Robot-Doc,

30ft/10m is more like it. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth), and many other references):

Class Maximum permitted power Range(m) (mW) (dBm)

Class 1 100 20 ~100 Class 2 2.5 4 ~10 Class 3 1 0 ~1

( "Basics | Bluetooth Technology Website". Bluetooth.com. 23 May 2010.)

I certainly agree with the data posted about the different class distances for bluetooth builder/designers. In actuality this does not seem to be the case. I should have stated the original comment in another way like "try moving the EZ-B closer to the PC and re-test".

wiki, really?....dude, real world results, i also vouch for the 3 foot range.

i havent updated my ezb in 4 months....v16 up and running and no unconnecting issues....unless i wonder away about 3-5 feet.

In any case, see Step 2 of my post where I closed to 2 ft; and the remaining steps were performed at 2 ft. My computer is on the floor with the robot directly in front.

Well I think I may have solved my immediate problem. I had taken the bluetooth dongle from my desktop computer in the den and plugged into my wife's laptop in the kitchen, where I would have more room for robot maneuvering. I had not installed ARC on that computer so I did it. It came up with COM7, whereas I had COM5 in the den. I had connection issues in the kitchen, but today I had NO connection back in the den. So in desperation I deleted EZ-Robot from the Windows Devices and Printers menu and reinstalled it using the tutorial procedure. Now I am back at COM5 and connecting. Whether it remains stable is another question.

Update:

I've still been having connecting problems. But I just stumbled on at least one cause of my connecting problem: the camera. If I turn it off I get solid connecting. If I turn it on I get connecting problems.

The camera is mounted in front of and a little above the EZ-B board. The wireless camera and EZ-Robot Bluetooth configuration both operate in the 2.4 GHz band. So interference is possible if not probable. I will look into shielding to verify that it is RF interference. If that is the case a two level robot would allow the camera to be either above or below the EZ-B with a grounded aluminum plate between. That should be enough isolation.

When connecting you'll want to disable tracking and any communication. If you're flooding the communication channel while trying to connect, some computers will have issues.

My robots all have their camera's mounted very near the EZ-B. Maybe you're experiencing interference - I haven't experienced it. Good to hear you have resolution!

I didn't mention that I have the camera connected to power and on-signal as you did in your tutorial. So to rule out conducted interference I unhooked the camera and EZ-B. Only the Connect window was showing.

The robot was at 10 feet aimed 180 degrees from the sightline. With camera on (running on camera internal battery) and camera off I ran two tests where I tried connecting 10 times. The results were the same on both runs for each case: 1 connect, 9 No-connect for camera on and 6 connect, 4 No-connect for camera off. I was surprised by the number of missed connects for camera off because earlier the percentage of connects seemed higher.

I then placed an aluminum shield between the camera and EZ-B. Whether the shield was ungrounded or grounded (attached to battery negative) the result was the same 7 connects for 10 tries with camera on (and 9 connects for 10 tries with camera off)). So the shield definitely seemed to help with camera on but can't say for sure in this limited test.

At 5 feet with no shield the result was 7 out of 10 for camera on and 9 out of 10 for camera off. (Same as 10 feet with shield.) So closer range seemed to help. But Bluetooth should certainly be good for 10 feet.

There has been so much variability in my Bluetooth connection from day to day and hour to hour that I can't say that for sure that camera radiative interference is a factor, but the above results do point in that direction. In one of your posts you talk about the variation in connection performance that you have experienced (and feel that the problem is in Windows); that is really discouraging.

I also can't help but wonder if there's a hardware problem with the EZ-B Bluetooth module or the Bluetooth dongle. I tried a test with my cell phone, which has Bluetooth capability. It finds the module but says it's only able to connect to headphones.