BISMS02BI Embedded Bluetooth AT Module

Bluesuite is a very old program supplied by CSR for testing and configuration of its legacy Bluetooth modules. Bluesuite Bluetest3 is often used for RF testing where the DUT is put into BCSP mode before running Blutest3.

If Bluetest3 crashes with an "array" error you may have a conflict or issue with your .net installation. You may be able to fix the issue by removing all versions of .net but please speak to your IT department first as this may cause issues with other software.

In general, cleaning the populated modules is strongly discouraged. Residuals under the module cannot be easily removed with any cleaning process. 

• Cleaning with water can lead to capillary effects where water is absorbed into the gap between the host board and the module. The combination of soldering flux residuals and encapsulated water could lead to short circuits between neighboring pads. Water could also damage any stickers or labels.
• Cleaning with alcohol or a similar organic solvent will likely flood soldering flux residuals into the RF shield, which is not accessible for post-washing inspection. The solvent could also damage any stickers or labels.
• Ultrasonic cleaning could damage the module permanently.

However, if water washing is required you will need to use deionized water. We do not recommend chemical cleaning and cannot guarantee it will not damage the modules. If you MUST clean PCB with chemicals it is recommended that you test on one board and then confirm the module still works after the process, prior to adding it to production, while understanding the above affects washing the populated PCBs can have on the module.

Our fully-embedded modules have a throughput of around 300-360 kbps.  They have an on-board Bluetooth stack and do all of the Bluetooth processing themselves. Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR has a practical transfer rate of 2.1 Mbit/s, but this is not possible on a small embedded module that does not have a powerful PC-type processor.

We recommend using de-ionized water. Additionally, we recommend avoiding any sonic vibration, heat, and pressure washing as well as any other soaps/chemicals.

The factors to confirm when checking the soldering job on Bluetooth modules are solder stencil aperture size, solder stencil thickness, solder ball size, solder type, and the MSL guidelines. If the parts have been left out for too long then the modules should be baked to remove any moisture prior to soldering. If there are any failures, we highly recommend providing an x-ray of the module.

We highly do not recommend conformal coating the radio module. If you plan on encapsulating the radio module in a potting compound or conformal coating, you must assure that the compound in liquid or solid form does not enter under the shield where there are sensitive RF components. Some of the capacitive and inductance values are as low (pF and nH) and could be sensitive to contacting materials such as potting compounds. There are potting compounds and conformal coatings which have very good dielectric constants and are suitable for 2.4 GHz potting applications, however, when you apply any of these, they were not accounted for in the circuit design and might reduce performance of the device (or all together cause it not to function).  You should run tests on their particular potting compound and evaluate radio's performance and range.  Also, it's worth mentioning that applying any compound, conformal coating or potting directly to the module WILL void the warranty. If your application requires 100% sealing of the radio module, there is a way to do this very successfully without impacting the module performance. Simply place the module on your PCB. Place a plastic cover over the module (like a hat), make the cover large enough to cover the whole module. Apply glue around the bottom perimeter of the cover where it sits on the PCB. This allows the module to function in free air-space while there is a complete seal around it. This information is only for reference and we recommend you should conduct your own testing with your prototype of your end application to find the best suitable fit for your design.  

We only recommend reflowing our modules once as it can damage the module and void the warranty.

Yes it is possible that Laird's BLE modules could be utilized in a end device that is certified as"Intrinsically Safe". We do not currently have any end customers doing this with all of Laird's BT/BLE modules, some of our BT/BLE modules have been successfully certified by our customers. As a valuable point of information, Intrinsically Safe certifications are detailed and extensive, requiring NDA restricted information on our modules which we can support based on the commercial opportunity. The detailed analysis and testing of the end production solution is the responsibility of the end customer working with their certified test house. 

Ezurio (formerly Laird Connectivity) provides layout files PADS and PADS ASCII formats. The ASCII files will import to Altium (and Protel varients) as well as Cadence (Orcad and Allegro) CAD packages. As far as we know, there is no way to import to Eagle CAD. Please be sure to use the .asc file for PCB and the .txt file for the schematic when importing to Altium. Ezurio uses ORCAD for schematics (Gerbers). 

The recommended cleanser is "hydrocarbon cleaning oil", which can be used to clean the RF shield and PCB. We do not recommend the use of alcohol as it doesn't work as well and could leave residue on the boards.