Connecting a bluetooth mate to a Lilypad Arduino

I've been searching for some clear tutorial on how to connect a Sparkfun Bluetooth Mate and a Lilypad Arduino. Gladly, I haven't found it, so i'm posting one here. Hopefully this will be useful for those working with bluetooth and wearable projects.

This tutorial is based on Rio Akasaka's tutorial on how to set up the the arduino pro mini and the bluetooth mate on a Mac, which is based on Jonathan Warren's tutorial on setting up the arduino mini pro and the bluetooth mate on a P.C.. I also used parts of code coming from the Sparkfun bluetooth tutorial.

I'm using:
1 Lilypad Arduino (atmega 328)
1 FTDI basic breakout
1 Bluetooh mate Gold (though Silver should work just as well)

NOTE THAT: bluetooth mate Gold and Silver from Sparkfun are made to work with the Lilypad: pins TX and RX are inverted on these boards (not the same as with the other boards).

I soldered the bluetooth pins so the lilypad and the bluetooth could lay horizontal when connected to each other.









I then connected the FTDI to the Lilypad so I could upload the initial test program Jonathan Warren wrote.
(select tools>Board> Lilypad Atmega 328)

/***********************
 Bluetooth test program
***********************/

int counter = 0;
int incomingByte;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
  // see if there's incoming serial data:
  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    // read the oldest byte in the serial buffer:
    incomingByte = Serial.read();
    // if it's a capital R, reset the counter
    if (incomingByte == 'R') {
      Serial.println("RESET");
      counter=0;
    }
  }
  
  Serial.println(counter);
  counter++;
  
  delay(250);
}

After  uploading the program to the Lilypad, I disconnected the FTDI and connected the arduino to the LiPower and battery, and to the bluetooth mate module.

I then launched the Bluetooth assistant on my Mac, and followed the steps Akasaka described on his tutorial. Basically: 

- opening the bluetooth preferences

- turning on the bluetooth; 

- clicking on the + button; 

- looking for bluetooth devices; 

- selecting my bluetooth mate (probably a m.a.c address or a "FireFly this" or a "RN42 that"); 

- pairing with it (password is 1234 by default);  this adds the bluetooth mate to my bluetooth devices list; 

- I then select it on the list and then I click on the wheel, right next to the + button, to open more options; 

- then click on "Edit serial ports": this actually makes the computer connect to my bluetooth mate (haven't actually figured out why but it does).

After that I returned to the Arduino program on my computer and go to:

- Tools > Serial Port > and select  dev/tty/*name of the bluetooth mate*

- then i open the serial monitor and voila..  numbers show up...

- Hit the R key and it starts counting from 0..

Remember: in order for this to work, your computer must be connected to the bluetooth mate, via the bluetooth assistant on your system preferences: selecting the mate from the list of devices and clicking on Edit serial ports... that does the trick...dunno why..

I tested sending letters and stuff just for fun, and it works fine (no strange characters like ÿâ or such)

I then wondered how I could go into Command mode and change some parameters on the bluetooth, like the name, password. Turns out it was pretty simple.

I changed the code a bit, and reuploaded it with the FTDI breakout to the Lilypad: 

/***********************
 Bluetooth test program
***********************/
int incomingByte;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  // print $$$ so the bluetooth enters command mode
  Serial.print($$$);
  // necessary delay
 delay(2000);
}

void loop() {
  // see if there's incoming serial data:
  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    // read the oldest byte in the serial buffer:
    incomingByte = Serial.read();
    // transform bytes into characters so I can read them, and print it through the bluetooth serial
    Serial.print((char)incomingByte);
  }
  delay(250);
}

This actually allows me to open the serial monitor and send stuff to the Lilypad, which the bluetooth reads. 

Re-opened the bluetooth assistant on the mac.. selected the mate from the list, and clicked on Edit serial ports (yeah i have to do it every single time..); connection established.

Opened the serial monitor on the arduino (dev/tty/*bluetooth mate name*) 

Entered $$$ on the serial monitor (with No line Ending selected at the bottom of the serial monitor) and the bluetooth answered 'CMD' which means it went into command mode.

Entered D (with Newline selected from the bottom of the serial monitor) for basic settings, O for other settings .. (the entire list of commands can be found on Sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/rn-bluetooth-um.pdf)

And that is how I changed my bluetooth mate name from *FireFly this* to Papaye!