How to communicate text and numbers over serial

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Software Troubleshooting
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Hi all, firstly, (i have two questions) I have two arduinos hooked up over serial, the tx pin on a duemilanove wired to the rx pin on a mega. I plan to do this wirelessly, but when i disconnect them from my computer they do not communicate anymore, even though they do not need the computer to operate... How do i go about making it so that they do not need a computer to use serial? Also, when I do wire them together, i am outputing a letter and a number like (t79) but on the other arduino there is a bunch of numbers coming out that go up to 255 it seems... How do i decode this or make it so it displays what i am outputting? I am using this code:

int incomingByte = 0; void setup(){ Serial.begin(2400); } void loop(){ if (Serial.available() > 0) { incomingByte = Serial.read(); Serial.println(incomingByte, DEC); } incomingByte = 0; }

Thanks for the help, sorry if any of this is confusing, im new..

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I have two arduinos hooked up over serial, the tx pin on a duemilanove wired to the rx pin on a mega.

Are the grounds connected, too?

Also, when I do wire them together, i am outputing a letter and a number like (t79) but on the other arduino there is a bunch of numbers coming out that go up to 255 it seems

We need to see the code on both sides - sender and receiver.

Most likely, the 79 is not being sent as 79, but as '7' and '9'. You are then printing the ASCII code for '7' (55), instead of the character received (the ,DEC is doing that).

3

Thanks for the reply, i dont understand what you mean about the grounds being connected... They will be wireless, would that effect it? Anyhow, here is the transmitter code (its kinda big...) -

int gTempCmd  = 0b00000011; int gHumidCmd = 0b00000101;   int shiftIn(int dataPin, int clockPin, int numBits) {   int ret = 0;   int i;   for (i=0; i<numBits; ++i)   {      digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);      delay(10);      ret = ret*2 + digitalRead(dataPin);      digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);   }   return(ret); } void sendCommandSHT(int command, int dataPin, int clockPin) {  int ack;  // Transmission Start  pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);  pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);  digitalWrite(dataPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);  digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);  digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(dataPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);            // The command (3 msb are address and must be 000, and last 5 bits are command)  shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, MSBFIRST, command);  // Verify we get the coorect ack  digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);  pinMode(dataPin, INPUT);  ack = digitalRead(dataPin);  if (ack != LOW)    Serial.println("Ack Error 0");  digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);  ack = digitalRead(dataPin);  if (ack != HIGH)     Serial.println("Ack Error 1"); } void waitForResultSHT(int dataPin) {  int i;  int ack;    pinMode(dataPin, INPUT);    for(i= 0; i < 100; ++i)  {    delay(10);    ack = digitalRead(dataPin);    if (ack == LOW)      break;  }    if (ack == HIGH)    Serial.println("Ack Error 2"); } int getData16SHT(int dataPin, int clockPin) {  int val;    // Get the most significant bits  pinMode(dataPin, INPUT);  pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);  val = shiftIn(dataPin, clockPin, 8);  val *= 256;  // Send the required ack  pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);  digitalWrite(dataPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);  digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);            // Get the lest significant bits  pinMode(dataPin, INPUT);  val |= shiftIn(dataPin, clockPin, 8);  return val; } void skipCrcSHT(int dataPin, int clockPin) {  // Skip acknowledge to end trans (no CRC)  pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);  pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);  digitalWrite(dataPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);  digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW); } void setup() {   Serial.begin(2400); // open serial } void loop() {  int theDataPin  = 10;  int theClockPin = 11;  char cmd = 0;  int ack;  {      {         {           int val;           int temp;                     sendCommandSHT(gTempCmd, theDataPin, theClockPin);           waitForResultSHT(theDataPin);           val = getData16SHT(theDataPin, theClockPin);           skipCrcSHT(theDataPin, theClockPin);           temp = -40.0 + 0.018 * (float)val;           Serial.println(temp, HEX);                 }      }   } }