Displaying Numbers Wirelessly with XBee

We’ve given you a number of XBee Examples—coins, words, lamps, buttons scents and dials. Here’s one that’s just about numbers. A 7-Segment Numeric Display connected to an XBee radio can show any digit or letter from zero to Z. Now your project can count, spell and impress. Here’s how we put it on the site:

The XBee directly drives a simple numeric display, and that’s often all a project needs. With a simple 7-segment numeric display you can showhow many, how much, which one or when with precision. It’s a snap to display numbers wirelessly with an XBee radio.

Now you can create a counter that shows how far away Friday is, display your current Amazon or Yelp ratings, show the current flight landing at O’Hare or keep an eye on the temperature in your restaurant’s walk-in freezer.

Check out this video to see if any number is special to me:

Controlling AC Devices with XBee

If it plugs into the wall you can turn it on and off with an XBee radio. Switch lights and appliances on or off wirelessly, even over the Internet! Matt Richardson shows you the ropes in the latest XBee Example: Control of AC Devices. He writes:

Hobby electronics projects usually work at low voltages and with direct current. But what if you want to control your lamps, TVs, or blenders, which operate at higher voltage with alternating current? Situations like this call for a relay, which let you use low current to open and close circuits on high voltage devices. Using the 3.3 volt digital output of the XBee connected to a relay, we can wirelessly control high voltage AC devices.

His example uses the popular PowerSwitch Tail or you can also use a Digi Smart Plug in much the same way. Either method creates worldwide controls for interior lighting, office devices, country homes or commercial equipment. Switch off your lights after your leave for the night or fire up your regional warehouse’s backup air conditioners to save your inventory. If it sounds interesting you could start building a prototype today!

Get a Whiff of This – XBee Scent Generator

The latest XBee Example shows how to create a wireless scent emitter using Digi’s XBee radios. We demonstrate how to easily connect a battery-powered air freshener to the wireless web, using an XBee radio. From the site:

By pairing the XBee with a scent dispenser, you can create ambient alerts that notify a whole area without making any noise or needing anyone to look at them! This is a terrific way to present information that builds over time. Not meeting your corporate power-saving goals today? A whiff of pine can remind your co-workers to think green. Are sales spiking? Perhaps the smell of cinnamon warns your workforce that the website is getting slow. Or maybe surf’s up at the beach and a the fragrance of ocean breeze pervading your home could change your afternoon plans. It’s a whole new way to interact with information!

What does information smell like? Get started with ambient output  to savor the bouquet of your data. Profits up? Database down? From now on your nose will know! Get started with the XBee Scent Generator Example now.

LCD Text Display for XBee

Words are how humans communicate. An inexpensive LCD text display can be the most economical way to make your project talk to people, and it’s easy to make a wireless one with an XBee radio.

Build this example using an LCD with a serial backpack, like this one  from Adafruit, or this one from Sparkfun for inexpensive wireless text output. It’s the fastest way for your project to gain human communications!

Now you can create a Twitter display for your office door, prototype a quiz game toy that teaches math, or add interactive instructions to your automated greenhouse watering system. This LCD-enabled XBee is a great way to make the things you make talk to people!

Joystick for XBee Example

Join a joystick to your XBee radio for a terrific way to add movement to your projects, sending anything you like in different directions. You can achieve full wireless control of household robots, industrial equipment, safety cameras…even stratosphere-seeking weather balloons. Set about inventing a new class of cat toys or create a new way to interact with museum exhibits. Maybe you’d like to make an interactive lawn sprinkler that waters your name in the grass? Here’s a terrific way to control it! This tutorial walks you through the easy way to connect an Adafruit Small Arcade Joystick to your XBee.

The video below shows the joystick connected to a group of four wireless LEDs. You might want to try controlling stepper motors to create directional movement, orchestrating water pumps into a casino-style fountain or harvesting crops from the comfort of your porch swing. Start building one today!

Say it Proud with XBee Panel Meter

Want to impress your date? Make a muscle measuring love meter! Or perhaps you’re a business genius and prefer to quantify your cash. Either way, you’ve got to have a panel meter to indicate your achievements. The latest tutorial from Digi’s XBee Examples & Guides shows all the steps for creating a wireless readout. You’ll push your project’s needle towards “11.” It’s also great for giving your device a retro feel. More on that from the site:

As the world of technology becomes increasingly digital, the nostalgia for older analog technology grows. The panel meter is a great piece of analog technology that can be easily integrated into your projects. And thanks to the XBee 802.15.4 radio’s digital to analog converter, you can make a wireless panel meter with only a few components.

This video demonstrates the panel meter in operation, using a light sensor to control its movements. You could also monitor remote radiation, track the temperature in refrigerated trucks or keep an eye on your favorite stock by connecting it to the Internet with the XIG. Go ahed, make yourself a meter!

XBee Example: Making Money with a Coin Acceptor

Earn some income using this latest XBee Example that shows how to easily connect an XBee radio to one of Adafruit’s nifty coin acceptors. It’s part of our efforts to document how to create all kinds of interesting XBee inputs, outputs and interconnections.  We’d like to make making things easier.

Here’s what the site has to say:

“Your XBee can make real money, all by itself! This easy-to-use coin acceptor can be part of any project where you want to accept coins, whether they be Euros, pence, pounds, a Cambodian Riel or American quarters.

“The XBee radio will send a signal every time a coin is inserted into the acceptor. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through how to program the radio, configure the acceptor and wire it up to an XBee so you can create projects that earn real cash!”

The video below shows an XBee coin acceptor in a basic, local implementation. It’s just a starting point for you to get creative. For example you could also hook everything up to the Internet via the new XBee Internet Gateway and start Counting Money with a Coin Acceptor online!

XBee Example for Feeling the Force

The newest tutorial on Digi’s XBee Examples site teaches you to create a wireless force sensor or FSR. The force sensor sends out a signal that varies depending upon how hard you press on it. It can be used to measure weight or pressure.

Additional examples for XBee radio sensors and outputs are being posted regularly, all summer long. Follow our RSS feed to collect ’em all. For example last week’s Digital Input example could be used to detect whether a cat is on a mat. But if you need to know how fat is that cat on the mat, then then Matt Richardson’s new Feeling Force example is for you!