xbee USBtoSerial issues

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vex

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I'm trying to work through the xbee libary guide, but I can't get XCTU to communicate with the xbee.
I've made the board correctly, I can't see any obvious shorts or other misshaps, and as far as I know these are fresh, new xbee modules. I've tried two, and neither work. I'm also using the teensy 2.0.

So far, my steps have gone as such:
Assemble board
Load test blink program (fine)
Load USBtoSerial (fine)
Attempt to connect Xctu at 9600 baud, default settings.
and failure.

Also, at first whenever I open up the serial console, I got random strings of gibberish, weird ascii values and the like. Disturbingly however, I've stopped getting any output whatsoever. A run of EchoBooth reveals that there's nothing obviously wrong with the serial connection either.


Anyway, is there something massive I've missed?
 
have you changed the default baud setting in USB serial from 19200 to 9600? That would explain random text.

Also, do you have level converter hardware anywhere? You didn't specify which board you were using so if it's just a breakout then you have 5V from the Teensy2 going into the 3.3V Xbee which will not be a good thing.
 
XBee's from the factory use a 9600 baud rate.

To clarify a few things:
-> You followed all the instructions on https://www.pjrc.com/store/xbee_adaptor.html for the Teensy 2.0 (not the ++)
-> You set the baud rate in the USBtoSerial sketch to 9600?
-> In XCTU, you click Add Device, and the COM port the teensy is emulating is listed there. You select it, set baud rate to 9600, 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bits with no flow control, click finish and it still doesn't find it?
-> You've verified 3.3v and gnd on pins 2 and 1 on the xbee respectively?

If all the above are correct; where did you source the XBee's from? Do you have an oscilloscope you can verify communication with? Have you tried the find device functionality on XCTU?

It's odd that you're getting something coming through at all; the XBee's never send any data without receiving a transmission, or if in API mode, you send an API frame.
 
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I had it set to 19200 in the sketch- not 9600. Whoops. Unfortunately, that didn't fix it either. The voltage regulator is supplying 3v, not 3.3, but as far as I can tell that should work alright. Also, do you mean pins 1 and 10?

I got the xbee modules from sparkfun. And yes, I do have an oscilloscope, I can hook it up when I get home.
 
vex said:
I had it set to 19200 in the sketch- not 9600. Whoops. Unfortunately, that didn't fix it either. The voltage regulator is supplying 3v, not 3.3, but as far as I can tell that should work alright. Also, do you mean pins 1 and 10?

I got the xbee modules from sparkfun. And yes, I do have an oscilloscope, I can hook it up when I get home.
Click to expand...

Whoops; was looking at a FTDI Xbee breakout in front of me, which I assumed broke the pins out in the order of the XBee but it seems it routes the around differently for some reason heh.
Oscilloscope is next step I think.
 
vex said:
I'm trying to work through the xbee libary guide, but I can't get XCTU to communicate with the xbee.
I've made the board correctly, I can't see any obvious shorts or other misshaps, and as far as I know these are fresh, new xbee modules. I've tried two, and neither work. I'm also using the teensy 2.0.

So far, my steps have gone as such:
Assemble board
Load test blink program (fine)
Load USBtoSerial (fine)
Attempt to connect Xctu at 9600 baud, default settings.
and failure.

Also, at first whenever I open up the serial console, I got random strings of gibberish, weird ascii values and the like. Disturbingly however, I've stopped getting any output whatsoever. A run of EchoBooth reveals that there's nothing obviously wrong with the serial connection either.


Anyway, is there something massive I've missed?
Click to expand...
Have you gotten the simple case to work: XCTU on a PC.
PC USB to serial FTDI 3.3V (not RS232) adapter connected properly to XBee pins. All you need is GND, TX, RX, reversing TX,RX. And feed the XBee 3.3V.
Run XCTU on the PC.

USB to FTDI 3.3V like this is a must have for this sort of work.
Get one whose cable is wire-ended, not plug-ended so you can plug the wires as need be.
Buy only FTDI chipset. From their website or legit distributor
 
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