XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

XBee projects like the adapter, xBee tutorials, tweetawatt/wattcher, etc. from Adafruit

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adambyers
 
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XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adambyers »

Can anyone tell me if the XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend combo is suitable for updating the firmware on XBee radios? I have two of the adapters and have tried to update two series 1 modules. The first one I tried is now bricked - I've tried several recovery methods to no avail. The second one I gives an error when I try to update. I've tried each radio in each of the adapters I have with the same result...

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

That is the way you do it - either with the FTDI cable or FTDI friend. Can you post clear, detailed pictures of both sides of your adapters with the XBees removed, and also of your FTDI Friend?

adambyers
 
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Re: XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adambyers »

Good news! I got them both working. For the bricked one I followed these steps: http://todigi.blogspot.com/2010/05/xbee ... grave.html

Also, note that Digi says that some of the newer chips have issues with FTDI settings... the other XBee updated without issue after following these steps: http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbase ... tl?id=3418

Both XBees are now working in the adapters with the FTDI friend. I'd recommend that you first adjust the COM settings (second link) before you try to update your firmware and then go from there. If you have trouble keep in mind that I had to do the recovery process about 100 times (only exaggerating a little) before the bricked one came back to life.

One last question - besides simply removing it, is there a way to turn off the green status LED on the adapter? I'll be using this where power is a concern so I'd like to conserve as much as possible once it's in place. Sorry if it's a dumb question; new to XBee.

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Re: XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Glad to hear it! :D
adambyers wrote:One last question - besides simply removing it, is there a way to turn off the green status LED on the adapter? I'll be using this where power is a concern so I'd like to conserve as much as possible once it's in place.
The Green LED is driven from XBee Pin 15 (ASC/AD5/DIO5). Maybe you can configure the XBee to turn that off - I don't know enough about XBees to tell you how.

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Re: XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adambyers »

Thanks for the tip. I've been doing some reading and am going to see if any of the sleep settings disable the LED. I'll try to report back what I find.

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Re: XBee Adapter kit & FTDI Friend

Post by adambyers »

I can confirm that putting the radio to sleep does shut the status LED off.

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