Getting byte data from the xbee into the Arduino

Hi,
I want to read byte #11 and byte#12, e.g. 0x02 and 0x7D and combine them with word() to make one number which is the voltage from the sending pot.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why I can’t isolate byte #11 and byte #12 from Serial.read when I know the data is there.

Setup:
Two xbee series 1
Transparente mode
Arduino Mega
Logic level converter - between the mega and receiving xbee

Using this program I can read the data being transmitted from the Transmitting xbee (connected to a pot) to the receiving xbee which is connected to a logic level converter then to the Mega Serial1 port.

int data = 0;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial1.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
 if(Serial1.available() > 0)  // checks for data
 
  {
   
   data = Serial1.read();  // reads data from Serial1
    
    if(data <= 0x0F)    // prints a leading zero on Serial.print if
                        // Hex is less than or equal to 15 as arduino 
                        // wont print a leading 0.  This took some time to figure out with help.
      {
        Serial.print("0");
      }
    
    Serial.println(data,HEX);  
    
  } 
}

The HEX results are
7E 00 0A 83 12 34 1B 00 01 02 00 02 7D 9A then back to 7E…

I need the payload 02 7D bytes #11 and #12 after the delimiter.

Problem:
I can’t figure out why the folowing code does not work. I just want to see bytes 02 and 7D so I can combine them and using the arduino word() function put them together 027D (637 decimal) to drive a motor… I tried and tried to figure it out…

int hibyte = 0;  //byte # 11
int lowbyte = 0;  // byte # 12
int data = 0;
int Voltage = 0;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial1.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
 if(Serial1.available() > 0)  // checks for data
 {
   data = Serial1.read();  // reads data from Serial
   
   if(data==0x7E)  //start delimiter
     {
       for(int i = 1; i <=10; i++)   //counter
         {
           Serial1.read();   //removes bytes 1 through 10 from the buffer
         }
         
       hibyte = Serial1.read();
       lowbyte = Serial1.read();
   
       
       Serial.print(hibyte);
       Serial.print(lowbyte);
       
  } 
}
}

After running this code the result is -1-1-1-1-1- forever. I know there is data there as I can see it from the 1st program above. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you so much!!

Hi.

While debugging, I recommend printing what you read from the serial port immediately after reading it (i.e. after every Serial1.read(); statement). Then you will be able to see exactly what you are reading from the port.

In this case, I suspect the problem is that your second program reads from the serial port multiple times for each time it checks if data is available. The if statement the program uses to check for serial data checks to see if there is any number of bytes available, so if only one byte is available, it will still try to read the port multiple times, which will probably result in it reading bad data.

-Claire

Thank you Claire!