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[on:]

Hey everyone!

An hour ago I finished soldering the breakout board together to the ID-20 (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8628). I checked all solder joints and did not see any bridges.
I then hooked up the board to a breadboard, and plugged in wires to the arduino. After doing some testing, where I read two different cards, everything was going great.

I then unplugged the RFID-reader and added an LED, to test the possibilities.

This is where I might have screwed the pooch: I then inserted the ID-20 back into the breadboard - BUT - I am not sure that I placed the reader back in to the right sockets (resulting in a short?).
This time, strange readings were seen on the Serial Monitor. I quickly unplugged the reader. Then I put the reader back in, carefully checking the sockets. Again strange writing.

Next try the arduino stopped responding, until I unplugged the reader and reset the arduino.

My question to you guys: Is the RFID-reader dead or do I have a chance? - I am afraid to do any further testing.

[Reply #1 on:]

based on the pinout... it would be difficult to mess up the ID20 due to reverse insertion.

[Reply #2 on:]

I might have to explain further: I had setup the wires to the ID-20 before I inserted it onto the breadboard. This means that pin 11 on the ID-20 recieved 5V. The second time i plugged the ID-20 into the breadboard, I might have inserted it with an offset of one pin, resulting in pin 10 recieving 5V or similar...

Is the ID-20 reader gone for good? Or can I test it in some way?

[Reply #3 on:]

  If you have gone over your current set up (both code and hardware)- double checking everything, and it still doesn't work, you'd have good reason to suspect that it is broken.

  If it is still working and you have gotten something wrong in your current set up, it would be the things that you have changed and may have bumped.  Get a multimeter and check that voltages are expected values.

  If you still can't get it working, you'll need to buy a new one.  If the new one works, than you'll know for sure!

[Reply #4 on:]

Every time I see strange writing on Serial Monitor the first thing I look at is the baud rate setting.

[Reply #5 on:]

What exactly is the strange writing you see?

It is possible the reader's output mode has been changed.  See discussion at: http://hcgilje.wordpress.com/resources/rfid_id12_tagreader/

[Reply #6 on:]

There's a program for working with the hardware you have at...

http://sheepdogguides.com/arduino/art3rfid1.htm

... and some "gotcha"s are discussed.