Bluetooth Keyboard PCB

I know probably, you want to start Bluetooth keyboard PCB business.

That’s why this guide will help you choose a perfect Bluetooth keyboard PCB for all your applications.

It covers all aspects of Bluetooth keyboard PCB – so keep reading to learn more.

What Is A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

Bluetooth keyboard

Bluetooth keyboard PCB kit

A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB is a keyboard that operates wirelessly.

It controls a laptop or personal computers without connecting wires by means of a Bluetooth module.

The master device or in other cases the main Bluetooth module is attached to the output of the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

The other device to be controlled with the keyboard will be connected to the slave part.

Communication takes place between two different devices. These two are slave device and master device.

The communication is short range and is limited to a 10-meter maximum range.  The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB functions via exchange of codes.

This requires approval from the concerned devices to pair. This ensures that data is wirelessly transferred and the communication is smooth.

What Are The Types Of Switches On Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

The switches determine the Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs characteristics and typing feel. The three types of keyboard switches that can be used include;

• Linear: They are silent and lack feedback or clickiness compared to tactile and click-through. They include Logitec Roma G, Cherry MX Black, MX Red
• Tactile: They normally lack a clicky sound but utilize tactile feedback. They include Razor Orange GT, Cherry MX Brown, MX Tactile
• Click-through Switch: Produce a clicky sound that provides a calm typing feeling. They include Razors Chroma GT, Cherry MX Blue, MX White

The switch maker brands here are Razor, Cherry and Logitec.

What Are The Factors To Consider When Choosing A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Manufacturer?

Bluetooth keyboard PCB

High Customer Rating

A clearly good sign of an accomplished manufacturer is the ratings he receives from previous and current customers.

The customer rating has to be seriously scrutinized and an informed decision made.

Your Modelling Requirements

It is advisable to look for a manufacturer who will assist you to model your Bluetooth Keyboard PCB based on your requirements using their reliable softwares.

The manufacture should also be able crosscheck the impedance values requested and test the board once completed.

Quality To Cost Ratio

It is advisable to submit your budget to the manufacturer for them to confirm how much quality they can provide from that.

A manufacturer who provides a quality to cost ratio that is high is recommended.

Expertise and High-end Technology

Manufacturing a Bluetooth Keyboard PCB with complete accuracy based on a given design can prove challenging.

The technology and expertise of a manufacturer will go a long way in determining choice.

What Are The Tools And Parts Required To Assemble Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

 Tools

Soldering Station

Care should be taken in picking an efficient soldering station. Stations which can regulate temperature among other things are recommended.

The optimum temperature recommended varies between 350°C to 390°C.

The soldering iron tip should ideally be replaced and integrated with electrostatic discharge protection.

Solder

Quality solder should be considered for a good soldering result. Poor fluxes are usually contained in low quality solders.

A mixture of lead and tin in a 40/60 ratio is usually the best Bluetooth Keyboard PCB assembly.

Accessories

• Excess solder can be removed using a metal sponge while soldering errors can be corrected using a desoldering pump. It can also be used to remove switches.
• Desoldering can also be done using an appropriate copper tape. It is good at absorbing the solder and effective compared to the desoldering pump.
• A screwdriver set combined with a cap puller are also necessary tools.

Keyboard Components

Switches

The switches determine the Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs characteristics and typing feel. The three types of keyboard switches that can be used include;

• Linear: Logitec Roma G, Cherry MX Black, MX Red
• Tactile: Razor Orange GT, Cherry MX Brown, MX Tactile
• Click-through Switch: Razors Chroma GT, Cherry MX Blue, MX White

Bluetooth Keyboard PCB

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB is responsible for ensuring conversion of the switches analog input to digital for use by the PC.

Getting a Bluetooth keyboard PCB with a multi-layout will enable the keys to have different assignments.

Stabilizer

Stabilizers are responsible for giving keys such as the space and shift keys more stability.

They need to be fixed on the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB before any soldering is done.

Frame

the switch mounting used will determine the type of frame to be used on the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

The switches are soldered to the Bluetooth keyboard PCB right after they are clicked on the frame.

An alternative to the frame is having Bluetooth Keyboard PCB mounting.

This will need switch versions that are appropriate accompanied by retaining pins placed at the bottom.

Housing

A housing serves the purpose of holding the frame and the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB while providing shape and stability to the keyboard.

An attractive design should be chosen since the its part of the keyboard that’s visible.

The dimensions of the housing must conform with the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB and the frame.

Keycaps

A set of keycaps summarizes the assembly of a Bluetooth Keyboard PCB. There are various designs and qualities of keycaps.

Some inexpensive keyboards include lacquered ABS keycap while the highest quality Keycaps are double-shot PBT.

What Is The Importance Of A Ground Plane In A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

For the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB, a different ground plane is made on it so that all other ground planes can be added using star topology.

This is a very big plate of copper that connects all the GROUND points.

The main reason for using ground planes is to minimize the PCBs electrical noises. It also uses ground loops to reduce interference.

This means that the ground plane and the signal traces should have minimal distance in order to subdue inter-trace crosstalk.

A transmission line is formed between the trace and the ground plane layer when the layer is present.

Bluetooth PCB

Which Software Is Used To Design A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

The open source software used in Bluetooth Keyboard PCB design is called KiCAD. The software schemes electronic designs and transmits them to a Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

It produces text files only. The software is available on various platforms like Linux and MS Windows.

KiCAD uses a schematic editor called Eeschema whereby the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB schematics are formed by defining and connecting components.

Here is a detailed article with PCB design software.

How Does Plate Mounted Switches Compare To PCB Mounted Switches On A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

These two types of mounted switches are basically similar except for two molded prongs that are found in the mounted housing of the keyboard Bluetooth PCB.

A PCB mounted switch can easily be modified to fit on a plate by using pliers or a razor blade to cleanly remove the prongs.

Plate Mounted Switches

1. This type of switch has the PCB under the plate that it is mounted on.
2. The switches are aligned and secured by the plate hence it contains no additional guide pins.
3. Plate mounted switches result in a very robust keyboard although this increases the eventual cost of production.

PCB Mounted Switches

1. This type of switch is directly mounted to the PCB
2. The switch is aligned on the PCB by utilizing additional guide pins.
3. They have a very cheap production cost despite the keyboard not being as robust as the plate mounted switches.

What Are The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Circuit Design Considerations That Improve Its Performance?

Complete Removal Or Partial Separation Of High Energy Components Or Copper Signals

The antennae region of the Bluetooth keyboard PCB should be kept free from any copper signals that may be around it when designing.

Parts that transmit huge amounts of energy like power paths that utilize switches like buck or boost converters should also be kept away from the antennae region.

The board layers and the antennae region should also have no polygon pours or planes.

If the antennae area is being manually laid, the ground plane can be used at the input to maintain a good bandwidth.

The ground stitching vias can be used to prevent the PCB edge from emitting unwanted radiation because they may penetrate Bluetooth signals that are nearby.

Ground planes from analog and digital signals should be separated when analog-based signals like Audio are used.

Use Certified Modules

To fasten the development and time, pre-certified Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs that are fully contained should be used.

The eventual production cost will be higher but a lot of headaches brought about by EMI susceptibility and placement design are avoided.

Consideration Of Real-world Obstructions

A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB can be detuned or obstructed during connection.

Such obstructions may include other computers, metalized objects, tablets and smart phones.

Devices such as power sources and microwaves that operate within the Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs ISM band also cause detuning.

Signal loss is highly possible even when the pairing distance is around one meter or less.

Using a higher powered Bluetooth Keyboard PCB or slowing the operation speed reduces packet drop. This will I turn reduce the impact on signal quality.

Power Supply

The rail that supplies power to the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB and Chip should be always clean.

Two decoupling capacitors of 10nF and 0.1µF and a bypass of 1.0µF are used where needed.

In order to reject noise of higher frequency, the power rail that enters the Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs Bluetooth area can have ferrite beads.

What Is The Principle Of Operation Of The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Technology?

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB uses Radio Frequency to communicate with other devices.

Its frequency of operation is the same as other wireless forms of communication at 2.4 GHz.

The range of Bluetooth Keyboard PCB may vary from 1cm to 100m although each connection uses codes to seek approval form the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

Signal is received by an antenna that is located on the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

After processing within the circuit board, the message is transmitted to the output.

Can The Serial Interface Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Be Extended Wirelessly Using A Bluetooth Module?

A Bluetooth module can be used to wirelessly extend a Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs serial interface.

The computer linked to the module behaves like its utilizing just a single serial port even though the exchange occurs via wireless Bluetooth link.

Basically, the Bluetooth circuit board is contained in the in the module hardware thus it allows computers to work with wireless devices.

Some can be directly plugged into a network since they are manufactured with USB connectivity.

What Are The Effects Of Keystroke Logging On The Operations Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCB?

Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs that are not encrypted are very susceptible signal to theft of signal by nearby Bluetooth devices for keylogging.

Keystroke logging can be described as a means of used to capture and document keystrokes made by a user.

It is normally used as a legal means of monitoring the activity of employees.

Illegally, hackers obtain encryption keys and get passwords using keystroke logging.

For the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB, the data it wirelessly transfers to its receiver can be collected using wireless keylogger sniffers.

The encryption key is then cracked cracked by the wireless keylogger sniffers rendering the communication between the two devices insecure.

These problems can be solved by installing anti=spyware applications which can easily identify and remove keyloggers.

What Are The Shortcomings Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs?

Bluetooth PCB

Standards Become Insecure And Obsolete

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs wireless protocol swiftly evolves with time unlike wired connections.

The main disadvantage is that they don’t receive any security updates as changes over time occur.

What can be deemed as airtight secure today may be effortlessly exploited later. Such potential security breaches include bluebugging and bluejacking.

BIOS Lacks Bluetooth

On a Basic Input Output computer, basic variables such as the frequency of the CPU can be changed.

This is not the case for Bluetooth Keyboard PCB drivers because the operating system loads them.

It is not possible for Bluetooth Keyboard PCB to function at all without wired capabilities in a BIOS environment.

Some Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs are able to function in a BIOS environment by utilizing a wired connection.

Most of these are mechanical models that are very expensive.

Pairing Issues

This is one of the major problems of Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs.

This heavily spoils the one major advantage the Bluetooth keyboard offers.

Low Battery Life

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs battery only lasts a very few years. The Lithium-ion (Li-ion) used by the keyboard loses its coherency with the frequency of charge-discharge cycles.

A Lithium-ion battery has a long discharge-charge cycle if it is not regularly charged. The only problem is that most of them are not user replaceable.

The entire keyboard has to be discarded in the event of a battery fail not unless a replacement can be found and soldered.

How Does A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Compare To A Wireless Keyboard PCB?

A Bluetooth keyboard PCB communicates and exchanges data via Bluetooth technology with the connecting device.

A wireless keyboard PCB sends and receives data with other devices via Radio Frequencies such as infrared, Radio Frequency or Bluetooth.

What Are The Different Types Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs?

Hot-Swappable PCB

This type of Bluetooth Keyboard PCB has the hot-swappable sockets already soldered on its surface. Due to the fact that no soldering is required, it is the most appropriate for beginners.

The only thing required with hot-swappable PCBs is installation of stabilizers and finish up by having all individual switches pushed in.

Through-Hole PCB

All the parts that needed to make the Through-Hole PCB work are not soldered on it.

This means that all parts like Microcontroller, diodes reset buttons and the rest will have to soldered for it to be fully functional.

A lot of effort is required in order to make through-hole PCB work. Its therefore not recommended for beginners considering the frustration if something doesn’t work.

Standard PCB

With this kind of PCB, only the switches require soldering.

Its major advantage is that it allows for flexibility when it comes to key placements and layouts.

A variety of bottom row layouts can be picked from Standard Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

Options also available are split shift, ANSI and ISO and split backspace.

How Do You Test Your Bluetooth Keyboard PCB To See If Its Working?

Bluetooth keyboard PCB

Clean Workspace

A workspace that contains no static electricity and is clean is required before the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB package is opened. Such a working environment cannot damage the PCB.

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB can now be unpacked.

Connect Bluetooth Keyboard PCB To PC

This connection is done using compatible cable.

If the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB contains RGB lights, they will glow and if it contains LED light as its power signal, it will light as well.

Launch Switch-testing Software

The most commonly used softwares are VIA or Switch Hitter. They have a test matrix that on opening displays they Bluetooth Keyboard PCB layout.

Sounds can also be activated to make it easier to know if a key works rather than looking at the screen foe each key.

Test Individual Switches

This requires a pair of tweezers. With the pair of tweezers, connect each end to either pads for switch placement with two pads.

The software will display the key lighting and turning its color, a sign that it’s working.  When a switch is tested and nothing happens, a slightly different position can be tried.

If it still doesn’t respond at all, then most likely the key on the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB is not functioning properly.

Why Is It Necessary To Test A Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Before Connecting?

It is recommended that once you acquire your Bluetooth Keyboard PCB, you test it before proceeding with anything else.

This will avoid situations where everything has been soldered but one or more keys are not working.

It will be difficult to diagnose if it’s the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB, a switch or solder job that was poorly done that is causing the problem.

Can Bluetooth Be Added To An Already Existing Mechanical Keyboard PCB?

It is not possible to simply add Bluetooth to a mechanical keyboard. If the mechanical keyboard was not designed with Bluetooth, adding it will prohibitively prove difficult.

The keyboard will have to be powered by a Lithium-ion battery meaning all the charging circuitry has to be incorporated on the mechanical Keyboard PCB.

The microcontroller unit does not contain an in-built Bluetooth.

If one can be found, then chances are that the pinouts will be different. This will make replacing all the pins tedious and near impossible.

What Are The Various Work Mode States Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCB Immediately After Connecting With The Host Device?

Connected State

The connected state begins when the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB connects with the pairing device. The connected states can be divided into two:

Active

Immediately a keystroke is detected, the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB goes into active mode.

The key pressed is detected by a key-scan algorithm after it has triggered an interrupt.

The keyboard stays in active mode until the release of the pressed key. It then goes to idle state.

Idle

Connection here is established and maintained with the paired device. To maintain connection, the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB periodically sends activity data.

No keyboard data is transmitted. Key=stroke detection or inactivity time-out will take it to active mode.

Standby State

The Bluetooth Keyboard PCB terminates any paired connection if there is inactivity. This is to conserve power and no key-press activity takes place.

A key press activates the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB.

Advertising State

This state occurs when the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB wakes up on a keystroke in standby state.

The keyboard transmits a smart advertisement to be detected by pairing device.

Connection will be established if a pre-paired device picks up the data packet.

Standby state will be maintained if no device picks the advertisement after a while.

Power Down State

Turning off the power switch takes the Bluetooth Keyboard PCB to power down state.

It can go from any state to power down but only the power on switch can take it to advertising mode.

 What Are The Advantages Of Bluetooth Keyboard PCBs?

1. They have a very low power consumption and saves a lot of energy.
2. It can easily adapt to any computer or device via Bluetooth or module.
3. They have a very wide transmission range.
4. They operate at relatively high speeds.
5. They are moderately secure with end to end encryption

At Venture Electronics, we have a range of Bluetooth PCBs including Bluetooth transmitter PCB, and Bluetooth module PCB.

Contact us now for all your Bluetooth keyboard PCB.