Driver/Script/App to Switch Off Bluetooth Chip in FCP X Keyboard?

Hey there guys,
I hope that this post finds you all in excellent spirits, and that you are having a great week.

I recently bought the Apple MLA22B/A Magic Keyboard to use with FCP X. It is a wonderful keyboard with one problem: when I switch it on, I get a headache! I figured out that this must be from the Bluetooth chipset in the keyboard, because I have had similar experiences with other Bluetooth devices. (FYI, I connect the Magic Keyboard to my laptop via USB 3.0, and it works great.)

My question is this: is there some kind of driver or script or app that I can use to switch.off the Bluetooth chipset in the Magic Keyboard? I figure that this should be possible because most routers allow you to shut off the wi-fi signal via software.

Details of the chipset (the Broadcom BCM20733 Enhanced Data Rate Bluetooth 3.0 Single-Chip Solution) can be found here under 'Step 9' :

www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Keyboard+Teardown/50995

As ever, any thoughts or ideas would be sincerely appreciated.

AlexMaxim wrote: ...I recently bought the Apple MLA22B/A Magic Keyboard to use with FCP X. It is a wonderful keyboard with one problem: when I switch it on, I get a headache! I figured out that this must be from the Bluetooth chipset in the keyboard, because I have had similar experiences with other Bluetooth devices...is there some kind of driver or script or app that I can use to switch.off the Bluetooth chipset in the Magic Keyboard? I figure that this should be possible because most routers allow you to shut off the wi-fi signal via software....Broadcom BCM20733 Enhanced Data Rate Bluetooth 3.0 Single-Chip Solution....

Alex, I don't know of any trick or hack to disable the Bluetooth radio in a Magic Keyboard. You can turn off Bluetooth in your Mac and the keyboard will still work via USB/lightning cable. However that doesn't turn off Bluetooth in the keyboard itself. It might revert to a low power, mostly quiescent mode, but it's impossible to tell without a Bluetooth RF field strength meter, something like this: a.co/coFYjgB

However there are smartphone apps for checking Bluetooth signal strength. I don't know how well they work:
itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluetooth-smart-...ner/id509978131?mt=8

If you're going to use a wired keyboard, there are lots of choices for Macs: www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/best-keyb...or-mac-2017-3590365/

joema wrote:

AlexMaxim wrote: ...I recently bought the Apple MLA22B/A Magic Keyboard to use with FCP X. It is a wonderful keyboard with one problem: when I switch it on, I get a headache! I figured out that this must be from the Bluetooth chipset in the keyboard, because I have had similar experiences with other Bluetooth devices...is there some kind of driver or script or app that I can use to switch.off the Bluetooth chipset in the Magic Keyboard? I figure that this should be possible because most routers allow you to shut off the wi-fi signal via software....Broadcom BCM20733 Enhanced Data Rate Bluetooth 3.0 Single-Chip Solution....

Alex, I don't know of any trick or hack to disable the Bluetooth radio in a Magic Keyboard. You can turn off Bluetooth in your Mac and the keyboard will still work via USB/lightning cable. However that doesn't turn off Bluetooth in the keyboard itself. It might revert to a low power, mostly quiescent mode, but it's impossible to tell without a Bluetooth RF field strength meter, something like this: a.co/coFYjgB

However there are smartphone apps for checking Bluetooth signal strength. I don't know how well they work:
itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluetooth-smart-...ner/id509978131?mt=8

If you're going to use a wired keyboard, there are lots of choices for Macs: www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/best-keyb...or-mac-2017-3590365/

Thank you so much for this information! It is sincerely appreciated.

One solution might be to pay someone to code a single-purpose app to accomplish this task.

In the interim I will probably just use a wired keyboard.

Having the numeric keypad and navigation keys on a full sized keyboard make editing in FCPX WAY faster and easier. Personally I HATE that the bluetooth keyboard lacks these. I can't use anything but a full sized keyboard. Personally, I don't care if there's a wire, my keyboard doesn't move around anyway.

Now, my Apple Magic Trackpad (2nd gen) is vital, I'll never give it up for anything...