Any convenient way to purchase more wireless USB receivers?

[Joe Guo]

Hi,

I am building an application that requires more than two wireless steamvr tracking objects in the same scene (at least 6 wireless objects pairing with the host pc). So I need many extra wireless USB receivers to build this product.
But the problem is I can only purchase one at a time from steam (this is confirmed by the steam support people, they said steam don't provide bulk sale on their hardwares) and 3 from amazon at a time (3 is a limit that is set by valve and it takes 2 weeks to ship). I can not figure out other ways but to purchase one at a time and have to pay shipping fee for each receivers, it is also very inefficient. Do you guys have alternative ways to purchase the receiver or, even better, to produce the receiver directly?
Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

Best,
Joe Guo

[76561198273018798]

I believe that it was mentioned in class that you can buy official Steam controller dongles here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/530260/

Once you have a dongle, open the console and take the following steps:

0) Make sure that you have <steam install dir>\steamapps\common\SteamVR Tracking HDK\tools\bin\win32 added to your PATH in windows

1) Navigate to <steam install dir>/steamapps\common\SteamVR Tracking HDK\firmware\10.27.2016 using the cd command

2) Make sure all other Steam Dongles and Vive are not plugged into USB

3) plug in the new dongle and run, wait to make sure Windows is done installing enumerating and installling drivers

4) run the following command "lighthouse_watchman_update -D watchman_v3_dongle.bin"

With luck you will see something like:

HID opened: VID 28de PID 1043 serial (null) seq 1 | if -1
Attempting to update Watchman Dongle...
Valve Nordic bootloader version 19.0
P2vvvvvvvvP3vvvvvvvvP4vvvvvvvvP5vvvX........vvvvvvvvP6X........vvvvvvvvP7vX........vvvvvvvvP8vvvX........vvvvvvvvP9vX........vvvvvvvvP10vvvvvvvvP11vvvvvX........vvvvvvvvP12vvvvvvvX........vvvvvvvvP13X........vvvvvvvvP14vvvvvX........vvvvvvvvP15vvX........vvvvvvvvP16vvvvvX........vvvvvvvvP17X........vvvvvvvvP18X........vvvvvvvvP19X........vvvvvvvvP20X........vvvvvvvvP21X........vvvvvvvvP22X........vvvvvvvvP23X........vvvvvvvvP24X........vvvvvvvvP25X........vvvvvvvvP26X........vvvvvvvvP27X........vvvvvvvvP28X........vvvvvvvvP29X........vvvvvvvvP30X........vvvvvvvvP31X........vvvvvvvvP32X........vvvvvvvvP33X........vvvvvvvvP34X........vvvvvvvvP35X........vvvvvvvvP1vvvvvvvvP0X........vvvvvvvv
Successfully updated firmware.
Found all expected bootloaders

[Joe Guo]

Thanks for your reply, lbeno. I do know to change a steam controller receiver to a steam vr tracking receiver. What troubles me is that I can not find the way to make a bulk order of this receiver. Due to some limitation, I can only purchase one receiver at a time from Steam and three receivers at a time from amazon. Do you have any alternative way to make bulk purchase?

[76561198273018798]

Getting a hold of official Dongles would probably be best answered by the Valve guys or Synapse, however...

I did take the plastic covers off of a Steam Dongle and found that the design is nearly identical to nRF24LE1 dongles that can purchase on eBay:

{LINK REMOVED}http://imgur.com/a/cZAWj

{LINK REMOVED}http://www.ebay.com/itm/nrf24lu1p-nrf24lu1-USB-Dongles-2-4G-RF-Wireless-Module-PC-Peripherals-8051-SOC-/262136737421?hash=item3d08912e8d:g:s2MAAOSwqrtWn0zQ

My guess is that these are OEM parts that could be purchased direct from numerous Shenzhen vendors at any quantity that you want. Steam Controller might just OEM it themselves...

I have some sitting in my lab, I can tell you that their default firmware is not compatible with the Valve USB bootloader but it is worth trying to get a programmer and writing in the binary that way:

{LINK REMOVED}http://www.ebay.com/itm/nrf24lu1p-NRF24LE1-2-4G-Wireless-Module-PC-USB-Flash-Programmer-/281496196603?hash=item418a7b15fb:g:ZFsAAOSwtnpXiatm

I've also found a few resources online where you create a programmer from Arduino and flash it, I may give that a try if I can find the time.

Edit: Thinking about this more, perhaps the lighthouse_watchman_update tool is looking for Valve's specific USB vid and pid as part of the process. The eBay dongles don't have Valve specific vid and pid so they are not identified as viable targets. There is probably some other utility that can flash firmware regardless of vid and pid, I just need to do more searching. I did attempt to use the Nordic supplied nRFgo Studio with no luck. Will keep digging...

[Joe Guo]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply lbeno! I will also get some ebay dongle and do some research. I will also share the result with you later. It would be the best if we can make our own dongles.
And I will really appreciate if some guys from Steam or Synapse can point us a right way.

[76561198273018798]

I spent a little time with this Github project trying to program the dongle: {LINK REMOVED}https://github.com/polkabana/nRF24LE1_Programmer

So far no luck due to a variety of reasons, most on my part. I'm using a SAMD21 based arduino board with Serial over USB, it seems to have some issues running this code without modification. The Dongle seems to be a clone of this (old) nordic reference design so this is where I got the pin out info from:

{LINK REMOVED}http://www.semiconductorstore.com/pages/asp/DownloadDirect.asp?sid=1482159476678

I started to mod the arduino code to work but discovered that the programmer is wanting access to a reset pin that is not exposed on the dongle debug connector. So I'm just going to shelf this for the sake of time.

I just ordered this from eBay and will give it a try in 15-60! days when it arrives.

{LINK REMOVED}http://www.ebay.com/itm/NRF24LE1-NRF24LU1-NRF24LU1P-USB-Flash-Programmer-Adapter-/281971803961?hash=item41a6d44739:g:o4wAAOSwpIdW7Oiw

If all goes well, I'll probably order these in volume from Alibaba, reprogram them and make them available for bulk purchase to everyone in the Triad Webstore. Stay tuned.

[jesse.allum]

You should soon have the documentation which will allow you to produce your own USB wireless receivers.

In the meantime, please note the dongle uses NRF24LU1P-F32Q32 (that's LU1, not LE1 as mentioned in this thread). This version has 32K flash, where the LE1 has only 16K flash - there are probably other differences as well.

I am not sure if an existing reference design from Nordic or another source will support the firmware supplied with the HDK. When the documentation is made available you will be able to verify similarity of the design with a reference design that may suit your needs, or produce your own USB wireless receivers.

[76561198273018798]

Thanks Jesse, good to know. I also verfied by part markings on the dongles that both the Steam dongle and the ebay dongle have LU1 devices. Also the particular programmer that I oredered can program both.

I think that the root issue is that Joe can't find a place where he can place an order for more than 3 dongles. If someone wanted to order say 50 dongles, how would they do that?

I think if this short coming was solved (soon), buying from ebay would be redundant.

Otherwise, my thinking was once I get this programmer, I'll use it to dump the flash from the steam dongle then write that data into the ebay dongle and see what happens.

[Joe Guo]

Hi Ibeno,

I just received the programmer and the usb dongle you refered on previous post. But I found that the nrf24 module on the dongle is actually 16k flash (nRF24LU1P-F16 not F32). And I can not write the firmware to the dongle through the programmer. I guess it is due to the lack of flash?
Are you sure that the dongle you receive has 32k flash? When I check the ebay website again, it shows 16k flash on this board.

And thanks Jesse, if we can get the documentation and produce our own dongle, that would be the best.

Best,
Joe Guo

[chaab]

Hi,

The link Ibeno posted seems broken here. Where does it point to? Thanks!

[76561198357781639]

Originally posted by jesse.allum:

You should soon have the documentation which will allow you to produce your own USB wireless receivers.

Hi Jesse, do you have a estimate of when the documentation will be made available ?

[BYO.Shaun]

The description listing for http://www.ebay.com/itm/NRF24LE1-NRF24LU1-NRF24LU1P-USB-Flash-Programmer-Adapter-/281971803961?hash=item41a6d44739:g:o4wAAOSwpIdW7Oiw clearly says in bright red font F32 is not supported.

Can anybody confirm what programmer can be used to fully convert (reflashes bootlaoder too) a steam controller dongle to a steamvr tracked device dongle?