Wireless energy monitor

I am making an energy monitor using arduino. I am able to get data from the arduino to my desktop using a usb cable and display certain values of current and voltage with some coding.

I would like to do it wireless and I plan to do it by using (xbee - xbee shield - arduino) to obtain inputs from arduino pins, and use a xbee dongle plugged into my desktop to get data from the (xbee - xbee shield - arduino) and display data on my desktop.

I have the code to get the values I wanted which are current, voltage, and power, which is done through arduino serial monitor. Can I do the same for the xbee dongle? Do I have to write another code to do it?

Have you tried using the “Search” icon at the top right of this screen?

If you do, you’ll find many links about Xbee. Post again if you need more help.

Hi, I found a few links regarding xbee but none of them uses the xbee dongle. Thanks.

Does the dongle come with any documentation that’s at all helpful? I would assume that part one of your problem is solved, in that you know the format that the data requires to be in to be acceptable to your desktop, the part that you need to solve is getting that through theXBee wireless system.

So to solve part two, what you’ll need to do is (presumably - I don’t know what you have so I have absolutely zero information about it) is convert your existing sketch to first send whatever configuration data you must to set up the dongle on whichever interface or port the XBee sits on, then send the power data itself. In all likelihood, what you will need will be very similar to the existing code that sends via the serial monitor.

It does not come with any guide.
Initially I use the usb cable to transfer data to my desktop from the arduino. I read somewhere that the 2 xbees can be used to replace the usb cable by mounting a xbee shield and xbee on it and having a xbee dongle plugged into the pc so that data can be wirelessly transmitted from arduino to my computer.

If thats the case, can I use the arduino program and set the COM port to xbee dongle, use the same code, and still be able to view the data from the serial monitor?

The code is from arduino open energy monitor and reads inputs from analog pins from the arduino.

Thanks for your help.

You have it in front of you, you must realise that all I know about what you have is what you’ve written in this thread. If you don’t give any clues about what you have, there’s a limit to the help I or anyone else here can offer.

It must have some identifying marks on it, so can you say what those are? Or can you recognise it on one of the usual suppliers’ websites?

Can you get some useful hints from the Arduino website, or Sparkfun, or LadyAda, or somewhere like that?

The Arduino forums are the best place to go for advice and examples on how to code Arduino shields (and clones). Does it look like this one?

https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-wirelss-sd-shield

Once you’ve got some of their example code up and running and simple comms established between your Arduino and your PC, it should be fairly straight forward to adapt the OEM sketches to send the OEM data over that link, as Robert described above.

I read from forums that I could do it by setting both xbees in transparent mode. However, I could not get the xbee on the arduino to be connected and send data to the xbee dongle.

I followed the guide (How to build an arduino energy monitor | Archived Forum) for getting the the power readings using the usb cable. I would like to replace the usb cables with the xbee so that it can be done wirelessly. With the dongle connected to the PC, can I still use the same code and set the COM PORT to the dongle port and have readings on the serial monitor?

That’s what you asked 2 weeks ago. I’m sure it can be done. We’ve tried to help you, we’ve pointed you towards other places where you should be able to get more information that will help you, but you’re not saying what you have.

Go away and read the FAQ, particularly the block at the beginning under the heading “How to ask for help”. Think about the problem we have trying to help you, when you ignore very specific questions and all you’ve told us is you have two XBee devices and you can’t get them to work.