Bluefruit-LE-Shield-FAQ

Can I talk to Classic Bluetooth devices with a Bluefruit LE modules?

No. Bluetooth Low Energy and 'Classic' Bluetooth are both part of the same Bluetooth Core Specification -- defined and maintained by the Bluetooth SIG -- but they are completely different protocols operating with different physical constraints and requirements. The two protocols can't talk to each other directly.

Can my Bluefruit LE module connect to other Bluefruit LE peripherals ?

No, the Bluefruit LE firmware from Adafruit is currently peripheral only, and doesn't run in Central mode, which would cause the module to behave similar to your mobile phone or BLE enabled laptop.

If you required Central support, you should look at the newer nRF52832 based products like the Adafruit Feather nRF52 Bluefruit LE, which contains a SoftDevice which is capable of running in either Central or Peripheral mode. The nRF518322 based products (such as the one used in this learning guide) are not capable of running in Central mode because it isn't supported by the SoftDevice they use, and it isn't possible to update the SoftDevice safely without special hardware.

Why are none of my changes persisting when I reset with the sample sketches?

In order to ensure that the Bluefruit LE modules are in a known state for the Adafruit demo sketches, most of them perform a factory reset at the start of the sketch.

This is useful to ensure that the sketch functions properly, but has the side effect of erasing any custom user data in NVM and setting everything back to factory defaults every time your board comes out of reset and the sketch runs.

To disable factory reset, open the demo sketch and find the FACTORYRESET_ENABLE flag and set this to '0', which will prevent the factory reset from happening at startup.

If you don't see the 'FACTORYRESET_ENABLE' flag in your .ino sketch file, you probably have an older version of the sketches and may need to update to the latest version via the Arduino library manager.

Do I need CTS and RTS on my UART based Bluefruit LE Module?

Using CTS and RTS isn't strictly necessary when using HW serial, but they should both be used with SW serial, or any time that a lot of data is being transmitted.

The reason behind the need for CTS and RTS is that the UART block on the nRF51822 isn't very robust, and early versions of the chip had an extremely small FIFO meaning that the UART peripheral was quickly overwhelmed.

Using CTS and RTS significantly improves the reliability of the UART connection since these two pins tell the device on the other end when they need to wait while the existing buffered data is processed.

To enable CTS and RTS support, go into the BluefruitConfig.h file in your sketch folder and simply assign an appropriate pin to the macros dedicated to those functions (they may be set to -1 if they aren't currently being used).

Enabling both of these pins should solve any data reliability issues you are having with large commands, or when transmitting a number of commands in a row.

How can I update to the latest Bluefruit LE Firmware?

The easiest way to keep your Bluefruit LE modules up to date is with our Bluefruit LE Connect app for Android or Bluefruit LE Connect for iOS. Both of these apps include a firmware update feature that allows you to automatically download the latest firmware and flash your Bluefruit LE device in as safe and painless a manner as possible. You can also roll back to older versions of the Bluefruit LE firmware using these apps if you need to do some testing on a previous version.

Which firmware version supports 'xxx'?

We regularly release Bluefruit LE firmware images with bug fixes and new features. Each AT command in this learning guide lists the minimum firmware version required to use that command, but for a higher level overview of the changes from one firmware version to the next, consult the firmware history page.

Does my Bluefruit LE device support ANCS?

ANCS is on the roadmap for us (most likely in the 0.7.x release family), but we don't currently support it since there are some unusual edge cases when implementing it as a service.

== My Bluefruit LE device is stuck in DFU mode ... what can I do?

If your device is stuck in DFU mode for some reason and the firmware was corrupted, you have several options.

First, try a factory reset by holding down the DFU button for about 10 seconds until the CONN LED starts flashing, then release the DFU button to perform a factory reset.

If this doesn't work, you may need to reflash your firmware starting from DFU mode, which can be done in one of the following ways: Bluefruit LE Connect (Android)

• Place the module in DFU mode (constant LED blinky)
• Open Bluefruit LE Connect
• Connect to the 'DfuTarg' device
• Once connected, you will see a screen with some basic device information. Click the '...' in the top-right corner and select Firmware Updates
• Click the Use Custom Firmware button
• Select the appropriate .hex and .init files (copied from the Bluefruit LE Firmware repo) ... for the BLEFRIEND32 firmware version 0.6.7, this would be:
  • Hex File: blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32.hex
  • Init File: blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32_init.dat
• Click Start Update

Unfortunately, the iOS app doesn't yet support custom firmware updates from DFU mode yet, but we will get this into the next release. Nordic nRF Toolbox

You can also use Nordic's nRF Toolbox application to update the firmware using the OTA bootloader.

On Android:

• Open nRF Toolbox (using the latest version)
• Click the DFU icon
• Click the Select File button
• Select Application from the radio button list, then click OK
• Find the appropriate .hex file (ex. 'blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32.hex')
• When asked about the Init packet, indicate Yes, and select the appropriate *_init.dat file (for example: 'blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32_init.dat').
• Click the Select Device button at the bottom of the main screen and find the DfuTarg device, clicking on it
• Click the Upload button, which should now be enabled on the home screen
• This will begin the DFU update process which should cause the firmware to be updated or restored on your Bluefruit LE module

On iOS:

• Create a .zip file containing the .hex file and init.dat file that you will use for the firmware update. For example:
  • Rename 'blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32.hex' to application.hex
  • Rename 'blefriend32_s110_xxac_0_6_7_150917_blefriend32_init.dat' to application.dat
• Upload the .zip file containing the application.hex and application.dat files to your iPhone using uTunes, as described here
• Open the nRF Toolbox app (using the latest version)
• Click the DFU icon
• Click the Select File text label
• Switch to User Files to see the .zip file you uploaded above
• Select the .zip file (ex. blefriend32_065.zip)
• On the main screen select Select File Type
• Select application
• On the main screen select SELECT DEVICE
• Select DfuTarg
• Click the Upload button which should now be enabled
• This will begin the DFU process and your Bluefruit LE module will reset when the update is complete
• If you get the normal 2 or 3 pulse blinky pattern, the update worked!

on Adafruit_nRF51822_Flasher:

As a last resort, if you have access to a Raspberry Pi, a Segger J-Link or a STLink/V2, you can also try manually reflashing the entire device, as described in the FAQ above, with further details on the Software Resources page.

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Basé sur "Bluefruit LE Shield" d'Adafruit Industries, écrit par Kevin Townsend - Traduit en Français par shop.mchobby.be CC-BY-SA pour la traduction
Toute copie doit contenir ce crédit, lien vers cette page et la section "crédit de traduction".

Based on "Bluefruit LE Shield" from Adafruit Industries, written by Kevin Townsend - Translated to French by shop.mchobby.be CC-BY-SA for the translation
Copies must includes this credit, link to this page and the section "crédit de traduction" (translation credit).

Traduit avec l'autorisation d'AdaFruit Industries - Translated with the permission from Adafruit Industries - www.adafruit.com