Sending Strings over Xbee

Projects Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

I am trying to send strings from one arduino to another through Xbee communicators

I am using the Xbee S2, Arduino Xbee Pro shield v1.1, and arduino Uno.

No matter what I try the only input I receive on the arduino are just a bunch of y's on the serial monitor.

It was my understanding that they should be able to communicate out of the box without any additional configuration. Howeve it appears as though this isnt the case.

Can anybody give me any suggestions or direct me where to look. I've been at this for over a week now and still am having issues.

2

It was my understanding that they should be able to communicate out of the box without any additional configuration. Howeve it appears as though this isnt the case.

You should NOT believe everything you read.

Series 1 XBees WILL, out of the box, communicate with each other - in a very poor fashion.
Series 2 can not possibly, because at least one, and no more than one, must be a coordinator. The rest must be end devices or routers.

If the Series 2 XBees come configured as coordinator, then you have two in a network, which is not supported.

If they come configured as routers or end devices, then you have no coordinator in the network, which is not supported.

So, digi really should stop spouting that nonsense about "works out of the box; no configuration needed".

You need to configure one of the XBees twice, since you are trying to force the mesh network models to act as point-to-point models.

First, connect one of the XBees, and start up X-CTU. Set the XBee as coordinator, and write down it's address (SH(1) and SL(1)).

Then, connect the other XBee, and start up X-CYU. Set the XBee as router, and write down it's address (SH(2) and SL(2)). Set the address of the device that it listens to (DH and DL) to SH(1)/SL(1) of the coordinator.

Then, connect the first XBee again, and set the address it listens to (DH and DL) to the address of the second XBee (SH(2)/SL(2)).

3

Do i need an explorer shield to configure with XCTU or can i just have it connected through the arduino?

4

osterdog:
Do i need an explorer shield to configure with XCTU or can i just have it connected through the arduino?

You can use an Arduino board, if you remove the AtMega328 chip from the board. If you do that, make SURE that you observe the original orientation of the chip, so you can re-install it properly.

If you can't remove the chip, you need an explorer. The explorer device is not a shield.

5

Okay so i removed the atmega chip and tried to configure it, but XCTU would not discover any devices

6

but XCTU would not discover any devices

What options does your shield have for connecting the XBee to pins on the Arduino? Which pins is the XBee connected to? How is the chipless-Ardiuino powered?