XBee and Ethernet Shields

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Has anybody stacked these and used them at the same time? How did you do it?

Thanks.

2

I don't think it can be done unless you move some pins with some crafty soldering. :wink:
They use some of the same pins.
You want to use the regulated xbee board instead and then you can connect the xbee to any pins using the newsoftserial library.

Mowcius

3

are they doing the same thing?

4

They can do the same thing, I presume all you want to do is send data from one xbee to another in which case, the regulated xbee breakout can let you do that. The xbee shield may have some extra features but I don't know cos I haven't used one.

Mowcius

5

The xbee shield fits on the Arduino (not very well, mind you). The xbee breakout board does not. Other than that, they are functionally identical.

6

I am trying to do a similar thing: have one arduino read sensor data and send it via a xbee to another arduino, which in turn will connect to the internet using ethernet and post that info to a server.

What I understand is this:

  • the ethernet shield uses pins 10-13 for spi.
  • the ethernet shield is stackable on top of an arduino (duemilenove) and brings all the i/o pins to the top via female headers on top of the shield.
  • the zigbee shield uses uart for its comms, right? So requires the Rx and Tx pins.
  • if the zigbee is stackable on top of an arduino, it should be stackable on top of the ethernet shield as well, right? Since the ethernet shield brings all pins to the top.

so, that would lead me to believe that if you would stack the ethernet shield on top of the arduino, and the zigbee shield on top of that, you would have a combo that is able to utilize both wired ethernet for internet comms and use the xbee radio for wireless communication with another arduino.

Am I correct?

Regards,
Arno

7

An update that may benefit someone here: both shields can be stacked but the xbee shield gets its power from the iscp pins on the arduino, which the ethernetshield does not transport to the top, so you would have to make a cable to connect those pins from the arduino to the xbee..

8

Hi,
any news about using xbee shield on top of ethernet shield ?

someone has a working prototype for this ?

Thanks,
Gennaro

9

Sparkfun's shield no longer gets power from the ISCP, so it should be stackable.

10

Sorry for the slow response. I have been low on hobbytime and high on confusion in that hobbytime getting two xbeeshields to communicate.

I have not yet tried to get the ethernet shield, plus the xbee shield on an arduino, simply because I first want to get solid comms between the two xbees and then move on...

keep you posted!

11

Woohoo, I finally managed to spend some more time on this and was able to stack an ethernet-shield (old one, without the working memory-card slot) on top of an Arduino Duemilanove. And an Xbee-shield on top of the ethernet-shield. I made a short cable to connect the ICSP pins from the Arduino to the female ICSP header on the bottom of the Xbee-shield. The cable isn't pretty, but it works! (anyone has a good tip on how to cut off 3 female 0.1" pitch headers from a strip of 40??)

Here's an image of the end-result:

More info and larger images can be found here:
http://www.sindono.com/2010/...

12

anyone has a good tip on how to cut off 3 female 0.1" pitch headers from a strip of 40??

With a knife or box cutters. Expect to kill a 4th header just to make sure the third doesn't get damaged.

Korman

13

Ah thanks Korman. I was trying to keep that 4th header in good shape. The male headers can be snapped off easily, but I could not find such thing on the female headers. Next iteration of the cable will be nicer looking then :slight_smile: