physical connection between xbee shield and arduino

Hi guys,

I have an xbee pro s2b module connected on a shield and i have the shield connected on top of the Arduino Uno. I have looked at the schematic of the xbee shield, but i just can't figure out which pins are used on the shield. I know that the xbee module uses the pins 1, 10, 11 and 20.

Regards,
gabys

connected on a shield

The one and only shield made for Arduinos? Not likely.

Hi Paul,

This is the latest version of the xbee shield as i can reckon:

and if you scroll down and follow the replacement of each version of the shield you will end up to this one:
SparkFun XBee Shield - WRL-12847 - SparkFun Electronics?

Unfortunately, i can not tell which version my xbee shield is, but more or less the schematic of each one seems the same to me.

I'm a newbie on these, so if you need any further information please ask.

I know that the xbee module uses the pins 1, 10, 11 and 20.

I have the same shield. The shield uses either pins 0 and 1 or pins 2 and 3, depending on which position the switch is in. No other pins are used.

In the xbee manual(page 7) it says that it needs the 4 pins in the corner of the module. Pins 11 and 20 are said to be Analog Input 4 or Digital I/O 4. Which module pin corresponds to RX and which to TX?

In addition, pin 1 of the module is used for the Power Supply and pin 10 is used for the Ground. Which pins on the shield are used for these two?

Xbee manual:
ftp://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentation/90000982_A.pdf

Can the pins of the Arduino that are being used by the xbee shield, also be used by another hardware by just connecting the new hardware on the pins of the shield?

Thank you in advance,
gabys

First off, all you have to do is plug in the XBee module, and it will connect to the proper
pins for Rx,Tx. You're reading something wrong, because pins 2,3 on the module are the
Dout,Din pins, respectively, exactly as shown on the XBee shield schematic.

Secondly, judging by the comments shown on the sparkfun pages, if you bought your XBee
shield more recently than about 2 years ago, you'll have the newer [ie, replacement] one.
The new one is good, in having proper 3.3V-to-5V level-shifters, the old one is bad, and
doesn't have level-shifters.

Thirdly, the link you gave is for the wrong XBee module. If you actually have the S2 module,
then the following is the correct link. Your link was for the S1, series 1 modules.
ftp://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentation/90000866_A.pdf

Fourthly, the S2 modules take more setting up, so you need to read the datasheet before
starting.

Fifthly, one thing to be aware of is, you cannot connect the XBee module via
that particular shield at the same time as connecting the Arduino to the USB port, since
the USB and XBee signals will conflict. Those shields are not designed very well to make your
life easy, unfortunately.

EDIT: for some reason, patching in an ftp link doesn't work, and when the URL comes up
in the browser, I have to insert a : [colon] after the first ftp.

oric_dan, I have looked at the datasheet you have sent me and it matches perfectly to the guidance that you have provided me with. Thank you for noticing and correcting the datasheet. Additionally, my shield was manufactured in 2010 and provides 3.3V and 5V pins so i think is the newer one.

Nonetheless, my question is still not being answered. My mistake for not making it clearer. Basically, I get which pins of the module are being used. What i don't get is which pins on the side of the shield (i believe they are referred as "jumpers" - JP1, JP2, JP3, JP4), are being used by the module.

The shield itself has holes next to each pin of the module. Do i need a wire to connect a pin of the module with a pin of a "jumper"? Or are the pins of the module directly connected with the pins of the "jumpers"?

The only pins connected between the XBee and the Arduino, via the shield, are the XBees TX and RX pins, which are routed through the switch to either 0 and 1 or 2 and 3.

The holes you refer to are so YOU can connect other XBee pins to other Arduino pins.

Cool! It all seems so much clearer now!

Thanks a lot!

gabys:
...
Nonetheless, my question is still not being answered. My mistake for not making it clearer. Basically, I get which pins of the module are being used. What i don't get is which pins on the side of the shield (i believe they are referred as "jumpers" - JP1, JP2, JP3, JP4), are being used by the module.

The shield itself has holes next to each pin of the module. Do i need a wire to connect a pin of the module with a pin of a "jumper"? Or are the pins of the module directly connected with the pins of the "jumpers"?

No, those are NOT jumpers, JPx is the stupid way that people identify the Arduino "headers"
on the shield schematics. It's done simply to confuse the heck out of everyone. And you will
notice there are no corresponding labels on the actual shield itself.

If the holes you're referring to are the ones inside the XBee headers, like Paul says, those
are just pads you can tie into if you need them. You don't, for normal ops.

Also, sf sells an XBee adapter and it looks like they simply copied the layout over,