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RFID Tag Problems?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by tleonhar, Apr 7, 2006.

  1. tleonhar

    tleonhar Senior Member

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    I'd like to hear from anyone who has one of these RFID tags in their car. These are the tags that are usually about 2" X 4" and about 1/8 inch thick that are used for access control to places like parking lots, toll roads, etc. They are usually given some cutsy name like "Zip Pass, Fast pass" or something similar.

    My question is does anyone have problems with them in your Prius?

    Where I work, they are used for parking ramp access control, it has worked fine in our car untill a couple weeks ago. They had to retune the antennas because people with large SUVs and pickups would once in a while trigger more than one gate when they came through. Well since then, the tag will not work in the Prius :( . We have literally tried everything, new tag with fresh battery, different mounting positions, everything. The only way I can make it work reliably is to have a second person stand by the antenna with the tag while I drive across the loop sensor that triggers the read. If I hold the tag out the window as I drive over the sensor, it will read about 25% of the time.



    Anyone else have any experience with these???
     
    #1 tleonhar, Apr 7, 2006
  2. walt

    walt New Member

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    I have a 2006 prius and a fast pass - no problems on toll tunnels, etc at least up to 30 mph as I go thru the 10 mph reader area. Placed behind the rear view mirror right on the windshield.
     
    #2 walt, Apr 7, 2006
  3. Vincent

    Vincent Don't Wait Until Tomorrow

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Apr 7 2006, 10:25 PM) [snapback]236602[/snapback]</div>
    I drive through Florida's Open SunPass lanes at 65MPH with my dark gray transponder mounted behind the rearview mirror right up against the top molding, fully behind the black shading dots (can't be seen from outside) without any problems.
     
    #3 Vincent, Apr 8, 2006
  4. SluggoLovesNancy

    SluggoLovesNancy New Member

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    We have toll system in Atlanta, uses active RFID. No problems with the Prius. I placed it behind the passengers side of the rear-view mirror. A little bit of it overlaps onto the black shadings dots on the windshield.

    Sounds like the antenna retuning is the culprit. Never have figured out the frequency of the Smart Key system, but I don't think there is interference between that and the toll systems. The toll and gate systems typically are at 433 MHz or 2.45 Ghz.
     
    #4 SluggoLovesNancy, Apr 8, 2006
  5. tleonhar

    tleonhar Senior Member

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    This is as I suspected, because the pass used to work just fine untill like I mentioned they retuned the antennas. Where I go is an entrance to a parking ramp where there are five lanes next to each other, the parking ramp people claim they had to retune the antennas because if someone with a pass on a large vehicle at the same time a pay-as-you-go person entered the lane next to him, it would often trigger the wrong gate.

    I would think they could come up with a better solution to the problem, Faraday shield anyone??? Either that or the people they hired to set this up were not the brightest bulbs on the tree. :angry:
     
    #5 tleonhar, Apr 8, 2006
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