Xenon Kits - Any Use?

Hardware
1

I purchased 3 of these when they were first released. Are these products completely dead now?

If they’re unsupported, I won’t bother unboxing them. Is there any market for the unused kits or are these boards ewaste at this point?

2

I have moved a few of mine over to running Circuit Python with instructions on the Adafruit site, so they are still useful, but not in the Particle environment.

You can use them with Particle but only up to the last supported release for them, which was some time ago.

3

Hey, here are more options from the docs:

What are my options for the Xenon?

  • Xenons in the Ethernet FeatherWing will continue to work running Device OS 1.5.x or older.
  • Xenons run in standalone mode to use BLE will continue to work running Device OS 1.5.x or older. You will need to program standalone Xenons over USB, not OTA.
  • Already set up mesh networks will continue to work until a breaking change occurs in the cloud. We do not anticipate there being one, but cannot guarantee how long the network will continue to function. You will need to keep the Xenon running 1.5.x.
  • Xenons can be reprogrammed to run CircuitPython in standalone (no network) mode.
  • Xenons can be reprogrammed to be a standard nRF52840 board using the nRD52 SDK. It can use a native Thread Mesh network in this mode, but will lose all Particle functionality.

This is another one, perhaps:

4

Here’s another use for a Xenon, although an overkill:

  • use the Xenon to pull up an I2C bus to 3v3

The tracker does not have 3v3 exposed on the external M8 connector, and I did not have a 5->3v3 I2C level shifter.

The Xenon saved the day! :clown_face:

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5

Yup! A $30 overkill! :smiley:

Xenons make superb inexpensive nRF52840 development boards for countless BLE projects. Use Nordic Semi’s excellent nRF Connect SDK (Zephyr RTOS + VS Code) or flash the Xenons with Adafruit Bootloader and program them with Arduino IDE.

Use Xenon BLE to control all sorts of sensors, use it as a BLE Apple remote; and BLE enable switches, lamps, garage door openers, stepper motors, remote control robots, BT game controller, proximity detectors, GPS tracker with an inexpensive $4 GPS, hook up to environmental sensors, etc. The sky’s the limit!

I use them for Zephyr RTOS projects and also Arduino.