Guest Moria Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Greetings all. I am condisering adding RFID to my layout which is controlled by a CTI system. these are the readers :- http://www.cti-electronics.com/news.htm MERG also has a system, but since I am already up to my ears in a CTI system, it would seem to make sense to stick with the system I have implemented. As I work in N gauge, I would need to use the 12mm glass tags. Now, buying these from CTI costs about $6.95 a tag.. buying from MERG they are 10 pounds for 5 excl postage and duty, which would be about $5 each. If I am to do this, I would need, maybe 100 for all locos which would be a tad prohibitive. Does anyone know of an alternative source that would be suitable at a lower cost, maybe direct from China. It seems that by buying in bulk from China I can get them for about $0.50 each but I don't really know enough about the tags to know if these would work and have unique ID's. I am suspecting they would work, but that the ID's may duplicate. Has anyone sourced tags for RFID from any cheaper sources and had success? Regards Moria Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 You could always try dealextreme.com? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
50031Hood Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Possibly the longest ever delay between post and response? I have just purchased 3 RFID readers and a further 10 12mm tags from Corerfid. The tags were approx £12 for 10 and the readers £16 each. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
50031Hood Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 And here they are! The tags are easily small enough to be blu-tacked to the underside of each loco. It seems hard to believe that each tag has its own unique ID but they do. They are designed to be injected beneath the skin of pets to literally tag them. They are passive devices - they don't need a power supply - but are activated by the reader (the larger square box to the left) which has a directional antenna within its 25mm x 25mm body. The reader does need a power supply - 5V - and will be mounted underneath the baseboard beyond each signal. When a loco + tag passes overhead, the reader gives out a brief pulse which I will be using to reset the signal. Several years ago I experimented with using the reader to read the individual ID so that rather than simply acknowledging the passage of a train it could identify the loco that was pulling it. On my layout this isn't really required. So it's an expensive solution, frankly but the fact that it is completely invisible and impervious to light conditions or the correct positioning of magnets is the big appeal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted January 18, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 18, 2017 photo 4.JPG And here they are! The tags are easily small enough to be blu-tacked to the underside of each loco. It seems hard to believe that each tag has its own unique ID but they do. They are designed to be injected beneath the skin of pets to literally tag them. They are passive devices - they don't need a power supply - but are activated by the reader (the larger square box to the left) which has a directional antenna within its 25mm x 25mm body. The reader does need a power supply - 5V - and will be mounted underneath the baseboard beyond each signal. When a loco + tag passes overhead, the reader gives out a brief pulse which I will be using to reset the signal. Several years ago I experimented with using the reader to read the individual ID so that rather than simply acknowledging the passage of a train it could identify the loco that was pulling it. On my layout this isn't really required. So it's an expensive solution, frankly but the fact that it is completely invisible and impervious to light conditions or the correct positioning of magnets is the big appeal. Sorry to reinstate an old topic, but did you progress this idea at all? Any pros/cons? Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 This sounds interesting, and expensive. I'm looking at ways to identify which loco is in which hidden loop with a view to going DCC but I guess I would need a reader per loop maybe 18 or more. Is there any update available? How would I interface it with my computer? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted January 19, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 19, 2017 Depends on the reader distance. You could just have one reader before the first point into the hidden yard, then use feelback from the pointmotors to tell the system which road is selected. As for interfacing. Depends on what system your using. Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted January 19, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 19, 2017 ..or use CCTV and a small monitor.. Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 ..or use CCTV and a small monitor.. Fine for the Mark I Eyeball but, given he wants to interface it to a computer, I think it's safe to assume he wants the detection data in the computer. Decoding a video stream and recognising locos is going to be a lot more work than interfacing a few RFID readers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff park Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I seem to remember many years ago, before computers (!), an automated layout where each train, not necessarily loco, was identified using reed magnets. Each train, admittedly only about 6, had a magnet attached in a different place, eg under the floor, on the left low down, on the left high up, even under the roof of a brake van. Reed inserts were then positioned at different places, eg in the edge of a platform, roof of a tunnel, bridge pier etc, to detect them as they passed. This is actually a digital system that would be easy to feed into a computer. I'm not suggesting exactly the same system, but the idea of identifying each train can be done, indeed has been done, and it seems to me a little thinking outside the box might be able to achieve something similar with more modern techniques. Even the same idea with Hall effect switches might be a starting place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted January 20, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2017 Waton thread posts 486-489 might interest some. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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