Connecting the xbee's to propeller demo board

chris jones · 2010-10-25 21:10

Hello

i am trying to connect my propeller demo boards to my xbee i have seen a lot of exmamples online but i think my hookup i slihjtly wrong. but i dont want to wire the xbees wrong and fry them so i am asking for a little assistance. i have screenshots as soon as i can get them uploaded from my camera

ElectricAye · 2010-10-25 21:24

Chris,

have you seen the drafts of the Xbee tutorials on the Parallax Wireless forum?

Check it out:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?t=124213

chris jones · 2010-10-25 21:40

Yes, i was on the site and read througfh most of the tutorials but i my xbees are not working from the exmaples in the pdf files.i also downlaoded the program on the digikeys web site and still nothing.

chris jones · 2010-10-26 15:42

does anyone hav ea screenshot of the xbee on a propeller demo board ?

chris jones · 2010-10-26 15:57

here are my pics of my current wire hookup

Roger Lee · 2010-10-26 18:27

Chris, Don't take this wrong, but the connections look a little fuzzy.
I can't make my old eyes count the pins in those pics.

Lighting and contrast look good.
Perhaps you could post some new photos?

W9GFO · 2010-10-26 19:30

I can't make out much, but it doesn't look like the way mine is hooked up.

You only need four connections. All of them are on the left side. No resistors are needed.

3.3v goes to the second pin from the top.
DOUT is the third pin from the top (DOUT is what the Propeller receives)
DIN is the fourth pin from the top (DIN is what the Propeller transmits to)
Ground is the 11th (last pin) pin

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-26 20:41

i will try and get another picture uploaded my camera is so crapy it cant take closeups.i fif remove the resistors and replaced with jumper wire and will give another try while i try and upload some pictures.

chris jones · 2010-10-26 20:52

ok , i have new pictures with the changes

W9GFO · 2010-10-26 21:12

attachment.php?attachmentid=74721&stc=1&d=1288153364

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-27 16:04

Thanks, W9GFO i hookid my board up just like yours but when i run through the tutorials that parallax has created i get a strange issue in the digikey prgram.it displays alot of Y about 20 per line over and over So does this mean my xbee is hooked up wrong.

W9GFO · 2010-10-27 16:22

I'm not sure what code you are referring to. Can you post it?

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-27 16:28

its the code form this link

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?t=124213

W9GFO · 2010-10-27 16:45

Did you change the pin numbers? If you have it wired exactly as in my photo then Serial_Pass_Through.spin should be changed as follows;

CON
  _clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x
  _xinfreq = 5_000_000

  ' Set pins and Baud rate for XBee comms  
  XB_Rx     = [B]5[/B]    ' XBee DOUT
  XB_Tx     = [B]4[/B]    ' XBee DIN                  
  XB_Baud   = 9600

  ' Set pins and baud rate for PC comms 
  PC_Rx     = 31  
  PC_Tx     = 30
  PC_Baud   = 9600

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-27 16:54

i wired my board just like yours but the pin for TX and RX is as follows

' Set pins and Baud rate for XBee comms
XB_Rx = 0 ' XBee DOUT
XB_Tx = 1 ' XBee DIN
XB_Baud = 9600

chris jones · 2010-10-27 17:02

just to make sure everything is good i will change my pis to match yours and change the code.

W9GFO · 2010-10-27 17:10

It is not clear to me what you are doing with this XBee. Is this demo board connected via USB to your computer? Do you have another XBee where the DOUT and DIN are connected together?

Do You have the USB XBee adapter for configuring the XBees using the X-CTU software?

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-27 18:03

no, the board is connected to my demo board.i think i know what may be wrong i had dave at parallax solder me some adapter boards and i think one is bad when i connect it i get a propeller not found error.

chris jones · 2010-10-27 18:07

ok added a dab of solder and it seems to get a good conenction now.so yes i have 1 xbee on each demo board

W9GFO · 2010-10-27 18:31

Is it working as expected?

Not sure why a bad solder joint on the XBee adapter would cause a "Propeller not found" error...

I have not used the "Serial pass through" method, instead I used the X-CTU program with the Xbee on the USB XBee adapter connected directly to the USB cable.

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-27 18:34

oh ok , do you knw if there is any demo code avalable so i can see if my xbee's are working correctly. i dont have the xbee USB adapter i just have the basic xbee adapter.

chris jones · 2010-10-27 21:35

Hello

i have some demo code i was working on can you help me i used the old school transmit and reciver. and i tried to code it the same way but ran into some issues how would i send infomation to 1 xbee to another. i see exmaples in the text but i am not sure ow to tell the other xbee i want to talk to it.my starting code is below anything will help.

W9GFO · 2010-10-27 22:53

Have you read this?

http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/books/PCMPMCh5.pdf

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-28 06:08

oh cool no i have not read this let me read and then i will get back with you if i have any issues. thanks for pointing the eBook out to me.

chris jones · 2010-10-28 06:36

I was starting to read through the document and i noticed that its always talks to the computer i never talks to another xbee.

W9GFO · 2010-10-28 12:15

chris jones wrote: »

I was starting to read through the document and i noticed that its always talks to the computer i never talks to another xbee.

No, it does talk to the other Xbee. The thing is the other XBee just mimics back whatever is sent to it so that the data appears on your computer screen.

Here's what happens;

You type something, say an "A". That "A" is sent from your computer to the Propeller via the USB cable. The Propeller, which is running SerialPassThrough.spin, sends the "A" to the DIN on the XBee which you have hooked up to the Demo Board, I'll call that the "near" XBee.

The near XBee then communicates with the far XBee and passes the "A" to it.

The far XBee, having received the "A" sends the "A" out of it's DOUT. In normal use the "A" would then go to a microcontroller and this would be the end of the trip but for testing the DOUT and DIN are connected together on the far XBee.

So the "A" that just came out of the far XBee's DOUT goes right back into the far XBee's DIN. The far XBee then communicates with the near XBee and passes the "A" back to it.

The near XBee receives the "A" and then sends the "A" out of it's DOUT to the Propeller. The Propeller, still running SerialPassThrough.spin, sends the "A" back through the USB cable and it is displayed right next to the original "A" that you typed on your computer's screen.

Rich H

chris jones · 2010-10-29 07:28

i have finished reading the document and attempted to do some of the examples but was not successful. i will continue to re-read the document and see if i am missing something. Any additional advice will be greatly appreciated.

max72 · 2010-10-29 07:37

check the free chapter 5 from the parallax book:

http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/637/Default.aspx?txtSearch=customizing+multicore

You'll find the sample chapter 5, about Xbee.

Massimo

chris jones · 2010-10-29 07:40

i think this is the same book that W9GF0 posted
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Do...s/PCMPMCh5.pdf

max72 · 2010-10-29 09:48

Yes, it is...
Sorry for the double post.
Did you already check also the draft chapters under the wireless forum?

W9GFO · 2010-10-29 11:30

chris jones wrote: »

i have finished reading the document and attempted to do some of the examples but was not successful. i will continue to re-read the document and see if i am missing something. Any additional advice will be greatly appreciated.

I think a real time conversation would be helpful. Perhaps you should give Parallax a call. So much more information can be exchanged in a short time frame in a phone call than on a forum.

If you don't mind this leisurely pace then it would be helpful if you could go into great detail what you have done, how you have it hooked up and exactly what is happening, or isn't happening.

Rich H

Connecting the xbee's to propeller demo board

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