Mifare Plus with KBR1

Hello guys, so I got my Payment Implant from I am Robot (Mifare Plus ISO 14443-4) last week. I wanted to try using it with my KBR1 to see how good the range is compared to my xDF2, but it only reads really bad so I tried it with my phone and access control system of my home and got a pretty good range.

After that I tried the KBR1 with my Visa (also Mifare Plus ISO14443-4) and got the same result.

To check if my KBR1 is broken I checked with my xDF2 and it works just fine with pretty good range.

Could someone explain why it is so hard to read Mifare Plus cards with the KBR1?

Mifare…
Payment…

Brain does not compute.

Do you mean this?

Yeah I mean this,
sorry should have linked that.

I guess I’m confused, cuz it ain’t no Mifare. Where did you get that name from?

Re range, I can’t comment on that. Antennae this size can behave in a funky way. But it definitely should read easier than a glass implant in most cases - if not all cases.

I guess if it works well with a payment terminal, that’s really all that matters. Did you try it?

Maybe it’s just that the KBR1 and that particular implant aren’t very compatible. Even good readers can be surprisingly bad with small transponders sometimes. It’s kind of a crapshoot.

In any case, if you have issue with the implant itself, as opposed to the reader itself, you should hit IAR and see what they say.

Oh man, you just opened Pandora’s box …

I read my Implant with NFC Tools and it says its a Mifare Plus.

It works well with the payment terminals. The only thing it didnt really work with is the KBR1 but thats not that much of a problem cause I still got my xDF2.
I was just hoping that the flex Implant would have a bit higher range so i can hide my KBR1 under my desk.

How much range do you get with a payment terminal?

I don’t have a KBR1 myself, but I have one keyboard wedge that looks suspiciously like it, and it doesn’t work at all with my DT flexM1, nor with my IAR X3 Elite.

I know many people here have KBR1 wedges that work perfectly for them, so mine might not be as similar as the casing suggests. But ya know, I’m not too surprised.

Also, be aware that DT probably selected that particular reader to work well with DT implants (they’re not gonna sell stuff that’s incompatible with their own products eh? :slight_smile:) . The implant you have isn’t DT. So given how finicky NFC readers can be, you might just have hit the wrong combo. It might be one of those readers…

If that’s your only problem, I’d say you’re good. However, if you try your implant with the “gold standard” - the ACR122U - and it doesn’t live up to expectations range-wise, I’d ask IAR if I was you.

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You’re probably having issues with that implant like everyone else.

The range isn’t good and the antenna isn’t great either. So the problems is your implant not the KBR1

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Come on man, he’s just got it in. I was trying to go about it gently here :slight_smile:

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At the payment terminals i get like 3-4cm. With my access control I get like 2cm.(It is a pretty cheap one)

I guess I get myself the ACR122U to test a bit if that works better.

My main reason i got it was for payment and it works kind of ok.

I’m gonna test it with my PN532 and the RC522 when i get home. To see if the range is working for later projects.

Thanks for your help Rosco.

If it works for payment, it does what it says on the tin.

Now then, since KaiCastledine kind of let the cat out of the bag, be aware that this implant does raise questions. Range may be one thing (that I didn’t know about). Safety may be another.

I suggest you read this, and keep an eye on it. If you have no issues in the future, then great: you got yourself a nice working payment implant. Just be aware that you might.

I have the same chip, but in DT polymer.
My KBR1 doesn’t even read it… or I’m not trying enough?
I always thought the KBR can only read ISO14443A (xNT).

Noobpower says he gets a read - albeit not easily. Or at least that’s what I deduce from his original post. So you don’t even get one?

Ah! My “bad combo” theory isn’t so far off after all :slight_smile:

Not even when still in the pouch, great with phone tho’.

Smart cards can employ Mifare emulation with proper licensing from NXP… so it might be that… but it has nothing to do with payment.

Also NFC tools really really really sucks at identifying chips. It’s just guessing… and badly.

The KBR1 should read any iso14443a chip including the vimpay chip inside the iar payment implant.

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I’ve tried again and again, it just wont read my vimpay implant.
It still reads very fine with my phone tho.
Odd…
Tag info says it’s 14443-4, Java Card, ST Microelectronics.

Maybe vimpay has multiple chips?

No, the chip is from ST Micro, it is a smart card “secure element” chip (as all EMV payment chips are) so it runs java card OS (as all EMV payment chips do), and it complies with the ISO14443 standard including part 4.

It is possible that the KBR1 is not able to select the ID from this chip set type, but that would be a firmware issue as ISO14443 requires the UID be presented during interrogation so it may be selected from the tags in the field.

Did you say it doesn’t read at all or only that it gets terrible range?

I can read the Implant with the KBR1 it just does not get a good range but I tried that with 2 completely different contactless payment cards and get the same result.

I feared it would be something like this.

Like no read at all, never got it to work.
My banks card reads like 1/10 times.

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