Dead Xbee?

[brandonh1]

Howdy!

First post, I gotta say I'm pretty much hooked on this new hobby.

2 days ago I got my new toys in the mail. 2 - Xbee Series 1 60mW and 2 - adapter kits to go with (http://www.adafruit.com/products/126). Oh and the FTDI cable (http://www.adafruit.com/products/70)

I put the first adapter kit together, it went great, actually quite fun! I seated the xbee and plugged it in to my Macbook. Neither the green or red LED were blinking. I assumed that I must of done something wrong on the PCB. The next day (Yesterday) I put the other PCB together and put the other XBee on it. Worked great.

It got me thinking, was it the first xbee an issue or was it the board. Going with the divide and conquer technique I put the apparent dead xbee on the board that I know worked and got nothing.

This is getting confusing. I swapped them around and it is for sure the Xbee, not the board. I spent hours last night going through the various ways to reset it with no success. There are several tutorials around that all come back to the same technique in one way or the other. I dont have the url's handy (slow internet at home, I was at the office).

Any thoughts / ideas on what I should do next? After spending many hours troubleshooting I read that it's not uncommon for them to just stop.

[brandonh1]

I should elaborate a little more. Using X-CTU, I can talk to the 1 xbee just fine on either board. Switch to the other suspected dead Xbee on either board and X-CTU cant talk to it. The tutorials I followed were for loading the default firmware back on it with the X-CTU Software (from the PC).

[adafruit]

can you take a look at the bad one? anything obviously amiss or missing?
if not email support@adafruit with a link to this thread and request a new one!

[brandonh1]

I gave it a good looking over and I dont see anything physically wrong with it. Will send that email

Thank you!

[brandonh1]

You guys rock Thank you!

That was the best customer service ever

[Meissnerb44]

I have a similair problem to this. I am using two XBee-Series 2. I have two XBees, an addafruit adapter kit. When I plug either xbee into the adapter the green light blink which I believe is what is expected. The problem came up when I gave it to some of my software friends. They were using one of the Digi programming boards and they were unable to get the computer to recognize the one XBee. I took a closer look at the xbee and it did appear to have one pin that was bent but I dont think that would be the reason. They were saying that the XBee is bad and I will need to get a new one but I dont think that is the case. Is there anything I can do to check this?

Thanks,

[adafruit_support_bill]

Straighten the bent pin and plug it into the adapter. Connect as shown in this tutorial and see if it is recognized by the XCTU software. http://www.ladyada.net/make/xbee/configure.html

[Meissnerb44]

I cannot get the xbee to program for me. I am not sure what the problem with it is. Can I send it back and have you take a look at it and see what the problem is? I am ordering one today because I need it for a project. If it really is a problem with the xbee itself is there a chance I can get reimbursed for the cost of the one I am ordering?

Thanks,

[adafruit_support_bill]

Do you have the invoice number? I don't see you in the database.

[thefatmoop]

The problem came up when I gave it to some of my software friends. They were using one of the Digi programming boards and they were unable to get the computer to recognize the one XBee. I took a closer look at the xbee and it did appear to have one pin that was bent but I dont think that would be the reason.

Looks like your friends owe you an xbee if it worked before you gave it to them. Did they change the xbee's interface baud rate? That would cause the error you described. You might want to try talking to the xbee using x-ctu on a few different baud rates in the PC settings tab then click test/query

[Meissnerb44]

The Order Confirmation is No: 202697. That is for the original xbee purchase.

I don't believe it is anything that they did. The other xbee that I had worked perfect. The xbee was also new out of the box when I gave them to my friend to program. The one they were able to get a reading off. The other one they could get anything. I am not sure what was different about the two but one worked and the other did not.