interesting… an oscope would be helpful… check for noise on power and data lines… maybe the wemo is noisy?
Don’t really know how to use this oscope, or any oscope really. Tomorrow the Arduino branded IoT 33 will be here for testing.
ah yeah… an oscope is great for this kind of thing because you can visually see voltages and if there is any noise it will be visible as the signal line will squiggle. it’s a great idea to learn to use one just in general… and it’s not that hard. i’m sure there are some great youtube vids out there.
Just had a thought, what if you put the pull-up to 5v instead of 3.3? Use a very high resistance, but it might not be pulling high enough to be consistent.
Tried playing with the DSO Nano V3 for a couple hours. Either I’m hopeless with this thing, or it doesn’t have the resolution I need. I’m able to read waves from a function generator, but can’t capture the quick blip of the Wiegand. I’ll look into picking up something a bit more heavy duty for future projects. This was original purchased just to tune car stereo amplifiers, so I never intended to use it for something like this.
Think a Rigol DS1052E would be adequate, or would I be better suited with a Rigol DS1054Z?
I get by with a Hantek 2D72 for all my oscilloscope, function generator, and multimeter needs.
New Wemos D1 mini arrived. Not perfect, still missing 1 out of 20. 19/20 success rate is much better, but still not perfect.
:n⸮⸮State changed: CONNECTED
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 31bits / 6076AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
⸮⸮|4`,l$⸮hb8⸮State changed: CONNECTED
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 31bits / 60BB4FBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
Card readed: 32bits / C176AFBE
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Gave it another test with 10-15 seconds between each scan. 20/20 accuracy.
The only difference between the 2 Wemos clones is the cheap ones don’t have a vendor on the lid and are model esp8266mod. The $8 one has vendor DOITING and model ESP-12F.
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Thats really interesting, just a lower quality ESP module… wonder if it just has worse power filtering?
Glad you got it solved though!
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Confident everything was working great, I soldered everything up. Scan in the door, nothing. Scan again and it unlocks. Several tests later show than when the cable is ran at length, even the good Wemos takes a shit with ~14-16 accurate out of 20.
Yanked everything out and hooked up the old Arduino Duemilanove. Slow as shit, but 100% accuracy with the scanner at length running to the outside door scanner.
So, in the interest of saving $20 and having a nice AIO device, I’ve now wasted $50 in parts.
I have the Arduino Nano IoT 33 sitting here. Going to hook it up and check the results. If that has similar results to the Wemos, I’ll have to order some Uno R3s, protoshields, and a couple more ESP8266.
Well, for the first time in a long time, I’ve thrown something across the workshop.
Arduino Nano IoT 33 having the same problems. Exact same. Hooked the Duemilanova back up again and tried my hardest to make it fail. That old son of a bitch just keeps smiling and reading cards like it’s nothing. It has never, NEVER, given my an incorrect reading.
Now ordering an Uno R3 for testing.
Man, thats mental. Sucks that it’s turned into such a saga for you 
At this point, I could have bought a 4 door RFID Wiegand 26/32 bit access controller from Ali Express and broken even. If the Uno R3 fails, I’ll go that route.
What is the length you’re dealing with, and is the cable shielded, and is the shielding grounded? Intermittent data transmission errors and noise are common yet annoying problems that definitely plague many people. Again I would try to look for a common component like that buck converter… try another source of power like a regulator or even maybe some shit batteries low enough on charge to give you 5v instead of 6… anything to test the noisy power problem theory, then move on if it doesn’t solve the problem.
Way ahead of you. Broke the circuit down to the minimum components and used the bench top power supply instead of the wall wart/buck converter. Powered off of USB and removed the buck converter. Replaced buck converters with simple voltage divider circuits. There is nothing left to troubleshoot. Every single component has been tested and replaced. The only difference made was when the nano sized micro controllers were replaced with the full sized arduino.
Cable run is maybe 20ft. Shielded. Shield/drain wire tied to earth at the electrical outlet. No change at all. If this was a reader/wire/power based interference issue, I’d assume that the 10 year old Arduino would experience some sort of interference in the exact same circuit. But it’s fine.
If the R3 unit doesn’t work, I’m calling it quits and ordering the Chinesium Wiegand Access Controller. I’ll just use some Zwave door/window sensors, and bridge the controller NO relays into the sensors to trigger the smart home. I’ve never called it quits n an electronics project before, but this has not only wore out all patience I have, but has also gone well over the budget I am willing to spend on this.
Is the shield wire also tied to circuit ground?
Tried both ways. Tied to circuit’s common ground and tied to earth. The shield wire is spliced together at the reader/cable join so the entire run is shielded.
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Man that’s frustrating
UNO R3 arrived today. Removed the nano unit and hooked the 4 wires up to the Uno. It worked flawlessly. 50 reads, all perfect. Time to get soldering. I’ll post a final diagram, arduino sketch, and demo video sometime this week. So far, the only functionality I’ll lose it OTA updates. I may be able to incorporate it into the code, but my focus has been elsewhere.
3 Likes
