The Bluetooth modules require a 5vdc power supply and rather than running this off the Blueboat system Im setting this up to act as a standalone system. The module will be connected, I’m hoping to a raspberry pi and will in turn have its own battery pack, however I expect battery life to be short.
If I was to power the Bluetooth module and pi with the boats systems, what is the best way to do this?
Hi @BryanGT -
This should be possible! Can you share what you’re using the Bluetooth adapter for? The Raspberry Pi 4 actually has a Bluetooth radio already built in, so if that is how you are trying to connect to the ADCP you may not need additional hardware. However, if the Bluetooth radio of the ADCP is underwater, you won’t get any connedtion to it…
I imagine you’re powering the ADCP from a cable - does this cable break out a serial or USB connection? You could connect this to the Navigator and forward the data to your control computer - using the VirtualHere extension could even allow you to use (Windows only?) vendor software to interface with the device as if you were connecting it to your laptop directly. This guide explains more about this!
Generally when connecting things to power, the fuse board, located in both hulls, provides both 5V and battery voltage broken out - just insert an appropriately sized fuse for the channel you’d like to connect your power wires to. This guide provides more details.
Best of luck!
Hi Tony. The ADCP has internal batteries, the Bluetooth modem is to connect to the ADCP and transmit the flow in m/s back to an operator on shore
I plan on mounting the ADCP to a bracket beneath the boat, with a cable passing through a hull penetrator to the Bluetooth modem which will be in the hull, the long range antenna will protrude up through the top of the hull
The ADCP has rs232 output and uses Windows software to display data in real-time
I have little to no knowledge of python so using a pi will be tricky, but I’ll need to learn sometime so that’s another rabbit hole to dive down…
So if I interpret what you said correctly…
I could use an rs232 to usb adapter to connect to the ADCP to the navigator and then use the extension to forward that data to a laptop on shore using the boats own transmission system?
Hi Bryan -
I see - your plan is to use Bluetooth for your boat to shore connection of the data? This seems like it could cause interference with the existing 2.4ghz WiFi connection, and is a touch redundant - but it should work with some limited range!
It may be easier to convert the RS232 to TTL voltage levels and forward it along by connecting it to the RaspberryPi or Navigator - as the guide linked previously details. You could use a USB to Serial adapter and the VirtualHere server/client program so that your Windows machine thinks it is plugged directly into the ADCP, via the existing WiFi link to the BlueBoat!