Gadgeteer Hydra and XBee Pro 868 problems

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1

Me and some colleagues are building an application that uses XBee modules and already experienced several problems.
Now again, we are searching for some answers after our latest field test.

We are using XBee-PRO 868 modules, in combination with the Hydra gadgeteer board.

Mainly, there are two problems:

  • In some cases, the XBee module stops transmitting and receiving. When we put the shield skew on the board it worked, when we put it on properly, it did not work. (See picture 1, it is a bit blurry, but you can clearly see that the shield is positioned in an angle with the board below.)
    We actually, put the board in like this and taped it to make it work on location.
  • Sometimes, the interface to a relais board did not work properly. So a relais would switch, but would not switch back. We dont know if this problem is XBee related, but we think interference is a possible cause.

Could it be HF interference from the transmitted RF signals? Or could it be (especially for picture 3) that the flat cables are to close to each other/the CPU and interfering?
We are guessing a bit here, but it has to be hardware related. A problem in the software itself is ruled out, and the problems are to irregular te be software problems.

Any help would be appriciated.

Greetings

2

What do you mean by that exactly. I guess you are using those modules in transparent mode and not working means sending data out one serial port and not receiving it on other board?

3

Hi,

We are using the API mode of the module with escape characters enabled.

When the data is sent from the motherboard through a failing XBee, the other modules on the other motherboards will not receive it. Also, when data is sent by one of the working modules, all modules receive, except the failing one (although the RSSI LED of the XBee gadgeteer module, on which the XBee itself is attached, will lit).

And when we send a local AT command from the motherboard to the failing module, we do not get a response.

Thanks for the help

4

Can you try making the test after switching places of xbee modules ? I have two gadgeteer xbee boards and one of them is acting weird sometimes so maybe this is also your case.