some active rfid products
- Thread starter damage
- Start date
I recently replace my 40m batteries also, I am hoping the batteries it came with had just been old.
Otherwise batteries every 2 or 3 months is just too much, I have considered thos 6 volt camera lithium batteries. but haven't found a cheap place yet.
I really don't want to wire them into the cars....
StevenE
Otherwise batteries every 2 or 3 months is just too much, I have considered thos 6 volt camera lithium batteries. but haven't found a cheap place yet.
I really don't want to wire them into the cars....
StevenE
hucker
Active Member
Users of CheaperRFID products migh find this tool useful. It can be used to track the state of 10 ID tags. It provides state information in real time and logging. Right now it's been tested under XPSP2 and I've seen it install and come up without errors on win2k. I've found it usefull for debugging and understanding the RFID stuff.
http://www.acrocad.net/download/SetupAcroID.exe
I've plugged in some XPL support that generates sensor.basic triggers. This works on my machine just fine
but is certainly experimental. Check the readme for details.
Chuck
http://www.acrocad.net/download/SetupAcroID.exe
I've plugged in some XPL support that generates sensor.basic triggers. This works on my machine just fine
but is certainly experimental. Check the readme for details.Chuck
Gemini
Active Member
Me too BSR... although I bought and tried HS2, I went back to 1.7...but if you'll go to the HS Updates, you'll still find the "Iautomate RFID 1.1" that claims it will work with HS 1.7.30 or better.BraveSirRobbin said:One question I have for you. I really don't want to change my current HomeSeer 1.7.43 version yet for 2.x. Is there any version of the RFID current plugins in development that would work with this older HomeSeer version? (Maybe convince a "certain" buddy of yours to write one mate?
Please keep us updated. I will probably be bugging you for additional information whenever I do get mine.
Regards and thanks for your input,
BSR
Gemini
Active Member
And, while I'm thinking about it, why , especially in the commercial applications, is this technology still so expensive? If someone can make some receivers for a few dollars, why are the commercial units in the $300-$400 price range?. This stuff has been around a fair amount of time, so it shouldn't fall under the "new technology" price tags.
hucker
Active Member
It is my guess that the CheaperRFID is literally a guy in his basement, maybe even a college kid, who is doing it for fun. The electronics works but the mechanical is lacking. For example the 40m board literally sits in the enclosure and is NOT fastened! There is also no documentation, not even a one page readme that gives things like voltages, or a warning that the parasitic power for the reciever won't work on a USB RS232 thingie. The PCB's don't have things labeled, etc. I will be pleasantly surprised if they work over temperature and vibration.
I'd bet that the $300 units are engineered, documented and tested in much more detail not to mention the fact that they do distance/signal strength (which presumably means they have an AD to measure the signal).
I'm not saying that I think the more expensive units are worth the cost, just that it is not an apples-apples comparison.
Chuck
I'd bet that the $300 units are engineered, documented and tested in much more detail not to mention the fact that they do distance/signal strength (which presumably means they have an AD to measure the signal).
I'm not saying that I think the more expensive units are worth the cost, just that it is not an apples-apples comparison.
Chuck
most of the details on the CheaperRFID stuff is on the HomeSeer message boards. I think the gist of it is that the CheaperRFID boards themselves are made in China as part of a commercial manufacturing process. Those that do not pass commercial testing (temperature ranges, or whatever) become the CheaperRFID boards. The boards are sent directly to the American contact, who is in fact a guy on the HomeSeer message boards that was one of the first ones to find the cheaper stuff. He is the one that researched the enclosures and hand-assembles them in his house. All the details are on a (really long) post on the HomeSeer boards, so don't be shy about going over there to find out the details.
IVB
Senior Member
I got my cheaperRFID receiver & transmitter today, took all of 15 mins to get it working (woohoo!). Seriously simple, just plug in the RFID receiver to the PC, put 2 AAA batteries in the transmitter (probably about the size of 4-5 of them total. The CQC driver records the tag id, and allows you to rename it.
Here's the only pic I got of the RFID stuff. I'm going to have to muck with positioning & placement as i'm only getting 15' off it, which is barely enough for me to reach the dining room. I need another 20ish feet, then I can use it to tell if i'm home or not. I can put on "coming home" routines based on who's home, and who just arrived (after door is opened, that is).
Here's the only pic I got of the RFID stuff. I'm going to have to muck with positioning & placement as i'm only getting 15' off it, which is barely enough for me to reach the dining room. I need another 20ish feet, then I can use it to tell if i'm home or not. I can put on "coming home" routines based on who's home, and who just arrived (after door is opened, that is).
