Subscriber Discussion

Long Range UHF Readers For Gate Entry Apps ...Nedap Or Tagmaster? Anyone Have Experience With Either?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 25, 2018

Looking at a good sized gate entry project for vehicle gates.  Looking at both Nedap and Tagmaster long range UHF readers to propose. Anyone have recent experience, good or bad, with either of these manufacturers?

Their readers and credentials appear somewhat similar, so not sure what the differentiators are .. price, performance, reliability, and support are all critical.  Since these types of reader aren't inexpensive, I figured I'd check here for input.

We will be using the readers in a simple wiegand-output mode to a separate access control system, so no fancy bells and whistles are required for managing the readers.

Thanks in advance.

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Brian Rhodes
Jun 26, 2018
IPVMU Certified

How many vehicle tags will need to be issued?  Will multiple tags need to be read simultaneously by a single reader?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 26, 2018

5,000+ tags/users spread out over multiple residential entry gates. Only one at a time needs to be read although some entry points will have multiple entry lanes, each with their own readers.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Jun 26, 2018

We use Nedap at our corporate HQ roughly 5000 tags, 11 separate gates, and have had good luck with the readers and tags.  If its dual lanes you just have to be careful with how they are aimed and where tags are placed.  Additionally they have a good selection of tag types from windshield and headlight to solid bars for under the hood applications.  I do not have experience with the other brand mentioned.  The biggest issues we have had was with support of the gate system, presence loops, and PLC stuff but that was our mistake for believing the manufacturer/integrator, same company, would support it after the sale.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 26, 2018

Thanks for the feedback ... was your Nedap system tied into/integrated with the "house" access control system for building access, or was it completely standalone? If it was tied in, did you use any of the multi-technology cards that work at both the Nedap readers and the conventional prox readers at building doors?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Jun 26, 2018

We have it tied in to our Lenel Access control.  We have separate HID readers for our normal employee badges in the event employees are in a different vehicle, visiting from a different facility, etc.  

U
Undisclosed #2
Jun 26, 2018

I have used Nedap for about 5 years, long before HID's product was on the market. So far its been a solid product, biggest complaint is the cards are shipped in from the Netherlands and can take time. If you need custom orders UHF/Prox, add more time and some DOA cards. In fairness, the DOA rate on cards has improved significantly and the communication between the manufacture and distribution is very good. The read range has been impressive even in challenging environments, like passenger side mounted reader, reading credential from driver side through window 95+% on the first try.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 26, 2018

Thanks for the feedback.  At what height did you mount the Nedap readers?  Have you seen them work at lower mounting heights, i.e. at the same height as a 125KHz prox readers like an HID MaxiProx might be mounted (about at window height of an average car)?

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Vlad Craciunescu
Jun 26, 2018
RST

We used Nedap uPass Reach quite a lot, most notably for Taxi access in an airport. They work very well and are pretty straight forward. Nedap has Transit - another reader family  with different working frequencies -  which is more high end and complicated 

The only thing I don't know how well will work is with one reader on each lane. I think the coverage is not very well documented (it might be now ) and then you need to orient them differently ( and/or read in different lines) so each reader only sees it's tags. Depending on your intentions it might help  to mention the technology behind (UHF Gen2 ) has some collision avoidance and can read/detect quite a lot of tags in the same time.

 

I don't know much about price and availability and support in your area .

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 26, 2018

Thank you for this info.  In your experience, how sensitive are these readers to objects blocking direct line of sight ... asking because in the multi-lane setup, even though they will be in line with each other, there could be some physical blocks between lanes.  Wasn't sure how the UHF readers are about going around/through objects.

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Jon Jones
Jun 26, 2018

If the customer uses radios in the US most use UHF.  If you are using UHF readers you can save yourself a potential headache by checking the frequencies they use for communications vs. your equipment to make sure you are not going to create interference issues.

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