2024 - UHF RFID magnetic gate opener for horse stables
From Jun-2024
This project turned out being one of the most complicated ones I’ve done so far. It started as a copycat of another working setup, just with the extension of a island solar system as there was no electricity on site. Then the 8 kV electric fence burned two circuits just from induction and coupled current into the cables (fixed with grounding), then the commercially bought RFID circuit hung up every now and then (fixed with 100ms chip reset every minute from the Arduino controller) etc. - I think the total build time was over 2 months with one month alone waiting for components and different things going wrong. It does work now! There is an extension planned with an additional spring for the closing mechanism (the current one is a bit too weak) and a better electrical circuitry to replace the RFID controller with fully open source hardware. To be continued.
solar panel for electric fence before disassembly
UHF RFID system before modification
First modification, commmercial Wiegand relay controller
Second modification, Arduino trinket with relay
solar panel mounted on wooden board with rain cover
12V battery mounting
solar panel, battery charger and battery set in place
mounted UHF RFID antenna using a TV set flex mount
