Dj has said that the bluetooth stack that is ran by windows is a bit fishy. I do believe he has stated that if you remove windows bluetooth then reconnect a device and have it reinstall the bluetooth protocal it may fix the problem.

I had the same problem a week ago. When connecting the link would disconnect after 10 to 20 seconds. I did all the deleting bluetooth devices, restarting the Win7 PC, etc. The only way I finally got a stable connection was by using a different USB bluetooth dongle on the PC. I don't have the vendor name of the bluetooth device but the USB stick is blue and has the bluetooth icon in the plastic.

I just received and installed a new bluetooth USB class 1 stick from Amazon.com and replaced the bluetooth board on the EZ-B V3 with a class 1 BlueSM1RF Gold from Sparkfun.com. After discovery, and password bonding the connection is stable with no disconnects. The bluetooth USB stick is from Targus and is labeled "USB Bluetooth 2.0 class 1 adapter with EDR. It sells for $20 shipped.

@Robot-Doc Thanks for your advice. Not sure I'm quite technical enough to replace something on the EZ-B myself. Little beyond my tech knowledge.

Tonight I went to Frys and bought a Kensington 2.1 USB Micro Bluetooth adapter ($20). Following directions from online I uninstalled the bluetooth stack from windows. Installed the new drivers.

The EZB worked for about 10 minutes! I was able to test out some things and then it promptly lost connection and I haven't been able to get it back since.

More than a little frustrating. Will keep fiddling till I get it, but I'm about out of ideas.

According to what I've read posted in these forums, the only bluetooth stack that is supported is the Microsoft bluetooth stack. It is best to uninstall any third party bluetooth stack / drivers and just use the Microsoft versions.

More experimenting tonight and still no luck.

When I look in the system to see what BlueTOoth stuff is running it says:

Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator

I checked the drivers for both and they are current.

Here's what happens...

10PM

• Restart computer.
• Plug in EZ-B
• It connects right away and is recognized.
• Open ARC software.
• Add one servo. Test. Works fine.
• Add second servo. Test. Works fine
• Add auto release for both. Works great.
• I'm laying out my robot in cardstock first so I begin attaching the cardstock lower jaw.
• I got to test it and the serve (which was set to only move from 1-20, spins a total 180 and the connection to the computer is lost.
• Try to reconnect and it won't. 10:05PM

The only other thing I can think of, and I'm not a Windows/PC person so I don't know, is there some sort of setting that automatically switches the Bluetooth off after it hasn't been used in x amount of seconds/minutes?

I just don't know what I'm doing wrong or what exactly is not working and I'm starting to feel like I spent $260 on something that I can't use. I just can't see what I can do different.

I've bought a Bluetooth adapter and installed the software and then uninstalled it when it didn't work. Folks on here say to use the built in Microsoft stack, it works, but disconnects.

Is there more information I could provide here that perhaps would help someone diagnose the problem? Is there and EZ-B expert in SoCal I could take everything too?

Hi Toaster boy this does sound like power problems check the connections to the EZ-B board or use a seperate PSU rather than batteries. If the connection is stable without any servos connected for a number of minutes then you connect a servo or two and it loses connection then it must be something that is power related. I don't know of any timeout setting on the Windows bluetooth stack which is what I use.

You are obviously getting there keep trying

What connections do you have to the ez-b? It does sound like a brownout. If you're putting too much strain on the servos, and the batteries can't handle it, the board will reboot.

Also, if you're using windows in a vm or through parallels, sometimes can be a hassle.

Other than that, it's very straight forward. It's strange to see the issues you are experiencing when there are so many thousands of others without. Perhaps the board is defective, but the fact that it connects says it most likely is fine.

Can you connect the ez-b without any peripherals. Then connect ez-b to ARC. Then wait a few seconds. Ensure the connection is maintained. Then pick up the board and move it around. See If it disconnects.

Thank for the replies and suggestions. I appreciate the support this community gives.

I am not using parallels or anything. Using an actual Dell PC.

I guess it does seem to be something power related. I plugged in the EZ-B and it connected right away. Let it sit for a few minutes and it was fine. Then opened the ARC software and it connected. I let it sit for a few minutes and the connection was maintained. I moved the board and battery units around and it maintained connection.

I then attached to servos. One had a movement from position 25 to position 75. The other had movement from position 1 to position 100.

I was able to control them for about a minute before connection was lost and I was unable to restore it. Neither the EZ-B or battery pack moved during this time.

I checked the connections on the battery back where I attached the plug when I first got the set and they seem fine.

Can the battery pack, which has brand new Duracell batteries in it, only move one servo at a time? Do I need a bigger power supply if I want two servos to move at once?

Again I thank you all for your patience in helping me work this out.