First of all thanks to tafische for an *awesome* tutorial on interfacing the readers purchased from All Electronics (AE).
These tend to be very cheap (<$3), and read track 2. They are used equipment, and certainly look like it. The have a funny looking RJ-11 (phone) connector on them.
I recently revamped the Shim Mod page on the SS homepage. (http://stripesnoop.sf.net/mod.html).
In this picture (http://stripesnoop.sourceforge.net/mod/12.jpg) you can see what the AE reader looks like inside. The two holes fartherest out hold the maghead (Which has been removed). Sadly, as you can see there are no holes the same distance apart that we can move the maghead to (like with the Omron V3As). We might be able to cut down the original maghead and bracket to fit in the 2 sets of holes above and below, but I have not tried.
As I say in on the Modification page, Using shims any reader can also read tracks "below" what it is certified for. IE, A Track 2 reader can also reader Track 1 if you use a 1/8" shim. Thus, while we cannot move the maghead on the AE readers, we can still use a single 1/8" shim to read Track 1!
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Folks,
First of all thanks to tafische for an *awesome* tutorial on interfacing the readers purchased from All Electronics (AE).
These tend to be very cheap (<$3), and read track 2. They are used equipment, and certainly look like it. The have a funny looking RJ-11 (phone) connector on them.
I recently revamped the Shim Mod page on the SS homepage. (http://stripesnoop.sf.net/mod.html).
In this picture (http://stripesnoop.sourceforge.net/mod/12.jpg) you can see what the AE reader looks like inside. The two holes fartherest out hold the maghead (Which has been removed). Sadly, as you can see there are no holes the same distance apart that we can move the maghead to (like with the Omron V3As). We might be able to cut down the original maghead and bracket to fit in the 2 sets of holes above and below, but I have not tried.
As I say in on the Modification page, Using shims any reader can also read tracks "below" what it is certified for. IE, A Track 2 reader can also reader Track 1 if you use a 1/8" shim. Thus, while we cannot move the maghead on the AE readers, we can still use a single 1/8" shim to read Track 1!
I have been playing around trying to move the reader head. I have used a dremmel tool to route out the plastic to make it fit in slot 1 and 3.
I also cut the plastic on the screw down holder so it will rotate to any position. I have not been able to get a relilable read from it.
Looks like it may be difficult to get track 3 out of this reader...but hey...for $1.50...not bad...
Maybe a shim would be a better idea. As a test, I 've glued four CC's together to shim the top of the mounting posts for the read head.
Not perfect. It should move the head up 0.12" rather than the 0.11" in the specifications.
If you remove the lower flange from the pin holder and extend the mounting hole. It should work.
What I don't have is a card with known track 3 data.
Suggestions?