On a whim I bought an Xbee “shield” at Radio Shack in the US and then proceeded to try and use it. The wiki directions appear to be out of date–the code is based on an old library version. Once I changed the code to the core softwareserial library, plugged the shield into two of my Arudinos it just sits there and blinks. Nothing on serial monitor when I send “+++”. Both my radios are working/configured with the Sparkfun USB explorer so that isn’t the issue. The details on my end are:
The shield is plugged into the Digital header marked 0 through 7 as well as the ICSP header
The two toggles are set to the left
I have a solid green power, solid green on and a blinking ASSOC led
Tried it on an older UNO board and a Duemilanove board. No response.
yeah I’d be interested in that too having gone through the same process
standard problem: guys quick to design, build and market new products very very slow and spotty on the docs
honestly I can’t believe that I’m wasting my time and money with this in a world where I can get the same features and a smartphone or tablet running android for the same price…that’s probably the same size and has battery power . Wouldn’t do it if the schematics weren’t available and open-source.
I actually got it working on my own and modified the wiki with my procedure so if you return to the wiki you will see a description of what I used for the current version(s) of the Arduino IDE. Unfortunately I already ordered the alternative shield from Sparkfun but live and learn…
One thing I did learn through this exercise is that when you enter the world of Seeed you’re basically entering a Chinese electronics bazaar (their own words) and you’re pretty much on your own from that point on. What’s weird to me is that I actually grabbed the product off the rack at US based Radio Shack–can’t imagine why they are selling this line in their stores.
There are definitely some intriguing products @ seeed but if there’s any question in my mind about whether or not I can get it working and/or it will perform as expected I am definitely going to stick with Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc.
