So I seems to be having an issue with my XBee and the Sprakfun breakout board.
I have a raspberry pi, one usb breakout board, and one standard breakout board, and two Xbees XBP09-DP without antenna.
So I was trying to follow the guide suggested by a friend of mine…
Building Wireless Sensor Networks
Function-Set XBEE-Pro 900, version 1061
I didn’t see a router-coordinator set-up with them.
Anyways, I got X-CTU all loaded up and configured my XBEEs to communicate with each other, but there seems to be a problem. They one one receive hex 00 from the raspberry pi across the RX/TX. Additionally they are only working a foot at best.
I tried the exact same set up with my friends XBees, which I believe are the standard Xbees. When I got it all set up it worked flawlessly. I’m not sure if i’m using the wrong firmware, function set, need an antenna, or what I need to fix.
I also read somewhere there was an issue with the breakout boards and the XBEE’s not sure if it is valid or not.
Ok I found the problem, something to do with the pull up resistor… I have no idea what that is… but here is what I found on one of the sparkfun web pages that has to deal with my break out board…
It seems that there’s a configuration you can do on some XBee modules to make it work. But it doesn’t solve everyone’s problems.
See the comment from member 157131:
“…the internal pullup on DIN needs to be enabled (disabled by default). To do this, you need an Explorer Serial or Explorer USB. In XCTU set ‘PR – Pull-up Resistor Enable’ = 0x3FFF (0x3F7F by default).”
However, I was trying to use this board with the Roving Networks RN-XV (wifi module, XBee form factor) and am not sure if it will let you configure the same thing. So I ended up removing the diode and bridging the solder pads with a tiny piece of wire.
I still need to get a ul-f antenna, although I though I had purchased one with a microchip antenna I got the wrong Xbees.