XBee ZNet 2 Series Installation and user guide

How-to: Setting up XBee ZNet 2.5 (Series 2) modules
The XBee ZNet 2.5 modules from Digi are more advanced than the popular XBee Series 1
modules, but they require a little additional work to set up. This tutorial will guide you through
reflashing two XBee ZNet modules with the appropriate firmwares and setting them up to
communicate with eachother.
Materials needed:
2 - XBee ZNet 2.5 Modules (Digikey Part#: XB24-BWIT-004-ND)
1 - XBee Breakout Board (Sparkfun SKU#: BOB-08276 or from NKC Electronics)
2 - 2mm, 10 pin XBee socket (Sparkfun SKU#: PRT-08272 or included with NKC kit)
1 - Male Header row for XBee breakout (Sparkfun SKU#: PRT-00117 or included with NKC kit)
1 - FT232RL Breakout Board (Sparkfun SKU#: BOB-00718)
- male or female headers for the FT232RL Breakout board, depending on your preference
2 – LEDs
1 – Reset Switch (optional, see below)
Breadboard
Jumper wires (I prefer the fancy ones from Sparkfun (PRT-08430 and PRT-08431), but any 22awg solid
wire will work)
USB miniB cable
Arduino Diecimila
XBee Shield from NKC Electronics ( http://www.nkcelectronics.com/freeduino-arduino-xbee-shield-kit.html )
A computer running Windows
Also recommend:
3.3V Power Supply – Sparkfun SKU#: PRT-00114 is handy, but you can also just rig up your own 3.3V
regulator
An XBee ZNet 2.5 Module with Sparkfun’s XBee
breakout board

Step 1: Construct the circuit
Build the XBee Breakout board and plug one of the XBee’s into it. Set up the circuit on your
bread board using the diagram. Instead of using a reset switch, I just plug one end of a jumper
wire into the XBee reset pin and leave the other end of that jumper hanging off the edge of the
board; when I need to reset the XBee, I just momentarily touch the bare end of the jumper to
ground.

Note: The FT232RL provides a maximum of 50mA on the 3.3V pin. The XBee ZNet modules
pull a max of 40mA, so you should be ok. However, if you are using the XBee Pro version, you
may need to use an external 3.3V supply.
Step 2: Power-up the XBee and prep the software
After double checking your connections, use the USB-miniB cable to plug the FT232 Breakout
into a USB port on your computer. Both LEDs connected to the XBee should light up and stay
on (assuming your XBee shipped as a Router/End Device and there is no Coordinator around to
connect to).
Download the X-CTU software from Digi and install it. The software can be downloaded from
http://www.digi.com/support/productdetl.jsp?pid=3261&osvid=57&tp=4&s=269
Step 3: Run X-CTU and connect to the XBee
Run the X-CTU
software. You should
see a screen like the one
to the right. Single-click
on the USB COM port
that the XBee is
connected to. If you’re
not sure, you can click
the “Test/Query” button
to read each COM port
to discover which one
has the XBee.

Step 4: Update the firmware
Click on the “Modem
Configuration” tab and
then click on the
“Download new
versions…” button to
download all of the
updated firmwares.
After the firmware
downloads have
completed, click on the
“Read” button. The
window will display all
of the current settings of
the attached XBee.
Select “ZNet 2.5
Router/End Device AT”
as the firmware in the
pull-down menu.
Change the “Node
Identifier” to something
like “router1”. You may
want to change the
“PAN ID” to a unique
number if you plan to
use your XBee in a
place where others will
be using their own
XBees.
Check the box that says
“Always update
firmware” and click the “Write” button. The X-CTU software may ask you to push the reset
button during the firmware upgrade process.

Step 5: Test the XBee
Read through this step
before you do it since
once you enter
command mode, you’ll
need to enter a new
command within 5
seconds or the XBee
will exit command
mode and you’ll need to
start this step again.
Click on the terminal
tab and type “+++” in
the window to enter
command mode. The
XBee should respond in
a second or two with
“OK”.
Type “ATVR” to check
the firmware version on
the XBee. This should
match the firmware
version that you
upgraded to (1241 for
Router/End Device or
1041 for Coordinator).
Type “ATID” to check
the PAN Network ID
that the XBee is using.
It should respond with
“123” or whatever unique PAN ID you set in step 4.
Type “ATNI” to check the Node Identifier. The XBee should respond with “router1” or
whatever unique Node Identifier you set in step 4.
Type “ATCN” to exit command mode. The XBee will respond with “OK”. If those commands
returned the correct information, then congratulations, you’ve successfully updated this XBee!
Quit the X-CTU program and disconnect the USB-miniB cable from the computer.
If any of those commands did not return the correct information, click back to the “Modem
Configuration” tab, change the desired settings, and click the “Write” button again.

Step 6: Once more, with feeling
Now that you’ve got one of the XBees set up as a router/end device, you can unplug it from the
XBee Breakout board and install it in whetever device it will communicate with; I recommend
plugging it into an XBee Shield for the Arduino at this point. You may also want to put a sticker
or label on this XBee to identify it as your router. Set it aside for the moment.
Now plug your other XBee module into the XBee breakout board and repeat steps 2 through 5
with this module. However, in step 4 you will select the “ZNet 2.5 Coordinator AT” as the
firmware and set the Node Identifier as “coordinator” or something similar. Once you’ve updated
to the coordinator firmware, the “Associate” LED should begin blinking once-per-second while
the “On” LED should remain lit. Confirm the settings in the terminal and move on to the next
step.
Step 7: Creating the network
At this point, you should have one
XBee updated with the “ZNet 2.5
Router” firmware plugged into the
XBee Shield on top of an Arduino
and the other XBee updated to the
“ZNet 2.5 Coordinator” firmware
and connected to the FT232
breakout which is plugged into
your computer. The “Associate”
LED on the Coordinator XBee
should be blinking once-per-
second.
On the XBee shield, you should
see a pair of jumpers labeled
“XBEE/USB”. Remove both of
those jumpers for now. Connect
your Arduino to a power source
(USB or External, doesn’t matter for now). After powering up, the “Associate” LED on the
XBee shield should begin blinking twice-per-second – congratulations; the XBees have formed a
network!
Using the X-CTU terminal connected to the coordinator, type “+++”, wait for the “OK”
response, then type “ATND”. The XBee will respond with the serial number, node identifier and
other information about the router XBee connected to the Arduino.

Step 8: Sending Serial Data
When using the ZNet 2.5 firmware, routers or end devices will communicate with the
coordinator by default. This makes point to point communication really easy. All you need to do
is send serial data to the XBee router connected to the Arduino and it will be received by the
coordinator where you can read it into your computer.
Connect the Arduino with the XBee Shield to your computer using a USB cable. The jumpers on
the XBee shield should still be disconnected. Load the following sketch on to the Arduino.
/* Serial Test code
Sends "testing..." over the serial connection once per second
while blinking the LED on pin 13. Used for testing serial devices
such as the XBee.
Adapted from the SoftSerial Demonstration code
*/
#define ledPin 13
byte pinState = 0;
void setup() {
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
Serial.println("testing...");
// toggle an LED just so you see the thing's alive.
toggle(13);
delay(1000);
}
void toggle(int pinNum) {
// set the LED pin using the pinState variable:
digitalWrite(pinNum, pinState);
// if pinState = 0, set it to 1, and vice versa:
pinState = !pinState;
}
Once the sketch is loaded, unplug the Arduino and connect the
“XBEE/USB” jumpers on the XBee Shield to the XBee side of
the headers (see the photo to the right). Power the Arduino again
and wait for the “Associate” LED to begin blinking again and the
sketch to start.

With the coordinator XBee still connected to your computer via the FT232 Breakout, you should
see “testing…” over and over in the “Terminal” tab of X-CTU. Hooray, wireless
communication!
Final Thoughts
If you’ve gone through all these steps, you should have a basic idea of how to use the XBee ZNet
modules to communicate wirelessly between your Arduino and your computer. If that’s all you
want to do with the XBees, then there’s not much more (if anything) you’ll need to configure to
get your project working.
If you will be using more than two XBee modules and you want two routers/end devices to talk
to one-another, you’ll need to set the Destination Nodes for each module. You can easily do this
by entering command mode (typing “+++”) and then sending “ATDNxxxxxx” where xxxxxx is
the Node Identifier (NI) you’ve set-up for the Destination Node XBee such as “router2”. This
essentially replaces the “ATMYxxxx” command that is commonly used with XBee Series 1
modules.
For more information about using the XBee ZNet modules, I highly recommend the Knowledge
Base articles and support forum on Digi’s site, www.digi.com – the folks at Digi seem to be
pretty good about offering support.
I would appreciate any feed back on this tutorial. Feel free to e-mail me at ‘caimaver at yahoo
dot com’.
- Cairn