Clearing some doubt about XBee

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello! i’d like to buy two xbee, and i have some (easy) questions on them:

  1. is the [USB Explorer sufficient to connect one Xbee to the PC ? does it need anything else (except for the cable of course) ?

  2. for the device end, what could i choose? I’m using arduino but i don’t want the shield, first becouse it’s expensive, and second becouse i could in future use other kind of arduinos or other boards. What do you think of [Ladyada adapter ? Looks great to me.

  3. What XBee should i choose? I need to have a good range and I’ve read around that wire antenna are better then the chip one… So i could either choose the [XBee Pro 50mW Series 2.5 Wire Antenna or the [XBee Pro 60mW Wire Antenna

  4. what the difference between serie 2.5 and serie 1 ?

Thanks, sorry if the question sound stupid, but i’d hate to buy the wrong stuff…](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8742)](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8876)](XBee adapter - Simple wireless communication)](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8687)

2

Hello! i’d like to buy two xbee, and i have some (easy) questions on them:

  1. is the [USB Explorer sufficient to connect one Xbee to the PC ? does it need anything else (except for the cable of course) ?

Explorer and a DC power source and cable are all you need. Or you can take an XBee module and a breakout board or haywire, plus an RS232 level converter chip, and convert the XBee’s serial port to RS232 so that can connect to a PC’s serial port.

  1. for the device end, what could i choose? I’m using arduino but i don’t want the shield, first becouse it’s expensive, and second becouse i could in future use other kind of arduinos or other boards. What do you think of [Ladyada adapter ? Looks great to me.

XBee can plug in to many microprocessor prototyping boards, some of which have a ready to go socket. Another to consider is the ARM7 board from Coridium: Wireless ARMmite. Plug and play. Is an ARM7, more complex and capable than an Atmel AVR as in the Arduinos.

  1. What XBee should i choose? I need to have a good range and I’ve read around that wire antenna are better then the chip one… So i could either choose the [XBee Pro 50mW Series 2.5 Wire Antenna or the [XBee Pro 60mW Wire Antenna

XBee series 1 is what I recommend if you don’t plan to do complex mesh networking. Modules with the miniature F connector allow you to use an external high gain/directional antenna. If you want the tiny onboard wire or chip antenna, then the choice of PRO or non-PRO depends on your expectations for range, either line of sight or non-line of sight. The non-PRO is 1 or 2 mW. But put that into a 5dBi antenna and you are almost at 50mW radiated. Or into a 14dBi patch antenna, and so on. It’s mostly a packaging issue for your use-case.

  1. what the difference between serie 2.5 and series 1 ?

The series 2 XBees are based on Ember’s chip/firmware whereas series 1 use Freescale and are used where ZigBee/meshing isn’t needed.

Thanks, sorry if the question sound stupid, but i’d hate to buy the wrong stuff…[/quote]](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8742)](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8876)](XBee adapter - Simple wireless communication)](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8687)

3

Thanks stevech, i think i’ll go for the 60mW serie 1…

uhm does the USB explorer need a DC power source? isn’t it powered via USB ? that would be a little misleading as the images show just the usb connection