XBee & RS485 Sensor Expansion Shield V5 for Arduino UNO R3

XBee & RS485 Sensor Expansion Shield V5 for Arduino UNO R3 is a multi-protocol industrial and wireless sensor carrier shield engineered by the DFRobot V5 architecture to stack directly onto an Arduino UNO R3, Leonardo, or Mega 2560. Furthermore, it combines a 3-pin GVS (`GND/VCC/Signal`) digital and analog sensor array with an onboard MAX485 RS485 industrial transceiver (with screw terminals), an XBee / BlueBee wireless socket, an APC220 RF header, a Micro-SD / SD card interface, and a dedicated external servo power terminal. Consequently, it serves as an industrial-grade field communication and multi-servo hub on a single UNO shield.

Key Features:

• Integrated RS485 Transceiver & Screw Terminals: Onboard RS485 transceiver chip and 2-pin `A / B` differential bus screw terminal allow long-distance (up to 1200m) industrial Modbus RTU communication.
• 2mm Pitch XBee / BlueBee Wireless Socket: Dual-row 10-pin 2.0mm socket with onboard 3.3V LDO regulator directly hosts Digi XBee, Zigbee, Bluetooth Bee, or ESP8266-Bee wireless modules.
• Hardware Run / Prog Serial Switch: Slide switch disconnects the XBee/RS485 serial bus from `D0 (RX)` and `D1 (TX)` during USB sketch uploading so you never have to unplug your wireless module to flash code.
• Independent External Servo Power Terminal (`PWR_IN`): 2-position screw terminal feeds high-current 5V–6V external power directly to the digital 3-pin servo headers (`D2–D13`) without overloading the Arduino’s onboard 5V regulator.
• Dedicated I2C, Bluetooth, APC220 & SD Card Headers: Includes dedicated pin banks for I2C OLED/LCD displays, APC220 sub-GHz RF modules, and SPI SD card modules.

Technical Specifications:

• Shield Architecture: IO Expansion Shield V5 (RS485 + XBee + GVS Sensor Shield)
• Compatible Host Boards: Arduino UNO R3, Leonardo R3, Mega 2560 R3
• Wireless Socket: 2 × 10-Pin (2.0mm Pitch) XBee / BlueBee Socket (Powered by Onboard 3.3V LDO Regulator)
• Industrial Bus: Onboard Half-Duplex RS485 Transceiver with `RS485 A / B` Screw Terminals
• Digital & Servo Headers: 14 × 3-Pin GVS Male Headers (`D0–D13`; Jumper/Auto Switched External `PWR_IN` Servo Rail)
• Analog Headers: 6 × 3-Pin GVS Male Headers (`A0–A5`)
• Mode Selector Switch: `PROG / RUN` Serial Isolation Switch + `RS485 / APC220` Selector

Mechanical Specifications:

• PCB Substrate: Double-Sided Black/Blue FR-4 Fiberglass PCB with Color-Coded GVS Header Banks
• Screw Terminals: 2-Pin External Servo Power Input (`PWR_IN`) + 2-Pin RS485 (`A / B`) Bus Output

Dimensions:

• Length: 68.6 mm
• Width: 55.0 mm
• Height: 20.0 mm
• Weight: ≈ 32 g

Pinout and Wiring:

• PROG / RUN Switch: Flip the slide switch to `PROG` before uploading sketches from the Arduino IDE over USB; flip back to `RUN` after upload to connect the XBee or RS485 transceiver to `D0 (RX) / D1 (TX)`.
• RS485 Wiring (`A / B` Terminals): Connect `A (+)` and `B (-)` to your twisted-pair RS485 network; digital pin `D2` controls the RS485 Transmit/Receive direction enable (`HIGH` = Transmit, `LOW` = Receive).
• External Servo Power (`PWR_IN`): Connect a 5V 2A–5A supply to the green `PWR_IN (VCC / GND)` screw terminal when driving multiple MG996R or SG90 servos on `D2–D13`.
• Engineering Precaution: Never supply more than 6.0V DC into the `PWR_IN` servo screw terminal if standard 5V/6V hobby servos or 5V digital sensors are plugged into the `D2–D13` VCC rails.

Datasheet Reference:

• View Analog Devices / Maxim MAX485 RS-485/RS-422 Transceiver Datasheet PDF

Commonly Used in:

• Modbus RTU Industrial RS485 Sensor & VFD Motor Drive Controllers
• XBee / Zigbee Wireless Mesh Robotics & Remote Telemetry Stations
• Hexapod & Humanoid Multi-Servo Robots Requiring High-Current Servo Power

Applications:

• Industrial RS485 Master/Slave Node: Polls industrial RS485 energy meters, soil NPK probes, and VFDs over 1000-meter twisted-pair cables without external MAX485 breakout modules.
• Wireless + Wired Hybrid Gateway: Receives Zigbee/XBee wireless packets and bridges them onto a wired RS485 or I2C bus.
• Heavy-Duty Servo Control: Isolates servo current spikes onto the `PWR_IN` screw terminal so the Arduino UNO never resets during simultaneous multi-servo movements.

Equivalent Models:

• Arduino Sensor Shield V5.0: Standard 3-pin GVS + ultrasonic/Bluetooth/I2C sensor shield without the onboard XBee socket or MAX485 RS485 transceiver.
• XBee Shield V03 Wireless Module: Dedicated dual-XBee/microSD wireless shield without the 3-pin GVS servo headers or RS485 screw terminals.
• Arduino Compatible Sensor Shield V4.0: Streamlined GVS sensor breakout shield for UNO/Mega.

Package Includes:

• 1 × XBee & RS485 Sensor Expansion Shield V5 for Arduino UNO R3