RFID HF-3600E-RS232 13.56 MHz High Frequency Reader Instruction Manual

RFID HF-3600E-RS232 13.56 MHz High Frequency Reader

Specifications

• Mechanical: 80 x 40 x 84.5mm
• Material: PBT
• Weight: 122 grams
• LED’s: Solid Green = Power On, Tag Present = Yellow On
• RF: ISO 15693 & 14443, 13.56 MHz, 9 to 28vdc @ 150mA typical, Up to 115.2k baud, M12 Male 8-pin RS232 w/Tag Present Option
• Environmental: IP67
• Read Ranges: Varies based on Tag size and chip type

Product Usage Instructions

Installation

1. Connect the Model HF-3600E-RS232 13.56 MHz RFID Reader to a power source using the provided PS12PJ Regulated AC power supply.
2. Ensure the reader is securely mounted in a suitable location for optimal performance.
3. Connect the Model CAB-8P-PWR-9P-2m Cable to the reader for data communication.

Operation

1. Power on the reader by observing the Solid Green LED indicator.
2. Present RFID tags within the specified read range of the reader to trigger the Tag Present Yellow LED indicator.
3. Utilize a terminal program to send and receive commands in standard human-readable ASCII format.

FAQ

• Q: How can I extend the read range of the RFID reader?
  A: To extend the read range, consider using ISO 15693 chips which generally have a farther read range compared to ISO 14443 chips. Ensure that the RFID tags are within the specified read0 range of the reader for optimal performance.

• Q: Is there software available for configuration and applications?
  A: Yes, a Windows-based Configuration and Applications software program is available for use with the RFID reader. Additionally, an SDK is also provided for further customization.

Model HF-3600E-RS232
13.56 MHz Passive Reader/Writer

How To Contact Us

• Customer Service: customerservice@rfidinc.com or info@rfidinc.com 303-366-1234 x1001

• Tech Support: Software Engineer Andrew Malo andrew@rfidinc.com
  303-910-5447 cell 9am to 6pm PST CTO Dzung Pham dzung@rfidinc.com 303-366-1234 x 1003 8am to 6pm MST 303-808-2228 cell

• Sales: 719-330-2349 cell 7am to 5pm CST john@rfidinc.com

• Not Happy? Need Immediate Results: Contact our President james@rfidinc.com 303-378-9500 cell 7am to 9pm CST

Product Part Numbers & Accessories

Serial Processor & internal Antenna, 8pin M12 connector, both ISO 15693 & ISO
730-0103-8P-PWR9P-2m| Model CAB-8P-PWR-9P-2m Cable, 2meters, M12 8pin connection to Model HF-3600E Reader with quick connect power jack & 9pin female serial on opposite end
720-0004-06| Model PS12PJ Regulated AC power supply w/power jack plug, 12 vdc 750 mA

Specifications

Read Ranges
Read ranges are dependent upon Tag size and chip. Generally, an ISO 15693 chip will read farther than an ISO 14443 chip by an average of 30%. Here is a sampling, measurements in inches. It should be noted this Model HF-3600E Reader is one of the most advanced and most powerful on the market. Similar read ranges may not be obtained with competing Readers.

General Information

• This manual provides information about the installation and operation of the Model HF-3600E-RS232 13.56 MHz Reader. This series of Readers are a single-piece solution Reader + an internal Antenna with an integrated processor in the enclosure. This Reader is unique in that it can operate with four different types of RFID Tag chips, ISO 15693, ISO 14443A, ISO 14443B, and NXP’s original Icode1 (the latter not being an ISO standard). Under these standards there are varying amounts of Tag memory, all of which include a non-alterable ROM UID (unique identification) section that acts as a RO (read-only) random identifier, guaranteed unique.
• This Reader and the RFID Tags can also be provided as a proprietary product for brand protection applications. This Reader is simple to use, plug & play, in that all commands and reports are represented in standard human-readable ASCII when used through a terminal program. It is not necessary to convert commands to hex nor translate the outputs from hex as this work is done in our processor. A Windows-based Configuration and Applications software program is also available, as well as an SDK.
• The Reader operates as both a transmitter and receiver, providing a high-frequency electromagnetic field at 13.56 MHz to energize and activate an electronic transponder (RFID Tag). Once the Tag is energized it modulates its data back to the Reader which in turn detects and demodulates this data for delivery to the serial port.
  Description| Min| Typ| Max| Units
  ---|---|---|---|---
  Input Voltage| 8| –| 24| Volts DC
  Input Current| 250| 350| 500| mA
  Cabling distance| –| –| 50| Feet
  Temperature range| 0| –| 85| Celsius
  Serial Communications|  | J3 Pin out
  ---|---|---
  Baud Rate| 115200bps| 1| +VDC Input
  Data Bits| 8| 2| 0VDC, Ground
  Parity| None| 3| GROUND In
  Stop Bits| 1| 4| RS232 TX (Out)
  Flow Control| None| 5| RS232 RX (In)
  Data Storage:| None
  ---|---
  Error Rate:| Less than 1 in 10 to the 14th readings
  Serial Connectors:| 9 pin D-SUB Female| Twisted pair pigtails
  Power Connectors:| Quick Connect Single Male Pole| Twisted pair pigtails
  Cabling distance:| 50’ (RS232)
  Power Requirements:| Min = 7vdc

Current Min = 250mA

| Typical = 24V Current Typ = 300mA| Max = 28vdc

Current Max = 500mA

Temperature range:| Operating 0C to 70C| Non-Operating -20C to 125C

Wire Specifications

Shielded co-axial cable with an 8-pin M12 connector. RS232 has a maximum effective distance of 50’, use RS232 to RS422 converters if distance up to 2k’ is necessary. If you are not using a concentration block and prefer a direct connection, we do offer an accessory cable with 8pin M12 for connection to the Reader which splits to a 9-pin D-sub serial connector and quick connect power connector. The 9pin serial connector is pre-wired to act as a null modem with pins 2 and 3 being crossed.

Power & Communication Connection 

Regulated power supplies are preferred, linear power supplies are acceptable, switching power supplies should never be used as they affect the Reader’s read range performance. Take care that while some supplies are labeled as regulated, they are actually switching. Contact the source of your supply or contact RFID, Inc. technical support with the make and model number of your supply. RFID, Inc. can provide an AC adaptable power supply suitable for use with this Reader.

8pin M12 Connection

INSERT 8pin WIRING DIAGRAM HERE NOTES: For PN 830-8030-00M128P
PINOUT SIGNAL NAME

1. = +24VDC I/O TP (Tag Present)
2. = TD, R$232
3. = RD, RS232
4. = NC (No connection)
5. = RTS -TP (Hand Shake)
6. = 0VDC, Power In VDC Return
7. = + 9VDC to + 28VDC Power Supply Input
8. = Ground, R$232

Drawing

Quick Start Installation Guide

Software

Go to https://www.rfidinc.com/resource-center/ and choose the HF Complete option. Download the zip file. Therein is contained an executable file for the program depicted below, as well as video tutorial. Save those files to a folder on your PC and create a shortcut on your desktop. Open the HF Complete file. You may have to temporarily turn off your firewall especially if you have Norton. The file is safe, do not worry. Once opened you should see this screen:

• Connect the Reader to your Windows based PC or laptop via the USB cable. If your PC or laptop does not have a 9pin serial port, use a Serial to USB adaptor. These can be sourced for about $10. You should now see a green LED at one corner of the Reader.
• In the program, you can check “Auto Detect” and the settings of Baud Rate, etc. on your PC will be detected once you select “Scan Ports.” In the off chance the Baud Rate does not automatically detect, yet continues to cycle, you should uncheck “Auto Detect.” Either way, follow these procedures. Select “Scan Ports” in the upper right. At upper left use the pulldown menu under “Port” and choose the port shown. Now choose “Connect” in the upper right. You should now see this pop up.
• This indicates the Reader is now connected. The settings at the top of the HF Complete program of Baud Rate, Data Bits, etc. are the settings on your PC. All other same settings further down in the HF Complete program are the settings of the Reader and will fill in once you select OK in this pop up. Defaults are 115200 baud, 8 data bits, none parity, 1 stop bis and none Flow Control, ASCII Mode, Direct Read Enabled, Single Read Mode to read UID memory section of Tag.
• If at any time you see this pop up, re-power the Reader.

About the HF Complete Program

• It should be understood this program offers both the features of a Configuration App (Config) and Operations App (Run) in a single program.
• Configuration App (Config) – Think of Configuration options as the settings you’d prefer for your Reader. Selections that are considered as Config are generally white, like Port, Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity, Stop Bits, Flow Control, Read Mode, Protocol, Tag Block Size, DIP1, Direct Read, Single Mode Timeout, Start and End Characters, UART Settings. Any changes to these sections that are a part of the Config App require the icon “Send Config” to be pressed and the Reader to be re-powered.
• Operations App (Run) – and Run options are what operate the Reader, Connect, Disconnect, Scan Ports, Get Config, Send Config, Read Block, Write Block, GroupBox 1, Block Number, Data to Write, Data In and Data Counter, although the latter 4 are white in color. You can make changes to any of the Run App selections, but they will not be held in non-volatile memory. For example, if you have the Read Mode (Config) set to Single and you change the GroupBox 1 (Run) to Duplicate Read Mode, this latter setting will not be held in non-volatile memory, meaning if you re-power the Reader it will revert to the setting of the Config, that being Single Read Mode.

DIP1 Section (Config)

• Left unchecked, the ASCII box will leave the Reader operating in hexadecimal values, offering only characters of 0-9 and A-F. When checked, you will be able to program and read Tags in ASCII, for example with the data John Q. Smith. It should be noted, that if you change from hexadecimal to ASCII or vice versa, a Tag will have to be re-programmed in order to be read. Also note that in ASCII you will have half the characters available, 8 characters per block versus 16 characters when using hexadecimal.
• The LED Blink option allows for the change to blinking LED’s on the Reader when a Tag is presented. Left unchecked, the LED’s will remain solid.

Direct Read Section (Config)

Default is for Direct Read Disabled, which enables the Reader to read only the UID section of Tag memory. Set the selection to Direct Read in order to read a specific block or blocks of data in extended memory by default. You could further choose Start Address as 01 and Byte Count to 8 to read the first block of data, or Byte Count to 16 to read the read the first two blocks of data. However, you can always manually read a single block by entering the Block# located at bottom right of program and selecting “Read Block.”

Single Mode Timeout (Config)

This setting determines the amount of time a Tag must be absent from the Reader before being able to be read and reported again. A setting of 2000 = 2 seconds. If you read a Tag and remove it from the Reader for 1 second and re- present the Tag, it will not read again although the yellow LED will become active. If you remove the Tag and re-present after 2 seconds, it will read and report again. The minimum allowable setting is 100ms.

Start and End Characters (Config)

These are settings for the structure of Reader outputs of messages or Tag data. Normally we use LF as start and CR as end of message. These can be turned off by setting to 00, or changed to
Data+CRLF by setting start to 00 and End 1 to CR and End 2 to LF, or changed to DATA+CR by setting Start to 00 and End 1 to CR and End 2 to 00. The default is Start = LF, End 1 = CR, End 2 = 00 equating to an output of DATA.

UART Settings (Config)

Obviously these are the Data Bits, Parity and Stop Bits settings.

Reading Modes

• In addition to the green LED on the Reader indicating power is applied, a yellow LED will appear while a Tag is present to the Reader. You can change the Read Mode by selecting Single, Duplicate or Polling. Notice that as you do so, the message OK will fill into Data In field.
• Single Read Mode – will read a Tag one time upon presentation to the Reader and will timeout based on the Single Mode Timeout setting. That timeout sequence begins only after a Tag is removed from the Reader, meaning if a Tag is set upon the Reader for an indefinite period of time, it will never be read a second time. Presentation of a second Tag would be immediately reported and the timeout sequence begun anew.
• Duplicate Read Mode – will continually read and report a Tag, a nice tool for read range and read window testing. The number of times a Tag is read will be shown in the Data In Counter field.
• Polling Read Mode – will read and report a Tag only when commanded using the “Poll [T]” option, although the yellow LED will still illuminate as long as a Tag is present to the Reader.

Get Config

When you select Get Config this will show all the Reader’s current settings in the Data In field. Some may be unintelligible to the user, but here is an example.

• S,07,ALL PROTOCOLS,08,0,8,FF,00,0A,0D,00,2000
• S = Read Mode
• 07 = DIP1 (115200 Baud Rate)
• ALL PROTOCOLS = Tag chips able to be read
• 08 = Block Size
• 0 = Start Address
• 8 = Number of bytes
• FF = Direct USER memory Read Disabled (55=Enabled)
• 00 = UART Bits (Parity, data bits, etc.)
• 0A = Start char
• 0D = End char 1
• 00 = End char 2
• 2000 = Single mode timeout

Tutorial Video

All features discussed thus far can be viewed in tutorial video located here https://www.rfidinc.com/resource-center/

SDK’s

Please visit https://www.rfidinc.com/resource-center/

Using a Terminal Program & ASCII commands

• If you prefer, any common terminal emulation program can be used, for example HyperTerminal, ProComm, Teraterm, Putty, etc. If you have already interfaced the Reader to a terminal program or your own software, upon powering the Reader you will see a power up message. You can then use the ASCII Reader commands shown in Section 3 Operating the Reader.
• RFID, Inc.’s free of charge Terminal Program – RFID, Inc. provides a free software demo program called “RFID Demo Terminal Program” downloadable here https://www.rfidinc.com/resource-center/. It may appear in your Programs menu as RFIDIncUHFTerm. It is important to follow these steps in order for the program to scan and identify the ports available on your computer.
  • Plug the RS232 9 pin connector into your computer (use an RS232 to USB converter if no 9 pin connector is available on your computer).
  • Power the Reader.
  • Execute the RFIDIncUHFTerm Program. Select “Scan Ports” found upper right. This allows the program to scan which port address is connected to the Reader. In the upper left, under “Ports” use the pulldown menu to choose the port discovered.
  • Set the baud rate and remaining communication settings, default is 115200 baud, 8 data bits, None Parity, 1 stop bit and None Flow Control (115200, 8, N, 1, N). You can also view which port is connected by going to your Desktop, right click on My Computer, choose Properties, Hardware and Device Manager, then open the Ports directory tree.
  • Select “Connect.” Presenting a Tag to the Antenna should now bring that Tag data onto the main screen and the lower body of the screen as well.

Remove Old Data
This program also offers the ability to “Remove Old Data” by checking this box under “Tag Read Settings,” a process of deleting Tag reads from the screen set to the timeouts you choose in the pull down menu. For example if you choose 5,10,15 Timeout, Tag data will begin highlighted in green for the first 5 seconds, then become highlighted in yellow at 5 seconds time, then turn to red at 10 seconds, and finally be deleted at 15 seconds.

Maximum Tags
An option rarely used for HF Tags. This program also offers the ability to time how long it takes to read the amount of Tags you wish to test by choosing the number of Tags under the “Max Tags” setting. You will see the data field to the right increment as the Reader counts how many unique Tags have been read. If you choose 100 as your Max Tags setting, once the Reader has read 100 unique Tags a pop up box will appear advising you the amount of time this procedure took.

Save
This box will prompt you to save Tag data to a text file with time and date stamp. The main screen area (white) is solely used for display of Tag data. The lower screen area (black) will display Tag data and also allow you to enter commands to the Reader. Note – All commands must be issued in CAPS, preceded by an open square bracket and ended with a closed square bracket [B] for example. There is more in depth information on how to read and write specific portions of Tag memory under the Commands section of this product manual.

Single Report Tag Read Mode
Place your cursor in the lower screen area and type [S]. This will initiate the Single Report Tag Read Mode and the Reader will respond with “OK.”

Duplicate Report Tag Read Mode
Place your cursor in the lower screen area and type [D]. This will initiate the Duplicate Report Tag Read Mode and the Reader will respond with “OK.”

Operating the Reader

This section explains operational commands and input received back from the Reader, commands, operating modes, and responses.

Note:

• All commands are issued in ASCII CAPITAL letters, and they are preceded by an open square bracket and ended with a closed square bracket. Some symbols and all numbers are permitted. No spaces are permitted.
• Commands are held in non-volatile memory, meaning that if power is taken away from the Smart Antenna the last command or settings will be retained when re-powered.

General Commands & Responses (ISO protocol independent) 

Tag Data Delivery
Tag data will be sent to the serial port in the following format.