xBee, at last

A very long time ago (several months, at least), I ordered two xBee modules and some ancillary parts in order to start experimenting with wireless communication.  My plan was to leverage one of my two Arduino boards with the xBees to allow me to wirelessly monitor the hot tub temperature from inside the house.  Assuming all that worked out well, I’d add an additional xBee so that the pool temp would also be available.

Fast forward to today, when I finally pulled the box with the xBees off the shelf and started working with them.  First step, preparing the software to configure them.  Because I’m a Mac user now and only touch Windows if I absolutely have no other choice, I dug around until I figured out how to run the configuration program under WINE and connect to the USB port for the xBee.  Achievement!

Next was to solder the very simple breakout board so that I’d be able to test one xBee attached to the computer’s USB port and the other to a breakout board.  Oops … I ordered the wrong parts 🙁  I did what soldering I could, which wasn’t much, and have ordered the missing pieces.

I think I’ll leave the boxes with the parts out on my home desk in hopes that seeing them will remind me to do more work on this once I get what I need!

Watch here for more adventures in open source wireless communication!!