Struggling to Setup Xstick

Hi everyone,

I am an Xbee/Zigbee virgin and am testing some hardware for a potential new project.

I want to use DIO over Zigbee and have ordered:

XStick ZB
XBee DIO Adapter ZB Pro Int

I have downloaded and installed X-CTU.

My PC recognises the Xstick and assigns it a virtual comm port.

In X-CTU I select the correct comm port and leave the port settings as default but when I press the test/query button it states ‘unable to communicate with modem’.

I have a feeling I may be missing something fundamental here! Any advice appreciated!

What is the default? Mine also is called “USB Serial Port”, which is sad. You’d think it would call itself an X-stcok or something, but someone was lazy in the spec phase I guess, so they didn’t bother encoding a new name in the hardware.

Try 9600 and check the “Enable API” check-box.

What I see (with my X-Stick in API mode) is it takes a long time to find with “Enable API” off since it tries the old +++ Hayes modem break-in first.

Thanks lynnl, I can now see the device in X-CTU! I just need to try to connect to my DIO module now!

You do know that you’ll need to reflash the XStick as API Coordinator, right? I have a few DIO controlling power relays and sensing motion detectors. It’s not the easiest to work with, but find a version of XCTU which has the ‘Remote Configuration’ option working above the Modem Config tab. This will allow XCTU to indirectly talk to the DIO via the XStick.

No I wasn’t aware of that. I am trawling through all of the information on the digi website at the moment trying to find an easy guide for setting up what I want to do but there is so much on there!!

Would it be easier for me to develop my trial using a terminal program and sending commands directly?

It’s not the easiest to work with, but find a version of XCTU which has the ‘Remote Configuration’ option working above the Modem Config tab. This will allow XCTU to indirectly talk to the DIO via the XStick.

Do you know what the file id is on the FTP site for this version of XCTU?

Thanks

Yah, it’s a big mouthful to swollow, but just take comfort that there is method to this madness. For 20 years companies put out trivial line-of-sight RF, which had bad performance, so ZB and self-healing Mesh are answers to the problems.

But ZB makes things more complex.

Reflash the Xstick as API coordinator, which allows the DIo to join/associate. Personally, I’d just bite the bullet and start my PC work in Python (or C or VisualBasic or Java) and learn to make API frames.

Why? AT mode and a terminal program might give you instant gratification, but it doesn’t scale at all and offers lots of wierd situations where you’ll not obtain the results you expect - it is far less repeatable/predictable.

The Digi Python wiki has examples about formating the frames.

http://ftp1.digi.com/support/utilities/40003002_a.exe

Thanks!

Hello, do you know if I can use xstick ZB for making a star network?

In the other hand, do you have a document with information about what exactly does the driver do when we install it on windows? I understand that is a USB driver that assigns a Virtual Port Com to the xstick, do you have any other information?

Thanks a lot

Hello, do you know if I can use xstick ZB for making a star network?

In the other hand, do you have a document with information about what exactly does the driver do when we install it on windows? I understand that is a USB driver that assigns a Virtual Port Com to the xstick, do you have any other information?

Thanks a lot