One of the first things that [Eric] hacked together when he got to college was an RFID door locking system. He found that he was often in a rush to get in and out of his dorm room, and that using a simple wireless key was a great way to streamline his days.
Over the years, he has refined his design, and while his original prototype was functional, it was a bit rough around the edges. In the video posted on his site, he thoroughly explains how his system was built, and shows off the revisions he has made over time. One key consideration when building this system was the fact that the installation had to be non-permanent. Since schools typically frown on physically altering your rooms, he found a non-intrusive means to mount his system in the way of zip ties and foam board.
His RFID door lock looks to work quite nicely, and we especially like the inclusion of the reed switch to ensure that the system knows if the door has been opened or not. If you have about half an hour to spare and are interested in building an RFID entry system of your own, be sure to check out [Eric’s] video below for all the details.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/29131384 w=470]
“one key consideration”
ha. i see what you did there.
I’ve been sitting on a few of those parallax rfid readers. Might be time to try this out, albeit with hand-wound solenoids replacing the servo to affect the deadbolt…
this is by far the slickest hack
A single board with a small cell and the stepper would be the ultimate refinement.
I’d do some special challenge/response too for security. Maybe something with big division and factoring under a hash.
If I had the time/money I’d like to do this.
noob question: could you use the rfid in your passport (without modding your passport rfid) to gain access with this? ie get the reader to recognise your passport ??? :)
What happens during a power outage? Does the servo provide enough resistance to prevent a key from working as a backup? If so, how do you get around this problem?
The next version will have a battery backup and the lock still works just fine with a key :) The servo powers down after rotating the lock.
OH WOW! WE SHOULD ALL GET THESE IMPLANTED IN OUR ARMS!!! ;’O
You can see his green screen @ 6:41
Half the video shows the creation of the rfid door lock, the other half shows how to clone an rfid tag.
He doesn’t show it being attached to the door or anything..
I agree. What he shows us in the video makes perfect sense, but the tricky part is going to be deciding what materials to use or even if your door will be able to be opened by a servo.
I did this in 2006… almost the exact same thing
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/billyk128/lock2.jpg
http://forums.parallax.com/archive/index.php/t-89810.html
You should have tipped us off, we would have gladly taken a look at it.
On a side note, that door/lock/vent combo looks incredibly familiar. Maybe they were more common than I thought though. O’D perhaps?
Hey dude. Do you know if theres a way to have the door open from the inside when you push the release switch? I have the overall set up done where it unlocks it when I push the switch but I would like for it to also open the door. Thanks in advance!
I’m not sure but I think if you were to setup a strong enough solenoid or servo with an arm they could work as pushers at the top of your door if they could provide enough torque. Essentially pushing your door open. You’d also need the handle to move as well