PROJECTS
●●●●
■ THIS MONTH’S PROJECTS
Control Your World: Part 5 . . . .36
A Simple Superhet . . . . . . . . . . 42
CoilLauncher .............. 50
■ LEVEL RATING SYSTEM
To find out the level of difficulty
for each of these projects, turn
to our ratings for the answers.
●●●● . . . . Beginner Level
●●●● . . . . Intermediate Level
●●●● . . . . Advanced Level
●●●● . . . . Professional Level
I had planned on
showing you how to
add an LCD receiver
satellite in this series,
but before I do, I need
to show you how to
utilize the new
Maxstream Series 2
XBee modules.
Maxstream no
longer supports
mesh networking
utilizing the original
XBee modules.
36
March 2008
CONTROL
YOUR WORLD
Build a Wireless Weather System:
Final Fixes and Options
Mesh Network
Options
This project series has been one
of my most popular so I wanted to
make sure you know your options in
completing the different projects.
• OPTION 1: If you have not yet purchased your XBee modules, purchase
the XBee Series 2 modules. There are
only a few differences in the setup, of
which I will be going into shortly.
• OPTION 2: If you have already
purchased Series 1 modules, you
need to check to see if they are Rev
A or Rev B. You can tell which type
by looking at the sticker on the
underside of the module. All Rev B
modules have a REV-B on the
sticker as shown in Figure 2.
If you have REV-B, you need to
return the module. These modules
cannot be used to create a mesh
network. Contact your point of purchase first to see if you can return
the modules. If they will not take the
modules back, contact customer
support at www.Maxstream.net.
If you have REV-A,
you can contact customer
support at www.Max
stream.net and they will
send you the firmware
files I utilized in the first
part of this series.
• OPTION 3: The new
series 2 modules are compatible with the series 1
development boards. If
you purchased one of
these boards or starter kits,
you have the option of
simply purchasing the individual Series 2 modules.
Maxstream has indicated to me that the
Series 2 modules are mesh
■ FIGURE 1. System diagram
showing the major players
and the movement of data
between them.
