Forgive a newbie question, but I noticed the difference in price between the:
ConnectPort X2 Zigbee Commercial Enclosure (X2-Z11-EC-A, $99) and
ConnectPort X2 802.15.4 (X2-A11-EM-A, $219).
Is it possible to purchase a Zigbee commercial enclosure and an XBee 802.15.4 module and simply swap out the module and firmware to get a 802.15.4 commercial enclosure for ~$99+cost of XBee 802.15.4?
Thanks!
You can easily swap - the units don’t care, but you’ll end up wasting an Xbee and the label on the X2 won’t show the correct MAC.
But there is much bigger differences between the 2 - the $99 unit (X2) has an ARM7 processor and only 8MB of RAM, and requires the 5vdc ‘wall-wart’.
The $219 unit (x2D) has an ARM9 and 16MB of RAM, plus can run on 12vdc or 24vdc. (I think runs 4 times faster)
You will find writing Python for the $99 unit is very difficult as it barely has enough memory to run anything after Python is running - whereas the $219 unit is actually nice to work with.
I use one of the X2D instead of the $400+ X4 with 32MB for my development because the $219 X2D boots so fast without all the NAT/router overhead that hampers the X4.
Lynn -
Thank you very much for the response. I had no idea there was any difference between the two versions, and I had studied the datasheet (ds_connectport2x.pdf). I’ll look further to be more careful about these subtle differences.
I have another related question. We are considering starting our RF projects off simple with an off-the-shelf hardware solution for sensors to monitor temperature of multiple blast and storage freezers. We already have many Digi WatchPort /H sensors from another project. (Assuming they are the same 1-wire sensor as the USB version.)
The XBee ZB Sensor Adapter (XA-Z16-CS1R) is $109 in the Digi store.
The XBee 802.15.4 Sensor Adapter (XA-A14-CS1R) is $69.
In searching for “XA-Z16-CS1R” I found some mention in the Digi Forums a half-year ago suggesting they might not actually be in production.
Is it possible to purchase the $69 sensor adapter and again swap in the ZB XBee module (e.g. XB24-Z7WIT-004) to get it to the ZB protocol?
Thanks!
The X2 datasheet may not dive into the ‘change’ too closely yet as it was what management called a ‘blind rev’ - so just snuck into the product without telling people. Last year this time they all had the 8MB RAM and those buying the cheaper $99 plastic units tended to not have a problem due to simple expectations, while those with the more expensive metal-cased units tended to have fancier applications in mind and suffered problems. So that model was enhanced without a price change to avoid the problems of existign customers.
I believe you can change the XBee - the only time it causes a problem is with ‘analog’ products like AIO and LTH Sensor, as the analog voltage range of the 802.15.4 and Zigbee are different. Thus the data uploaded will be grossly off.
But for the 1-wire, I would GUESS that it should be fine.
(X2 I know because I routinely swap XBee types in X2/X4 to test 802.15.4 or Zigbee or DigiMesh.