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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Door entry access controller
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| BrianP Senior Member  Joined: 30/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 292 |
Our local public hall “Arts Centre” has a currently non-functional main entry door access controller (approx 10 – 12 years old). The circuit board is fairly old tech – has a PIC16 ucontroller which is the source of the problem (pulls amps from the supply & gets quite warm!). A replacement board (Canada sourced) will cost them in excess of A$650 & I suspect we will get another old tech board as a replacement. Seems to me a perfect project for uMite. Requirements not very onerous – 12v power, Wiegand numeric keypad for entry code, digital pulse output to a “flipflop board” to control the door. Admin access to the current system is via RS232 to a 20 metre distant Internet-connected W10 laptop providing current access codes permissions modification & entry logging. As I currently have no uMite experience (Maximite only) I seek your advice / suggestions regarding which Mite might be the best solution. A touch screen might well be an advantage (at-door programming if required) so I am thinking a Backpack Mite might be the best answer. We don’t need RTC time of day or date facilities as this is provided by the connected logging laptop. I am thinking the door-entered code could be compared with a simple array storing the current access codes (updated from the laptop as required) & entry allowed or rejected as appropriate. The Wiegand keypad also has a red/green status LED & a transducer for beeps – not a problem for a Mite I/O (might need polarity reversal for the red/green LED – don’t know yet). If do go down this path is there a Wiegand decoding routine available somewhere? – don’t particularly want to have to re-invent the wheel here as time is important. Any thoughts and suggestions gratefully received. Regards Brian P |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9066 |
Hello.  Welcome aboard the good ship Micromite. I did a prototype for a RFID tag or card thing for opening doors using a 28-pin Micromite chip: See this thread. This uses a 1.8" LCD display, but no touch. I had the PCB's made, but never got one assembled or the MM2 chip programmed. It might form a basis for your experiments though if you wanted to play with it... The Micromite2 chip is the SOIC surface-mount chip with the 1.27mm pin-spacing. I could assemble the SMD parts onto a board for you if you wanted to tinker with this idea. PM me if interested. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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MicroBlocks Guru  Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
The smallest Micromite is already sufficient. I would advice against using a touch screen, they are known to fail with lots of use. A good quality keypad, that will work for a very long time without failure. I would just replace the controller board and leave the rest the same as much as possible? For the Wiegand protocol have a look at http://www.monkeyboard.org/products/85-developmentboard/84-rfid-wiegand-protocol-development-kit Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1804 |
If you are interested in the RFID, Oatley Electronics have a kit for about $40, it comes with 8 tags and has an output for each tag that could be logged with a Micromite. see here Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| BrianP Senior Member Joined: 30/03/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 292 |
Thanks gents for your replies. I have been extremely tardy & rude in not acknowledging your responses so far - I can only plead guilty to a heavy Windows fixes workload. The current state of play is this - currently developing concept code on a Maximite, the plan is to perhaps use a disused MiniMaximite for the final result. I have given up the idea of a touch screen (in fact any screen) as the original concept for this was only for maintenance purposes. Any communication with the Mini can be serial. So to clarify the proposed operation logic: -Existing external numeric keypad using Wiegand protocol interpreted into input string. -Compare entered string with array of valid entry codes (this changes frequently). -If code valid then unlock door (enter same code again to lock door on exit). -Log all access attempts with date & time stamp to another string array. -Periodically upload log contents to laptop PC for archival purposes. -Laptop PC used to change content of valid codes array as required. Can anyone see any major problems / difficulties with this concept? Regards to all Brian P. |
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