Tweet-A-Watt Communication Problem

[adams]

I have built a tweet-a-watt and am having problems getting the receiver xbee to receive data. On my kill-a-watt the LED lights up every 2 seconds like it is supposed to. On the receiver the green LED blinks a couple of time per second and the red LED is solid on. I am able to connect to the receiver with X-CTU, but the terminal shows nothing. Any advice is appreciated.

[adafruit]

are you building this from a purchased kit or 'DIY' style? if DIY what Xbees are you using?

[Franklin97355]

Make sure you have updated the software on both chips and they have the same PAN ID.

[adams]

are you building this from a purchased kit or 'DIY' style? if DIY what Xbees are you using?

I am using a purchased kit from adafruit. I believe they are xb24.

[adafruit]

redo the firmware update and configuration

[adams]

I think I may have found my problem. I updated one of the XB's to the latest firmware version and accidently left the other at the older version. Now I have a different problem. What I did was reset both XB's so I could start from scratch with programming them (verifying pan numbers, firmware versions, etc). Now I have the problem that I am not able to write to the XB's. Previously I was able to. I can read the modems, test the connection (all with X-CTU), but I can't write to the modems. When I hook the XB's up the green light flashes a few times a second. This has me thinking I have a hardware problem with the adapter I built for the receiver station. I have checked all of my soldering and it looks good to me (no bridging, etc), but I'm not an expert. Attached are pictures. I have a voltmeter and have tried to check continuity from the RX pin on the header and the RX pin at the XB header and I don't have continuity. Is there a test a can do to determine if my adapter is bad? Thanks in advance for your advice.

[adafruit]

http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/config.html

Note that once the XBee is told to go into sleep mode, you'll have to reset it to talk to it because otherwise it will not respond and X-CTU will complain. You can simply unplug the adapter from the FTDI cable to reset or touch a wire between the RST and GND pins on the bottom edge of the adapter.

http://www.ladyada.net/forums/viewtopic ... 40&t=11427

[adams]

I have been through the reset process for both of the XBE's previously. Now when I try to configure the XBE that will transmitt, I follow the process outlined in the instructions (setting sleep time, sameples, IR, etc). When I click write in XCTU, I get an error that says "write failed, lost communication with the modem". Previously I was able to "write" successfully. I am able to read the modem, just can't write to it now. Any advice?

[adafruit]

completely reload the firmware as discussed in viewtopic.php?f=40&t=11427

This worked for me when the reset trick refused to.

It is possible when using the USB board. You just have to go about it in a different manner.
1. Take the module out of the interface board.
2. Connect the interface board to the computer.
3. Open X-CTU
4. Go to "Modem Configuration"
5. Put a check in the "Always update firmware" box
6. Select proper modem from drop down menu,
7. Select proper function set and firmware version
from drop down menus.
8. Click on the "Write" button. After a few seconds of
trying to read the modem, you will get an Info box
that says Action Needed. At this point, CAREFULLY
insert the module into the interface board.
9. You may get the info box again a short while after,
just use the reset button on the interface board.

This should get you back up and running.

It can take a couple of tries but it worked for me.

[adams]

I am off and running now. The following worked for me if I unchecked the "always update firmware" (ie. dont do step 5)button in X-CTU. Thanks for all of your help!

This worked for me when the reset trick refused to.

It is possible when using the USB board. You just have to go about it in a different manner.
1. Take the module out of the interface board.
2. Connect the interface board to the computer.
3. Open X-CTU
4. Go to "Modem Configuration"
5. Put a check in the "Always update firmware" box
6. Select proper modem from drop down menu,
7. Select proper function set and firmware version
from drop down menus.
8. Click on the "Write" button. After a few seconds of
trying to read the modem, you will get an Info box
that says Action Needed. At this point, CAREFULLY
insert the module into the interface board.
9. You may get the info box again a short while after,
just use the reset button on the interface board.

This should get you back up and running.

It can take a couple of tries but it worked for me.