Beep on read, FX9500 modification

[Anders]

Hello Everyone!

I thought I should share with you how I have installed our FX9500. We have a useful  beep each time it reads a chip.

We have built it into a battery box for a boat or caravan. In this way we have gained a completely self-running box with built-in battery backup that can handle at least 4 hours  race without problems.

In the box are two 12V / 12Ah lead batteries, two 12V battery charger, a buzzer and little else. 

I have designed a schedule where you can see how everything is connected, see the PDF.

My plan is also to come up with a flash LED that flashes every time a chip is read. But then I want a beep / flash per antenna, which would do wonders for the Open Water competitions. To do that I need to adjust the applications in the reader. Is there anyone who has knowledge of programming in Phyton scripts, and can help me with this?

For this to work with the beeper, a script needs to be  activated in the FX9500. Under the "Advanced Functions - Applications User Management" are a number of scripts including "signal_read.py" that activates an output when the chip is read. Activate it with arguments "signal_read.py 1 75", the output is activated 75ms at every reading. Se the manual for how to do this.

The pictures show the built. Nothing elegant but it is only a prototype.

Best regards

Anders Florinus

Västerås Timing, Sweden

[Tim Irvine]

If you had a powered speaker, could you simply use (7) ground and (8) output for the speaker? Thanks, I appreciate your attention to detail on this. Tim

[Anders]

No, you need a buzzer since that will produce the beep. A speaker will only give you a "klick" instead of a beep.

[Tim Irvine]

Thanks!

[Tim Irvine]

Anders, what buzzer do you recommend for this project? I plan to put one together, but I'd like to use something similar to what you have used on yours. Thanks!

[Bruce B]

Since these tag reads are raw. Wouldn't the buzzer just buzz continously on a tag read?

[Tim Irvine]

Good point Bruce. I want to know that too. I am guessing only on first read. Chronotrack, Ipico, MyLaps all have the buzzer/beeps and underneath all their hardware is a reader like we use. 

[Anders]

Hello!

Sorry for the delay but it has been a few busy weeks.

The buzzer will only beep one time for every chip read.

I dont know the exact type of buzzer since it one from my "good-to-have-box"... But it is a standard type for 12VDC... This one should work: http://www.mouser.se/Electromechanical/Audio-Devices/Audio-Indicators-Alerts/_/N-awp3t?P=1yzss60

/Anders

[Bruce B]

On the fx9500 what are the digital outputs dout1 - dout4 defined as?

[Anders]

It is N.O. (Normal Open)

[Bruce B]

Any idea witch output is is assigned as reader enabled?

[Anders]

Hi Bruce!

(I tried to answer your email but it just bunces back with "554 5.0.0 Service unavailable")

Yes I have it working. 

For this to work with the beeper, a script needs to be  activated in the FX9500. Under the "Advanced Functions - Applications User Management" are a number of scripts, including "signal_read.py" that activates an output when the chip is read. Activate it with arguments "signal_read.py 1 75", the output is activated 75ms at every reading. Se the manual for how to do this.

/Anders

[Tim Irvine]

ok, I have still not moved forward on this project, but after I cracked my control board that I had the FX9500 mounted to, I knew I needed a thicker piece of plexi glass. I can show you pics of this later, it's pretty awesome. But in the mean time, using your diagram for the beeper, if I simply wanted to connect a beeper (6-28 VDC) and put an inline flip switch so that I could turn it off, with no consideration of making a battery backup, only a beeper. Assuming it would be plugged into power, would I simply hook GPIO 7 & 8 to the beeper splitting one to add in the switch? Would that work? Also I looked at the manual, I couldn't find the part about turning on a script. I will read over it again. I have not tried this yet, mostly because I want to make sure I don't blow up the reader. So let me know. Assuming I will power the reader by plugging it into a power source,, could I use the GPIO to power the beeper? Keep in mind, I am asking if this will work, not saying it will.

[Dioxin]

Anders,
    my first experiments with chip timing used an FX9500 reader and a pair of Lead Acid batteries similar to yours and it was way too heavy to be practical.

    I found Lithium Polymer batteries to be much better.
    One of these will power your reader for 12 hours, weigh 4kg less (2kg instead of Lead Acid's 6.5kg) and need only a single charger.
    https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-lihv-high-capacity-6s-10000mah-multi-rotor-lipo-pack.html

    You could half the size of your box and more than half the weight.
    LiPo batteries can also be charged very quickly compared to Lead Acid batteries.

    For the low power needed for the 12V buzzer you can use the balance cable on the LiPo battery to access the individual cells of the battery so you can get access to 11.1V which will easily drive the 12V buzzer.



Tim,
    the reader does not provide any voltage to drive your buzzer.
    You need to supply that from somewhere to make your buzzer work.

    The reader output just acts as a switch to control power from your PSU/battery to your buzzer.

[Tim Irvine]

Perfect! This makes more sense to me. Thanks Dioxin!

[Anders]

Your idea with the lipo is really nice. Must check the costs for it.

[Todd Gould]

I have not researched this at all, but usually the way GPIO output works is that it supplies a very low voltage signal when closed.  You then use that signal to close a Higher voltage switch like the following:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=2-channel+relay&rh=n%3A172282%2Ck%3A2-channel+relay 

This is the safer way to not fry your 9500.

[Dioxin]

"it supplies a very low voltage signal when closed"

This is probably a mis-use of the terminology rather than a mis-understanding of what can be done but it can be confusing to describe it that way.

The chip reader outputs supply no voltage at all.

They act like low power switches capable of switching a maximum of 100 mA and 40 Volts but that voltage/Current must be supplied by the user, it is not sourced by the chip reader.

When the output is off it is open circuit and floats at whatever voltage you apply externally, up to a maximum of 40V.
When the output is on it attempts to drag the pin down to ground but will only manage this if you need under 100mA.

 
If you need to handle higher current or voltage then you must add extra circuitry.
If you add the devices linked to above then those devices need an external 5V or 12V supply to operate them and that supply is what the GPO output of the reader will switch in order to control the relays.


If your GPO output is switching a 12V 100mA device then it is no more likely to be fried than if it switches the relay module.

If you need to handle more current or voltage then maybe the relay module will be useful.

In either case, you still need your own external power for the GPO pin.

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi Anders

I am trying to activate a beep on 2 FX9500 readers.

I have followed your diagram and am now trying to activate this script you talk about.

I can find the screen and there is a drop down to pick signal_read.py , after that I am stuck.

Could you detail exactly what I need to do to get it working.

I type signal_read.py 1 75 into the "argument" box but I cant get it to work.

I would appreciate some help if you could 

Many thanks 

John

Just to add to this I know my wiring is correct because if I go to Digital outputs and change the status from N.O to N.C and save the buzzer works perfectly.

I am just confused as to how to operate the Script for signal_read.py 1 75

[Tim Irvine]

I can't get it to work either

[Tim Irvine]

One thing I found is the GPIO order is opposite from the diagram you show Anders. In the manual the numbers show from the right to left with socket 1 on the far right and counting to the left. In your diagram, the socket 1 starts at the far left and goes tot he right. This misplaces the sockets 7 & 8 as it pertains to the GPIO for Beep on read. However I tried it the manual way and had already tried it your way, neither worked for me. This was after having already activated the script as you have it listed. Any ideas???

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi Tim

I have wired it up as per the diagram and it seems definitely correct.

I have gone one step further to prove the wiring by inverting the Idle state of output 1 ( from a default of N.O to N.C). the second I do this the beeper activates proving that the circuit is perfect. Then of course I revert it back to N.O

I think the issue is activating the script.

How did you go about activating the script, It is confusing to me.

As far as I can make out we use the drop down menu to select the signal_read.py script and then type the argument that Anders provided to change the preset values to what we require.

Is that what you did aswell.

( you can prove your own circuit by doing what I did and then that will give you the confidence that your circuit is 100%.)

Best regards

[Dioxin]

I've never used this but I have an FX9500 so I just tried it out and it does work.

I advise, before doing what's shown below, that you first verify that you buzzer is working, as JK did above, by manually toggling the Dout1 pin on the "Basic/Setup digital accessories" screen to make sure you can turn your buzzer on and off.
Once you know that works then ..

"I type signal_read.py 1 75 into the "argument" box but I cant get it to work."

Don't type the "signal_read.py" part. That's chosen from the drop down menu.
Just type "1 75" in the arguments box (without the quotes) after choosing "signal_read.py" from the drop down menu.


Just to get you going you don't need to type anything in the argument box as the script will then default to use Dout1 and will signal for 1000ms (1sec).
You will then need to stop the script (at the top of the same screen) before you re-enable it with parameters to match what you need.

"1 75" in the arguments means to indicate on Dout1 for 75ms which is a very short time and you might need to increase that 75 depending on the type of buzzer you have attached.

Always remember, if you want to change the parameters, first stop the script in the applications list at the top of the page first otherwise you'll get multiple versions of the script running and it gets very confusing.

[Dioxin]

Also, I've noticed that there is a delay between beeps if the same tag is shown. It's about 5 seconds so if you just wave the same tag in front of the antenna it will only beep once then will stop until it hasn't seen that tag for a few seconds.
A better test is to have a few tags and pass them over the antenna in sequence so each one should beep.

[Tim Irvine]

So to activate the script, I was logged in under admin, I used the drop down to select the signal_read.py. Then in the argument box I typed "1 75" and selected "go". The only thing I am thinking I could have done wrong at this point was maybe my wires that I plugged into the GPIO slots were not stripped back far enough. But I will try this again on lunch and see if I can get it to work. Thanks for the tips and holding my hand through this. P.S. The buzzer works 100%, just not on reads yet.

[Dioxin]

Set the FX9500 reader up so it's reading tags and the LED on the front (LED2, activity) is flashing when it sees a tag.

Log on to the web interface as admin.

On the "Advanced" tab, select "User application management".

Under the heading "Start applications" use the drop down list next to "Python applications" to select "signal_read.py".

Don't type anything in the arguments box yet, just click "go". A small box should pop up saying something like "Application started ok. PID= 123456" where the number is the process id given to the program.

Click OK and near the top of the screen under "Running user applications" you should see signal_read.py is now running.

Now, when you read a chip you should get a beep.
The green light on the reader also flashes (LED 3, user activity). It flashes briefly at the start and end of the beep.

[Dioxin]

"The only thing I am thinking I could have done wrong at this point was maybe my wires that I plugged into the GPIO slots were not stripped back far enough."

As I mentioned earlier, that's the first thing to test before trying to start the script.

In the web interface, go to the "Basic" tab and choose "Set up digital accessories".
Then set the value for Digital Output 1 to "True"  and click "submit".
That should cause your buzzer to sound if your hardware is set up correctly. If the buzzer does not sound then your hardware set up needs checking.

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi Dioxin
Many thanks for your efforts.
I can't wait to try out your instructions to the letter.
I know my error is on activating the script so hopefully I will be up and running once I follow your advice.
Many thanks and best regards
John

[Tim Irvine]

So I did manage to get the beep to work. BUT, I am now wondering what is the proper gauge wire I should be using? When I had is going, I could hear a faint high pitched tone. Then when the tag read, the normal beep (tone). Then I routed the wires through the switch and lost the signal completely. Anyone want to chime in on the type wire I should be using?

[Dioxin]

The gauge of the wire doesn't matter much, anything reasonable will do.

If you short out pins 7 and 8 on the reader (or, if you prefer, take the wires out of the connector on the reader and touch them together) then does your buzzer sound normally?

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Dioxin you the man.
My issue was the script. I did what you said and I have both readers emitting beeps. I am over the moon. It is amazing how a small little thing like a beep can make the system feel and sound so much more professional.
I am grateful to you and indeed all that helped
Many thanks
Best regards
Jk

[JK Race Timing Systems]

I am actually going to find a different pitch sounder for the backup reader so I will be able to tell that both readers are performing without even visually checking both. I use a main and backup reader in the same pelicase

[Dioxin]

Just remember that the digital output is only rated for 100mA so your buzzer needs to use less than that.

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Ahh yeah
she is only a small piezo type. I'm over the moon and looking forward to the next race next sat week

[Tim Irvine]

I can't mess with this again till Friday, but I will eventually make it work too. JK, I imagine I will be equally excited once I have both my 9500's beeping on read.

[Brian Agee]

Yeah, I have the software send a noise when a tag is read, and it sends a different noise if the tag doesn't belong to any athletes in the race. You can hear it in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIb3MTxEDKc

In that video it was raining, so the TV at the end of the chute was kept under the tent, but of course most of the time it's right there next to the finish line at the end of the chute.

I don't know if I even checked it for that race, but one thing that's important to know is that the sound of the PC is also carried over to the TV if you hook up an external display like you see in the video. So turn the volume all the way up on the TV and it's a lot easier to hear then using just your laptop speakers.

[MarkE]

Thanks for mentioning the TV volume Brian.  This makes perfect sense and I should have realized it, but I never thought about it and always had my TV volume turned way down.

[Tim Irvine]

I never mentioned this, but I did get this to work finally. Small little mods. But I have a question for anyone who wants to field it. In my configuration I come out of GPIO 8 into the Buzzer POS side, and out of the NEG side of the Buzzer and into the POS  battery terminal. Out the NED battery terminal and into the GRD (GPIO 7).The question is this: I hear a faint high pitched tone soon as the reader is powered on from the buzzer. On read, it beeps on read as normal, although it's a short burst and I would like that go be about twice as long, but is the high pitched tone normal? Is there a way to make that go away? Most people won't hear it, but I do and it isn't something I want to live with. 

The buzzer I bought is a Sonalert SC628 (6-28 VCD) (3-18 mA)

  If I need a different buzzer, that is fine, just someone recommend one please. 

Once I get this all complete I will post a picture of my setup. Thanks for any tips or advice. 

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Sketch up your circuit.
I have it working fine.
I have my main and backup reader in one case but I have a sounder running on each. My little trick though is that the pitch of the backup one is lower. It is very handy because I can tell just by listening if one of the readers has gone down

[Dioxin]

"and out of the NEG side of the Buzzer and into the POS  battery terminal." 

Sounds like you have your buzzer the wrong way round.

Positive battery terminal should go to positive on the buzzer.

[Tim Irvine]

ok, I hooked it up this way. I removed everything but the buzzer and battery. No switch. When I hook it up, constant tone. It is like the switch is on already and staying on. How do I set it to standby til a tag is read. I have already activated the Python script signal_read.py (1 75) in Arguments and True. I also tried false. Same situation. I am logged in as admin. 

Current configuration: Out of GPIO 8 into NEG on Battery, out of POS on Battery to POS on Buzzer, out of NEG on Buzzer to GPIO 7. What am I not getting? I think I have had this hooked up right many times, there is something else I am missing here.

P.S. The reader is set to active.

[Tim Irvine]

Dioxin, I am convinced I have a setting inside the reader that is keeping the contact closed. I am unsure how to check this. Any ideas? 

[Dioxin]

All my chip equipment is packed away for the summer.

I'll see if I get time tomorrow to dig some out and have a look at it.

My first guess, from what you've posted, is that you may have destroyed output 1 by having equipment connected incorrectly, even just for a second.

Try the following (as I suggested earlier) to manually turn the buzzer on and off.

In the web interface, go to the "Basic" tab and choose "Set up digital accessories".

Then set the value for Digital Output 1 to "True"  and click "submit".

That should cause your buzzer to sound if your hardware is set up correctly. If the buzzer does not sound then your hardware set up needs checking.

Set it to False and the buzzer should stop.

If that doesn't work then I'd test output 2 instead of output 1 by moving the connection from pin 8 to pin 9 and toggling Digital Output 2 from False to True and back to False to see if that works.

[Tim Irvine]

Pin 9 gives me constant tone also. I am wondering if I need to update the firmware? Do you know if the input value would affect this? This is a picture of the expert screen Digital IO settings. If anything looks off, let me now. I am going to call Zebra and see if they have an answer too. If they have one I will post it for sure. Thanks for the help.

[Norm Sheppard]

Tim, not entirely clear to me how you're hooked up. Is it:

Battery neg to reader gnd (gpio 7)
Battery pos to buzzer pos
Buzzer neg to Dout1 (gpio 8)

When Dout1 is set to true current will flow from battery, thru buzzer, into gpio 8 to reader ground, completing the circuit.

Norm

[Tim Irvine]

Hey Norm, 

  I just made sure I had it connected this way and I do. Soon as I make the last connection the buzzer sounds and stays on. This is with the power to the reader off. Somehow, my reader is not turning this connection off once I set the reader to False. Any ideas?

[Dioxin]

Tim,

it's very unlikely that any firmware update will be needed.

Are you sure you're connected to the right 2 pins?

The diagram in the manual is upside down, You should follow the image shown in Anders' original post:

Your "expert screen Digital IO settings" has the same values as mine but what are you doing in there? That's for experts!

You should be looking on the Basic/Setup digital accessories page:

It's here where you set the digital output to true or false then click submit to make the change happen.

[Tim Irvine]

I have everything setup as you do. I was starting to think I had the wrong two pins also, but double checked. I did not change anything in expert settings, only looked to take a pic for you to see if you could see anything wrong. This is so strange. The FX9500 I have is Motorola, I am hoping Zebra will be able or willing to look at this. 

[Dioxin]

Another possibility, are you sure you don't have a short on the connector between pins 7 and 8? They are close together.

You can use pins 12 and 8 instead as pin 12 is internally ground, the same as pin 7, but it would leave a gap between your 2 wires so you're less likely to short them.

[Dioxin]

Does yours look like these pictures?

The first is the connector on the back of the reader with the connector block unplugged.

The second is the 2 wires in pins 7 (orange) and 8 (green) with the connector block inserted into the reader.

In real life, the orange and green wires would be trimmed so there is no copper wire showing otherwise it is liable to get shorted.

To insert the wires, gently insert the trimmed end of the wire into the large hole at the bottom. When it will go no further, use your thumbnail or a small screwdriver to push in the orange plastic release lever above the wire and the wire will move in another few millimetres. Remove your thumb/screwdriver and the wire should be firmly held by the connector.

If you have the connector block removed from the reader whith all the wires and buzzer connected, does your buzzer still sound? That would indicate the connector block to be at fault and not the reader.

If it doesn't sound, push the connector block into the reader and if the buzzer sounds as you do it then that would indicate the problem may be with the reader or its setup.

I know this is a bit basic but I can't think of much else that could be the problem and I have seen people push wire into the wrong place and use the wrong  connectors.

[Tim Irvine]

This is great. I didn't know the block would come off. It makes perfect sense that the wires could short that way. I did contact Zebra and opened a case, waiting for them to call back. I will try your suggestions at lunch. I had not tried the pin 12 either, so that is another option I want to try. This is great information. Thanks you!!!!! I will update you at lunch. Tim

[Tim Irvine]

ok, update. I connected the GRD to GPIO 12 and the tone was still constant. I move the DOUT 1 to DOUT 2 and no tone. Then I went into Basic and turned DOUT 2 on True and Boom, constant tone. I turned it to false and it turned off again. 

  Do I need to put something different into Arguments to get the reader to use DOUT 2 for the script? I tried it with 1 75 and it didn't tone.

[Dioxin]

Use "2 75" for output 2.

The first digit is the output to use, the second number is the duration of the beep in ms.

75ms is quite short and a mechanical buzzer may need something longer than that to start up.

[Tim Irvine]

I will check this when I get home. I got nowhere with Zebra. They want to sell me a support contract before they will talk to me. 

[Dioxin]

Zebra customer service is very poor, even for new equipment still under warranty.

[Tim Irvine]

Great news. It now works. Dioxin, you are a magician. One question, what value do I need to set it at to have the beep go longer than a short beep. Right now it's set at (2 75), 2 150? to double the length? Or 200?

[Dioxin]

The second number is the number of milliseconds duration for the beep.

75ms is a bit short. Just experiment until you find a value that suits you.

The default is 1000 which is 1 second and is probably too long.

[Tim Irvine]

I did 150, that is a good length. I can't thank you enough. This has just about put me out to pasture.

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Lads one thing I have noticed. I have to go into the readers before every race and activate the beep function even though I set up a new default with my preferred settings. It just always seems to power up under its own default setting.
Are yours similar.
It's a pain having to login into the reader to reset it to the settings I want

[Dioxin]

JK,

it definitely starts on power up for my FX9500.

Did you set the "Autostart" drop down box to "true" when you enabled the script? 

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi Dioxin.
No definitely not.
Good man . That is my issue so.
Thanks again. I shall check that out
Thanks and best regards
John

[Tim Irvine]

I am going to finish up my second box tonight. I will post some pics after.

[Tim Irvine]

    As promised. Here are some pics of my RFID Boxes. The yellow is the Motorolla FX9500 I bought last year. The Zebra FX9500 is the latest addition. Ironically, I had the orange Pelican case when I bought the Moto FX, but I was using an Imping 4 port. I couldn't get it to play with the Motorolla, so I sold it, and just got another FX. There is a meter that tells me the life of the battery underneath the deck. There is a switch that turns the meter on and off. I have a second switch on the Yellow box to disable the buzzer, but I have not connected it yet. Going to see if it annoys me enough to want that. There is also a charge port to charge the batter below. The battery will only be powering the buzzer for now. I may at some point look into a powering the whole box option. the power pack is attached using velcro and the readers are mounted using springs to allow the reader to elevate when the top of the box opens. This helps to resist overheating on the control deck, it also allows me to get to the ports better. When the top closes, the reader is pushed down. It makes for a nice snug fit. The logo on the Pelican case is a sticker. I know a guy...if you need one, I will put you in touch. I logo all my gear. Special thanks to all of you who helped me finally finish this project. Especially our dear friend Dioxin who has extreme patients. Tim

[rtspt.usa]

Wow! That is beautiful work.

[Phil Cook]

Hi Tim,

I'm well impressed with what you have put together here, I was looking at getting one of those cases just to carry the reader, but having seen you set up I quite like the look of it. Would you mind giving me details of how you put it together with the battery underneath, the floating platform, etc.

Many thanks

Phil

[Tim Irvine]

Hi Phil,

   (*) Pelican Case 1450

   (*) Pelican Frame 1450f (you need this to bolt the control deck down onto.)

   (*) Plexiglass purchased from Lowes. Don't get the real thin sheet. I did and it cracked. I went back and got a thicker sheet and it worked great. I had Lowes cut it to about the right size (they did their best), then used my dremmil to make it fit. Drilled the holes for the screws to bolt the deck onto the frame.

   (*) Bought a meter from Amazon (super cheap)  RioRand Waterproof 12 V Blue LED Digital Car/Auto Voltmeter Motorcycle Battery Monitor

   (*) switch at Lowes. 

   (*) Buzzer was cheap too, but can't remember where I bought it from. The one I bought had a screw mount ring. So I put a hole in the plexiglass and screwed the ring onto the top.

   (*) I used velcro to fasten the battery to the bottom of the box. The meter lets me know what strength the battery is at. The switch turns the meter on and off only.

   (*) The power cord pack is also velcrowed to the top of the control deck.

  To mount the reader to the deck, I used 4 pretty long bolts. Then I bought 4 spring that fit the bolt, and 4 that would fit over those springs. So to be clear, each bolt has 2 springs. I used a small washer below the reader hole, followed by the 2 springs, followed by a little bigger washer, then passed the bolt through the control deck. On the bottom there is another washer and the nut on the end. This is left loose to give the bolts enough play to rise and fall depending on when the lid is open. I did this because it is tough to put the cables on the lower ports of the reader if you don't.

  The deck is a blue I happen to have around for something else. I spray painted the bottom of the control deck. That is why the top shines and shouldn't get scuffed.

   It is not perfect. But it's a neat presentation, and that is what I was going for. The yellow box has an addition charging port that I may connect at some point so I don't have to unbolt the 4 screws holding the control deck down to charge the batteries. I have not used these yet as the summer is my down time. but about to crank back up, so I will pass that along. 

  This design helps to keep the plexiglass from getting hot. If the reader gets too warm, the heat is not a factor because of the way the box is configured.

   If you have any more questions, ask away. I will likely do at least one more box for my uses. Thanks, Tim

[Phil Cook]

Thanks Tim, I'll see what I can come up with :-D

[Christian C.]

A recommendation, instead of using Plexiglass (acrylic) you guys should should look at Lexan (polycarbonate) or even better a sheet of ABS. Both Lexan and ABS are easy to cut with a router and are shatter proof.

If using clear Lexan, you can paint the inside with a rattle spray paint and the finish will never get scratch.

[Tim Irvine]

Looks like Home Depot sells Lexan, I will buy some to check it out. Thanks for the tip.

[Phil Cook]

Thanks for the information Tim. 

If I ever get my reader to work I'm hoping to build a similar set up to the one you have. I have 2 questions if that is OK. 

The 1450 case is expensive to get hold of in the UK, but I've found one that is a little bit easier on the pocket that I can get from here, the length and width are a bit bigger than the 1450 (the next size down is smaller) but I'm not too worried about that as I was thinking of adding a "buzzer" and "battery indicator" plus a switch for each so this would mean I have room to space them out. 

Anyway, my first question is do you use the full depth of the 1450? The dimensions quote an internal measurement of 6" or 15.2cm, but the case I have found is 11cm, would this be deep enough or am I going to have to bite the bullet and pay the extra for the 1450?

My second question is, you say that you bolted the control deck to the frame, does the frame fasten to the box or does it move up and down with the control deck on the springs? What is the actual role of the frame?

Thanks

Phil

[Tim Irvine]

Hey Phil, 

   I will measure this tomorrow for you, the biggest thing is going to be the depth in the lid. The lid must fit over the FX9500. It does on my just fine bolted to the plexiglass (the deck) but the ports (mainly the bottom row) are hard to screw the antenna onto,so to address this, I came up with the springs idea. When the lid is open the springs raise the FX9500 up enough to easily work with the ports. It also closes easy to make for a snug fit. The room beneath the deck only houses the wires and the battery that powers the buzzer. 

   As for using a slightly larger box, go for it. The 1450 is about as small as one could go for this much gear. If I had not already had one on hard, I would have gone with a little larger box. And as far as using another brand other that Pelican; I don't blame you one bit. Any good sturdy case should work.

 When I refer tot he frame, the 1450 had an option that you can purchase for a frame that fits neatly into the box and screws attach it to the case. The plexiglass bolts to the frame. Hope this helps. Tim

[Phil Cook]

My new case arrived today, I went for the Large option which is a bit bigger than the 1450, but gives plenty of room to add a Volt meter (shown), buzzer (ordered and dispatched) and switches. I've been looking at the Multistar High Capacity 10000mAh 6S 10C 22.2V Lipo battery, but I don't know if that is enough to power the Reader or will I need 2 x 12V packs?

[Tim Irvine]

Looks great Phil. You made the right call on the bigger case. If I were doing it over, I would have gone that way too. Now you just need a good logo on the inside of the hood. Great job!

[Phil Cook]

Thanks Tim, 

Yeah the size gives me different options for the layout, I'll move things around before fixing to see which I like best.

I have a logo that I use for my Event Organising which I'm going to use. I'm going to see the printer who does my T-shirts tomorrow and see what he can do.

Now I just need Zebra to fix my reader so that it will actually work and I can time a race!!

I'll keep you updated when I make more progress.

Phil

[Phil Cook]

I've bought my box, a beeper and a volt meter, now I just need to but the battery pack to power the unit and put it together. 

I was working on a Half Marathon recently and the timing company's reader had a digital counter on it so you could see how many had crossed the finish line, so I was wondering if it is possible to do the same with the FX9500? If the beep sounds on each read, could the counter be wired in line with it to do a count?

Phil

[Tim Irvine]

That may be a bit harder, but someone on here may can tackle that one. I have noticed the reader itself will read the same tag multiple times ever after the tag reads into ART, However ART only logs it the one time, on first read. You could I think set the reader up to only read the tag once, maybe, but that again is for someone wit more insight to the FX9500.  Sometimes, too many bells and whistles makes for more things that can break. LOL Good luck!

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi

There is no problem in theory with your suggestion.

The type of counter best for your project is the volt free contact type that just need its input wires to be joined together and you will see the counter increment by one.

You then just connect this to the Output of your choice on the reader.

I wonder how valuable it is though. Remember it will only increment based on reading a chip passing and will have no count on a runner passing with a faulty or hidden chip.

There is a more involved option which you can set up, I am sure Dioxin has a similiar setup that will cater for this scenario.

In short 1 input of the reader will be setup to read from a photo Light Barrier. This will input to the reader for ALL athletes passing the finish line, You can set the reader to sound a buzzer if the photo barrier registers a read but the rfid  picked up a read.

Then you can take remedial action by pressing the space bar and adding a time .

JK

[Phil Cook]

Thanks for the replies, that sounds a bit complicated so I'll stick to the beep only.

Phil

[Brian Agee]

I'm not sure if this helps anyone or not, but here is a deal I found for a free cooling fan. Might be useful for those building custom cases for their reader. 

• Newegg.com has Rosewill Cullinan 120mm Cooling Case Fan w/ LP4 Adapter (Red LED RFA-80RL) on sale for $11 - $11 Rebate = Free. Shipping is free.
  

[Phil Cook]

I've been trialling a way of setting up my reader in my box before fitting anything in it. I've used a 12v golf trolley battery which is connected up to a 12v/240v invertor, then I've plugged the original power pack into the invertor and the reader. I rigged up a tag to go past the antenna every 70 secs., it ran for over 3 hours with no problems and the voltage on the battery had hardly changed. So I'm now going to get a lithium battery and box it all up to use for races.

I'll add some photos when I've finished.

[Mick Davies]

I've got the beep on read working great on my FX9500's. Has anyone set it up on a FX9600? I've searched for help but can't find anything. It looks like there is no option to use a script.

I've connected the beeper +ve wire to pin 1 for power and -ve to pin3 as GPout 1.

I've tested using 123RFID and set GPout 1 on and it beeps so all is working but on a tag read nothing happens.

Any help much appreciated.

[JK Race Timing Systems]

I just had a gawk at the user manual and it seems on page 118 after you the the GPIO pins all wired you select a user application from the user application page but it also seems you have to populate those by importing them in.

Thats what I read anyway.

Best of luck

[Oscar Wagner]

First, if you have beep on read triggered by the reader, won't that produce a lot of nuisance beeps if someone who has finished is in range of the antennas?

All that got me to thinking that there must be someway to rig up agizmo from the output to my powered USB speakers to trigger a flash.  Since the read has been conditioned by Brian's code, it is only when you have a new finisher...i.e. what I really want.  Has anybody done this or do any of our DIY masters have suggestions?

Oscar

[Phil Cook]

Having bought the box nearly 8 years ago!! I've eventually finished it off :-) 

The layout and bits included have changed a few times during that period, but now its done. I power my set up off 2 battery pack power stations so I have the power supply going in which powers an extension lead, then the reader is plugged into that along with the fan. The position of the antenna connectors has changed a lot, eventually went for the extensions and coming out the side. With the fan, I should have gone for the smaller one but that's what I had in the end. I put a small viewing window in so that I can keep an eye on the reader and check that it is still connected and powered up.

I'll be using it in race a situation for the first time next week.

[Christopher Regan]

Nice, I'd definitely like to do something similar within the next 8 years :)