduino at a time ?
- Zootalaws
  
  Can you be more specific?
  
  These BT serial devices are strictly 1:1, but if you want multiple bluetooth devices talking to your Arduino, just add more BT devices and connect them to different pins.
disqus_9MakbM3VW6

Is it possible for one Arduino bluetooth device to be linked to multiple devices, even if it’s can only “speak” to one at a time?
- hayden
  
  Yes, although it is much easier to just get more bluetooth connectors especially since they are so cheap. But if you only want to use one you have to write code that switches the Key of your bluetooth dongle and connects it to another arduino, this would be triggered by a case function that you input in the serial window. Alot of code though
Bird

is it possible to use your computer bluetooth to connect to it as serial comunication
Bort

I finished these steps, and while I can use serial monitor just fine, I cannot upload anything. I get this error: “avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x0d”
- nicknormal
  
  Try disconnecting Pin 0 when uploading; does that solve the error?
  - Bort
    
    Pin 0 is RX, don’t you mean to disconnect pin 1 (TX)? How can the Arduino be programmed without RX?
    I tried disconnecting pin 0 anyway, and then pin 1 instead, neither worked. I tried using two diffren’t PCs, one with the Arduino Beta IDE, and another with the standard IDE. No dice. I don’t know what else to try. Maybe I’ll have to spend the $25+ and get an official Bluetooth EZ Link from Adafruit.
    - nicknormal
      
      Disconnecting pin 0 always works for me with “avrdude: stk500_getsync()” errors; using Uno. This solution has worked for others too: http://www.instructables.com/id/A-solution-to-avrdude-stk500getsync-not-in-syn/ — and several other instances reported in Google search. Not sure what else to mention. Good luck.
    - nicknormal
      
      And no the Arduino is not “programmed” over RX/TX; RX/TX is a serial communication protocol for whatever device is attached, in this case the Bluetooth module. The Uno is programmed (typically) via the USB cable attached to it, through the IDE. If you’re trying to “program” the Uno via the Bluetooth module you’re in territory unfamiliar to me. Hope this clarifies. Cheers.
- hayden
  
  Try re-installing your drivers or bootloader, also that alert message can happen when you are trying to establish serial communication and you are uploading to the wrong COM port.
  http://www.instructables.com/id/A-solution-to-avrdude-stk500getsync-not-in-syn/
  This article will help you diagnose your problem
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shivam

i am working on bluetooth enabled toll collection system. So what are the chips and microcontrollers do I need cheap and fine.
Samsdad

For me, the most exciting part is using Bluetooth to send characters to the Arduino to control what my Arduino does. Using a Bluetooth connection, I can play musical notes or steer my robot. A lot of fun. I use a configurable Bluetooth keypad app on my Android phone to do the sending. Thanks for the tip!
Jasma Balasangameshwara

I have performed step 1 and step 2 of ” connect an Arduino to Bluetooth serial module”. I have also uploaded the Arduino code. But I am not receiving the output on Putty (installed on Windows 10). Serial ports as given on my PC COM 7 – outgoing and COM 8 – Incoming. Please help.
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Sébastien Boillat

I’ve connected my module (tried with two of them bought on e-bay) to the arduino but nothing happens, my android phone cannot find it and the led of the module is also not turning on. Are the modules useless or is there any step I missed?

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