Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Javier Robaina on February 21, 2012 at 12:23pm

Hi, not sure if it's true or not, but in the APM wiki it clearly is not recommended for theseadapters modules than the xbee 900MHz (xbp09-DP) for modules such as thoserecommended his Adafruit or Sparkfun.

I can tell you that I bought the same adapter modules 3DRobotics with Xbee09DP andgoing very well.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Simpson on February 21, 2012 at 12:35pm

I'm having a hard time parsing what you wrote - maybe some words got cut out or something?

Did you mean that these adapters are not recommended for modules other than the 900Mhz XBee (XBP09-DP)? Can you link to that warning you found? I didn't see any warnings on the DIY Drones store about that.

EDIT: I found the warning. I see that the copy/paste just didn't work properly for you.

http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/APM2Wireless

In particular, we do not recommend the DIY Drones XtreamBee adapter for those modules. Instead, try the Adafruit or Sparkfun adapters. Please note that the DIY Drones team will only support the recommended 900Mhz Xbee modules, so if you use something else please turn the community for help, not the DIY Drones developers.

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Permalink Reply by Ian forbes on March 10, 2012 at 12:34am

I had my xbees working perfectly, then all of a sudden the red led on the xstream side at the drone went solid red solid amber and solid blue.  Checked both boards via usb with xctu, they are all reading fine, I think there is something wrong witht the xstream adaptor??  I ordered the adaptors from diy and the xbee 900 from Digi, but they should be the same as the telemtry Kit...  Don't see why they would reccomend not using tDIYs adaptor if it is the same xbee 900 as the telemetry kits...

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Lourens on April 2, 2012 at 11:32pm

Hi Jeff,

Have you managed to feet your xbee's working? I have the same units and can't get them to work either. I can set them to talk to each other via terminal but mission planner can't connect.

Cheers

Kevin

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Permalink Reply by Ian forbes on April 3, 2012 at 1:35pm

Guys I have issues from time to time still w my xbees/DIY adaptors, sometimes I have to hit reset button on APM2, and while it is rebooting hit connect in planner, seems to help.  I am on xstream adaptor #3, and so far so good.  I am wondering if the connection of so manty items to the same 5v supply has sometyhing to do with it.  I ran my xbees of one of the extra esc powers and it seems to have helped.  I know it doesn't make sense, but I don't think the single esc/ BEC can handle the "daisy chain" wiring laid out in the wiki.  Try powering seperate esc bec to each item of electronics...

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Permalink Reply by john fletcher on April 20, 2012 at 2:11pm

For 2.4 XBEE Pro S2B on Sparkfun adaptors only.

After searching for hours and hours the soloution seems to bee :-

Always read the settings before you change something so that only the bits you want are changed.

Always start the sequence by loading the defaults into X-CTU

Always read back the settings after you change something.

1 use the config XBP24BZ7 settings both ends 1 is Coordinator AT the other is Router AT use the default baud 9600.

2 do these steps for both units

3 read back the settings so that you can see  serial number high and low, write them into notepad

4 set the pan id to something you want.

5 do 3 to 4 again for second unit

6 for both set the destination high and low to the serial number high and low of the other unit.

7 now just change the baud to 57600 and remember to change pc settings to the new baud rate

If this does not work I don't know!! but it's taken a week to find this out. XBEE'S are great!!! (now)

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Permalink Reply by john fletcher on April 9, 2012 at 5:58am

Hi Jeff,

I have had little success with S2B, but I have had some!

Here's the score so far,

Changing the config with digi's utility to XB24-B and using zigbee AT co-ordinator and zigbee AT router/end device with pan id set to a useful value puting the one device on a breadboard with it's adaptor and just 5V Gnd and Din linked to Dout and the other device on a usb adaptor with X-CTU running on a PC I can use the range check page and get 100% data exchange.

This also works after a fashion with Mission Planner but there a long periods of no data!

I'm using xbee pro s2b with 1 sma and 1 wire antenna and the sparkfun boards. No FTDI cable.

I program with the usb board.

Questions :-

1) Does anyone have the series 1 xbee config that they would share so that it can be tried?

2) Does anyone know what commands ardupilot uses if any, it might just assume correct settings.

The best thing I could hope for is a profile file that has all the series 1 settings in it for X-CTU, PLEASE ! !

If I find anything else I write it up here.

Thanks for reading this.

John Fletcher

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Permalink Reply by Paul Feely on April 9, 2012 at 2:48pm

Hi John,

I'm using xbee pro series 2 modules with APM and working ok for a longtime.

Bit confused by your post - I can't tell what you're using at the plane end of your system - is it the XtreamBee boards? If it is they don't work with Series 2. The Sparkfun Xbee Explorer Regulated works fine with them.

You're asking for a Series 1 xbee profile - this won't work with series 2, they are quite different. Series 1 are easier to use but if you have Series 2 they should be ok and stable once set up.

Ardupilot commands - as far as I know APM doesn't issue any commands, it just uses the xbees as if they were a piece of wire and the xbees just pass on whatever they see at the serial port.

Could you post a picture of you setup and a copy of your config file (or a screen shot of it in X-CTU).

Cheers Paul 

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Permalink Reply by Ian forbes on April 9, 2012 at 8:51am

No idea, beyond my scope, but figured I'd let you know someone is reading these...

I am running the xstream bee (3rd one now) with the xbee pro 900s.  I didn't need to go that deep into the cofiguration.  It has been troublesome, and I still think it was the xstream adaptors that were giving me issues, beyond that I am of little help.

First xstream froze completely, I had to undrick actual xbee, still wouldn't work, second xstream adaptor, lights were on and flashing, but no body home, xctu wouldn't even acknowledge there was a xbee connected, third xstream board has worked like a champ, no problems...

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by john fletcher on April 9, 2012 at 1:04pm

It seems that lots of folks have problems with these modules, I'm sure it''s not the module rather the art of setting them up.

I note that diy drones only use series 1 modules and I suspect a reason for this!

I'm still working on this and will be for a while yet.

Any helpful comments welcome, nice to know somebody is reading

John Fletcher

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Permalink Reply by Ian forbes on April 9, 2012 at 2:21pm

@john-- It can be frustrating waiting for help, sometimes I just wanted to know that there waas anyone out there at all willing to help.  Most of the guys that are able to help are either burned out or really busy, so patience is a virtue with open source.  I ended up solving the xbee problems on my own by buying 2 usb adaptors and an FTDI cable so I could connect via x-ctu usb adaptor to usb adaptor. Then I connected via xstream ftdi to usb, eliminated the xstream from the hardware set to prove it was the adaptor.  If you are going to get into this might as well have the equipment to absolutely trouble shoot any combination of issues...

I think it is a combination of human and hardware issues.  It is difficult as a newb to tell the difference sometimes:). I have seen some of the dumbest questions that it is obvious they didn't follow the wiki, so I can see why the gurus at DIY get frustrated...

In my case I had the xbee setup working great then it would just stop working (happened 2 times), so at least I had the benefit of knowing I was doing it right before the hardware failures.  My new adaptors proved me right on the xstream adaptors problems... 

 If you follow the Wiki exactly line for line it should be simple to connect... This is what we get for being on the cutting edges of technology, ok maybe not cutting edge, more like a dull butter knife in my case...HAH!

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Permalink Reply by Cliff-E on April 9, 2012 at 2:13pm

Make sure you can use the FTDI cable with XCTU. before you do anything else.

If you have 2 FTDI cables, you can hook both up to a computer, start one in XCTU's terminal and another in hyperterminal and you'll see echo-ed output when you type in one of the terminals--at 56K settings of course. If that works, then your xbee link is 100%.

Note on sparkfun boards and 900 Digimesh modules, the line level is too low due to the board's limited output (i.e. experiences brown out)--you need activate the pull-up resistor option in the xctu configuration.

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