Hi all,
I'm having a bit of difficulty even getting a sensible subject header, but let's hope my question makes more sense!
My setup: I have an arduino pro mini. I usually upload sketches by connecting to the pins at the end of the board. I am only connected to the pins at the end when uploading sketches...otherwise they are open. At the same time I have an xbee attached to the Tx & Rx pins on the side (it's just an alternate location to connect to the same UART pins on the chip). In addition I usually have some other device (e.g compass or rfid reader) attached to the other pins on the arduino and communicate via newsoftserial.
The set-up works great while it's running. The problem, however, is when I want to upload a new sketch. Due to the crazy physical space limitations these devices need to live in, I usually have to solder the wires directly to the boards...often takes up considerably less space than using jumpers and the like. Since the xbee is permanently connected to the Tx & Rx UART pins, I get errors when trying to upload new sketches using the open UART pins, usually something along the line of unable to communicate to the arduino. I am assuming it's because data is flowing to the xbee as well.
So the question: is there a way to have the xbee permanently attached to the Tx and Rx pins, and still be able to upload sketches to the mini? A cleverly placed resistor or diode or ??
Thanks in advance for any advice, and please let me know if any of the above doesn't make sense. I seem to be struggling with how to word the question.
Cheers,
David