Bluetooth Mod
thecrandallster
Lenox, MA (USA)
THE GOAL
A Quickly deployable desktop, needing only the power cords and the monitor cord connected. ..Plus it would look cool too...
Okay, so Windows and Linux lack native support for the Logitech DiNovo Edge 2... However--with the supplied USB adapter, it almost-completely works out of the box.
The problem? It is a big clunky bluetooth adapter.
Solution?! To store it inside the case, with a USB header from the motherboard, and then rig a microswitch to it (like a reset button), which will be outside the case for easy access.
Sidenotes: The current switch is very small, and soldered directly onto the board. This will require very small soldering tips... Also, the steel case may reduce the signal slightly, so the current antenna should be desoldered and replaced with a bigger one, maybe the size of a laptop hard drive (somewhere between 100-300% bigger...lol).
So....WHY do this?
Because I can! Because I have been inspired, and I want to do crazy things too! I also think that when it is done it could make a cool article as well.
I will upload some photos of preparations and observations after noon.
What I need help with
- recommended temperature to desolder the current switch
- recommended soldering tip size for something of this scale
- recommended maximum temperature I should allow to avoid damage
- question: does it matter what kind of solder I use?
A Quickly deployable desktop, needing only the power cords and the monitor cord connected. ..Plus it would look cool too...
Okay, so Windows and Linux lack native support for the Logitech DiNovo Edge 2... However--with the supplied USB adapter, it almost-completely works out of the box.
The problem? It is a big clunky bluetooth adapter.
Solution?! To store it inside the case, with a USB header from the motherboard, and then rig a microswitch to it (like a reset button), which will be outside the case for easy access.
Sidenotes: The current switch is very small, and soldered directly onto the board. This will require very small soldering tips... Also, the steel case may reduce the signal slightly, so the current antenna should be desoldered and replaced with a bigger one, maybe the size of a laptop hard drive (somewhere between 100-300% bigger...lol).
So....WHY do this?
Because I can! Because I have been inspired, and I want to do crazy things too! I also think that when it is done it could make a cool article as well.
I will upload some photos of preparations and observations after noon.
What I need help with
- recommended temperature to desolder the current switch
- recommended soldering tip size for something of this scale
- recommended maximum temperature I should allow to avoid damage
- question: does it matter what kind of solder I use?
0
Comments
One first one is a low-res image for the few remaining dial-up people...
The hi res one I tried to lower the file size as much as I could w/o losing detail. I did pretty good at that being it was originally 3.5MiB...
Anyways, this will let you have an idea of what I am trying to do.
The solder-joints (I think they are called) for the antenna are right above the USB, and the switch appears to be soldered at each of the four corners.
Is anyone familiar with that kind of switch, and / or desoldering / soldering things on that small of a scale? I would love some tips being that the keyboard was not cheap.
I am looking forward to successfully completing this. In the past I wanted to contribute articles but never really had anything interesting to write about. This on the other hand, probably will be...
The other is a micro switch though.
Conveniently, they both are biased switches
I wasn't able to find anything remotely similar with the phrase surface mount switch, but I found almost the exact model under 'tactile switches'.
This is what I found about it:
The Micro Switch (reset button) resembles models like:
http://www3.alps.com/WebObjects/catalog.woa/E/HTML/Switch/Push/SPPH2/SPPH240300.html
I think?
Is there an electrical engineer in the house?!
Also--what kind of notation is 10T60
(edit: I think it means 10 to 60 degrees Celsius)?
I also found some guidelines that are probably close to universal
http://www3.alps.com/WebObjects/catalog.woa/E/HTML/Switch/Push/SPPH2/SPPH2_common.html#Caution
It's a neat project, and I've been trying to remember the things I used to know about soldering (building simple electronic devices was a hobby of mine about 15 years ago), however I seem to have forgotten everything. :/
This seems to have a pretty good amount of info on soldering.
I really need to learn this before I do anything, so if you have any references, please post or pm them
Maybe it's possible to mount the dongle somewhere in the front of the case behind plastic, so the signal won't get shielded too much. Also, maybe you can think of some kind of mechanical extension, so that you can still press the button when it's mounted behind the front.
Can't help you much with smd soldering tips. I did some soldering myself, but only on a larger scale. Found this with tips on smd soldering.
I was thinking that if any of my friends might need it, the connectivity would be there. Also, there is a chance that I might run into a bluetooth network that doesn't have a wifi alternative, so I would like to be able to fall back on those. The signal loss was never really an issue, but exceeding 30' would be really convenient. Being that the whole case is steel, I will at least have it at the top of the case, attached to a hub in the cd bay. There is a small plastic panel where the cd would go, but the gps receiver is up against that.
I would like to do the mechanical extension, but then I would have to run even more wires just to power the device, and then there would always be a chance that whatever I used to secure the device came loose, and then I couldn't really use it--plus we are working on a very small scale, and if the extension is going too far, it will probably break it pretty fast. On top of that, I am horrible at making "mounting bases" or whatever they are usually called, the last time I tried I ended up stabbing my hand by accident. I rather stick to the electronic approach because it is less error prone on my part.
If I go with my plan, I plug it into the hub, mount the button in it's place, and it will be as secure as any other button on the front panel no questions asked. The antenna really is not necessary, but I thought it would be good practice being that I never made an antenna before.
Why not start with soldering in and out parts from some broken electronics device. That should give you a feel for it. As for my experience the temperature is not the biggest problem, it's how quick you get the soldering done. When you touch the pcb with the soldering tip for too long, it will heat up too much and possibly break things, but if you keep the temperature low, it will take longer to melt the solder, but still be too hot for ic's etc.
Are you planning on mounting the new antenna on the inside or outside of the case?
The main reason I am doing this is that my case modding skills suck, and I am afraid to take anything beyond a drill to a case, and the motherboard only has 2 usb in the front, and 2 in the back, so I decided to attach anything and everything I could inside the case.
I have a friend who is taking a class on building microcomputers, but he said the teacher does not really know what he is doing. He did however say that I might need to use an inductor to make up for the difference between the switches. I need to look into it more though before I start doing things. Two things could happen if it goes wrong: it will not do anything, or it will be destroyed from too much current. I'm not exactly sure if the latter is possible being that the switch is just bridging the circuit.
I was thinking last night about that diagram I posted of a similar vertical switch, and I think the rectangle boxes between the pin numberings show that they are bridged, meaning that the switch might actually be able to toggle another device if it is ever needed down the road.
Then there is this to think about: both the dome switch and the vertical switch have at least two bridging points. And what if the dome switch use all 4 contacts? If it does I need to borrow a multimeter from someone. Money is really tight right now, being that I just built that ITX computer, so I can't exactly buy one. If I am lucky I might be able to find something online somewhere about how they are used in similar dongles.
There has actually been talk in several blogs a few weeks ago about bluetooth technology being combined with 802.11, hopefully they can do it on a software level and end all the calls about "its not working?!" (from the people who have 2.4Ghz phones right near their access points and adapters) with a few simple updates. If it is possible on a software level...
Hmm, no multimeter? That's definitely something you're gonna need. Much easier to get then some kind of diagramm for this kind of electronics. Actually, i also think, that you're gonna need to buy an antenna specifically made for 2,4Ghz for this to work.
The function of the dongle is exactly that, and I have another bluetooth adapter in the hub, but as I said--sadly, linux and windows do not support the keyboard natively, so I want that for the sake of simplicity.
I do not plan on making a 802.11 bluetooth mod though lol. If I did that I would have to hope that all other AP's did the same, and that is not going to be happening any time soon on a large scale. So I'm just going to make a larger version of the current antenna with some copper wire and I want to try laminating the coil section of it. That way, I can simply lay it anywhere, if it works like I imagine anyways.
The tactile dome switch is a push-to-break. The vertical (reset) switch is a push-to-make.... ...crap.
I have been practicing my soldering skills. I am getting a little better...
Would radioshack carry push to break switches of the same size?
Also, the way the tactile dome switch works is instead of parallel connections it bridges connections diagonally.
The switch connects with two integrated circuits on the bottom of the board. The temperature I get the solder to melt at is 580 degrees F, which is something like 300 C and the electronics on the dongle probably are not made for that so what I think I am going to do is put duct tape over everything I do not want to solder, and use conduit fluid on top of the duct tape to make for the fastest connection possible.
For the mean time, I need to figure out how to take apart the switch and reverse its functionality or how
The switch I have actually has the functionality to become momentary off (on-biased?) type switches.
This means, if you have a switch that currently functions as a push-to-make, just move the outer most wire to the opposing side and the functionality will then be push-to-break (the circuit). I was online for quite a while, trying to find the right switch, and eventually I gave up and just started messing around with the multimeter and I stumbled upon this convenient finding.
So now the next step is to solder on the switch.
consider building a micro-atx machine into a standard ATX case, then modding the case to make room for a bluetooth keyboard/mouse holster. Might be able to mount the LCD on the side of the rig as well and plumb power into the case. Internal monitor power/data and rig power connections, only need to plug the internal power distribution unit in.
edit: bonus points for media-center remote also built in w/ remote power-on
Well, since the last post I have somehow managed to get mono and from the looks of it--destroy the adapter. I am currently searching for a new adapter. I may instead just try to get the normal bluetooth to work. I think in order to do that I have to configure Xserver?
Either way, the current attempt was doomed because the tools were not small enough to do the job accurately or quickly, which led to the failure part.
I'm not giving up guys--I'm just trying to recover from mono. Good news though--I got the linux working on the public internet across town--as you can see.