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Latest developments have proved that use of RC522 with 13,56 MHZ NFC is much cheaper to use.
Also, there very thin and cheap Tags available for this.
The used RC522 sensor boards a passive type so the need of an extra simple interface is required.
See for a more detailed descrioption at GCA41.
OR
Merg did a fine job in combining 8 RFID sensors attached to one board and from there read all sensors and send a completed number over the serial port to a PC.
This board is stepping a bit further by doing the same thing and in addition has CAN on board so the separate RS232 port is no longer needed.
The received numbers are simply send via the CAN BUS.
Allthought Rocrail can handle also the MERG RFID concentrator, connected to a serial or USB port, this CAN-GC4 is a bit more easy to connect.
To power all connectable 8 RFID sensors, the board needs a power supply of approx 0.25Amp at 5V.
For a linear regulator 5Volt , this is way too much for continuous functioning.
The CAN-GC4 steps down the 12 Volt as available in the CAN network by means of switching power supply.
It saves energy and also avoid hot parts on the board.
LED# | Function | Aspect | Remark |
---|---|---|---|
1 | CAN activity | random flashing | Depends on CAN traffic |
2 | Run | continuos | The board does not function if this LED does not illuminate |
3 | Learning mode | 500ms blinking | Activated by push button or Rocrail setup. |
3 | RFID checksum error or the ID is not in the list of allowed RFIDs. | One shot flash |
Name | Function |
---|---|
Rf1-Rf8 | RFID readers. |
J4 | Optional for current detection GCA93. |
ICSP1 | PIC Programmer. |
J3 | CAN BUS with 12V connection. |
J1 | CAN-GC connector out |
J2 | CAN-GC connector in |
Refer to: Connection interfaces
The schematics |
The pcboard with parts positions |
The Bill Of Materials |
The GERBER files for the PCBoard |
N.B. Only complete ordered kits will be supported! |
---|
CAN-GC4 RFID concentrator can connect up to 8 GCA41 with a RC522 each.
The 8 block occupation detectors, GCA93, GCA94 or GCA173, can be assigned an address used for CAN BUS events.¹
Used in combination with the Check RFIDs option for generating only events for IDs set in this list.
Starting with revision 3458 the RFIDs must be set in dot-decimal notation.
"5555" would be "0.0.0.21.179". The easiest way is to copy the dotted RFIDs from the Rocrail server trace.
See Configuration byte.
Used for SoD; Use with care → Old information is reported!
The incoming RFID must be in the list of allowed RFIDs for generating a CAN BUS event.
An event with OPC_ASOF is send after 2 seconds to release the related sensor.
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For use in combination with check RFIDs to trigger an output on the CAN-GC2.
¹) In Rocrail this is the sensor address.
The RFID(Identifier) is formatted as dot-decimal notation with 5 parts:
Dot-Decimal | Hexadecimal | Decimal |
---|---|---|
255.255.255.255.255 | 0xFFFFFFFFFF | 1099511627775 |
Rocrail server trace with activated monitor level:
20120328.181017.123 r9999c cbreader CAN BUS 0889 RFID short event 107 id=4.23.30.250.15
See also: Loco code
This sensor Used by MERG has a type indication of "5 RFID". (3472+
Links :
Non of the recommended IDxx readers and tags can be ordered from GCA.
This unit has extended possibilities, compared with the IDxx types.
The most imporatant one is a better protection to distorsion from the running motor in the loc.
For description of GCA41 and RC552 RFID sensors please refer to GCA41
GCA41 (included pre-programmed Arduino Nano) and RC522 + tags are available from GCA.