*NEW* USB Input/Output Board -- Fusion Brain

[P3D4T0R]

Is it possible to hack bluethooth in and how dose the PIC communicate with the PC? Serial? Other?

[greenman100]

Is it possible to hack bluethooth in and how dose the PIC communicate with the PC? Serial? Other?

USB, and it can also do RS232 and I think I2C or something

[P3D4T0R]

USB, and it can also do RS232 and I think I2C or something

Cool... Then I think their maybe a way for me/us to hack in bluetooth... Id work on that Fusion Brain (Hacked) section of the site soon if I was you

[SmoL]

i don't understand why everyone wants bluetooth. Do you really need to do something with you car when your within 10 metres of it? Because thats the range you will get with bluetooth, probably less with all the interference of the car environment.

Secondly, i thought that the board only works when the car is on and the pc is on. If your out of the car your car is going to be off and your pc is going to be off isn't it. So what benefit will you get having bluetooth in there if you can only use it when your in the car?

and then of course it's going to double the cost, which will make the board less attractive to people.

[P3D4T0R]

i don't understand why everyone wants bluetooth. Do you really need to do something with you car when your within 10 metres of it? Because thats the range you will get with bluetooth, probably less with all the interference of the car environment.

First off all newer bluetooth setups will work at over 100m (300ft) and Its a lot easier to have to run one less wire when don't have that much room, not even taking into consideration what else you can do with bluetooth.

Secondly, i thought that the board only works when the car is on and the pc is on. If your out of the car your car is going to be off and your pc is going to be off isn't it. So what benefit will you get having bluetooth in there if you can only use it when your in the car?

The board can be on while the car is off and the computer is off, that was one of the original features. It would be nice to have my car start up and the windows down or whatever I decide to do with this board before I actually get into the car or just do it to have fun.

and then of course it's going to double the cost, which will make the board less attractive to people.

That's why you have two versions and/or let us hackers have a whack at it.

[Focal]

I know your only one man, but i was wondering if any time in the future you can do something like a 2 way output? for instance, my seat heaters switch has low/high/off. i imagine this would take up two outputs, but would be a nice feature. well for two seats 4 outputs but can this be done logically?

[SmoL]

First off all newer bluetooth setups will work at over 100m (300ft) and Its a lot easier to have to run one less wire when don't have that much room, not even taking into consideration what else you can do with bluetooth.

That's what i thought too until i spend way to much time with my own hack only to have the range dissapoint me. Yes it will do 100m in plain sight, but it is severly limited once there is environmental noise, mainly metal and electrical devices, then you will be lucky to get 15m

[P3D4T0R]

That's what i thought too until i spend way to much time with my own hack only to have the range dissapoint me. Yes it will do 100m in plain sight, but it is severly limited once there is environmental noise, mainly metal and electrical devices, then you will be lucky to get 15m

Still, the second part is still valid.

On another note I was finally able to get StreetDeck to talk to a DLL I made so that headache is over only to bring on another one which I will post about later perhaps. Before I kill myself over this Id like to know how many people not only including beta testers would use with with there StreetDeck install, providing you have one or are going to at some point? I really just want to know if it is worth it... should I build one that I will like and will work for me or should I build one that everyone will enjoy, that's all I want to know.

Finally I am finalizing my study of the program and will post all the cons I have found, and maybe some pros too, who knows :P

[kevinlekiller]

edit: ok... what the hell is and why is it a smilie? i just saw it when uploading

That's a smilie that Frodobaggins added to make fun of Boris ( 01331 ). Ence why its called Boris , check out the "My thread( the big one )" in deep off topic.

[Rowan]

USB, and it can also do RS232 and I think I2C or something

You *think* i2c and something?? Have you read the datasheet?

For people wondering about the comms etc, the PCB used in this project is a built-upon version of this:
http://www.burger-web.com/Projects/P...18UsbBoard.htm

and/or this:
http://www.create.ucsb.edu/~dano/CUI/

It uses the Microchip CDC class firmware, for serial communication over USB (creates a virtual COM port on your PC).

The 4550 has one MSSP module, which supports I2C or SPI communications. It also has an enhanced USART module, which could easily be used with the Bluetooth devices I posted above.

You say you are sampling at 1Khz? Sampling what? Each ADC? Why on earth would you need that? For one, USB isn't even fast enough, let alone CDC (what bitrate have you got set?) - Even at the highest bitrate, the most you could get would be 6ms per request (especially since the PC has to request a result, and nice CPU usage you'd have at that rate too...), so you can reduce your sampling rate down to 166hz per channel and have no difference.. Even then, 166 samples per second.. needed for the accelerometer?

Also, I see absolutely NO point in having this device powered on once the PC has been shut down, since when closing the application it clears all DO's anyway and is a "dumb" device. What possible reasons would people have for otherwise?