I have been unable to find any other documentation to help me with my problem. I have the reader plugged into a miniUSB that is plugged into my computer. I need the RFID reader to work with a windows machine and not be reliant on another piece of technology (like an arduino board). The instructions I have been unable to get to work are from the following link https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/sp … okup-guide
and I also tried following this guide,
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/te … -mac-linux
which led to it giving me the error of Access denied (even when running cmd as administrator) when attempting $port.open().
This first guide listed leads me nowhere when I get to using the Arduino software to test the reader. It shows that COM4 is the reader as when I unplug it, it goes away, but it does not respond to anything else. Just sits there with a blank serial monitor as I wave the card over the antenna with the reader underneath it.
I have tried using the Universal Reader Assistant (which made me really hopeful when reading its name) however was unable to get anything other than timeouts. It recognizes the USB Serial Port (COM4) in the Reader Name: drop down and when I click Connect (no matter the combination of settings I’ve played with, including the defaults) it waits for maybe 30 seconds or so and displays the timeout error message. I’m not able to find very much useful information regarding the issues I am facing and am curious what the correct course of action would be to move forward with this. I hope that this post was descriptive enough and if not, please let me know what else I can provide.
Hello, and thanks for posting your question in our forum!
I have the reader plugged into a miniUSB that is plugged into my computer. I need the RFID reader to work with a windows machine and not be reliant on another piece of technology
That should be all you need to do other than start a terminal program that’s configured to listen to whatever port the USB board gets in Windows. The USB board outputs data at 9600 baud so make sure your software is set to that too.
This first guide listed leads me nowhere when I get to using the Arduino software to test the reader. It shows that COM4 is the reader as when I unplug it, it goes away, but it does not respond to anything else. Just sits there with a blank serial monitor as I wave the card over the antenna with the reader underneath it.
Does the board beep when you wave the tag overhead? A beep would indicate that the reader has read the tag and sent the serial number of the tag out through it’s serial port. The “read” LED should also light briefly when the tag is read. Double check that the serial monitor is also set to 9600 baud. A different baud rate can result in nothing being printed or garbage characters.
I have tried using the Universal Reader Assistant however was unable to get anything other than timeouts.
Unfortunately the Universal Reader Assistant software only works with RFID modules made by a company named JADAK ThingMagic. The ‘Universal’ in the name has to do with the fact that the software works on more than one of their modules.
That should be all you need to do other than start a terminal program that’s configured to listen to whatever port the USB board gets in Windows. The USB board outputs data at 9600 baud so make sure your software is set to that too.
I was able to follow the second link I provided (serial bus one) and successfully ran powershell, created the $port (variable?) pointing to COM4 and when trying to open it, was given an access denied message (despite cmd prompt being run as administrator). I also tried BAUDRSTE and 9600 in two separate attempts to fill the parameter of the $port object/variable. The device does not beep at all and doesn’t light up.
Do I need to do something special with the antenna? I forgot to order the 2mm 10 pin xbee headers as I figured it was just about the antenna and the reader being close to one another. Was I wrong in assuming so?
I appreciate your quick response and am thankful for your help in this matter.
Can you post a few photos showing how you have everything setup?
The black ID-12LA device is the RFID module and antenna all in one unit. Range on these is pretty short. Have you tried touching the reader with a tag? The ID-12LA should be plugged into your USB reader board and won’t need any additional headers to connect.
For the access denied message, that can sometimes be caused by another program having the COM port you’re trying to access already open, or it could be a permissions issue on your PC. You might try closing all other applications and then running a dedicated serial terminal program like [Teraterm.](https://osdn.net/projects/ttssh2/downloads/70691/teraterm-4.102.zip/)
Sorry for the delay. I am now back in the office and am able to get back to you about this.
It does not turn on or beep with the card sitting right on top it of, dragging it all around it, no response. It is just foam underneath so I figured it just had to be sitting on top of the module. What am I misinterpreting?
I now realize why I am an idiot. The foam isn’t glued on like I originally thought. You should be able to disregard this now! Sorry for the trouble!
Light is now on, but not beeping or sending anything to the serial monitor in Arduino when running either card or button tag across it. I will continue to diagnose from here, I just wanted to include my results so far.
I know you said Universal Reader Assistant was for something else, but the guide recommends it as the first software to use for testing and I the library link to the arduino library just recursively links back to the original guide the link itself is already on… The log file shows there is something happening, but every time I attempt to connect it spits out the error
The end goal is to integrate the RFID device into a .NET application that will be able to read the ID. I would like to not have to rely on any third party applications to do so…
I think you might be looking at the guide for the Simultaneous RFID Tag Reader M6E Nano. That’s a very different technology than what the ID-12LA has. The URA software is looking for a RFID module that has a specific type of firmware running inside it and the ID-12LA lacks that firmware.
You might want to check the guide for the [RFID Starter Kit. That guide is specifically for the ID-12LA.
With the ID-12LA plugged into the RFID USB board, and the assembly plugged into a computer, you should be able to hear a beep when you bring a compatible card very close or in contact to the top of the ID-12LA reader.
The pictures below show how the assembled USB board and reader should look.](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/sparkfun-rfid-starter-kit-hookup-guide)
I have been bouncing back and forth between guides trying to get anything to work so that is possible I’ve been looking at the wrong one. I did have the one you recommended open as well. It’s not very much help as it says
Open the Arduino IDE.
Go to Tools > Port and select the RFID reader’s port.
Go to Tools > Serial Monitor. The default terminal settings (9600 baud, no line ending) are fine. The monitor should be blank.
Wave a card over the reader. You should hear a beep and see something like this. This is no help when it doesn’t work. There isn’t even a note about what to do if it doesn’t beep.
My light is on, as you can tell by the below image, but I’ve run the two cards and the one button tag all over this guy with no reponse. I’m in the midst of attaching the SparkFun Arduino Library to test that out as well.
Are you sure that the pins on the bottom of the reader are lined up perfectly with the sockets on the board? In your picture, it looks like you’re one pin too far away from the USB connector.
Is there anything else I could do to determine why I can’t get a response from it? Could I have incorrect drivers?
Sorry, I had just typed that message when I got the notification of your response. Good timing!
This is what they look like when pressed in. The light didn’t come on until I had this plugged in (duh).
I pulled it out a bit so you could see each pin and where they were going. There is only 5 on one side and 7 on the other of the board. The reader has 6 pins with the second missing and 5 pins on the other side.
I can’t seem to squeeze it any tighter than it is in the top pic.
Could the black stuff holding the pins in place (gooped at the bottom of each pin) be holding the pins back from going in as far as they need? That’s the only thing I can see holding it back from being perfectly flat… If that’s the case it would be a design issue…
OK, I’m not really sure what the issue could be and I think we’ve reached the point where we need to get your parts back for testing.
What I need you to do is visit [this link and fill out the from on the right hand side of the page to generate a RMA ticket. Don’t forget to put your order number in the form and in the 'Why do you want a RMA?" section include a brief description of the issue and include the text below so that we can link it back to this forum post.
https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=20259
Once we have the ticket, we will send you directions on how to send back your kit and we will test the parts. If anything needs repaired or replaced, we will take care of that and then send the parts back to you.](Return Policy - SparkFun Electronics)
Ok. Do I include the RFID tags or just the reader and module?
I do not have the anti-static plastic that the module came in or the foam that the antenna was plugged into because they were trash to me at the time. How do I send this back?
The foam was to protect the pins on the underside of the reader from being bent in transit. You can just leave the reader plugged into the USB board and that will also protect the pins.
Hello,
I have not received anything about this RMA. I filled out the form and hadn’t heard by yesterday so I contacted Customer Support. They said the same thing about “the label that you should be receiving soon.” which I have not received. It was supposed to be within 24-48 hours and it has been much much longer than that. Can someone help me figure out what is going on?
