Arduino UNO + bluetooth + lights ON/Off

Good morning to all!

First of all I would like to thank you for all information I have found here. Everything you guys posted is very interesting.

I don't have an Arduino yet but before getting one I would like to ask a couple of things:

  1. Can I connect an "Arduino UNO" to an "USB Host Shield" with a USB Bluetooth dongle connected to it and send commands from my computer to program the Arduino (using the Bluetooth dongle)?? In other way...can I control the Arduino UNO using the USB Bluetooth Dongle connected to the USB Host Shield?? Which USB Host Shield would you recommend me? I found the following one which is very cheap:
    w-w-w.sparkfun.com/products/9628

  2. My project will consist on switching on and off the lights of a house and also the heather. How many lights/devices can I switch on and off independently with only one Arduino UNO? I have seen this "how to" but it only explain how to connect one bulb and I don't know to much about the Arduino:
    w-w-w.glacialwanderer.com/hobbyrobotics/?p=9
    3)Is there any "CHEAP!" SIM GSM Shield that can be connected to the Arduino UNO? Would it be possible to connect a USB SIM GSM modem to the USB Host Shield and send the commands to the Arduino?

  3. If I buy a "RS232 Shield" for the Arduino can I connect my "RS232 BLUEMAX05 bluetooth" to it and control the Arduino from there?
    w-w-w.antratek.nl/pdf/bluemax05.pdf
    Currently I finished a crawler, remote controlled with my mobile phone (j2me) via Bluetooth using the "RS232 BLUEMAX05 bluetooth" connected directly to a "Lynxmotion SSC32". I would not like to buy another BT receiver like the BLUEMAX because it was too expensive and I don't want to buy an expecific BT for the Arduino UNO, that's why I'm asking about controlling the Arduino with the USB BT Dongle attatched to a USB Host Shield.

I currently need to know which hardware I should buy for the cheapest possible prize and if somebody already managed to do al things I asked. I have been browsing the web and of course this site for already two weeks but I get more and more confuse about my questions that's why I now create this post. To see if somebody has enough patience to answer all my questions hehe.

Thanks in advance!

Can I connect an "Arduino UNO" to an "USB Host Shield" with a USB Bluetooth dongle connected to it and send commands from my computer to program the Arduino (using the Bluetooth dongle)??

You can connect a USB host shield to a UNO. You can connect a bluetooth dongle to the USB Host Shield.

Then, you create a driver for the Arduino with USB Host Shield to communicate with the bluetooth dongle. This will be the hard part.

The next step would be for the code running on the Arduino (the dongle driver) to replace itself while running. What do you think about your programming skills? Can you make this happen?

In other way...can I control the Arduino UNO using the USB Bluetooth Dongle connected to the USB Host Shield??

After you create a driver for the Arduino with USB Host Shield to communicate with the bluetooth dongle, you could send data to the bluetooth dongle that the Arduino could receive, and interpret, and perhaps act on. If that constitutes "control" in your mind, then, yes, you can.

My project will consist on switching on and off the lights of a house and also the heather.

Your heather has lights?

How many lights/devices can I switch on and off independently with only one Arduino UNO?

The output pins on an Arduino can be connected to shift registers. Each shift register can be cascaded, so theoretically, you can control an unlimited number of lights. Wiring and powering all the lights is a separate problem.

Is there any "CHEAP!" SIM GSM Shield that can be connected to the Arduino UNO?

CHEAP! or inexpensive?

Would it be possible to connect a USB SIM GSM modem to the USB Host Shield and send the commands to the Arduino?

Sure. Step one is to write the driver...

If I buy a "RS232 Shield" for the Arduino can I connect my "RS232 BLUEMAX05 bluetooth" to it

Yes.

and control the Arduino from there?

Yes.

I would not like to buy another BT receiver like the BLUEMAX because it was too expensive and I don't want to buy an expecific BT for the Arduino UNO, that's why I'm asking about controlling the Arduino with the USB BT Dongle attatched to a USB Host Shield.

As long as you recognize that the USB host shield is hardware only, and has absolutely no software on it. The software is needed to make the shield communicate with the USB slave connected to it. You get to write the software. Doing so is not a trivial task.

Thanks for so quick response, it was incredible!

When I said:
Quote:
My project will consist on switching on and off the lights of a house and also the heather.
Your heather has lights?

I meant "heating" hahaha ... I should be able to switch ON and OFF the lights of the house and also the heating system.

I'm a programmer and currently working as SD but my knowledge of robotics is not enough to install "shift registers" so my plan was to connect each valid PIN of the Arduino to a "relay" and from there to the bulb as shown on this website:
w-w-w.glacialwanderer.com/hobbyrobotics/?p=9

  1. So my question again will be...how many lights can I separetly connect to the different PINs of the Arduino?

  2. Where can I find the cheapest SIM GSM Shield that can be connected to the Arduino UNO?

3)For testing porpuses I think I will start using my BLUEMAX05 Bluetooth but now I have another question, is it possible to connect a RS232 Bluetooth (like the BLUEMAX05) directly to the Arduino UNO without buying the RS232 Shield? If so, could somebody send me the schemes, please?

I found on the web few people sharing the projects with the bluetooth dongle and the USB Host shield but all of them are wirelessly connected to another device like the wiimote (and I think in this case the Arduino Uno + USB Host Shield + BT Dongle are acting as Master while the connection to the PC will be Slave...)

  1. Also I found a cheaper solution for the BT and it is described here
    w-w-w.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1220902997
    but nobody replayed the guy saying if the scheme is correct or not so I'm not sure if I should go or not for this solution.

Would you really recommend the USB Host Shield (w-w-w.sparkfun.com/products/9628)? or direct connection as in 4 (if it works of course...)?

  1. I fully understand that I have to find a driver to for the BT Dongle or whatever device I connect to the USB Host Shield and if I don't find it then I will need to create it by myself. Something I'm aware of already.

  2. Thanks for taking time to replay me and I hope my English is fine enough to keep in touch through here!!

how many lights can I separetly connect to the different PINs of the Arduino?

Without using any external hardware port expanders (shift registers / multiplexers / I2C devices / SPI devices) The answer is one light per pin. On a UNO you start off with 20 pins free and then lose then for other functions like serial communications and so on.

is it possible to connect a RS232 Bluetooth (like the BLUEMAX05) directly to the Arduino UNO without buying the RS232 Shield?

You need to put an RS232 to TTL converter in between the two. There are lots of different chips to do this: Look up the MAX202 data sheet for one example of how to wire it up.

Good afternoon guys!

Thanks for all the answers, now I understand more things than before.

The NEW plan will be to open the automatic door that we have in our office via bluetooth with the mobile phone or the PC. I already designed the software for my SSC32 connected to bluetooth and few servos and motors and it works great from all mobile phones with j2me and bluetooth not locked.

So the NEW plan will be:
Arduino UNO + rs232 Shield + rs232Bluetooth
or
Arduino UNO + Blusmirf
or
Arduino UNO + Bluetooth Slave/Master

http://iteadstudio.com/produce/more-powerful-serial-port-bluetooth-module-masterslave/

Is this last option possible? will it work without making any driver like the rs232 + rs232BT (with USB host Shield+USB Dongle you need to program the drivers)??nobody replied to this question in one of the first posts.

Please help!