RFID Click

[Dxmaxim]

I recently worked on a RFID project and the usual steps ensue of trying to determine which module to decide on to use in your project. I defaulted to test some of the modules that Mikroe supplies because 1) They are reasonably priced 2) The work in conjunction with the Mikroe Ecosystem of products 3) code samples exist enabling rapid (once delivered) out of the box testing.


EasyPIC V7

Don't want to elaborate too much here as this is a topic on its own. However the board was quick and simple to configure and made the RFID testing simple.

RFid Reader Board

http://www.mikroe.com/add-on-boards/var ... id-reader/

Granted an older piece of tech, but one which I think works well in-spite of its age. Suitable price for a once off testing piece. The PCB is neatly laid out and does have four mounting holes if you were planning to move your project to deployment phase with this unit. The PCB connected simply to the EasyPIC V7, and there was no tweaking required with the code.

The PCB to tag sensitivity was good, with accurate sustainable readings up to 15 mm away from the PCB. This becomes important once you box the PCB.

PROS: Would work well with other non-Mikroe tech. Consistently good readings when testing the card ID#.

Cons: Size, but is older device

RFID Click

http://www.mikroe.com/click/rfid/

I was initially impressed with this when I took it out of the box as the price difference between the RFID Reader Board was only $5 so not too much of a cost break. The advantage for me initially was the size, since it was far more compact and would operate at 3v3.

Getting the device to work was the tricky part. Firstly, in spite of connecting using the manuals provided the device would not initialise unless inserted into the EasyPIC V7. Secondly, the connection diagram did indicate where I had connected wrong, however it worked best when at home in a EasyPIC V7.

Once up and running, I was not happy with the tag reading range as in the real world users tend to want to walk past the device and tag. A user would not want to hold and wait. I found that the tag reading range almost required that the tag be held against the PCB, which would make boxing the product a problem - if you want to take that route for simplicity sake.

One other issue I found was that if the user removed the card too quickly from proximity to the rfidClick, then the whole TAGID would not be read from the device - this is just my experience. This can be a problem where obviously if the whole TAGID were not read you would not be able to validate the user and then the user would need to tag again leading to user frustration.

Pros: Size

Cons: reliability and reading range

Overall

The RFID Reader board worked very well, and I am sure any home user building a DIY Security system could not go wrong by implementing this device. Not too impressed wit the RFID Click, but then I was looking for a quick solution so perhaps further tinkering with the device may improve reliability.

As far as out of the box satisfaction goes the RFID reader board gets the prize and have been used in the custom project I was working on.

[Megahurts]

Hi Dxmaxim,

Thanks for adding this fine review. Very informative and I like the "PROS" and "CONS" format you did and I planned to use same in my future (soon) reviews of Mikroe products.
(Glad to see someone else thinking the same )

Hope to see more quality reviews from you also, Robert.