Diy Magnetic Card Reader

When using magnetic strip card at super markets or fuel stations, everyone at some point must have thought about the way the mechanism works. Those who are more curious find that it works with the information the card reader reads from the magstripe of the card. The next question that strikes the mind is about the kind of information stored in the magstripe. There is no way one can get to know about it since the issuing financial institution would in no circumstances be ready to share this with anyone, even the card owner. However, there is an escape route to everything, and for this case, it is to create a card reader that reads information from a magnetic strip card. Apart from those who are really curious, those who study this technology can also go for building such a magnetic card reader. Also, technical minds that take this as a challenge can find building a card reader a cool thing to do.

To make a magnetic card reader, one needs to understand that magstripes use magnetic fields to encode data. Each magstripe reader contains a head. The head is used to output an analog signal of the magnetic fluxes on the card. These signals can be converted into digital outputs by using a chip called F2F decoder. These outputs can be read into the computer by using the game port on the system. A magstripe reading software can then be used to read the information stored on the magstripe.

For building the gadget, one will require several things. The first requirement is to have a TTL magstripe reader. Basically this reader fools the computer by posing the gadget as processing of joystick buttons. One will also require DB-15 Male Connector, a joystick connector. Cat 5 cable is also needed, but speaker cable could also be used instead. Soldering iron and solder will be required to fix things. Less experienced people can also find a jumper wire kit to be useful for the purpose.

To start with, one need to use the data sheet for for the TTL reader, and while getting it, one should make sure it supports Track 2. Now, one should refer to the pinout from the data sheet, and solder wires from the Cat 5 cable to the 5V, GND, DATA, and CLK pins, making sure the CLK/DATA pair for Track 2 are being used if the reader supports multiple tracks. The contacts to be soldered could be quite small, so covering the contacts on the reader with hot glue after soldering the wires, would make sure they don't shift, break, or short each other out.

One needs to keep in mind that not all the grounds on a game port are really ground points. One can use a LED to check and make sure that the 5V and GND pins going to the reader are actually active, else solder them to active ones. For those not having a game port on their computer or laptop, they can continue construction with a parallel port adapter. The magnetic cared reader hardware is ready now.

The next step is to download a latest version of a magstripe reading software. Many such softwares are available, some even coming as free source software. The software when installed on the computer parses, and decodes the data stored on the magstripe. Now all that is needed is to plug the DB-15 male connector in to the gaming port of the computer, and one is ready to go. There are lots of other fun applications one can do with a magstripe reader, like building a working coke vending machine.