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xbee or 433 MHz RF Transceiver — Parallax Forums

xbee or 433 MHz RF Transceiver

carlyncarlyn Posts: 78
edited 2012-12-22 18:35 in General Discussion
I would just likesome cursory info on the diff between the xbee and the 433
MHz RF Transceiver.

I think there is an xbee that will be good for a couple of kilometers, or roughly 1 and a bit miles ? The Xbee is cheaper, and i thought from the number of mentions of it and threads that it must be superior. But i know nothing(yet)

Ive bought programable cards and readers and propellors (gadget gangster and another similar one and a couple just on a bread board :) but now, i dont know what to do with them ? My original idea was too expensive and hard to solve too many problems.

Comments

  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-12-21 10:50
    They're very different animals. The 433MHz transceiver is a point-to-point, line-of-sight only radio. The XBees will make a mesh network, and have a packetized protocol that runs as much higher data rate. They also interface with a lot of existing industrial devices since they use the ZigBee protocol (on the v2 devices), and can do raw IEEE802.15.4 (on all devices) if you so request.
  • carlyncarlyn Posts: 78
    edited 2012-12-21 13:46
    So just two questions, can the xbee work one kilometer and not line of site , the other xbee is going be down in a valley ?
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-12-21 16:34
    It actually depends. There are a lot of XBees on the market, and I don't know which one(s) Parallax carries.

    RF is funny, in that there are a lot of variables to worry about, so I can't really predict what you'll be able to do.

    What you may be able to do is put one XBee on one device, a second down in the valley, and put an XBee Router on a peak that has line-of-sight visibility to both.
  • carlyncarlyn Posts: 78
    edited 2012-12-21 19:02
    Circuitsoft wrote: »
    [snip]

    What you may be able to do is put one XBee on one device, a second down in the valley, and put an XBee Router on a peak that has line-of-sight visibility to both.

    I pretty much figured thats what id end up doing no matter which RF device I use !
  • Duane C. JohnsonDuane C. Johnson Posts: 955
    edited 2012-12-21 19:13
    Hmmm, so are the end locations in relatively fixed locations?
    If so, directional fairly high gain antennas can be used.
    I like circularly polarized yagi antennas. Quite easy to build.
    Even higher gains using old C-Band dishes work well too.

    Duane J
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2012-12-21 19:49
    The advantage to using XBee, if you need a router, is that you don't need to write any code on the router - just make sure it's part of the same network. The XBee itself will store and forward the messages.
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2012-12-22 18:35
    Just a quick note - if range and power is a serious priority, look at the XBee XSC Pro 900mHz. Rated 15 MILES Line of Sight (which translates to about 1 mile in most applications - whereas 1 mile LOS usually translates to about 500 feet in "real conditions". Remember LOS ratings are usually for out in a desert with NOTHING between TX and RX units). I have used several PRO XSCs in my industrial control applications - they are fantastically reliable and get through even multiple large trucks parked between TX and RX. Last time I checked they ran about $80.00 each. Very simple to work with (I've been driving them with Stamps just using plain old SEROUT and SERIN commands). They are 1EEE802.15 right out of the box (set up for point to point), nothing complicated needed to get them going.

    Dave
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