Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

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thobson
 
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Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

Hi there,

I'm trying to create some remote pressure sensors using XBees. I've got three Series 2 (says rev2 on the pcb) XBees from adafruit, two transmitting, and one receiving. There are two sensors per remote XBee. So far, I've encountered a number of problems. First of all, while I have the transmitters in API mode, with packetization at 0, they don't transmit reliably when pressure is applied to the sensors. Even when only using one of the transmitting XBees on its own, the system gets stuck frequently, especially when sensors are pressed in quick succession. The process simply stops, seemingly at random, stuck at whatever value was being transmitted at the time of the glitch. After a period of 10-30 seconds, it acts like nothing was wrong and continues to work. This happens all the time, and not just initially. Also, sometimes when I press one sensor, it gets stuck at some value, and only when I press the other sensor does it reset to zero.

In addition to all this, my analog I/O pins are behaving oddly. One of the sensors only affects one line, which makes sense, but the other sensor seems to control all the other lines, which also seem to have some predetermined offset which is constantly transmitted.

For example, with the first sensor pressed (each number is an I/O line):

analog: 321 0 16 31 29 -1 (Note how AD2,3,4 have an inexplicable offset, the last one is -1 because it's not configured)

With the second sensor pressed:

analog: 0 220 248 248 250 -1 (It affects AD1,2,3,4 to a varying degree)

Does anyone know what's going on? For all I know I'm overlooking something very simple.


Thanks!

adafruit
 
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Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by adafruit »

adafruit does not sell series 2 xbees
you could try posting your configuration and a -clear- photo of your wiring

thobson
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:22 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

Picture 1.png
Picture 1.png (186.52 KiB) Viewed 1693 times
Picture 2.png
Picture 2.png (16.96 KiB) Viewed 1693 times
I hope you can tell what's going on here. I can take a better picture a little later, but right now this is the best technology I have access to.

thobson
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:22 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

Oh, as for them being Series 2, they may not be, I just know that they say REV2 on the PCB, although the adafruit product page is telling me that they're XB24-ACI-001, which sounds like Series 1 to me. The receiver is plugged into a XBee Explorer USB module.

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by adafruit »

those photos are not clear at all, please post clear well lit photos

thobson
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:22 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

adapterunder.jpg
adapterunder.jpg (18.78 KiB) Viewed 1682 times
IMG_2676.jpg
IMG_2676.jpg (108.51 KiB) Viewed 1682 times
Is this any better?

thobson
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:22 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

Oh, and here is the receiving end
coord.jpg
coord.jpg (17.84 KiB) Viewed 1680 times

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by adafruit »

start with one xbee not 2
replace the sensors with resistors
get that working

thobson
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:22 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by thobson »

I am only using one of those XBees at the moment, actually. Additionally, the sensors I'm using are variable resistors, so adding static ones probably wouldn't tell me anything I don't already know. I have noticed, although, that the 'getting stuck' issue is likely to do with power. If I don't touch the remote XBee, the receiver flashes its RX LED indefinitely, and if I do press the sensor, the LED will eventually turn off, indicating insufficient power on the transmitter's end - I think. After losing said power, the module comes back to life after a few seconds. Thank you so much for your help thus far!

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Multiple Remote XBee Sensor Issues

Post by adafruit »

replace the sensors with resistors
get that working

also, read this
http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=12170

post again after a full day of debugging your project

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