Stumped by RDM6300 RFID reader

[Michael Zions]

I've hooked up an RDM6300 reader to an Arduino Uno according to this schematic and this sketch (that's a download link, from this tutorial page.)

So first of all, the LED that the author included as an indicator of a read - it lights up solid immediately. Passing an RFID tag over the reader shows nothing in the Serial Monitor and the light does not flicker. I tried a Trovan injectable ID, several bank cards, and a security ID card. Nothing.

The antenna loop shows near-zero resistance, so no break in the wire. The common ground I set up on the breadboard is continuous to the Arduino's ground. I've checked and re-checked the pinouts of my RDM6300 against manufacturer's datasheet. And I've traced this circuit until my eyes hurt. I've also tried disconnecting and reconnecting jumpers, disconnecting the Arduino, restarting it, re-uploading the sketch. I've made sure to disconnect the RX(0) pin during an upload so I don't get that known error. And yet my reader contraption remains silent and does not react to known good RFID tags in the correct frequency.

What next?

[Rogan Grant]

Did you ever happen to figure this out? I have the exact same issue. Also using a Trovan RFID, so I'd be interested to know if you ever got that working, as well.

[Michael Zions]

Nope, never figured it out and other projects came along. I should revive it though.

Some thoughts - if I remember correctly, Trovan was using a weird freq after all, something like 128 kHz instead of 125 or some such. I sent a couple of tags to this guy but never heard back. Someone else at our lab came up with an awful workaround that involves listening at the serial port of a PC running the RFID readers, then using MATLAB to output whatever. Very Rube Goldberg instead of just reading directly. (I say awful because it's a kludge, otherwise I'm happy she at least found a solution instead of nothing.)

Have you tried just asking Trovan? Or maybe a distributor like Dorset ID?

[Rogan Grant]

Thank you for getting back so quickly! I realize this thread is quite old. I had a feeling that would be the case, and I think the workaround may be too clunky for what we plan to do (automated behavioral assays). Quite impressive, either way.

We've contacted Trovan, to no avail, but anyone reading this should look into the ARE 008P OEM Single Coil Mini Module. It has an OEM decoder, and a TTL output that should theoretically work with Arduino modules. Good luck finding anyone who actually sells it, however. Working on that currently. Will update if I get anything working.

[Gellert Peter]

Hi. I've just bought an RDM6300 RFID reader and some tags and cards to experiment with my Arduino Leonardo. After I put all together based on this template and uploaded to my Arduino, I've got nothing on the serial monitor when tried to read my tags. I've tried connecting the reader a few other ways with different codes too, but still nothing. The LED on the reader is glowing red, but nothing at all. Can somebody help me with this?