Hi there,
I'm about to order these two devices. I want to map my zigbee mesh.
Using the XCTU (linux version) software on my desktop.
XBee 2mW Wire Antenna - Series 2C (ZigBee Mesh)
SparkFun XBee Explorer Dongle - Red
Are these things still current or is there something more appropriate?
thanks folks
They will work fine.
I prefer the higher power ( more expensive) pro version but the mapping will be exactly the same.
Pro version is not needed for mapping.
You were right, they did work fine, thanks to your "Everything Zigbee" post, and I also found that
XBee 3 Module - PCB Antenna
also worked fine on the same model usb dongle plugged into my pc.
but what about powering them outside of the pc?
XBee voltage looks like 2.1V to 3.6V
A powered usb hub or adapter is 5v.
at least all of mine are.
5v won't burn them up?
No all usb should be 5 volts including your computer usb.
The sparkfun usb adaptor that the Xbee3 is mounted on will drop the voltage to 3 volts.
I have 1 plugged to my computer usb 2 plugged into my vehicles usb outlets and 2 plugged into regular USB adapter plugs.
But as a side note I have modified a lot of my smart sensors that take 3.3 volt batteries and soldered in 5 volt usb cables and most work fine.
I have only had the newer SmartThings motion sensor that didn't like 5 volts.
I would not go over 5 volts though.
I did fry a door sensor once when I accidently wired 12 volts (not usb) to it.
I’m trying to configure an Xbee to just map my mesh without being a repeater. So far I can get my S2C to do a good job of repeating… and I might put it out there in the house later when my box of enclosures get here... but then I turn it off and it seems a little destructive to the mesh to do that.
Over the last few days, with trying many different profiles and experimenting with the settings and positioning about 20 repeaters all over 2 floors for best coverage… which was my goal in the first place... I managed to gibble the mesh and this morning did a factory reset on the hub. It took quite awhile to re-pair a bunch of stuff but it didn’t look like it was gonna heal to me. The getChildAndRouteInfo was looking awful and power downs and resets did not help. Everything was up in Child Data and the route table was all nulls and just about everything quit working. No idea what that meant but it just bothered me to the point of starting over.
I also got the XBee3 to map and repeat with your Xbee router settings and python code, but couldn't get it to work as well as the S2C. When you hover over the XBee3 and the drop down shows linked devices, it shows the link to the coordinator in red with a 0000. A few links show green but most are grey but it did build a nice map. I don’t understand that one at all. The XBeeS2C has over 20 links and the coordinator all in green.
So is it possible to configure one of these Xbees to be a router that just maps but don’t route?
And should Xbee posts all be tacked onto that monster everything Xbee post? I’ve spent a lot of time studying that string of posts and I wondered about tacking my questions on to that rather than starting this one. Thanks for all the info
no but I really have not sat down and tried to setup an Xbee3 to do that.
If you just power down the Xbee3 router whenever you are pairing a new device it should not jump over to the Xbee3 when you power back up unless it paired to a really weak signal and drops off. A lot depends on the device.
It might be easier to understand the network if you select mode and then table instead of graph.
You will see how many devices are routed through each router device.
yes unplugging a router device that has devices routing through it will cause the devices to stop responding but usually just plugging them back in will restore them.
I left my test Xbee3 setup as a router for the last 3-4 days and none of my devices jumped over to it but I do have a very strong network.
that is your Hubitat hub
Whichever you prefer I started that thread to make it easier for people to search through and find info.
Download the Hubitat app
