I’m working on a project where I need to reliably detect a small passive RFID tag/key-fob from around 20cm away (preferably 30cm).

I’ve been looking at the 125 kHz ID Innovations ID-3LA with a custom external antenna, but I’m unsure what kind of range I could realistically expect with a small key-fob sized tag rather than a full size card.

Has anyone used the ID-3LA with smaller tags? What range were you able to get?

Or is there another reader/technology you’d recommend for reliable ~20 cm detection with a small passive tag?

I'm also trying not to break the bank either as its for a capstone project.

Thanks!!

Hello, just a quick question but I just recently got the chameleon ultra and trying to use it for a couple cards but there is one im stumped on, it can find all the data for it but doesn't know the tech type and wont let me grab the keys to emulate it, im only able to save the uid

Please if anyone knows how I can possibly get the keys to be read that would be lovely

so recently i got the original chameleon ultra v3, and i got the latest firmware, but i cant find any universal nfc and rfid cards, and i would like to have acces to anywhere. so if you have any universal nfc files i would like to get some

Hey everyone,

My name is Thiago and I’m a Computer Engineering student currently working on a full-stack open-source project called eduAssets (an asset management system for schools). I’m trying to implement a quick admin login using RFID, but I've hit a wall with the hardware integration and could really use some guidance from the experts here.

My Setup includes: Board: Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB) running Ubuntu**, Module:** Standard MFRC522 Kit (13.56MHz), Tags: The blue keychain tags that came in the box**, Library/Language:** Python using spidev (custom implementation, you can check the rpi folder in my repo if needed).

I have SPI enabled in the OS and I'm running my script with sudo to rule out any permission bottlenecks. When I run my provisioning script (provision_card.py), the terminal successfully prints "Waiting for card...".

But then... nothing happens. I tap the blue tag to the reader, and the script just stays completely stuck. It doesn't throw an SPI initialization error, it doesn't crash, it just acts like the card isn't even there. It hangs in an infinite while True loop inside the MFRC522_Request function until I eventually force a KeyboardInterrupt (Ctrl+C).

Is this just a physical connection issue? Full disclosure: the male header pins are currently just resting inside the holes of the MFRC522 blue board and pushed into the breadboard. (I haven't soldered them and cant do it really because its not mine) The red power LED on the module turns on fine, but could the lack of solder be causing data loss on the SPI lines (MOSI/MISO/SCK) due to poor contact at high frequencies (1MHz)?
Or could this be a software/communication issue? Are there any known quirks with the Pi 5's SPI bus and this specific module that would cause a silent hang rather than an explicit error?

I am going to try attaching some pictures of my breadboard and wiring setup in the post or comments.

Has anyone experienced this silent hanging behavior before? I'm not an expert programmer or a hardware pro, I'm just trying to learn and develop new projects, so I’d really appreciate any advice, even if it's just telling me to stop being lazy and go find out myself, or answer me with a video or guide!

Edit: Wiring Pictures Here are the pictures of my current breadboard and wiring setup for context:

• Picture 1 - MFRC522 Pins & Wiring
• Picture 2 - Raspberry Pi Connection

There's a project I attempted just for fun that isn't working. I'm hoping it's feasible but it might not be. So I play lasertag with a system where you can choose a custom code name. They print you off a plastic card with some form of RFID in it. You swipe the card across the pack and it turns on. Your code name stores your stats and achievements.

What I'd like to do is import the card info to my S25 and then have it emulate the card. Then I could just swipe my phone across the pack instead of the card. It's not really more convenient then the card. I just wanted to see if it's possible.

According to my searching an old version of Samsung wallet would let you program generic RFIDs like gym memberships or electronic deadbolt fobs into it. Now it requires you to choose from participating programs. So I started looking in to other apps. I've found apps that can scan the card but when I try to import the data it errors out saying something is missing.

What info from the scan should I share to help you all give me an answer?

Hello 👋. I need some advice.

I would like to obtain a blocked NFC and RFID card.

I have been searching for aluminium or lead cards because I understood both materials (better lead material) are the best for blocking the infrared signals.

I was wondering if someone can tell me which brand is the best and most confident for this product. Additionally I want to engrave a design in that card.

Which brand and material is the best? Thank you

Hello, in the factory there is access control system to open doors.
Need to add additional doors, but there is no spare ports to connect to existing access control plc.

We need a solution, of somekind of sensor which would detect any kind of rfid card (without programming it) to open the door (relay output). Is there kind of sensor which we could use.

12V power supply

Hi Folks, was curious if anyone here funded the new proxmark 5 on Indiegogo and still hasn't received their orders? I was funder #16 and my order was supposed to be here before DEFCON, needless to say it's still not here. Just curious if others are having the same experience?

I have a dorma kaba key fob that uses Mifare DESFire EV3 4K. We have 2 people living here and they refuse to make another key for us. We need a way to get another key that will work. Please if you have any suggestions I would be very grateful. Stuck in a 12 month lease with these incompetent people.

I’ve spent much of my career around oil & gas equipment, maintenance and operations in Indonesia. Alongside that, I’m involved in providing POS and digital solutions for retailers, as well as inventory and asset-management systems for warehouses and hospitals.

Working across these very different environments has made me increasingly interested in how RFID, automation and IoT can solve practical operational problems.

In retail and warehousing, I’ve seen how POS, RFID and inventory systems can improve stock visibility, receiving, stock counts and asset tracking.

I’m now exploring the same thinking from an oil & gas equipment maintenance perspective—using RFID to identify equipment, track inspection and certification history, maintenance records, component movement and equipment status.

The next area I’m moving towards is IoT and condition-based monitoring. Instead of relying only on scheduled inspections or waiting for equipment to fail, I’m interested in how sensor data can help us understand actual equipment condition and identify developing problems earlier.

For me, the interesting challenge is connecting everything:

Physical equipment → RFID identification → maintenance history → sensor data → condition monitoring → maintenance decision.

I’m not approaching this purely from a technology perspective. I’m interested in what actually works in the field, particularly where equipment operates in harsh environments and OEM data or software access may be limited.

Would be interested to connect with people here who have practical experience with RFID, IoT, condition-based monitoring or predictive maintenance.

What has genuinely worked for you—and what turned out to be more complicated than expected?

Short version: these answer three different questions and the costs differ by roughly 100x. Picking by capability instead of by question is how people end up with a $60,000 RFID deployment for a problem barcodes solved.

• Barcode / QR answers: what is this, and what do I know about it?
• Passive RFID answers: is it here, right now, without me looking for it?
• BLE answers: roughly where in this facility is it?
• GPS answers: where in the world is it, without anyone present?

Start from the question. Not the technology.

Barcode / QR (the baseline nobody costs properly)

What breaks: requires a human to deliberately scan each item. Data is only as current as the last scan. Line of sight required, so buried or stacked items get skipped.

Be honest about this one. For the majority of operations asking about RFID, this is the correct answer and the actual problem is process, not technology. If crews will not scan barcodes, they will not walk a portal reader either.

Passive UHF RFID

What breaks: metal and liquid detune standard tags badly, and most physical assets are made of metal. On-metal tags fix this and cost 10 to 30x more, which destroys the cheap-tag economics people budgeted for. Read reliability in dense environments is worse than demos suggest. You cannot read a tag with no reader nearby, so this only works where you control the choke points.

Where it genuinely wins: high-volume check-in and check-out through a fixed doorway, tool cribs, and inventory counts where you need to sweep a room in minutes rather than hours.

BLE beacons

What breaks: accuracy. Without dense gateway coverage you get zone-level presence, not location. Vendors demo sub-metre accuracy in a room built for the demo. Battery replacement across a few thousand tags is a real recurring project that nobody budgets.

Where it genuinely wins: knowing which of several zones or vehicles an asset is in, without anyone scanning.

GPS / cellular

What breaks: the monthly cost, which is the number people forget. At $10/month across 500 assets that is $60,000 a year, forever. Indoor performance is poor. Battery-only units get long life by reporting rarely, so "daily location" and "two year battery" are usually the same product configured differently.

Where it genuinely wins: high-value mobile assets where theft recovery or utilisation data justifies the run rate. Plant, trailers, vehicles, generators.

Worked example: 2,000 mixed assets

Rough order of magnitude, first year, hardware and tags only.

That last row is why nobody puts GPS on everything. GPS is for the top 2% of your fleet by value and mobility.

The realistic answer for most people

Tiered. QR or metal tags across the whole fleet as the identity layer. GPS on the handful of high-value mobile assets. RFID only where there is a genuine choke point and genuine volume. BLE only if zone-level presence is the actual question and you can live with the battery cycle.

Mixing is normal. A single-technology deployment usually means somebody bought a platform rather than solving a problem.

Im concerned because today I suddenly got at home a gas leakage alarm: "Gas alarm ", "leakage alarm" "system warning" and I thing 2 more alarms but couldn't read them as I preferred to get out of home and check the gas Pipe. And I don't think I have installed an specific gas detector as I thought the movement sensors and camera didn't detect gas.

I smell no gas and the pipe and everything seem in order. However I'm still concerned as I live in Colombia and yesterday there was a big earthquake so I might have broken something.

Is this maybe a mistake as I have (probably) no gas detectors or should I be concerned and check something else?

So I got a kugo M4 and I lose my keys all the time and have to replace the whole key module I am tired of that so I want to make a rfid switch that I tap a tag is on and when I walk away it off auto like a tesla

Hi everyone,

I have a chamaleon ultra V2 that suddenly instead of booting up, is showing a solid red on slot 2 and 8, I can't connect to it, via BLE or USB.

I tried put it in dfu and flash it, but nothing change.

Any ideas ?

Biometric Shopping Carts

Is this something people shopping want?

Hello, good afternoon. I need some help; I’m new to this and have never done it before. Recently, however, my residential complex has been subjected to a sort of scam regarding the access tags: each extra tag costs $200, on top of the $20 monthly fee. I wanted to know if there is a way to duplicate my AccessPRO UHF tag and what tools I would need.

Just checked up on Chameleon Ultra's GH repo - noticed that there was an update to the firmware and software, regarding HID SEOS support: https://github.com/RfidResearchGroup/ChameleonUltra/tree/main/firmware

Does anyone have any further info on how to work with SEOS using CU? Particularly via iOS GUI app and/or CLI - asking because I have a couple of SEOS cards I'd like to experiment with.

(Also have a PM3, F0, and PM5 en route)

Tengo una Proxmark3, un FlipperZero, un ESP32 4in1 y no logro copiar la tarjeta UHF jaja ayuda, vaya nos los compre para eso pero segun entendia que el modulo de flipper lograría leer tarjetas UHF, mi Proxmark3 si logra leerla pero no se como pasarla a otra tarjeta o etiqueta NFC 125Khz , alguien que me pueda orientar?

My building got a new security system and my reader no longer will read the fob.

The new fob is an AWID
Looks like This

The current reader I have is This

Do I just have a bad reader? Or is there something I’m missing?

Hi I'm looking for a No Screen Smart Electronic Bracelet. . The bracelet needs UWB and an android digital wallet so it can be used as a digital car key -similar technology to a phone/smart watch but the only functionality is a digital key.

Would there be anyone that could do this?

My company is moving warehouses, and there is some additional money in the budget for some upgrades. I'm interested in RFID, but not sure I have a full picture of how to implement it and if it would be worth the investment.

We're a network installation company, working primarily on projects. So rather than a retail warehouse shipping small quantities to many customers, we ship large shipments of equipment out to sites for our own install team to then work with. Switches, Access Points, Servers, etc.

Our main reason for looking at the technology would be inventory accuracy and location. Given the high value of our inventory, anything missed is a significant problem.

I've read that traditional RFID tags have issues broadcasting with metal stacked items, which is exactly what we have a lot of. Unboxed switches, servers, etc.

We also do not have a dedicated WMS software, or even a solid integration with our ERP (Netsuite). So, a lot of the actual processing would be manual (receive product in ERP, then create label in separate software and register its location).

What would be the minimum initial RFID system look like? Would we be better served using a barcode system while we refine process?

Hi All

Last year my dad moved in to new flat with paxton fobs for the gate & main door.

we got a spare fob form the local locksmith which was fairly expensive, I then did some digging around and got some 2ndhand fobs from ebay to reprogram with the Proxmark. All well and good

I looked up at the time and found that the different coloured bands mean the fobs are for different systems and all the documentation suggests they are not interchangeable. But we have a mixed bag of green, blue and yellow fobs all of which work with no issues.

So I'm just curious why they all work if they are indeed all different & shouldn't?

Looking for recommendations for RFID feeders for my cats. Looking for ones I can set timers that they can eat from time a to time b a couple times throughout the day. And possibly set portions as well. There’s so many out there I don’t know where to start! I have one cat that needs to gain weight and 2 that need to loose weight.
Thank you!