XBEE communication problems... not so straightforward...?

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi all,

so I got the XBEE as I was told it was the simplest rs232 cable replacement out there, straight swap even. Anyhow, after trying every possible configuration I could, I get communication without precision.

I am passively monitoring my com port to see the communication, first off, it seems some of the data I am transmitting from the computer to the XBEE is bouncing back to the computer, sometimes characters are straight duplicated or received with extra/irrelevant characters in addition (and sometimes not). Also, the timing is off, by the time it sends the data sometimes my program will just say connection timed out.

I am using a XBEE connected to the computer with XBEE explorer, the device connected to the other XBEE ONLY uses the DIN and DOUT (TX/RX) transmission. I have been using this device with cables on 9600 8N1 perfectly; I have checked all my baud rates and even tried different ones. I have tried default settings on the xbees, 64 bit addressing (leaving MY=0) on both xbees, using MAC addressing with MAX header, with and without ACKS, etc. and NOTHING will clean up this sloppy communication I’m getting. I have tried messing with the virtual com port settings, etc, etc. The most useful setting I changed was the packet timeout, which I put to 0 so that the xbee does not wait to send any communication to one another, this resulted in the device not timing out the program when it is trying to download, but it is still impossible to download because the password is always sent incorrectly, yet is very close sometimes (I shouldn’t know this, but as I said, it will bounce back what it has received). Both devices are put as “END”… Im about to stomp on these things they are driving me crazy.

So I wonder, WHY does it seem that the XBEE Im trying to speak to is bouncing back the data packets? The only setting I never enabled was data collision prevention, and the two xbees are within a foot of each other using full power… is this a possible culprit? I wouldn’t think so since I also used 64 bit addressing.

XBEES IM USING:

XBEE SERIES 1 (XB24)

FIRMWARE: 1084

PLEASE, any help is appreciated! I was depending on these darn things, now they’re stinging me in the butt. :lol:

2

Ah, and if you are wondering if the second device’s TX/RX pins are shorted, they are not. I tested for this of course.

Also, with the cable, it is only using RX/TX, there is no flow control to begin with.

3

I’d like to say, the data being sent from the independant unit / xbee to the computer seems to be fine, it is the data from the computer to the unit that bounes back with extra / wrong characters.

so the question becomes regarding transmission from computer to unit:

  1. why is data bouncing back

  2. why are there extra / wrong characters in there?

Thats the issue.

HELP PLEASE! :cry:

4

Have you updated the firmware to the latest? I just set up a link from the computer to an arduino and have good data going both directions.

5

I upgraded firmware to 10c8, but regardless, I’m nowhere closer then I was before. I swwap the xbees to make sure its not an antenna issue, as the data from the unit to the computer is fine. But for some reason, data from the computer keeps bouncing back with extra/wrong characters… all the independant unit has attached to it is VCC/GND and DIN/DOUT. The actual chip its connected to works great with those connections on RS232 cable on standard 9600 8N1, I have checked those settings on XCTU, com port settings, etc… Do I have faulty units??? Should I enable a coordinator? Please give some explanation on how to implement any solutions if you can think of any. Thanks.