PIC with Bluetooth adapter

[Oznog]

I need to use PIC with wireless comm.
I saw the "wireless modems" at Sparkfun, they're impressive but pricey.

I can get USB Bluetooth adapters for next to nothing, with "up to" 100m range. This sounds dandy and meets my bandwidth requirements.

However, using a PIC as a USB master may be too problematic. Well, I know it can, but only a few PICs can be USB masters and I need a wider choice of chips. And the USB layer doesn't help me at all, I just need to send some data here. The FTI USB-to-rs232 chips are actually USB slaves with an rs232 interface- so the UART interface can't actually make it act as a USB master to control a BT-USB adapter. Plus, an extra "specialty" chip is generally too more awkward than I would want this to be.

Are any of these USB adapters known to be "hackable" where I can cut it open and wire directly into a logic-level, nondifferential UART on the hardware? This would be extremely useful.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Have you looked at XBee wireless
The bluetooth USB devices are only half a solution, they need your PC to do most of the work.

 

[Oznog]

Again, I'm looking at cheap, to keep them useful for many small projects. $20 modules are pretty high "up there" for that. I can get USB-BT adapters for like $3.

Of course if it won't work it won't work. Do you have links describing what part the PC takes in handling the protocol? It's not uncommon to find a UART interface on a USB device though. Most GPS sold as USB devices have a TTL UART pin on board which is much easier to interface with a microcontroller, for example. I guess I'll get one of these USB-BT adapters, crack it open, ID the chip, and look up its spec first.

Basically I'm looking for someone familiar with this specific hacking-a-USB-BT-adapter problem.

 

[Hero.sl]

Some of thoese FTI USB - RS232 chips act as USB host controllers, yet I think you will have to implement a huge code to get a USB dongle working.

Check these links
https://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/serial-port-bluetooth-module-master-p-279.html
https://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/serial-port-bluetooth-module-slave-p-501.html

They are bluetooth-serial modules I found. They are fairly cheap comparing to ones at Saprkfun. I'm going to order one of them(Master or Slave) to make my PIC communicate with a mobile phone. But I haven't tested anything yet. Hope this helps..