XBee Pro 900HP and Arduino Communication Troubleshooting Using White Colour Screen

XBee & XBee Gateway
1

Hello everyone,

White colour background screen has been incredibly useful in identifying unresponsive outputs or blank screens. I used this White screen background to ensure that my Arduino’s serial output was not blank or unresponsive, and it confirmed that the issue is not with the Arduino hardware itself, as the output displays correctly when not connected to the XBee.

However, I still can’t get ANY communication between the XBee Pro 900HP and the Arduino. Here’s what I have tried so far:

  • Wired TX to RX and RX to TX (both configurations, no change).
  • Ensured serial settings are identical on both devices (XBee in AT mode, not API).
  • Tested with multiple example codes and two different Arduinos.

I even exchanged the XBee modules to rule out hardware defects, and they work fine when connected to a computer interface board, so it’s not a hardware problem with the XBees themselves.

Could there be something specific to the XBee Pro 900HP modules that I’m missing? Could it be related to power supply, configuration, or how the module interacts with Arduino?

Any suggestions or troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated!

2

The XBee modules are 3V devices. You do need to use a level shifter such as an XBee Shield to connect the XBee to the Arduino.

The Arduino libraries that exists do require that the radio is in API mode.