XBee serial connection counting up

Question

I'm a first time user having issues with my XBee radios. When i connect them via USB to my computer and open up a serial port, I see the XBee counting up like so:

00000128
00000129
0000012A
0000012B
0000012C
0000012D

Despite not being connected to another XBee! The counting sequence resets upon losing power. Is this supposed to be happening? How would I see data being sent if it's just jumbled with counting?

I turned to serial because XTCU was also giving me weird bugs. It would connect, but then fill all the values with garbage on configuration.

With serial +++ makes the counting stop, and ATID, ATMY, and ATSL return reasonable values. However, ATDL just returns an error!

I'm using an XBEE Pro S3B Xbee (XBP9B-XCST-002 revM).

Does anyone have any insight into what's going on?

Answer 1

This is an XBee SXC Product. It is the replacement to the old 9Xstream. You are getting the counting numbers because you have connected the CONFIG line and held it low. IE you connected this module to a board that was not designed for this specific version. I would suggest contacting the vendor of the board you are connecting it to, to find out how to disconnect the CONFIG line.

Answer 2

To prevent this with the S3B you have to desolder the resistor that goes to the RSSI led. Most Xbee modules use pin 6 as a signal strength indicator but on the S3B it is not. When pin 6 of this Xbee is pulled low on start up it enters a special mode that continuously counts up in hex. If you go to the terminal in X-CTU is will just be counting away. The resistor and led effectively pull down pin 6 enough to make it start in this mode every time. De-solder that resistor or led and it will work perfectly.