Inexpensive RFID Door Controller

This is a door controller that goes by a variety of model names and numbers on the internet from Amazon and Ebay.

I'm not an expert with these systems, but have quite a bit of time using them with multiple controllers running in multiple cities in a wide network and they have proven to work very well.  I think we invested around $3000 all the hardware to do about 20 doors (strikes, readers, mag locks etc), Plus another $2500 in wire.  We did all the installs ourselves, there might be other costs if you aren't able to install it.  Around 250 users, thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of entry/exit processing, have never had a single issue yet in the last 3 years running them.

Hopefully there is information here that will help, feel free to leave comments or questions, I'm glad to help and I hope what I have here is useful to someone trying to implement it.  My documentation is more on the installation and wiring of the system, more than it is the day to day operation.  That is covered fairly well in the manual, but the implementation isn't the greatest.

"Wiegand 26 Bit TCP IP Door Controller"

HSY-02B HSY-04B HSY-01B

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HSY-Manufacturer-TCP-IP-Door-Access_763217699.html

Similar controllers are the 02b and 01b

There is also either a big brother or maybe a cousin to these boards made by Wiengand called the 2004.net
http://www.wiegand.com.cn/english/support.htm


It seems too be a a similar unit, upgraded/different different design perhaps?  I'm not sure but specs and board layout pins seem to be similar.  The import reason for mentioning it is that this site has some additional software that you can try with these apps.

WHAT DOES THIS DO?

So the RFID system, purchased from mostly suppliers in China, is a fairly inexpensive and capable cardkey RFID card system to open doors based on the cards level of access and assignment to both doors and time conditions for those doors.  Once up, you can place your keycard or FOB or other RFID programmed entry device against or near the 'reader' and if your card is authorized, the door will unlock.  Generally speaking, you can leave the cards inside a bag or in your pocket, and simply placing the holder near the reader, and using a radio signal, it can communicate with the FOB and unlock the door if you are authorized.

HOOKING IT UP

Administration Software to the controller(s)

This is actually pretty easy.  These controllers can be standalone, meaning you can buy an RFID controller, and just use the simple GUI on it to control cards and who can get in or out.  If you have 1 controller and maybe less than 25 people, this isn't so bad, since you may only have 4 doors to worry about.  But lets say you have hundreds of people and 8-16-100 doors?  Well you'll want to use the management application that interfaces to these doors.  (its outlined below).  The management application gives far greater control of the doors and the features.  It allows you to manage large number of users access, remote activate/deactivate doors with some mouse clicks, and a large number of other security features that aren't necessarily available.  

The software 'talks' to the RFID boards and uploads/downloads the data.  The management software is not needed to run the doors, its only need to do add/moves/changes to the system.  ALL the doors run 'autonomously', independent from the controller.  So if you shut off the computer running the administration software, the doors don't care, they just keep on doing what they're told to do.  When you make the changes you need to user access, you 'upload' this data with a click of a button to all the controllers, and that data is then sent to the memory of the RFID boards.  Also you can download the data from these boards to the controller computer, merging all the different doors into a single utility to run reports.  Very convenient and easy.  The best part is that the RFID boards are connected to the management software via Ethernet.  Beneficial in larger deployments where you might have a corporate office with doors spread far apart within a building or in different cities.  If there is an established network to those offices, and the management computer can talk to the other networks, you are able to manage those systems.

YES you technically control these boards across the internet, I would highly discourage that practice as the security access to the board itself maybe easily compromised by hackers, we do not know.

RFID Door Controller

There are variations of the same system above that can control more or less doors, this one pictured below has 4 door input/output controls, but the input/output configuration is the same among the various models

First thing.  The board itself needs power,  You'll want a power supply that can deliver 12volts with a 3-5A rating (connects to P2).  This will power the controller and will provide 12volts output to the RFID connections (RD1 - RD4).  The DC amperage requirements will dictate how you are power devices.  If you have controllers that need to be enegergized in their normal state, its going to be higher power usage than systems that only require power to unlock, assuming its a momentary unlock.

This P2 power connection does NOT provide power to the door strike connections DR1 - DR4.  Power for these connections is provided to the "COM" input on each connection from a separate 12 volt power source.  What this means is a relay on the board itself controls the power from the COM input to the NC/NO input.  So you'll notice in the diagram I have 12 volt sources connected to each COM input (common).  TECHNICALLY yes these could all come from the same 12 volt power supply.  Sometimes some users wish to separate the power.

Ive been using these types of power supplies
UHPPOTE AC100-240V to 12V/5A Power Supply Support Backup Battery

Lots of power to run the controller and strikes.  It also has a built in battery charger and will allow the system to continue to function on battery.  Available on Amazon for around $20   They have a lot of functionality in it.

Electric door strikes and magnetic locks can consume a lot of power and should be sourced separately from a different supply than the one powering the board, since its requirements are very.  You don't want to burn out the power supply.

The top and bottom of the board is used for the RFID readers and the exit buttons.

On the right hand side are the door strike connections and mag log controls

Connection Layout Diagram Example

In the diagram above, there is an example of 3 different door types connected.  

Door 1 uses a door strike that is activated with a reader.  This example has a green push button "release" to manually unlock the door for exit.  The strike normal state (no power) is 'locked'.  This means it needs power to unlock.  So it is connected to the "Normally Open" connection on the board.  The "NO" or "NC" doesn't refer to the lock state, it refers to the type of power the door strike needs.  OPEN means the circuit has no power, and only has power for the duration you want to keep the door unlocked.   So on the RFID board, the "NO" connection gets power when a card is successfully used,  a "NC" connection removes the power for the duration you want the door to unlock when a card is used.

Door 2 uses a magnetic lock.  It is connected by a separate 12 volt power supply.  It is using a request to exit button as well, however this button uses a motion sensor to trigger the exit, so it requires an additional power connection to it, which is 12 volt in this example.  The magnetic lock is connected to the "NC" connection.  This provides continuous power to the electro-magnet, and then 'opens' the circuit to cut the power to it to allow the door to open.

Its important to note that there are different magnetic lock types.  The above example, the power to keep the magnetic lock energized and locked is flowing through the controller.  Some magentic locks have independent power to the lock itself, with a separate power feed coming from the RFID to remotely trigger the power on or off in the magnetic lock itself.

Door 3 (currently not connected in the above example, ran out of space on the picture :) )

Door 4 is an example of controlling a latch via separate relay.
WARNING: You need to have some electrical concepts in place to prevent sending power to a system not expecting it.  Implementations are very situation dependent, this example is only a possible solution in a certain set of circumstances.

This example the door latch that is already connected to an existing door system which is priority.  This situation may stem from a shared door where you might have 2 different companies using the same door, each wanting their own system, but need to work with each other, but independently.

This example, the latch is 'normally closed', meaning there is power to the door to keep it locked.  This would be typical of some door strikes, but more commonly a magentic lock.

Since we want to interrupt the power to the door for the duration of our system, the example shows a 'normally closed' relay being inserted into the power connection for the door lock.  We'll use a relay, controlled by our RFID system, to interrupt the power to this strike when our system wants to open it.

The relay is a normally closed relay and allows the power to the strike to flow through it.

The RFID system is controlling the relay through a NO circuit.

When our system wants to unlock the door, it DR4 changes from the normal "NO" state to a NC state, which sends power to the relay.  The relay activates, and changes from a "NC" state to an "NO" state, which cuts power to the lock and sets the door to unlocked.

RFID READER

I've made a few different model of RFID readers work, but really MOST of the ones I've tried all worked the same.

The basic connections on RFID readers are these:

POSITIVE   - RED

NEGATIVE - BLACK

DATA0 -  GREEN (usually)

DATA1 - WHITE (usually)

There are others, but all ones I connected up worked with this configuration right away.

This is an HID ThinLine II reader and it works with the board discussed in this document.

This is an "HID" reader below, which was $20 from China, so probably less quality, but the ones I have work just fine so far.

This RFID reader can support pin/rfid combination access.

These RFID readers work with and without the use of the key pin pads (to go with the cards).

We use these readers on external doors that are public accessible.  This is due to the insecure nature of RFID skimmers.  These require an RFID pass plus a user pin number to work in conjunction to open the door.

Googled: " s touch s key reader pdf "

and found this PDF document with instructions

https://www.i-keys.de/download_free/sTouch-sKey%20standalone.pdf

Door Strikes

The door strike is operated by electronically by the door controller.

This P2 power connection does NOT provide power to the door strike connections DR1 - DR4.  Power for these connections is provided to the "COM" input on each connection from a separate 12 volt power source.

Electric door strikes and magnetic locks can consume a lot of power and should be sourced separately from a different supply than the one powering the board, since its requirements are very.  You don't want to burn out the power supply.

The controller has connections for either mode.  The important thing to understand is that the system doesn't provide any power to these connections.  You must feed power alternately into these feeds.  

In this diagram, you'll notice that there are two power connections from the power supply going to same board.  The top power connection in the picture is the power for the boards electronics.

The second power connection you see is dedicated solely to the strikes.  Some power supplies have multiple outputs, sometimes you can share.  

The method shown allows you to have dedicated power sources for the strikes.  It also reduces the power required running through the electronics on the board itself.

In this example, the positive line goes to the COM connection on the associated door that you are working on.  Then, depending on the operational type of your strike, you connect it to either Normally Open, or Normally Closed.  In the above example, the strike is a normally closed strike, meaning power is always required to keep the door locked.  When an authorized card is used, the power is turned off to the strike for the duration programmed in the controller, and the door stays unlocked for that time period.

Request to exit button

RFID systems allow a door to open usually either the door handle, latch or magnetic lock on the door frame.  In cases of egress, we need to allow this door to open.  In most cases, door handles, for egress, are usually unlocked.  This means you can, regardless of card state, turn the door handle or push the crashbar and open the door to get out.
In some cases, the handle itself on the door isn't enough to override the system when exiting, In the case of a magnetically locked door, you may require to press a button to release the magnetic lock.  Some, as you approach, sense your approach and will automatically release the door.

 so you need to have some sort of mechanism that detects you are trying to exist and will allow you to do so without a card.  The request to exit button contact, when activated, will trigger the system to release that door for a time period.

On my implementations, my request to exit button itself needed power to light up a light on it.  So I doubled up the power draw from the same power connections that the RFID reader used.

Forced Open/ Open Detection
These boards require an additional module to do some additional input output.
Forced/Unauthorized opening or the leaving of a door open can be detected using a door open sensor

First you'll need this board which connects to the expansion port of the door controller

This board can also be connected to a fire alarm panel, allowing the system to unlock all doors upon the activation of a compatible fire alarm system.

In the diagram this shows the "ALARM OUTPUT" connections, however these can serve as inputs alternatively.

So, for example, you connect this module to your alarm panel, then wire a door open sensor to it.

in the software you can program this, that, upon the door being pushed open without a request to exit or a card (IE someone has forced the door open or left it open) the system can detect it and send an alarm or warning.

Software

The software that is used by these systems appears to be the same flavor of software, just used by various different companies.  The link to the Weingand site has a download you can install and try.  I think you need to register it to make it work long term.

WGACCESS Software (WINDOWS ONLY)  That latest version is 8.97 at time of running.
.  I'm running 7.95 on Windows 10 and 2012R2.  7.75 seems to work on windows 10 too.

Here is an alternate link to the 7.95 version of software 

http://www.wiegand.com.cn/soft/soft_all_32/MJ_all_en.rar

http://www.wiegand.com.cn/english/support.htm

(Access Control + Time & Attendances + Patrol )

Default user and passwordUser: abc

Password: 123
Extended Function password: 5678
Registration code is 2004

There is a OPENSOURCE inituitive with these controllers, I haven't done much with it yet, but here is a link to it https://github.com/carbonsphere/UHPPOTE


ACCESSING THE DEVICE

There is a built in web GUI in these controllers once they have an IP

http://IP of the device

I've run into challenges sometimes obtaining the default IP of these units. What I find works best is to attach the RFID board to the exact same network as the PC controller software is.  This isn't usually a problem when you are on a flat small network, but if you are running this in a bigger network that has different vlans, this will help configure it.  I have, in the past had to hook up wireshark on a computer to the controller to determine the IP.  There are lots of online tutorials how to do that, its an alternative path if you have trouble with the IP.

Have it search and detect it.  Then when you configure that board, set it to the IP of the network you want it to be part of (if different than your PC controller software).

Try the following user/password combination

user (aka "System Manager" default) is " abc "

password (default) " 654321 "

Here's a link to a manual to a version of this application.  There seem to be a few floating on the net.HERE

There's a MS Access database in the system, the password for it is " 168168 " if you want to look at the tables.

FAQ

QUESTION:
Where can I download the controller software?

WGACCESS Software downloaded at http://www.wiegand.com.cn/english/support.htm

QUESTION:
Do I need the door administration software on my computer running all the time for the system work?

No.  The software is for administration purposes only.  You assign cards and permissions in the software, the you upload the data to the controllers.  Once that data is uploaded, the controllers run autonomously.

QUESTION:
Does the software gather logs automatically?

No.  You must click on the controller and do a download to gather the exit/entry log history

3> QUESTION:
I've hooked up ethernet to the door controller board, how do I connect?

The board DEFAULTS to DHCP. 

• If you have access to the router that hands out DHCP, you can look in the routers DHCP table to see the IP assigned to it.
• If you know the IP, and the controller is on a different, but local/route able LAN segment, you can manually enter the IP address in.

You can also use the administration software to look for the controller board, however the computer running that software has to be on the same network.

What is NO and NC?

This refers to the type of electric circuit that controls the door and should not be mistaken to be a reference to the type of lock you are using with it.  NO and NC are used to describe the connections (switch or on this RFID controller, relays) and manual switches like emergency stop buttons.

NO stands for "normally open"  (connections are normally open and close when a switch is used).  Normally Open (NO) stops the flow of electricity until its commanded to 'close ' and start the electricity passing through the circuit

NC stands for "normally closed" (connections are normally closed and open when a switch is used).  Normally Closed (NC) is a circuit which allows the flow of electricity until its commanded to 'open' and stop the electricity from passing. 

Normally Lock and Normally Unlock

There are various types of lock mechanisms, and they generally come in two types of default behaviors when there is no power, or its normal mode, either locked or unlocked.  There are various reasons why you would want this, but its normally decided on the state of the door in its majority of use and/or the state of the door when there is a complete power fail of the system.

The lock type, in conjunction with their connection to the board dictate their behavior when a card is presented for entry.  And this would be how you want the door to be controlled

A lock, whose natural un-powered state is locked, would usually be connected to a "normally open" circuit on the board.  When the door is to be unlocked, the controller changes the circuit to "closed" sending power to unlock it the door.

How many doors can the software control

100 doors using 25 controllers  (4 doors / controller)

What type of readers are compatible

The RFID receiver needs to output a 26 bit Wiengand signal. 

Can I use motion sensors to unlock the door?
Yes

Is it possible to open 4 doors with just one keypad but 4 different pin-codes? 
Yes.  However you can't do it through software.  You would need to wire up the door latches to a relay(s), which would trigger the unlock of the doors.  You would want to be careful of power consumption that the relays use, and the power that is delivered.

Factory Reset

I haven't tried this yet, i've put this as a place holder to confirm, but apparently if you connect "SDA" and "GND" and power on the board you should be able to reset it back to factory.