6) Więcej informacji
Troubleshooting
If everything works perfectly the first time around, that’s GREAT! However, experience shows that it sometimes takes a few tries to get everything right. You’ve just set up a pretty complex system. Don’t despair if your chat doesn’t work right away. In almost every case, there’s nothing wrong with any of your hardware or even with most of your setup. It takes only one wrong parameter to throw a wrench in the works. Learning how to find that wrench and fix it is an essential skill, so here are some tips on what to try if things don’t work at first.
- Start with the simple stuff. Make sure your radios are seated properly in the adapter boards and that all the USB cables are plugged in the way they should be.
- Check that each radio is responding properly in the terminal window by trying to use +++ to put it into command mode. If you don’t get an OK back, check your port selection, baud rate, and the other settings until you find the reason the radio is not communicating properly.
- If both radios are responding, use AT commands to check the settings. The most common problems are: not using the same PAN ID on both radios, not setting the destination address on each radio to the MY address number of the other radio, and not saving the settings properly.
- If the settings all seem to be correct, check to make sure that you have the coordinator firmware on one radio and the router firmware on the other radio. You can use the ATVR command to show which firmware is in use. If you see old version, go back to X-CTU and load the proper firmware.
- Sometimes the radios will be perfectly configured and connected but one of your radios will accidentally be talking to somebody else’s. This often happens in classroom situations, where many people are using the same PAN ID in the same room. Try using different PAN IDs for each pair.
- Sometimes setting both radios back to factory defaults and reconfiguring them will flush out a bad setting that was left over from a previous setup, or an unrecognized typo. The ATRE command will wipe out your radio’s custom configuration and leave the firmware set cleanly to factory defaults. Follow it with the ATWR command to write those defaults to the firmware, then go back to the configuration steps and try putting in your settings again.
- Don’t forget that Digi’s technical support is a great resource. While they needn’t be your first step, if you’re really stuck they can help you confirm that your radios are working properly at the hardware level. There are also a number of great online resources and forums you can read for ideas and where you can ask for more help.
External Resources
If you’d like to see what else Digi’s XBee 802.15.4 Wireless Modules are capable of, check out the full product manual here (PDF).
