Is it possible to communicate wirelessly, directly with a USB adapter on my computer to a UNO with a HC-05 Bluetooth module? I am having problems doing so and realized (maybe) that these modules are meant to be used on the UNO but to talk with other HC-05s or other Bluetooth devices and not the host computer (wirelessly). Are they always used on the Arduino but tethered to the IDE with a USB cable?
I'd like to communicate to the UNO wirelessly (the UNO will have its own power supply). Do I need to accomplish this using another UNO tethered and powered by a USB cable (slave/master)? On-line examples don't explain this.
The loose answer is YES and, more specifically, HC-05 is NOT limited to talking to other HC-05s., Indeed talking to other HC-05s is probably a quite minor part its career. Conversely, a major part of its career is avoiding being tied to a PC by USB cable. The HC-05 is a plain vanilla SPP device and will communicate with any other of the same ilk - including PCs. In the line of what I think you are thinking, the only exclusion is IOS. Assuming you just want to talk by Bluetooth to a Windows (or, I'm sure, Linux or Mac) PC, about the only problem is getting your USB Bluetooth dongle properly installed. In the case of my BT2 dongle in W7, it was just plug'n'go. In XP, it wasn't, but that may be just my lack of motivation. I would suggest a BT2 USB device, not BT4. They are so cheap you can always change your mind later.
I'm running a Windows 7 computer that never had Bluetooth capabilities so I bought a IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 adapter (dongle). The computer is happy with it and shows the adapter with two COM ports (incoming and outgoing - not sure what that means) and both the HC-05 and dongle show up as devices in Devices and Printers.
The literature claims the dongle is backwards compatible to older Bluetooth schemes.
Should I pair the HC-05 directly to the dongle? Seems like the adapter should be able to locate the HC-05. I may be having issues with the baud rate. I've set both to 38400.
Bricoleur:
I'm running a Windows 7 computer that never had Bluetooth capabilities so I bought a IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 adapter (dongle). The computer is happy with it and shows the adapter with two COM ports (incoming and outgoing - not sure what that means) and both the HC-05 and dongle show up as devices in Devices and Printers.
The literature claims the dongle is backwards compatible to older Bluetooth schemes.
Well, you've already bought it, you seem to have sorted it, and it specifically said backward compatible, so you can forget my caution.
Should I pair the HC-05 directly to the dongle? Seems like the adapter should be able to locate the HC-05. .
Here is a method whereby you programme HC-05 as a master that auto-connects to dongle.
I may be having issues with the baud rate. I've set both to 38400
If you think you may be, you can probably be sure you are. Baud rate has nothing to do with Bluetooth<>Bluetooth connection, only Bluetooth<>host. The rate can only be set by specifically configuring the Bluetooth devices, and then the interfacing programmes have to be set to match.