He makes his own that are larger and more easily read. 352 530-5984 for Ellie

Look at the curbing by the card readers! Most are black from car tires. Many people with mirror transmitters need to get very close to the reader and hit the curb.

As I have experience with both the smaller round readers and the larger one that Ellie makes, the smaller round reader works fine in mirrors that are not low to the ground. I usually place two or three of the smaller ones at different locations in a mirror. As the Tesla M3 is low to the ground, the larger one works better for me. People using the mirror cards have both hands on the wheel and are not districted with looking for a gate card so I would suggest that people using mirror gate cards are not the ones hitting the curb.:smiley:

Watch the video of using the gate card in my Honda CRV

The easy way to open a gate in The Villages - YouTube

My mirror housing on both my car and my golf cart are black. Black duct tape IS very noticeable (at least to me) on both of these mirrors, which is why I don't have a gate pass in those spots.

The only way I'll use an RFID tag is if it can be placed inside the mirror. It was on my last car, and worked fine, but it wasn't a disc, it was a long strip that was stuck inside the mirror. It was about 1" wide by 2 - 2 1/2" long.

Has anybody found these types of tags available? The larger (and therefore larger antenna) in an RFID tag, the farther away they can be activated and read.

I highly doubt that he makes his own. He buys rewritable tags from somewhere and then writes data to them. He would need quite the production shop to actually manufacture his own tags.

The only workable ones that I have found were the 25 mm discs sold on Amazon. They will work if properly placed inside the mirror housing. But I would recommend using at least 3 discs and arranging them in several orientations, such as vertical, horizontal, etc. Good luck.

no. card has nothing to do with distance. If you read specs on HID cards they are good for about 10 inches. The readers can have longer distance of reading.

No.

The longer range system being tested requires both new readers and new cards. The last time it was discussed, the new cards would need to be purchased if you wanted one.

EDIT: Above info from a presentation to the PWAC some time ago and status updates more recently

As I really enjoy using mirror cloned cards to open gates and have attended several Village meetings on this subject, I can't find where it is stated that the new readers would require new gate cards. They did mention that an optional longer range card might be available at some time in the future. My mirror gate cards still work with the Village equipment installed as of today. What gate has new equipment that makes my card not work?

I think a few ideas are getting conflated

- The recent work on the gate involved replacing control boards and software, not readers
- Your existing cloned card appears to still work
- Apparently, there are cards available with larger antennas that work at longer ranges with the existing readers
- The earlier proposal mentioned a long range reader and card system as an upgrade, this might require an additional reader at each gate
- The new cards were mentioned as something residents would need to purchase
- The new readers and cards are being tested by the District staff somewhere
- It was mentioned that the capability might be added to a gate(s) somewhere in the PWAC districts so that PWAC members might test it also

So…
1. Your cards still work and might continue to work
2. The long range cards were talked about as something the residents would need to buy
3. If the new cards worked with the existing readers then the PWAC would be able to test the capability with just a new card. However, the statement was made that the capability would need to be installed within the PWAC area. This is consistent with the wording of the earlier presentation.
4. It wasn’t clear whether the new reader would also work with the old cards or whether each gate would have two readers
5. The location of the system being tested today was never given

gate card
 

I found a place in China that sells the larger 1" plus x 2.5 " card reader that has at least a 1 ft range that looks similar to what the professionals are selling. I received them today and tested (cloned) one out to be pleased. It may need to be sealed or secured in a different way than usual. I have one or two at $2 each you can try.

The smaller round ones work well in my Honda CRV that is higher but not the Tesla M3.


Rick

I just spoke with Ellie, who says he sold his business to a gentleman named Aly -- has anyone hired Aly to create the chip for their car? Thanks.

I can create a round disc duplicate for you for no charge if you are willing to drive to me. All I need is your Villages issued gate card in order to make a duplicate. It takes less than 1 minute.

If you are a DIY-er, the discs are about $1 each on Amazon and the duplicators are on sale for $11.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Joe Striano / (845) 542-7365

I have those round discs, but I use 4 discs, 3 inside the mirror housing, and one taped on the outside edge. If you only put one disc inside the mirror housing, you may have difficulty activating the gate reader at some gates.

That has been my experience also. With a single disc inside the mirror (that exact model) mine will not open the gate. It works if I hold it in my hand but not inside the mirror.

I haven't tried stacking them inside the mirror and I have no desire to tape one outside the mirror.

I don't stack them. I install one on the top, bottom, and side of the housing. I think the orientation of the disc affects the function.

Now that's an interesting thought. Thanks, I will give that a try.

I have not had that issue yet, but I don't get out much. I know it works well at the gate near Sawgrass and the one heading into the Village of Charlotte.

Hi,

I orderd that programmer and it came today, but it's not reading my Villages Card. Is this the same one you have? Just want to be sure it works with these cards. I'm guessing I have a lemon.

What I'm doing is pressing and holding Read while I'm holding the Left side of the unit on or near the card. Just keeps saying Busy. I'm thinking the read should be pretty fast, is that your experience @jjdlad?

It should read the card within a few seconds. Are you sure the batteries are good?

Yes, brand new batteries.

I'm thinking maybe this reader isn't the right one. One of the reviews for it says that if the Antenna Inside is a rounded rectangle that goes around the perimeter that you likely have a 13.56 MHz card and this reader is for 125 kHz card.

I don't think that is correct. I have the exact same reader, and mine works fine. Have you tried using other cards? Also, you may have a defective reader device.

Yeah, it certainly may be defective. That was my first thought. When you shine a flashlight on the bottom of your card and look at it from the top do you have a tiny circle antenna or one like mine that runs the perimeter of the card? Really appreciate your help, knowing that you're using the same reader makes me want to get a replacement vs not.

The gate cards are the only RFID card I have so I can't test it on anything else sadly.

I did some more research online and I think what the reviewer said about the rounded rectangle being 13.56 MHz is not correct. I do think the card is 125 kHz. I have a replacement coming, should arrive on Monday.

125 is correct. That looks like the same device I bought though they all look very similar.

There is no holding for mine. I have the card on the table, put the left side of the reader against the card (the upper part of the reader on the same side as the finger grips), then press and release the read button. I immediately see the busy light come on, hear three beeps, and then the green light comes on. This happens so quickly that it might all take place before I actually release the button.

You might want to make sure your card still works and you didn’t accidentally overwrite it (not sure if that’s even possible). If the card is still good it sounds like maybe the reader is bad.

I have both types of cards, one with a circle and one with a rectangle around the card perimeter. The one with the circle says HID ProxCard II and the other one says XceedID. I got both cards from The Villages. My card reader will read both cards.

It sounds like you need to return your reader and buy another one from one of the other Amazon vendors. Also, you can buy a new card from The Villages for about $15 or so.

Thanks guys. I have a new one coming. I *think* my card still works, but it's been a minute since I used it. I have a mirror disc that I use. Couldn't get the reader to read that either. I don't have any real need for a new card or disc, but I just wanted to have the ability to make my own copies, maybe help a neighbor etc. I'll post back on Monday when the new one comes.

Appreciate the insights!

You want to get
125Khz (NOT 13mhz - they won't work on present readers)
T5577 compatible
Writable

Did you get your replacement? Just curious if the new one is still not reading? There is a small learning curve to using the device. I found that the sweet spot on the reader is on the left side but lined up exactly with the text on the face of it. I also found that you have to pass the reader over the card or disc you are reading or writing to as opposed to holding it in one spot.

Hi,

Thanks for checking back. It did arrive late last night and worked like a charm. It's really quite simple. Exactly as described, very quick read and then very quick write. Tested and opens gate fine.

First one must have been a lemon.

I see you joined TOTV in 2023.
I’ve lived here 16 years. Yes, there are doofuses who drive through the gates and break off the arms. They are always repaired in 2 days. The gate cameras record the whole thing , and bill the driver $250.
I’m not sure where you are located where the arms that break are never fixed.
I live near a manned gate, and the worker is extremely busy managing two lanes of incoming traffic, with golf carts and bikers crossing immediately once the cars are through the gate.
They do a great job.
Those same doofuses who try to run the gate and break off the arms would be running down golf cart drivers.
The card system calms traffic and records every vehicle coming and going. No complaints from me.

I just had 2 cars done and they work fine as long as you are close enough to the pad.
Contact Joe Striano 845-542-7365, or Mustgang428@gmail.com.

Gates are needed to slow down cars running thru at 50 mph.... people here like to speed...otherwise golf carts would never stand a chance.

You know what’s hilarious?

ANY RFID tag will work on our gates.

Don’t believe me? Try any other fob or if you don’t have one, have a visitor swipe his/her company employee access card, a key fob to any parking garage, etc. on any of our residence only readers and the gate will spring right open!

We discovered this when visiting as guests ourselves, reaching for the red button with our keys in hand (and garage fob to our condo back in Cleveland attached to the keychain), and hearing the reader beep before actually pressing the button.

So our readers don’t actually check your villages-issued ID at all - they simply open for any passive RFID tag. It’s hilarious - especially given the 11 pages of this thread - and swiping is therefore totally unnecessary.

And since the gates only purpose is understandably safety, not security (ie to bring traffic to a stop at the village entrances), I’m firmly in the camp of removing both the readers and separate resident only entrances and just keeping the gates in construction / car sensing mode.

This would, of course, eliminate the need to designate a visitor lane and any false sense of security the family may want you to have living in a “gated community.” But let’s at least be honest here.

To me, what’s most frustrating is surely the family’s upper echelon not only knows about this community “feature” but also choose to continue to promote the false sense of security by building such resident-only entrances. Instead, they ignored the whole pesky access control list / database maintenance overhead a resident might understandably assume is included in our “not-an-HOA” monthly amenity fees.

Anyway, just sharing this as I hate seeing people taken advantage of - even if those same people lock the doors to their convertible while leaving the top down.

And I’m shocked more people don’t know about this already as we’ve been using other fobs for years. Maybe now that it’s out and Peter Bernard Bubble Wraps it (IYKYK) - it might spur the family to minimally acknowledge it and hopefully make a change: actually enforce gate security or remove the nonsensical scanners altogether.

������ ������ ������

Looking forward to another 50 posts contradicting this revelation.

If anyone cares to contradict me, DM me and I'll drive to you and test it directly with a fob I use from our garage back in Ohio.

I really don't see the point of your post. Most people know that anyone can open the gate by just pressing the red button. So, there should no "false" sense of security. The gates are mostly for traffic control, not security. I think the purpose for the visitor lane is to allow visitors to ask for directions or other information without delaying the residents. I am still waiting for these long range gate cards that The Villages has been promising for years, but they never seem to be able to produce. Without them, many people still need to open their window to open the gate unless they have a cloned mirror card.

Contradictions are what got the thread over 150 posts.:1rotfl::1rotfl:

My point is I saw multiple people in this thread buying RFID tag duplicator at around $20 to clone their cards. You can use any RFID card and it will open.

So not sure why you then say people have to have a cloned mirror card if you agree with me that any tag will work.