Hi, I'm completely new to the Arduino and xbee system, and I have a bunch of questions but I'll start with my more pressing one.
I'm using the arduino lilypad hardware with 2 xbee's for a project, and im really struggling to set up the xbees to communicate. The xbees are series 2 and I was wanting to know what the parameters were to configure them in x-ctu??
I've gone through SO many readings to try and figure it out, and have only become more confused about the whole thing. So far, I've got:
xbee 1 - router/end device AT, PanID = 1616, My Address = FFFE (for some reason this changes on its own from time to time - help?), Destination Low = 0, baud rate = 3/9600/default, Channel = 0
xbee 2 = coordinator AT, PanID = 1616, My Address = 0 (this one DOESN'T change), Destination Low = 0, baud rate = 3/9600/default, Channel = 10
The only things that I had changed from the default settings were the PanID's. I'm clearly missing something to make them work, but I have no idea what it could be. I was hoping that someone might be able to help this struggling noobie
My Address = FFFE (for some reason this changes on its own from time to time - help?)
16-bit address is dynamic address which is assigned by the Coordinator. Don't touch this.
xbee 2 = coordinator AT, PanID = 1616, My Address = 0 (this one DOESN'T change), Destination Low = 0, baud rate = 3/9600/default, Channel = 10
The channel should be same with the other Xbee in the network.
It should work out of the box actually without touching anything actually. I used them at lot at work and only change parameters for optimization and customization based on the applications.
Just ensure simple mistake like RX/TX pin swap and baud rate is not present, then you should be fine.
The channel should be same with the other Xbee in the network
I understand this part from all the reading that i've gone through. However, as default with router/end device, this parameter is 0, but when I changed the function set to coordinator, the channel changed. I notice that this setting cannot be changed manually, so unless I set the function set to router/end device, it's going to have a different channel setting.
As for "working out of the box", is there a way to test this? If I restore the default values, what do I need to do to see if they are communicating to each other?
Just ensure simple mistake like RX/TX pin swap and baud rate is not present
Again, I understand the RX/TX thing, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the baud rate. I know that both Xbee's need to have the same baud rate... was there anything else you were referring to?
As for "working out of the box", is there a way to test this? If I restore the default values, what do I need to do to see if they are communicating to each other?
I assume you have the XBee carrier board (a serial or USB to PC). You can set the Coordinator destination address to the Router/End Device's 64-bit IEEE address number (consists of SH & SL in the XCTU). This can be done in the XCTU program. Then connect the Router/End Device to a PC. Use a terminal program to send out test data continuously (1 second maybe). Short the RX and TX pin of the coordinator. You should be able to see replica of what you send on the terminal program.
By using this method, you eliminate the mistake that you might have made on a microcontroller (coding, wiring, etc). Once, this is okay, you can move on to incorporate the Arduino into the setup.
Again, I understand the RX/TX thing, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the baud rate. I know that both Xbee's need to have the same baud rate... was there anything else you were referring to?
The baud rate refers to the serial interface baud rate between the Xbee to the host (Arduino, PC). So, both the host and the XBee must have the same baud rate. You can have many XBee, but not all of them must have the same baud rate. Communication between XBee modules is fixed at 250kbps.
As for "working out of the box", is there a way to test this? If I restore the default values, what do I need to do to see if they are communicating to each other?
Hoping you have some kind of carrier board, you connect one xbee to the pc and the other one you power up and short the rx/tx pins. now using xctu do a closed loop range test on the first xbee. the range test results will show if communication is on and to what extent data is being lost.
oh, and for others who are having trouble with their series 2 Xbee's check out this tutorial video: Xbee Configuration Tutorial on Vimeo. This was how I got mine working
