RFID Cat Flap computer connection

[Marcosscriven]

Hi there

Just got the Pet Porte today (in UK) and was disappointed to see it has the 100-1023 rev x6 PCB (with op amp on main board, rather than daughter board)

Yoja - did you manage to get the custom firmware working with this? I read on the CatFlap Project that it was something to do with the frequency of the crystal on the board?

[Darwusch]

Hi,

The 100-1023 rev x6 PCB has different connections to the chips so the firmware needs to be rewritten. The frequency is not the problem. I don't know if Andi is still looking at it.

[Marcosscriven]

Thanks for the response Darwusch

Do you know what connections changed? I was looking at this thread, which started off about this issue, but then focussed on the differences between the 'ISS D' and 'ISS E' versions.

As noted, this board still has the same op amp, the LM324. What's curious is the circuitry around this chip on the new board looks a lot simpler than that around it on the old daughter board model.

The MCU, and the relay controller etc are the same, so presumably the only difference is going to be in the interfacing with the LM324.

Incidentally, logically speaking, I was wondering how Pet Porte could have promised such internet connectivity in the first place, if it would require soldering on a header to reprogram it? Presumably it would have been a case of connecting to one of the existing headers, which makes me think there could be a simple 'unlock' code of some sort?

[labium]

as i understand the cat chip is a rfid ,, isnt it more easy to use this next to the catflap

http://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=145022

[raymonvdm]

I installed the petporte a month ago and the cats are happy now. The next step is to count which one is in and which one is out of the house.

Did anyone tried the above plugin(s) ?

[labium]

is there one for petporte functioning ?

[raymonvdm]

is there one for petporte functioning ?

I`m not sure. I own this SmartFlap from Pet Porte although there also seem to be an Sure Flap from another company

and would like to have this http://respekt-empire.de/CatFlap/trac/wiki/ although it is also possible to use an additional RFID reader which reads the cat as it is passing by on the road to the pet porte (inside and outside )


p.s. I have one issue with the pet porte and that is draft

[osmi]

by KidE
To update this topic a bit i contacted petporte via phone and asked them the same question you all have.
Fortunately the person on the phone was a good acquaintance of the original designer and he told me the reason why no info is given out regarding the external connection.
When the PetPorte concept was sold to its new owner the designer had to sign an NDA "non disclosure agreement" that for 3 years no info could be shared regarding the inner workings. I tried my best to get a head start but like the NDA says i did not get any info.

only 3/4 year we have to wait until the NDA expires and after that we should be able to get all the info we need.

If my understanding is ok then it is now about time we get the info, right?
Have you maybe contacted them already about this?

[raymonvdm]

I got a response from petporte NL

Beste meneer,

Er is tot op heden helaas nog geen interface beschikbaar waarmee het mogelijk is het
luik via de computer te programmeren en te besturen.
Wij kunnen helaas ook niets zeggen over hoe en wanneer een dergelijke mogelijkheid
beschikbaar komt.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Martine XXXXX

Afdeling ondersteuning
PetPorte Nederland
Zandvoort 1
9461 TA Gieten
e-mail: ondersteuning@petporte.nl
http://www.petporte.nl

I looked at a RFID reader which costs 41 dollar and 22 dollar sending fee, which is quit expensive and i also need to add an rs232 to ethernet converter but i orded it anyway
http://www.priority1design.com.au/shopf ... ucts_id=32

I will also see if it is possible to upgrade/flash my petporte

I will upload the pictures of my petporte

I`m thinking of odering the following to test it out

- http://www.eztcp.com/en/products/ezl-70a.php (seems to me that this could be connected to the J5 header without max232) (Maybe Wifi http://www.eztcp.com/en/products/csw-b85.php)
- http://nl.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduc ... ku=9847170
- Spare RevE PCB

[raymonvdm]

Today i also got a response which states it is not possible to order additional PCB`s

[raymonvdm]

This week i reopened this case.

I have assambled the ordered RFID scanner and it is working fine. Now i need to replace the RFID coil with a bigger one because the current one is not reading on larger distance. The Coil of the petport is about 13cm wide the test coil is only 4,5 cm wide

But first we will be trying to log the data to HomeSeer using ser2net

http://lesser-evil.com/2013/04/raspberr ... le-server/

Which seems to be working

Code: Select all

apt-get install ser2net

dmesg | grep tty
[    9.735015] usb 1-1.3: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0

vim /etc/ser2net.conf

2001:raw:600:/dev/ttyUSB0:9600 NONE 1STOPBIT 8DATABITS XONXOFF LOCAL -RTSCTS
3001:telnet:0:/dev/ttyUSB0:9600 remctl banner1

Telnet using port 2001 is showing me response when i move the tag in front of the reader

Now i need to know what to do next. How do i create a script that open`s a telnet connection to "scan"for new id`s

[philnor]

If the long awaited computer connection can be bought as an extra, it presumably will just plug into JP3 or JP5 - I wouldn't imagine that it would need to re-program the processor...

Some other posters thought that the unit would need to be "told" to enable the serial port as it didn't seem to work at the moment.

In reading the manual - there is an extended mode in the menu, some of them switch features on and off like beep after entry - there is also options 7-9 which the manual says are reserved for future use.

Could it be that one of these will switch on the serial port?

Has anyone been brave enough to have a play with these mysterious options 7 - 9 ? I'm pretty sure this is the key to enabling the serial port on JP5. I've had a try but so far got nowhere....

[Darwusch]

I sent an email to Radio Systems Corporation (Radio Systems Petsafe Europe Ltd) and asked about the PC connection again.
This is their answer:

This project has been abandoned some time ago, and been replaced by a complete new microchip petdoor, the Passport.

This has been on the USA-market since last year, and is expected to be released on the European market in the latter part of 2014.

The Passport will have PC-access for easier programming of the possiblities of the Passport, but will, as far as we know now, not allow on-the-fly access from a remote position.

[falcon14141]

Hi,
I know the thread is kind of old... and that the petporte has being replaced by a "newer" model the Passport, but from what I have seen so far this new model has a few flaws :

1st: It isn't ditributed in Europe or at least not in France ... as Amazon.uk seems to sell it.
2nd: It's very pricy
3rd: It still is not fitted for itegration into home automation.

I've had several Petportes since the first model.
After mechanical failures on the first version (grrrr... damn brocken pins on the red and green locks), I switched over to a second version, having an ISS-E board.
I have come upon this thread only after I already took my soldering iron in hand and upgraded my board by a few optocouplers to be able to monitor led status and trigger the buttons remotely, and close the lightsensor circuit to force a blocked status at night. Associated to some logic inside à Siemens Logo I got a KNX implemantation of my PetPorte ... I admit, it's a hell of a toolchain just to switch between day and night mode.

I hence had been working on a smaller, nicer implementation using an Arduino and a Tapko KIMaip for KNX integration... It took me a few tryouts to get the optocoupler setup right and TADAM, I got it working on my testbench !!
But... as by Murphy's Law there is to be a "but", as I was installing my upgraded PetPorte back on the wall, I slipped. KNX 12V got in contact with Red button 5V which conluded in a nice little spark. ..... KIMaip dead, PetPorte MB dead..... GGGGrrrrrrrr !!!!! ... so much "work" for nothing.

At this point the story might becoming interresting as I had several options to poursue my goal:

- Get a brand new PetPorte
- Get a brand new PassPort
- Get a Dualscan Sureflap and add extra "outgoing" filtering functionality (as I have 2 cats), but new integration work has to be done
- Contact guys to get a new MB for my PetPorte (which doesn't seem to be an option anymore anyway)
- Get to work some more on my arduino board and use it to trigger the locks directly. RFID will be read by external TTL Reader provided at Priority 1 Design (Model RFIDRW-E-TTL) ; Buy 2 RFID so I cant have scan outside and inside

...So what did happen?
- First options are pricy ....
- I was tempted by the Dualscan, but my cat seems to be more of a Racoon and didn't fit trough so I returned it
....Hence... I worked on my Arduino.

I "redesigned" a new pair of custom boards to re-use existing pushputton and led places (top level). Bottom level holds the l293dne, dual powersupply (actully just diodes...), power monitor, buzzer and severeral connectors : locks and green door button, arduino, and "outside world" (Ground, 12V, KNX+, KNX-)
I based my software upon the projekt found at http://respekt-empire.de/CatFlap/trac and tried to keep user interactions as close as possible to the orignial catflap.
Their code has been converted/upgraded to C++ and an Arduino Sketch.
I'm using RS232 for debug, so I kept the code as an option (can be actived at compilation using à #define directive)
I have integrated another communication option in my code to interface the catflap directly to KNX, and coded a suitable template for my Gira HomeServer 4 Supervision.

The best part is actually that everything should fit inside the Petporte:
A hearderless Arduino Leonardo will fit perfectly in the upper left corner of the Petporte casing.
The KIMaip will take it's place on the left side of the door frame.
The right corner and right side should coutain both RFID add-on readers. I plan on using the antenna's of my firsts PetPorte.

As of today, main code and implementation are ready, without RFID reader integration since I'm still working on a suitable library and waiting for the actual readers. Those should arrive shortly from Australia.
I'm trying to find the last bugs that might still be.

My code contains following options which could be activated:
- Connecting a Light Sensor to Arduino
- Connecting a Red_Door button and 2nd RFID reader for filtering cats allowed to go out (Dualscan mode)
- Using RS232 to monitor / control the catflap
- Using KNX to monitor / control the catfalp
- Night Mode can be blocked by "Night status" info or overriden by another "Force closed" input (which I plan to set/unset by a KNX timer)
- Day Mode to prevent cats to go out while it's the day (I kept this from the base code I used)
- Free modes: Entry (actuel PetPorte Free mode), no filtering cats coming from outside / Exit, no filtering cat wanting to get out (but keeping ovveride induced by night mode and vet mode) ... I admit, wihtout RFID for the time being I'm stuck with Free Entry and Free Exit mode !

I retrofitted the pushbuttons to behave as with original Petporte : actions can be triggered while holding the buttons down, prior to releasing them (Ex: blinking red led and buzzer indicating Vet mode has been activated and that button can now be released)

So what do you think, should I try to write a small tutorail or guide on how to retrofit a PetPorte to an Arduino ?

[falcon14141]

I forgot about the possibility to include a flap poti... wich might not be useful in a dual RFID setup.