This did the trick and it snapped out of it's coma once I changed the Baud to 115,200.
Hi @NoWon, I'd like to get an Xbee running on a budget. I find this item on Amazon which is called a "XB3-24Z8ST-J RF Transceiver Module, Zigbee Modules (802.15.4) XBee3,2.4 Ghz ZB 3.0, SMA Antenna, TH MT"
Your original post calls for a XB3-24Z8ST but perhaps the -J is just a connector or something, it's not clear. I can't find anything other than the sheet at the right which lists the various options but without much description. Probably obvious when you are in the know, which I'm not.
Do you have any insight as to whether this would be a viable option?
It is for the lower powered non pro version.
It will still work fine plenty of range for the house but if you want it for a presence sensor for your car or out into your yard you will want the pro version.
Depends on how much range you need.
@NoWon Just got my Xbee and got it installed and running. Thank you for the detailed instructions. I did run into a few issues that I will report here while my scan is running.
This is what I bought on Amazon for anyone looking for recent information:
Grove Board @ $27.50
XBee3-24Z8ST-J @ $59.00
You will need to add an antennae but I stole one off an old DSL router.
First issue was getting the XCTU connected to the XBee. The screen looked like this (Windows install) and would not allow me to select a port.
Took me a few minutes but if you mouse over the edge of the dialog you will get handles to enlarge it, after which it looked like this.
Second problem was attempting to load the profile_100A Router.xpro. I would get an error saying that the firmware version was incompatible (my factory version was 100D) . So I downloaded the older firmware versions thinking I would just apply the 100A firmware and fix the problem that way but the only firmware that would show up in my list was the 100D even though I could see of the other versions in the firmware explorer.
When I tried upgrading again via the firmware explorer this time it complained about the bootloader version.
In the end I just manually created a new profile from scratch with the same internal properties as the "100A Router" and got it working that way.
Now for the fun part.
Not being able to add aliases for the addresses is a PITA. I'm surprised I've seen no mention of XBEE Network Assistant.
You can make a simple map from a PNG file with labels and then locate the devices onto that and save the configuration. A crude layout of mine for the moment while I figure out my Zigbee issues. If you don't have a program that will let you add text as objects so you can edit\move them later I downloaded something called Inkscape.
Lines show in different colors to represent LQI, these are configurable.
Oddly I have 4 extra devices shown off the map at the bottom right. I can only assume those are old devices kept "alive" in the routing table long after they were gone. Going to find out pretty soon.
Wife is away for the weekend so I'm geeking out.
I wonder if anyone can answer this question. After getting my XBee up and running and scanning my network using the extended Pan ID it finds all the devices I expect it to and then it finds a couple of extra repeaters. None of the discovered addresses match anything on either hub.
So the question is are these devices real or not. Does XBee only scan for devices that match the Pan ID or does it scan all of channel 20 (in this case). Or, are these artifacts that somehow persist in the routing table after a 30 minute power off for long ago deleted devices. Or perhaps there is another explanation.
I wish it were that simple. Xbee reports 19 nodes. The two nodes dragged to the bottom are the mystery ones. MAC shows them to be TI chipset devices.
Hubitat list 16 nodes inc Xbee, then add 1 for the hub for a total of 17.
I could move my all devices to another channel but I don't want to do it only to find out that the whole exercise was a waste of time. Perhaps it should not bother me but there are times when I see these repeaters having multiple connections to mine, meaning that they could be routing my traffic, probably into oblivion.
Just when you start to think you are starting to have something figured out! I have two hubs, one on channel 15 and the other on channel 20, the Xbee is paired with both. I load a different config file with the different PanID's.
Now my XBee is able to see the two hubs simultaneously as well as some devices which are attached to the other hub.
The scope of what Xbee considers to be "in network" is completely opaque to me. I was hoping Xbee would add some clarity but it really has not done that. Fun little toy though.
Last post on the matter. Since that last post with the 2 unknown devices I have been able to identify them.
The first one was a Zigbee plug that had previously been on that hub but had been deleted on Friday night. I put it into use today and was able to correlate the addresses. The second device had been migrated to my other hub on Friday night and has been on since Friday night.
Yet 36 hours later Xbee "detected" both those devices despite them no longer being listed in the Hubitat Zigbee Radio Device list.
Clearly Xbee does not give you a live view of the physical network. It just harvests node and routing information and generates a logical view of the network.
@garyjmilne Like you, I also did an audit and came up with 3 items not real. Unlike Zwave, I don't think it's an issue but it is disconcerting!
I also agree with your comment about Xbee Assistant needing an Alias field. I thought maybe I could write into the Node ID but thats not possible - in the end, I just made sure I positioned the icon in the room relatively correctly.
Really neat to see the network topology overlaid on the house floor plan. thanks for that tip!
Yes, that does work pretty well. Now I have to clean up my drawing. Can I ask how many hubs you have and if more than one are they on the same or different Zigbee networks?
Mine are on two separate ones which helps control the routing somewhat but it would be nice to see all my devices at one time with Xbee.
I wish Hubitat did this, built-in.
while I do have 2 hubs, they don't work as a team - rather I do driver dev work on the old c5 and the c7 is running the home.
I run one on x14 (chan 20) the other on chan 11. the export of the xbee file says it's an xml, but it's encrypted or not xml in the sense I understood. I was hoping I could override the Node ID's and hand edit there but no joy no matter what file type. I even tried hex editing but couldn't ID' the strings... your method of putting a 2nd layer on seems to be the best. In truth, I can sorta kinda guess what device based on my rudimentary location within the rooms. On the other hand, when NOT looking at the map, rather at the table - it would be very useful to id the devices with an alias here as well.
Anyone else running with firmware 100D?
Dam.. I Knew it. You just confirmed my suspicion. A bit ago I switched channels on 2 hubs simultaneously; C4-Ch25 <-> C7-Ch20 to C4-Ch20 & C7-Ch25
and devices still "remembering" their old channel/hub created a huge disaster and it was over a week it disrupted pairing and stability. And even weeks later I have impaired pairing , where I need to turn off my C4 to pair devices to my C7
I am on 100D with my Xbee 3 Pro. Just loaded the Xbee network assistant but it's only discovered the coordinator & the Xbee. None of the 65+ zigbee devices show up. Are you using "flood" or "cascade" for network discovery?
Sounds like you are a node, not a repeater. Check your AP settings, my guess is it says transparent but should be something with escapes. Also check JV, you should no longer be attempting to join the network as you should have a device created in Hubitat.
I've been on the 100D for months with no issues.
