I am using two XBEE series 1 chips to communicate between my arduino and pc running a Visual Basic program. They are able to communicate but it seems like at random times the XBEE will drop data packets or drop connection or something... I have tried just about everything I can think of and I narrowed it down to the actual XBEE hardware because when I run with a wired connection it runs perfectly with no errors.
ANY help will be greatly appreciated as this has been killing me for the past few days. Thanks in advance.
How are the XBees configured? What version of firmware? How far apart are the XBees? Any electrical activity nearby? There is not enough detail in your post to make any sort of guess as to the root cause of your problem.
XBEE's are configured to 9600 bps each.
both have the same ID and channel.
XBEE1 MY = XBEE2 DL
XBEE1 DL = XBEE 2 MY
and I changed the packetization timeout to 0 from 3 in attempt to fix my problem
latest version (10ED) on both XBEES
they are about ~1.5 meters away from each other. I have a wireless router set-up very near by, but Im pretty sure its set-up 5Ghz so I dont think its the problem...
The only electrical activity I can think of is the supply for the arduino itself, the supply that powers the project and of course your everyday AC outlet.
Do I have to do anything differently in the serial communications when Im using my XBEE as apposed to a USB connection? As far as I know its the same.
Hi I am struggling with xbee connections myself and am far from an expert on the subject, but while I was working on it today I noticed that when I connect my board wired, the serial monitor outputs the values only (as per the sketch), but when I go wireless xbee, it outputs a lot of other junk besides my values... I say junk but it is actually the packet of data that the xbee generates which is not useful to me but is needed to get the data accross.... I don't know if this is what you are seeing and are confusing with error data???
Probably not but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case...
I always thought that if i used the XBEE properly that it would be just like a serial line replacement... meaning i would not have to change anything in my code to have it work.
having said that, i have not exactly actually monitored data transfer with my XBEES... i would assume it is not the problem though as it works fine but seems to cut out at completely random times.