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**gsanders01** · March 19, 2008, 07:37 AM

I forgot to mention versions....

I am running HomeSeer 2.2.0.11 and CheaperRFID plug-in version 2.0.4.0 (latest) on a Windows Vista PC.

**Rupp** · March 19, 2008, 07:52 AM

Are you using the on board comport on your PC to connect to the receiver or an adapter?

**stevea** · March 19, 2008, 09:16 AM

I've got six active tags right now, and I've never seen an issue with saturation. If the 40M tags are too close, it seems the receiver just doesn't pick them up, but still picks up the 8M tags. Fact is, I don't see the 40M tags drop out much at all.

If you are seeing the tags via Hyperterm but not with the plug-in, it isn't any issue with your COM port. Sounds like something haywire with the plug-in. I don't have any experience with PiperPilot's plug-in, as I use a different one (Blade's).

I did have almost exactly the same situation as you described one time when I accidentally unplugged the wall wart that I was powering the recevier with. Both tags went "away" and when I plugged it back in they stayed as "away" even though the debug showed they were reporting. I had to restart HS and all was well again. Mind you, that was only one time in over a year. Other than that it has been absolutely rock solid.

Steve

**rmasonjr** · March 19, 2008, 09:27 AM

I actually saw some severe saturation this past weekend on my setup. I replaced the battery in an 8M tag using a CR2032. After replacing the battery, nothing would work through the plug-in. My other 2 tags showed 'away' and were previously working fine.

I went into HyperTerm on the COM port (edgeport) and saw my tag with the new battery scrolling like crazy - the other two tags could not even get bandwidth on the receiver.

I ended up removing the CR2032 battery for a few minutes, and unplugged the power from the receiver for a while. Powered everything back up and it's now running stable again.

**gsanders01** · March 19, 2008, 08:00 PM

I'm using a USB to serial for my COM port, however I do have a 9v wall wart plugged into the receiver. I also don't see anything in the log when the tags go 'away'. How do I set the debug level on this? Maybe if I can get more verbose logging I might discover something.

In the meantime I'm going to continue troubleshooting if this continues. I added my remaining tags and so far it's working. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope it stays that way. Maybe the plug-in just needed two restarts instead of one.

Thanks for the replies.

**gsanders01** · March 20, 2008, 06:01 AM

Well it looks like the same issue this moring. I added my remaining tags for a total of 4 tags. All tags were added around 8:00 PM yesterday and at 2:47 AM today all 4 tags went away within a second of each other.

How do I set more verbose logging on the plug-in so maybe I can uncover something there. This issue seems to point at the plug-in but it's really hard to tell at this point.

I'm going to shut off my 40m tags for the next day to see if the issue goes away with just my 8m tags on the system.

**FrankR** · March 23, 2008, 08:44 PM

Same issuehere...

I ran into the same sort of issue some time ago. See this thread. I never found the root cause. I do suspect the plug-in because data was rolling in on the com port using hyper terminal. Although I have not been using the CheaperRFID stuff since, I plan on giving it another try. However, I'm concerned that there has not been ANY further development of the plug-in and based on your results I don't have much confidence.

**gsanders01** · March 27, 2008, 11:13 AM

The issue still prevails. All of my tags are going 'Away' within a second of each other within 5 to 10 hours of restarting HomeSeer. I'm going to disable the CheaperRFID plug-in and try Blade's RFID plug-in to see if I get better results. The CheaperRFID plug-in makes this system unusable for me.

**Tcassio** · March 27, 2008, 01:45 PM

I will try and offer some insight from my experience with the Cheaper RFID stuff.

Initially my setup consisted of 1 receiver module, 3 8M tags, and 3 40M tags. My reciever is located in my basement with my Homesrre PC, with a coaxial cable run of about 35' to my garage where it is connected to a "Cross Type" antena. I brought all 6 transmitters online at the same time and was using the CheaperRFID plugin. All the transmitters were powered by the CR2025 batteries and I installed a wall wart on the reciever (initially I tried the reciever without the wall wart and I could not get anything to work). I had constant dropouts with the transmitters. My Idea was to have 1 40M and 1 8M transmitter in each car as a fail safe. I could not get this to work reliably at all. The next thing I did was to switch to Blades plugin. The dropouts were less, but the system was still not reliable. My next step was to eliminate the 8M transmitters. Reliability got a little better. I still had a lot of dropouts.

You say your tags drop out and never come back. I did not have this problem. My problem was that the tags would dropout and then come right back.

I then went and wired up 4 AA batteries to the 40M tags as the power source. This cleared up all my problems. My system has been running for about 8 months, and I think I've had maybe 2 or 3 false readings. It took some trail and error to find the sweet spot in the driver for the time the tag had to go out of range before it would register as away.

Here are some of my thoughts. It is documented that the 40M tags have problems working indoors (to strong of a signal). This is stated on the website. Both my cars are in the garage along with the antena and I don't have issues, but I am also not mixing 8 and 40M transmitters. When they are indoors, I don't think they play well with the 8M transmitters. The batteries (cr2025) don't last very long and when they start to lose power, they wreak havoc on the entire system. In the beginning this was a big source of my problems.

My setup now is rock solid. I get about 250' out of the 40M transmitters. They are so reliable that I have them automatically open my garage door when I approach my home.

Maybe some one can share there experiences, as everyones install is unique.

HTH

**stevea** · March 27, 2008, 02:17 PM

T:

Your experience and mine are nearly identical, except in how we each diagnose the problem. My system is also rock solid, and I too get about 250' on the 40M tags. However, my opnion of the problems I've had in the past are different than yours:

1) I've never had a problem with the batteries. I've changed the CR2025's on 2 of the 4 8M tags once, and that was 8 months ago.

2) My 8M tags seem to be completely unaffected by the 40M tags.

3) When I have had problems with the 8M tags, I've almost always been able to make them go away by trying to change how the coiled antenna lays in the enclosure.

I'm not saying you are wrong and I am right. Rather, I think this is still pretty non-deterministic, and both of us are speculating on what we think made our system stable.

Steve

**FrankR** · March 29, 2008, 10:42 AM

Originally posted by gsanders01 View Post

The issue still prevails. All of my tags are going 'Away' within a second of each other within 5 to 10 hours of restarting HomeSeer. I'm going to disable the CheaperRFID plug-in and try Blade's RFID plug-in to see if I get better results. The CheaperRFID plug-in makes this system unusable for me.

Ditto...

T;
What's Blades Plug-In called? I can't seem to find it. Thanks Frank

**TrOjAn** · March 29, 2008, 10:59 AM

Originally posted by FrankR View Post

Ditto...

T;
What's Blades Plug-In called? I can't seem to find it. Thanks Frank

Frank you would need to get it from Blades plugin site.. name is BLRFid

TO find his site follow my sig link and you`ll find Blades site listed there..

TrOjAn

**FrankR** · March 29, 2008, 08:38 PM

Thanks

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Plug-in Issue or Receiver Saturation??

Plug-in Issue or Receiver Saturation??

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