SparkFun
SparkFun XBee 3 Wireless Kit
This is the SparkFun XBee 3 Wireless Kit, the perfect box full of goodies to get you started using XBees. Inside this kit you will find two XBee 3 Modules, o...
Get notified when back in stock
This is the SparkFun XBee 3 Wireless Kit, the perfect box full of goodies to get you started using XBees. Inside this kit you will find two XBee 3 Modules, one XBee Explorer, one Xbee Shield and a set of Arduino R3 headers to solder onto the shield. Our entire goal for the XBee Kit was to make wireless communication simple. Connect one XBee to the shield and your Arduino, connect the other XBee to the Explorer board and your computer, and you'll be able to seamlessly pass serial data to and from your Arduino wirelessly! Using this connection, you can transmit remote sensor data, or send data from your computer to update a scoreboard, or drive a robot from your keyboard!
The XBee Shield mates directly with an Arduino Pro or USB board, and equips it with wireless communication capabilities using the popular XBee module. The serial pins (DIN and DOUT) of the XBee are connected through an SPDT switch, which allows you to select a connection to either the UART pins (D0, D1) or any digital pins on the Arduino (D2 and D3 default). Power is taken from the 5V pin of the Arduino and regulated on-board to 3.3VDC before being supplied to the XBee. The shield also takes care of level shifting on the DIN pin of the XBee.
The board also includes LEDs to indicate power and activity on DIN, DOUT, RSSI, and DIO5 pins of the XBee. The Arduino's reset button is brought out on the shield, and a 12x11 grid of 0.1" holes are available for prototyping. The boards in this kit cannot source the power required for the Cellular XBee line. It will only work with the 802.15.4 XBee variants like the ones included in this kit.
Note: If you are using these outside of the United States, please check with your local laws regarding radio communication.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- DIN
- As a pin label, DIN stands for 'data in', the input through which a device receives serial data from a controller, as found on SPI displays, LED drivers and other serial modules. DIN can also refer to the German standards body of that name, as in a round multi-pin DIN connector or DIN-rail mounting.
- Headers
- Rows of connector contacts on a fixed pitch (commonly 2.54 mm) used to link a board to a breadboard, jumper wires, or another board. They come as male pin headers and female socket headers; when a module ships with pre-soldered headers it can be used straight away, whereas bare pads require soldering the pins yourself.
- Shield
- An add-on board that plugs into a main controller board to give it extra features such as sensing, motor control or communication. Knowing a product supports shields helps you judge whether it can connect neatly into an existing maker-board setup.
- UART
- UART is a simple asynchronous serial interface that sends data over separate transmit and receive wires, usually labelled TX and RX, with both ends set to the same baud rate. It is a common way for microcontrollers and other serial devices to exchange data.
Find this product in
Brands
STEM & Education
XBee Shield Reference Design
Schematic · 55.9 KB · Click any page to view full size
XBee Explorer USB Reference Design
Schematic · 38.0 KB · Click any page to view full size
Supplier page — sparkfun.com
Supplier Description · 614.3 KB · Click any page to view full size
Resources & Downloads
Guides, code examples, and more
Related Tutorials
Free guides on learn.littlebird.com.au