Fully Integrated Bluetooth Solution

[t3ddftw]

Just to update you guys on the state of things, I'm officially having issues sourcing the core Bluetooth module that I use on the BlueBus -- the BC127 by Sierra Wireless. A month ago there were 7,000 in stock and now there are none. I managed to snag 320 for the October run, but if I want anymore BC127s I am going to have to order 1000 minimum at a whopping cost of $24,000.

Instead of making that big of an investment and continuing to be "married" to a module built by a company that has little interest in continuing its development, I'm going to switch to the ESP32 by Espressif. This will allow me to have granular control over the Bluetooth stack as all of that is left to the developer, which is awesome! The best part is the module cost less than $4 a pop, and it would allow me to remove other hardware from the BlueBus that would be duplicating effort. With that said, I'm announcing that I'm officially developing the BlueBus "2.0" -- before you grab your pitchforks, I want you all to know that software development will continue and the feature-set between the two units will be exactly the same. In fact, I am very likely going to roll everything under the same code base to make my life easier.

The other value of using the ESP32 is that it's used in many applications and has a lot support behind it. This means that I should not have issues with stock.

The one feature I'll probably add to the "2.0" that I can't add to all prior units is playback from microSD cards as the ESP32 natively supports FAT32 filesystems and .mp3, .flac, etc.

The other goal of the redesign is to lower my cost so I can make it more affordable for customers. My current target price is $189 or lower.

Comments, concerns, etc are always welcome
-Ted

[Effduration]

Thanks for the update. I may be in the market for 1-2 when they become avail again.

[Clockwork]

I was just about to mention this to everyone about the Bluebus 2.0
I love the idea of the micro SD card. Great work on finding a newer source and somehow making it more effective cost wise for you and the buyer. Thats stellar. I STILL Love my BlueBus and how nice phone calls are on the e53, and being able to use my Android Assistant to create emails/sms/Whatsapp and to read messages all while hands free. Oh the Bluetoothing music is pretty awesome too.
I may buy the 2.0 when supplies are available, next year and sell my Bluebus to a local

[Overboost]

Subbed. I'm in!

[Mouse]

If this will work in my 99' (9/98) E39 w/DSP I'm in as well.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by Mouse

If this will work in my 99' (9/98) E39 w/DSP I'm in as well.

Me too! Let me know when I can grab one! 2.0 with a 128GB SD card sounds nice, real nice!

[Clockwork]

Yes the BlueBus will work for E46, e39, e53 and even e36 of proper radio is installed.


Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[t3ddftw]

Hey guys,

It doesn't look like the ESP32 is going to work out. It does most of what I need it to, but on the calling side of things I can't get the software echo cancellation to work, and even then it's reported to be pretty poor. That means I would have to source and use a DSP to perform the software echo cancellation, and all the ones that would work are A: Expensive ($6+/unit at scale), B: impossible to buy in smaller quantities, and C: Not in stock for the next span of time.

I'm leaning towards the BM83 from Microchip, as it's still way cheaper than the BC127 I used before, and it has all the same bells and whistles (including a built-in DSP with acoustic echo cancellation).

That leads me to my current conundrum: microSD Card support. The BM83 does nothing to support it, so my wife actually suggested that I make an add-on module with an ESP32 and microSD card slot that will sit next to the BlueBus and stream your music files to the BlueBus. This means that I could bring microSD support to _all_ BlueBus units and I would also allow you to go through the directories using the HU so you can select your music files.

For those of you that want microSD card support, is this acceptable? The alternative would be a Rube Goldberg-esq setup where the BlueBus has an ESP32 and a BM83 but the ESP32 is only used for microSD support. This would increase the cost and complexity of the BlueBus, but you'd get negligibly better audio quality since the files wouldn't be transmitted over Bluetooth. Of course, it would only work for 2.x+ boards.

If you're wondering why I don't use an MP3 decoder, it's because they're $6.50/unit @ 250 units minimum -- no thanks.

Thanks!
-Ted

[Clockwork]

Ted, firstly, you have a smart wife there!! Great idea.

I LOVE the capabilities of my V1 BB device and YES the idea of a dedicated card reader is NEAT, as I would probably use it (like I used to use my GROM) but I wonder if most of your clients are only interested in bluetoothing, these days.
To me, an external add-on device is EXTREMELY acceptable (not to mention it opens your market base with those of us who already have the V1), as the BB is so small anyhow, there is usually plenty of room near it to mount another device.
Is it too late to add a "poll" to the first post to see how others would react to this add-on?
Keep up the great work, in your "spare" time.

[t3ddftw]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

Ted, firstly, you have a smart wife there!! Great idea.

I LOVE the capabilities of my V1 BB device and YES the idea of a dedicated card reader is NEAT, as I would probably use it (like I used to use my GROM) but I wonder if most of your clients are only interested in bluetoothing, these days.
To me, an external add-on device is EXTREMELY acceptable (not to mention it opens your market base with those of us who already have the V1), as the BB is so small anyhow, there is usually plenty of room near it to mount another device.
Is it too late to add a "poll" to the first post to see how others would react to this add-on?
Keep up the great work, in your "spare" time.

Probably not worth adding a poll, but I can think of like 50 people who would buy one. The good thing for me is that it's relatively easy to implement it as an add-on, which means it'll be cheap to produce.

There are certainly a number of folks that have asked for it, so if it means I make a few more sales for a little effort, then I'm down.

Nothing set in stone in terms of pricing, but I'm think around $59 for the adapter.

-Ted