SparkFun Electronics - XBee Explorer Regulated

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Product Info

XBee Explorer Regulated

sku: WRL-09132

Description: The XBee Explorer Regulated takes care of the 3.3V regulation, signal conditioning, and basic activity indicators (Power, RSSI and DIN/DOUT activity LEDs). It translates the 5V signals to 3.3V so that you can connect a 5V (down to 3.3V) system to any XBee module. The board was conveniently designed to mate directly with Arduino Pro boards and with the FTDI Basic boards for wireless bootloading and USB based configuration.

This unit works with all XBee modules including the Series 1 and Series 2.5, standard and Pro versions. Plug an XBee into this breakout and you will have direct access to the serial and programming pins on the XBee unit and will be able to power the XBee with 5V.

This board comes fully populated with 3.3V regulator (16V max input), XBee socket, four status LEDs, and a diode to allow 5V systems to communicate safely with the 3.3V XBees. This board does not include and XBee module. XBee modules sold below.

Add a couple XBees, and a USB Explorer and you've got a great gift for that special electronics geek! For more gift ideas check out our SparkFun Gift Guide!

Documents:

Wow there are a lot of XBee modules! Here's a breakdown:

Series 1: Good point-to-point (300 ft)

Series 1 High Power: Point-to-point and decent range (~1 mile)

Series 2.5: Multi-point networks (300 ft)

Series 2.5 High Power: Multi-point and decent range (~1 mile)

900MHz: Longer range (~6 mile)

900MHz High Power: Super long range (~15 mile)

Pricing

	6 in stock backorder allowed

$9.95	price
$8.96	10-99 (10% off)
$7.96	100+ (20% off)

	quantity

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Comments

19 comments

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	by Landon +46 \| May 10, 2009 at 8:59 PM 0
Is the physical footprint and mounting hole pattern the same as that of the USB XBee Explorer? If not, would it be possible to get the physical dimensions? Thanks!

	by Usul +2.4 \| May 13, 2009 at 11:17 AM +1.4
Can this regulate 500ma for the high-power modules?

Valen

+3.4

| May 13, 2009 at 12:54 AM

+1.4

How exactly is this 5v-3v3 level shifting performed? It maybe because I'm not that versed in electronics, but the schematic and pcb doesn't seem to do anything in that regard. Atleast not for data-out. For data-in, if the 5v line goes low it pulls the data-in pin behind the ordinary diode also to low. And the xbee is protected from the 5v by that same diode. But how do you get data-out from 3.3 upto 5V?

	by Ben +1.6 \| August 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM 0
I'm pretty sure on Dout 3.3V is high enough to count as a high signal for a 5V device so no conversion is needed. For 3.3V -> 5V serial a converter is not required 5V -> 3.3V it needs to be stepped down though.

EricWertz

+6.2

| May 22, 2009 at 9:22 PM

+0.17

@Usul - I was asking myself this same question. The answer is *no*. The V-reg is only spec'd for 150mA.

@Valen - I question this too, as there's no level shifter shown in the schematic. Digi says (but not in the manual from what I've seen :-() that the I/O pins are *NOT* 5V tolerant, so I don't understand how/why they can say that above, at all.

You both might take a look at Ladyada's XBee adaptor kit,
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=126

She's got a level-shifter on her UART and reset pins, and her V-reg is a little beefier at 250mA. You need to decide for yourself if/how 250mA will work for whatever you're using it for.

As for level-shifting the GPIOs, you're on your own.

	by jeremyk +1.1 \| February 5, 2010 at 9:43 AM 0
I still haven't seen a good explanation of how this is performing level shifting on the Din Can anyone explain this? I understand the diode will provide about a .7 voltage drop, but that still only takes from 5v down to 4.3v. Any ideas for this electronically challenged person (me)?

	by RobotGrrl +1.5 \| July 12, 2009 at 3:14 PM 0
Just wanted to give people a heads up when they are purchasing this... the headers don't match the pinout of a USB TTL-232 (FTDI) cable -- so it won't work with an FTDI cable. ;)

	by dg1sek +1 \| August 14, 2009 at 10:59 AM 0
This is a very useful and nice board - only I don't quite understand why you swapped the RX and TX pins. With the current layout you cannot just plug it onto the FTDI basic breakout board, which would have been a really neat solution to connect the X-Bee's to a PC for programming etc.

	by jeudiego +1 \| August 14, 2009 at 11:26 AM 0
Hi! I would like to know if I can plug the DIN directly to the Arduino. Thanks in advance

	by Chiel +8.8 \| August 17, 2009 at 4:29 PM 0
a sugestion for the future: it would be nice if the explorer also provided cross-wire protection. if someone accidentially crossed the lines (conecting tx-tx instead of rx-tx) the tx pin might get burned. and a question: can the tx-pin get burned if its accidentially connected to the tx of a 3.3volt device or is it only a risk with 5v devices?

	by Dent +3.1 \| September 9, 2009 at 10:36 AM 0
I was in need of a 3.3V regulator for a breadboard project I was working on. Having one of these on hand, it worked out well. The upper left pin in the XBee socket is regulated 3.3V and will fit a small wire that can be routed back to the breadboard.

	by Geoffrey +1.3 \| October 17, 2009 at 1:49 PM 0
What is the input voltage range for this device? What model of voltage regulator is used? thank you!

	by Jimb0 \| October 19, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Hi Geoffrey, You can view the voltage regulator's datasheet here. The maximum supply voltage shouldn't exceed 16V (maximum rating on both the 10uF capacitor and max operating voltage of the regulator). Be really careful if you're going to run it that high though, things could get toasty! -techsupport at sparkfun dot com

	by Don +1.2 \| November 4, 2009 at 9:32 AM 0
Thanks for posting that sheet - 150mA load regulator - might mean it may have problems handling XBee XSC modules that transmit at 240mA? Also - it appears the XSC pin assignments vary from the XBee and XBee Pro modules, so I'm not sure if any common Xbee regulator board will work with the XSC. See topic http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=84374

AdamB

+3.5

| December 6, 2009 at 0:32 AM

Head's up when using this with the XBee 900MHz Pro modules: The diode in front of Din appears to cause too much voltage drop.

I can't explain exactly why, but when using this board as shipped, I would received only null (0x00) for every byte transmitted and I couldn't access the module at all with XCTU (the digi configuration software). I know the setup was good because both worked just fine with 2.4GHz (series 2.5) modules. After someone else suggested shorting out the diode, I soldered it up and now everything appears to be working fine.

NigelVH

+2.4

| February 5, 2010 at 11:48 PM

I'm seconding this. After playing with this board and the 900MHz XBee Modules, you do need to short the diode to get it to work right. I looked at the datasheet for the XBee Pro 900 and it says that the module has 5V tolerant IO inputs. So you don't need to worry about hurting the module. I'm not sure why the diode is dropping the levels below a logic 1 though.

Thanks for the original comment AdamB, would never have thought of this if you hadn't posted.

	by Nightspirit +1.3 \| February 4, 2010 at 9:03 PM 0
For those who already have FTDI basic breakout, you could simply connect VCC to VCC, GND to GND, TXO(FTDI) to DIN(Xbee), RXI(FTDI) to DOU(Xbee). Then it will work like Xbee explorer usb. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8687

	by Jonnyboy323 +1.1 \| February 8, 2010 at 12:46 AM 0
I'm not sure if I got this for the right reason. I can use this as a way to communicate with an xbee and arduinio right? DOUT and DIN is like Tx and Rx right? Jon