BlueSaab Amp pcb!

[Karlis]

Tim wrote his code almost three years ago and it was written for RN52 FW v1.10, when a lot of features (like S% and SU) were not introduced yet. I had looked into figuring out how we can dynamically specify connection profile to be used when connecting to an audio source, so we could, say, force HFP profile usage for built in handsfree when needed and so on, but CAN comms and other stuff always took priority over this.

Bit 10 of extended features, in my opinion, is pretty straight forward - if, for some reason, RN52 crashes, upon recovery it will go through its saved PDL, trying to connect to every device in it, till the first hit.

One thing I haven't been able to crack yet, with regards to RN52, is PDL management. I'm afraid it's something that has to be implemented in another FW update, which I hope Microchip makes some day. PDL management would be nice for cases when we want an easy way of switching between multiple paired devices.

[sbt]

sbt wrote

... further work shows that while issues listed above are real, the root cause is sending the R,1 reboot command while PWREN pin is low. This prevents the reboot and the module becomes unresponsive after that. Having fixed that, I can now fully programme the RN52 on startup without relying on the separate RN52-BT-PRG sketch.

This problem was fixed in pull request #16 that Karlis has now kindly applied to the master branch of the SAAB-CDC code repo. It may be worth trying this latest code if you experience this problem with your BlueSaab. Note that for the technically minded, this latest version also configures the RN52 on power on, so you don't need to load up the RN52-BT-PRG sketch and type a bunch of manual commands.

Cheers,
Sam.

P.S. Karlis, I'm going to pickup the threads on the RN52 extended features and other RN52driver issues in the software forum area; not really on topic for this hardware announcement thread.

[1S2A1B]

Hello from the future. I'm preparing to build my module on the v6.1 board, and I'm looking for some clarification. I see that nobody has mentioned this amp board for quite a while, there was talk of integrating it into the main board (v5.3?), and the header for it is an optional part on the v6.1 board.

Would you recommend ordering the Amp v1.2 board and BOM along with the parts for a new build?

[1S2A1B]

Pardon the double post. I think I've answered my own question: The active part of the Amp Shield is the amplifier chip THS4522IPWR. It was not in the v5.1 BOM, but is in the v6.1 BOM, so it is now integrated. I imagine the header is still an option for those who already had the shield.

[Karlis]

Yes, you are right. The audio AMP circuitry is now fully integrated on v6.x by default. There's no option on adding/removing it programmatically or via headers like it was on v5.1. Of course those parts can be never populated and some pads need to be shorted to ensure continuity of signals. Then it would still work, but at much lower volume when compared to Radio mode.