nfcpy

Best USB NFC reader for Raspberry Pi

Asked by neonigma on 2014-05-04

Hi,

what's the best USB NFC reader for using on a Raspberry Pi?

I have an ACR122U and it's really hellish, sometimes interface can't be opened

[nfc.dev.acr122] failed to retrieve ACR122U version string
[nfc.clf] no reader found at 'usb'
[main] no contactless reader found

and sometimes gives a timeout.

[nfc.clf] searching for reader with path 'usb'
[nfc.clf] using ACS ACR122U PICC Interface at usb:001:007
[nfc.snep.server] snep server bound to port 4 (MIU=1984, RW=15), will accept up to 1048576 byte NDEF messages
[nfc.snep.server] snep server bound to port 16 (MIU=1984, RW=15), will accept up to 10000 byte NDEF messages
[nfc.dev.acr122] listen mode is disabled for this device
[nfc.dev.acr122] listen mode is disabled for this device
[nfc.dev.pn53x] [Errno 110] Operation timed out
[nfc.clf] [Errno 110] Operation timed out

I'm using pyusb 1.0.0a3 and libusb1.0.0 and a USB powered hub.

I need a good reader for using with p2p/llcp purposes.

Cheers!

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
nfcpy Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Stephen Tiedemann
Solved:
2014-05-05
Last query:
2014-05-05
Last reply:
2014-05-05

This question was reopened

Stephen Tiedemann (stephen-tiedemann) said : #1

ACR122 is in general not the best choice but on RasPi you may additionally be hit by apparent instability/weirdness of the USB subsystem. I for myself encountered some strange behaviour also with other hardware that connects through USB. What seems to be working well is the Adafruit PN532 reader board connected serially, this combination is reportedly tested with nfcpy as well as libusb. Though it's slighly more hardware work than to plug in a USB cable :-)

neonigma (neonigma) said : #2

Thanks, Stephen.

I'll check Adafruit PN532 reader board with desired P2P/llcp feature to develop a small app.

Thank you very much for your work, your code and your answers :-)

neonigma (neonigma) said : #3

Is there any evidence for EXPLORE-NFC NXP PN512 http://es.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=2366201&COM=knode-devkitnfc-prod working well with nfcpy?

Best Stephen Tiedemann (stephen-tiedemann) said : #4

There is evidence that it will *not* yet work. PN512 is a lot more basic and has a completely different command set. It's actually on my wishlist (and already on my desk) but that won't help you right now.

neonigma (neonigma) said : #5

Great, thanks for the info.

neonigma (neonigma) said : #6

Thanks Stephen Tiedemann, that solved my question.