# New life for Xenon? **URL:** \ **Category:** BLE // NFC\ **Tags:** xenon\ **Created:** [December 16, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807 "2020-12-16T15:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Circuitman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/circuitman/32/19538_2.png) [@Circuitman](https://community.particle.io/u/Circuitman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/1 "2020-12-16T15:36:56Z")
Now that we are approaching the end of 2020 and the ‘on your own, see how long they last’ approach to Xenons I am looking for any ideas on how to re-purpose the devices should the cloud fail and they all die, The kit needed to flash new firmware is not cheap so really need to have some confidence it is worth the spend. I am in the UK so any advice as to UK sourced programming kit ?? Any ideas gratefully received. Merry Xmas ---
**Author:** ![peekay123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/peekay123/32/810_2.png) [@peekay123](https://community.particle.io/u/peekay123)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/2 "2020-12-16T16:12:42Z")
@Circuitman, with only the Particle Debugger board you can flash Adafruit’s CircuitPython onto a Xenon. It is well supported by Adafruit. However, it isn’t C++ and you need to be familiar with (Micro)Python. ---
**Author:** ![DaveH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@DaveH](https://community.particle.io/u/DaveH)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/3 "2020-12-16T17:56:23Z")
I was planning on leaving mine in 1.5.2, programming via the webIDE and looking at BLE to message to an argon. Most of my xenons just publish, so I was hoping I can do a BLE broadcast and have the argon receive & send on with a publish ---
**Author:** ![Circuitman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/circuitman/32/19538_2.png) [@Circuitman](https://community.particle.io/u/Circuitman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/4 "2020-12-16T19:50:18Z")
Keeping mine going as long as possible. Mesh of five Xenons publishing and subscribing to each other and an Argon. Works really well. What sort of range are you getting with BLE? ---
**Author:** ![bittailor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/bittailor/32/7293_2.png) [@bittailor](https://community.particle.io/u/bittailor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/5 "2020-12-16T20:19:15Z")
With a Particle Debugger you can also use [Zephyr](https://www.zephyrproject.org/) as they support the [Particle Xenon Board](https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/arm/particle_xenon/doc/index.html). I used it with some of my Xenons to do some [Bluetooth Mesh](https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/reference/bluetooth/mesh.html) examples. Zephyr also supports [OpenThread Mesh](https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/reference/networking/thread.html), but have not tried that yet. ---
**Author:** ![Circuitman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/circuitman/32/19538_2.png) [@Circuitman](https://community.particle.io/u/Circuitman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/6 "2020-12-16T20:19:59Z")
Thanks for guidance. A debugger/JTAG is available in the UK on Ebay so might get one for insurance but really do not want to have to learn a new language, getting too old. Excuse my ignorance but would coding Xenons in Python allow gateway connection to the Argon? ---
**Author:** ![Circuitman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/circuitman/32/19538_2.png) [@Circuitman](https://community.particle.io/u/Circuitman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/7 "2020-12-16T20:23:34Z")
Looks like I am going to have to get a JTAG/Debugger. Will look into Zephyr. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![peekay123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/peekay123/32/810_2.png) [@peekay123](https://community.particle.io/u/peekay123)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/8 "2020-12-16T20:37:20Z")
@Circuitman, CircuitPython supports BLE so it could send data to the Argon like any other BLE device. ---
**Author:** ![Circuitman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/circuitman/32/19538_2.png) [@Circuitman](https://community.particle.io/u/Circuitman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/9 "2020-12-16T21:25:13Z")
Cheers Got a couple of spare Xenons so something to keep me busy in the new year (or well beyond). ---
**Author:** ![DaveH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@DaveH](https://community.particle.io/u/DaveH)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/new-life-for-xenon/58807/10 "2020-12-18T00:24:15Z")
I’ve not tried BLE yet, so currently that is an unknown.