Problems with XTend 900 modules

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi All–

I picked up a couple of XTend 900 modules from SparkFun, along with a couple of breakout boards and duck antennas. I ordered a 2x10 header from Digi-Key for the breakouts, rather than fiddle with the XBee headers.

I’ve connected one module to a breadboard, with VCC and GND attached to a 5 V regulator (LM7805), Shutdown pulled high with a 2k2 resistor, and Transmit_Power going through an LED to ground.

When I connect the 7805 to a power source, I get 5 V on the rails, but the Transmit_Power LED does not light up. Flipping the LED around has no effect. Connecting it across the power rails, it lights up fine. So, the LED doesn’t seem to be the problem.

I tried connecting the module to a USB port using an FTDI module, and then using the X-CTU software to connect to it. The FTDI module shows up fine, and works well with a loop-back wire, but X-CTU is unable to connect to the XTend module. I tried the same thing with Shutdown pulled high, but it still doesn’t work.

I’ve checked for shorts in the breakout board, but that seems fine. I checked a few accessible pins for continuity between the breakout pins and the pins on the module. Those also seem fine.

I’m at a bit of a loss as to what could be going wrong. Has anyone else run into similar problems? Any ideas how I might get the module working?

Thanks!

Michael

2

Hi again–

I spoke too soon… I’ve got the two radios communicating with my PC and also with each other (tested with a loopback on one radio). I made a couple of notable changes:

  • - I realized that the ground side of my Transmit_Power LED was going to a disconnected ground rail, so I connected the two rails.
  • - I swapped out the LM7805 for SparkFun's breadboard power supply, which is based on an LM317.

    • Given that I’d only tried with the USB power and the 7805 previously, it seems possible that this was just a case of using a power supply that wasn’t up to the task.

    Michael

    Edit: Alas, I can’t claim that the underpowered supply was the issue (though I will certainly need more current than USB can deliver to explore the XTend 900’s high-power mode). I tried removing the breadboard power supply and plugging back into the USB’s 5 V supply, and everything still works like a charm. I thought I’d tried swapping TX/RX lines, but perhaps I just got those wrong the first time, and didn’t try swapping them.

    3

    Hi,

    I am Mukesh from India.

    I have a small company by name Danuc Robotics www.danuc.com

    I have purchased 10 no Xbee Xtend 900 devices here in India from Spark Fun and was worried how to configure them.

    I just connected one device like other xbee modules but first attempt i did not work then after careful reading through the xtend manual i connected following pins

    PIN 1-GND

    PIN 2-VCC 5v max

    PIN 5-DIN

    PIN 6-DOUT

    PIN 7-Shutdown-5v

    then open X-CTU software go to PC settings tab select com port under select comport box ,in my case it was com 6 as i had connected explorer board with FTDI chip.

    Baud -9600

    Flow control-none

    Data bits-8

    Parity-none

    Stop bits -1

    now once you are sure that all connections are proper and power is on, Hit Test/query button in X-ctu first tab

    and X tend module comes alive and communicates with PC.

    The one can click on modem configuration tab and do the necessary changes to the firmware.