How reset Wall Router firmware to factory default

Hi,

I have just made the biggest mistake of upgrading my wall router with a coordinator firmware. How can I upgrade it back with a router firmware?

Thanks.

If the wall router still functions, then you should be able to put API Router firmware in a Xbee in XBIB or XStick, then ‘join’ with your wall router. At that point you should be able to do an OTA firmware update - can XCTU do this? I’m not sure.

Also, you can temporarily put API Router firmware in an X2/X4 gateway, so that it can join to the Wall-router as coordinater. It disables some function, but not all. Again, I’m not sure if OTA would work with a X4 “Router”, but it is easy to try.

I did flash the X4 to a router. Somehow it didn’t manage to associate to the wall router and there is also no sign of of the wall router in X4.

Really don’t know if xctu is able to flash the wall router over the air.

Pity - it could be the wall-router Xbee isn’t functional, thus you can’t join to it.

If you are clever with tools (and this is for your own use - not a customer) you can try to crack open the unit & then the XBee can be reflashed in an XBIB. This IS NOT easy, and the one time I tried I ended up shearing off a surface mount componant inside & ruining it anyway.

If you peel the front label off, you will find a small connector. I think these have to be 3.3vdc TTL level signals, but per an old document I have they are in order:

  • DIN to XBee pin 3
  • DOUT to XBee pin 2
  • RTS to XBee pin 16
  • GND
    I’m not sure pin #1 is labeled in any manner. Given the inputs (DIN/RTS) should be pulled up internally, you can probably use a volt meter to figure out DIN/RTS vs GND.

(I was in Singapore for a few weeks last month - ate my fill of durian and other good thinsg!)

@lynnl: you were there!?
Man, I would do anything to come down and meet the grandmaster… lol

@khchan: yea, gotta be careful with it. I used a flat head tough screw driver to pry it open from the sides. Go a full round and eventually it will open

Hmmm…not a good design if I may say so. I thought resetting it to factory default will put it back to a router. Somehow it is not the case.

I can’t imagine if this happen in a solution roll out to an enterprise.

you might want to design your own solution yourself, that’s my opinion. The XBee range of products are after all engineered for development purposes.

Another problem with the existing wall router is it uses the older Ember chip (all 20-pin S2/S2B XBee do), which ran out of code memory years ago … which is why there are 6 firmware, 3 each for API & AT versions of Coordinator, Router and End-Device.

The newer SMT ZB (the so called S2C) uses a newer Ember chip with more RAM/flash, so now it has a single firmware again. API-vs-AT is a single AP setting, End-Device is SM<>0, and Coordinator-vs-Router is the CE setting again. That’s the way it should be. Plus I hear rumor it can support a much larger child-table.

As I look at my Motorola Droid-X ‘charger’ which is the size of two stacked tea-bags, supporting 100-240VAC, 50/60Hz and has a USB connector, I have to think one could make a smaller ‘wall-router’ with builtin a FDTI-USB link - worse case epoxy they thing solid to pass UL safety. That would allow XCTU direct access to simplify use of encryption and SE/Smart-Energy certs.

I concur. I am curious initially on the size of the size of the wall router. Tapping on it give a hollow sound. Wondering if it has to do with catering for the heat it will give out, especially in hot climate.

The idea of a USB is good, however I believe it could be because of security issue. While it is there that anyone could plug in a USB cable and tap on it and to the network.

I’m not sure whether you had successfully opened your Wall Router or not.
Hope I’m not too late, I’m going to attach some photos of the inside to allow you to grasp some ideas where you can start to pry it open by avoiding major damage to the internal circuitry

I can’t tell from the photos. Is it a snap on design or with screws? Or hybrid.

It is some kind of ultra-sonic heat glue. It is very complete, but a bit brittle. You can see the slightly fuzzy line around the lip where the glue has been fractured.

I’d work down near the XBee and LED.

In my case, I worked near the middle and when the case final popped open, my screwdriver hit the surface-mount transformer and knocked it off the PCB. Since a cowoker had given it to me as scrap (an engineering manager who’d downloaded “Sensor” firmware to it for some reason) I just pocketed the XBee and threw the rest away in our company’s recycle bin.

But do consider trying to use the 4-pin connector first - you can see it on the photo, lower left corner. Peeling up that corner of the label exposes it.

Nah I don’t think so. Says here on Page 15 of the XBee Product Sheet 90000976_G-2.pdf that

To support serial firmware updates, VCC, GND, DOUT, DIN, RTS, and DTR should be connected
. That’s 6 pins all together. I almost tried that too until I read the Product Sheet and go, oh bummer.