New in the DIY Drones store: the ultimate Xbee adapter

I know, it's been messy. One Xbee adapter for the ground, another for the air. Why can't one Xbee adapter do it all? Now it can! Jordi's really outdone himself on this one. The newest addition to the DIY Drones store: the ultimate all-in-one Xbee adpater--just $24.95. From the product description:

This is the most advanced and competitive XBee interface board you will find! It's breadboard compatible, has 4 status LED's (one selectable to display ASC or RSSI), built-in 3.3V power regulator, configuration solder jumpers and an unique feature that allows you set the device as Master or Slave FTDI mode with a simple slide of a switch!

In master mode you will be able to attach any USB FTDI cable/board and send/receive data like the rest of the average XBee adapters do (normal use mode), but if you slide the switch to "Slave mode" you will be able to attach the XtreamBee to any FTDI compatible device, like Arduinos, ArduIMU and Ardupilot's. So you only need two XtreamBee's, one master and other slave to create a both-ways wireless FTDI communication (or one XtreamBee set in "Slave Mode", if you already have another third party XBee adapter). You can even tweak the board to "wirelessly" emulate CTS and RTS signals. This board was under development for about 1 and 1/2 years! But finally after many failures I made it work with cheap/passive components. Great isn't it?

For more information please click here.

Features
-Includes 2 x 2mm female receptor headers to correctly place the XBee module.
-Includes 1 x right angle 6 position male pin headers.
-3.3V regulator build-in.
-ON Led, Tx/Rx Led's, ASC and RSSI Led (Jumper selectable).
-Master/Slave selector
-Solder jumper allow you to supply the board directly with 3.3V (Only recommended in Slave Mode).
-Breadboard compatible!
-Screw holes for easy mounting. "

(Xbee module not included)

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

John Klier July 7, 2010 at 11:24am

I am planning to add wireless telemetry to my system soon. I'm trying to understand the advantage of this new board over the previous adapter boards. Previously I would have needed this adapter for air and this adapter for ground. These two boards cost $34.95 together. This new board is $24.95. Do I still need two adapter boards at $24.95 each? The blog post implies that I just need one but I'm having difficulty understanding how one board would replace the original two when one is on the ground station and the other is in the aircraft. If I still need two adapters the cost is actually more than before. I'm probably missing something here.
Nick666 July 3, 2010 at 1:57am

Nice Board. Is there also an eagle file available?
Andre S July 2, 2010 at 9:35am

(Another noob question, sorry in advance, would like to make sure I order the right stuff): Is this adapter compatible to the 2.4 GHz XBee Pro 60mW mentioned on the Ardupilot pages and available here and the FTDI cable sold in the store here?

Unfortunately, I cannot use the 900 MHz models that seem to be the standard here since I live in Europe. (not sure whether this is the right place to ask but is it possible to replace the built-in antenna of these by something else for better range?)
IKE June 30, 2010 at 4:09pm

Thanks :)
Developer

Doug Weibel June 30, 2010 at 4:04pm

@ike - yes
John C. June 30, 2010 at 4:00pm

That huge capacitor is super annoying.
IKE June 30, 2010 at 3:59pm

(possibly noob question) This adapter is for the usual Xbee modules described in the Ardupilot page? (this and this)
Developer

Jordi Muñoz June 30, 2010 at 3:47pm

@Space Nut, You have all the XBee I/O pins available for hacking and tweaking the board... You can even solder pin headers and mount it on a breadboard.
Developer

Jordi Muñoz June 30, 2010 at 3:45pm

@Jani Hirvinen, not just that, the huge capacitor is not blocking the XBee module..
Doug Erickson June 30, 2010 at 3:44pm

@Jordi: Yeah baby! Hey, it's been a long while and I haven't kept up. Hope you guys are happy and healthy and still having loads of fun. Thanks Jordi.

of 2

This reply was deleted.