RFID ready

After agreeing on a main design of the system we started integrating the RFID reader to the Sun-Spot.

The first task was to get some readers.

3 breakouts
1 RFID Reader ID-20LA
1 RFID Reader ID-12LA
5 tags
1 RFID Reader / Writer

We decided to start with the ID-12 RFID reader because it was the smallest.

In order to connect the SunSpot with the RFID reader we needed a breakout, a little board that will bring the 2mm spaced pins out to two 0.1" spaced headers. 

The connections are visible with a thin line, that should be checked after the soldering

None of us had any experience soldering so we start practicing with a breakout and some cables, after gaining some confidence we start with the ID-12 reader.

In our first attempt to make the RFIDs work with the Sun Spot we found that it is essential to solder the breakout to the RFID. We found that it was impossible to make tries because the connection was really really poor.

This was our first time, for all the members, trying to solder this kind of components. We found really useful to use a voltmeter to check that all our solder points were correct and current was going well from point to point. We also found really useful to picture in our minds how it should look like after soldering. Therefore, we recommend you to take a look at this website.

After that we obtained this

Once done the soldering process, we made some tests with this code that we found online done by someone who faced this same problem before.

Surprise! It wasn't working really well and at some point it stopped working. So started crashing our heads against the wall. The code seemed to work and we checked that current was passing through perfectly before testing it with the code.

Oh! We found out that our soldering points weren't good enough, and in the pin we were using to transmit the info from the RFID to the Sun Spot the connection was weak. We fixed and checked all the soldering points.

Yuhuuu! It was working properly.

A test confirming that everything was working

See you in the next post.
Víctor & Germán