XBee Pro + Arduino

I’m trying to use two Xbee pro 9b’s (http://www.digikey.com/product-search/e … vendor=602) for communication from an Arduino to a computer. I am using both Sparkfun explorer boards (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11812) and (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11373), and, based on the comments for those products, I removed the RSSI LED from both. Prior to removing it, I could not download firmware to the XBee Pros.

After firmware was downloaded, however, I have tried to use the example code from here: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/xb … ation-test (see below) to send simple characters. Every time, however, question mark or random (incorrect) characters are printed. Is there something wrong with the board, or setup? Both XBees are running the same firmware (#3114), and I don’t know what the issue could be.

/*****************************************************************
XBee_Serial_Passthrough.ino

Set up a software serial port to pass data between an XBee Shield
and the serial monitor.

Hardware Hookup:
  The XBee Shield makes all of the connections you'll need
  between Arduino and XBee. If you have the shield make
  sure the SWITCH IS IN THE "DLINE" POSITION. That will connect
  the XBee's DOUT and DIN pins to Arduino pins 2 and 3.

*****************************************************************/
// We'll use SoftwareSerial to communicate with the XBee:
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
// XBee's DOUT (TX) is connected to pin 2 (Arduino's Software RX)
// XBee's DIN (RX) is connected to pin 3 (Arduino's Software TX)
SoftwareSerial XBee(2, 3); // RX, TX

void setup()
{
  // Set up both ports at 9600 baud. This value is most important
  // for the XBee. Make sure the baud rate matches the config
  // setting of your XBee.
  XBee.begin(9600);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
  if (Serial.available())
  { // If data comes in from serial monitor, send it out to XBee
    XBee.write(Serial.read());
  }
  if (XBee.available())
  { // If data comes in from XBee, send it out to serial monitor
    Serial.write(XBee.read());
  }
}

hmm. S3B. Never used these odd birds. Lots of use of S1.

Yeah, You bought a different beast than what is commonly used. So I wouldn’t expect much help here. Better try the digi.com forum. And make sure you read the manual:

http://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentat … 0938_E.pdf

Looking at page 6, the pin-out table, then the pin that the explorer board considers to be RSSI is notConfig (config active when low) on that XBee. So the explorer board isn’t the correct interface/breakout for it. Removing the RSSI led would not pull it to ground anymore, but there is no connection from the FT232 chip to that pin. So XCTU cannot put it into config mode or out of it. I would question if the firmware upload was really successful.

Why you get corrupted data I don’t know. The code in the Arduino should be generic enough to be used with this one. But I’m too unfamiliar with this Xbee module (read: not at all, looking at the manual for the first time). Could it be that you have applied voltages to other pins than Din,Dout, Vcc and Gnd? Voltages applied to other pins could put this kind of Xbee in different modes. And ALWAYS check baudrate settings.