Hi!
Happy New Year! I was wondering if someone might be able to help me since I'm very new with electronics and C++. I am trying to build an automated animal RFID reader using a Photon 2 and an RFIDRW-E-TTL module (Priority1Design). The ultimate goal is to use the Photon 2 to publish reads which are then collected via webhook. That setup is already done and functional, as a previous (long gone) team member set it up a few years ago using Photon microcontrollers and the same reader module. I'm trying to update the system to the Photon 2 to make more automated readers and I'm currently having trouble making the connection between the Photon 2 UART pins and RFID reader module's UART pins. I currently have the reader's TX pin connected to the Photon 2's RX pin. But I'm unable to get reads transferred from the reader to the microcontroller. I know the module is reading because the reader's LED changes color when the transponder is within reading range, but nothing seems to get transferred to the microcontroller. I wrote a quick app to test it, but I can't even get the Serial1 to receive more than 0 bits.
// Include Particle Device OS APIs
#include "Particle.h"
// Let Device OS manage the connection to the Particle Cloud
SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);
// Define the serial ports
#define RFID_SERIAL Serial1
#define OUTPUT_SERIAL Serial
void setup() {
// Start the serial communication for RFID reader and output
RFID_SERIAL.begin(9600); // Assuming RFID reader baud rate is 9600
OUTPUT_SERIAL.begin(9600); // Baud rate for the output serial
}
void loop() {
// Check if data is available from the RFID reader
OUTPUT_SERIAL.println( RFID_SERIAL.available() );
delay(500);
}
Do you have any advice on what could be going on? Does it matter which set of UART pins in the Photon 2 I use?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!