some active rfid products

Rupp said:
What the more expensive RFID system offers is the ability to tell if you are coming or going based on the power of the signal
Please explain how that works. I thought iAutomate didn't really do anything more than present/not-present.
 
The iAutomate system provides signal strength between tag and receiver so you can speculate if a tag is near or far from the reader (I use this to determine if the trash is at the curb or beside the house on trash day). The iAutomate system can also report movement using the motion sensing tags and some of the tags also have a tamper feature that indicates if they have been removed from an object.

I use the motion to trigger some reminders the first time my tag is moved each day. The tag's in my wallet, so this is usually right as I'm getting ready to leave the house. The motion tag also acts like a theft deterent for my SUV that is parked in the driveway... at night if movement is detected (only takes a slight movement), the garage, yard and driveway lights turn on. Seems to work well, but on the occasional night that we'll have wind, even this is enough to trigger it.

The other advantage is the ability to adjust tag "timeouts" which is the amount of time before the system thinks the tag is gone. The tags also transmit every .7secs so updates happen quite quickly... not sure what the transmit rate of the less expensive gear is?

It seems that range might also be different between the systems... I see tags being received on the cars about 2-3 houses away which is at least 200ft. The readers can be configured for long and short range to provide different coverage which can be tailored for different applications where I think the less expensive gear has a couple different transmitters (one long range, one short range).

RFID is neat stuff and lends itself well to Home Automation... with the announcement of the iAutomate MIRACLE interface and this new RFID gear sounds like it has a bright future!

Cheers,
Paul
 
The iAutomate Plug-in gives you a signal strength from each reader, and you can buy tags that have motion sensors and tamper switches in them. There is also a keyfob with a panic button. The tags transmit their data every 0.8 seconds and also transmit tag battery status information based on how many transmissions they have had. Range is adjustable by switching antennas. I have longer range antennas on my two receivers and can catch any tag in my house or a few hundred feet away. I've been happy with the system, but readers are $450 each. Tags are about $20 and up, and their batteries last 3 - 5 years. The one negative for me is that tag batteries are not replaceable. Several tags that I purchased already had batteries that were 2/3 of a year old when I received them.
 
Hey guys, I thought I would chime in now that I found this posting over here. I am writing the CheaperRFID plugin. Right now the plugin just does On/Off and triggers a HS device for each tag. I am told by the manufacturer of the devices that signal strength is coming, but he couldn't give me a timeframe.

As far as the plugin goes. The next version that I will release which is almost done will support multiple receivers, and I am working on remote TCP/IP support. My remote TCP/IP support will just be sockets based so that a remote receiver node could send the tag info to the master HS server.

As Michael said, there are plugins out there with advanced functionality that you can already do all kinds of cool stuff with the on/off state. If there is anything else from the plugin you might want to see, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

We'll see where we can take this stuff. The price seems to be right, and I'm having lots of fun playing with it and writing the plugin! Can't wait for more people to get their devices and come up with other cool ideas!

PiperPilot
 
If you guys have looked into this and what a very simple way to monitor car home/away or family members home/away or garbage can out/in, etc you owe it to yourself to check out this excellent technology. I've not had a single drop out since getting everything setup and the old "+" antenna connected to the receiver. I'm amazed at the distance the house now announces Explorer has arrived home and about 30 seconds later the garage door opening and then Becky has arrived home. The trigger possibilities using HomeSeer are endless. Now my son does take the garbage out or his PC tells him every 5 minutes that it's time to take out the garbage. I finally can monitor my shed door accurately as well using the 40M RFID transmitter where my DS10'a was always on a fringe. You own it to yourself to have a look. The hardware is available here: http://www.cheapertronics.com/ and there's a free plugin for HomeSeer here: http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=869
 
Rupp said:
If you guys have looked into this and what a very simple way to monitor car home/away or family members home/away or garbage can out/in, etc you owe it to yourself to check out this excellent technology. I've not had a single drop out since getting everything setup and the old "+" antenna connected to the receiver. I'm amazed at the distance the house now announces Explorer has arrived home and about 30 seconds later the garage door opening and then Becky has arrived home. The trigger possibilities using HomeSeer are endless. Now my son does take the garbage out or his PC tells him every 5 minutes that it's time to take out the garbage. I finally can monitor my shed door accurately as well using the 40M RFID transmitter where my DS10'a was always on a fringe. You own it to yourself to have a look. The hardware is available here: http://www.cheapertronics.com/ and there's a free plugin for HomeSeer here: http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=869
I would be all over this if the plugin was compatible with HomeSeer ver 1.7x... :D
 
Come on now BSR it's time to let go and move ahead. These devices operate so simply that a script could handle the io if you wanted to just use a script.
 
electron said:
how long are these batteries lasting?
Dan,
Someone on the HS bb calculate that they should last between 6 and 8 months. How I don't know. There are new transmitters that wire directly into your cars 12v though.
 
BraveSirRobbin said:
I would be all over this if the plugin was compatible with HomeSeer ver 1.7x... ;)
I believe at one point someone had written a script to do the basics, I am sure the script would run with 1.7.

StevenE
 
Rupp said:
If you guys have looked into this and what a very simple way to monitor car home/away or family members home/away or garbage can out/in, etc you owe it to yourself to check out this excellent technology. I've not had a single drop out since getting everything setup and the old "+" antenna connected to the receiver. I'm amazed at the distance the house now announces Explorer has arrived home and about 30 seconds later the garage door opening and then Becky has arrived home. The trigger possibilities using HomeSeer are endless. Now my son does take the garbage out or his PC tells him every 5 minutes that it's time to take out the garbage. I finally can monitor my shed door accurately as well using the 40M RFID transmitter where my DS10'a was always on a fringe. You own it to yourself to have a look. The hardware is available here: http://www.cheapertronics.com/ and there's a free plugin for HomeSeer here: http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=869
What is the list of parts you purchased to do this? Is it just the Active RFID Receiver module and a CheaperRFID 40m Transmitter - Car Powered
module for each car?
 
Judging by the protocol, this should work fine with the Elk M1. I guess I really have to take a look at this stuff. I want to put a portable transmitter in my laptop bag, so I stop forgetting to take my laptop to work ;)
 
I would love to put something on the dogs collar to let us know if he leaves the property. And.............. if he does............. help track him down. Hes a BEagle and he loves to hunt the neighborhood tracking scents etc. He would never harm a fly but worried he will get hit by a car if he digs his way out of the yard.
 
Sendero said:
Rupp said:
If you guys have looked into this and what a very simple way to monitor car home/away or family members home/away or garbage can out/in, etc you owe it to yourself to check out this excellent technology. I've not had a single drop out since getting everything setup and the old "+" antenna connected to the receiver. I'm amazed at the distance the house now announces Explorer has arrived home and about 30 seconds later the garage door opening and then Becky has arrived home. The trigger possibilities using HomeSeer are endless. Now my son does take the garbage out or his PC tells him every 5 minutes that it's time to take out the garbage. I finally can monitor my shed door accurately as well using the 40M RFID transmitter where my DS10'a was always on a fringe. You own it to yourself to have a look. The hardware is available here: http://www.cheapertronics.com/ and there's a free plugin for HomeSeer here: http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=869
What is the list of parts you purchased to do this? Is it just the Active RFID Receiver module and a CheaperRFID 40m Transmitter - Car Powered
module for each car?
Yes. The receiver and transmitter. I use the 8 meter transmitters for cars in the garage and the 40m transmitter for the one's that do not fit in the garage and for the garbage can. Let me warn you about one thing. Make sure you connect the case to the garbage using a secure method. I've already donated one to the garbage company ;)
 
what happens if you park the car w/ the 40m xmitter in the garage? do you get noisy readings?
 
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