Anyone Know How a Key Fob Reader Works?

[homer302]

We have the same Fobs at work that probably 90% of you guys do, You just hold it up to the panel near the door and it opens (or doesn't) based on time of day, day of week, particular access to the area etc. I believe the door is held closed with a strong magnet.
How does that work?
The motel ones I assume are a lot like a credit card reader with a bar code on the back. That is not the ones I am talking about.
So everyone can take jabs about why I want to know etc. but I already have 24/7 access to every door at my company as I am in IT and I have to.
Being in IT, I like to know how stuff works and am sincerely just curious. The company that provides them does our programming so I dont know how they do it. They don't have to have the fob to change your access, I do know that. They access the system remotely and change it that way.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

Hmmm.....

I have these at all my buildings and wondered the same. They put off some kind of code that the reader picks up. The remote system has the ability to activate and de-activate each individual Fob.

I'll go hack one up and report back. Have quite a few lying around.

Edit:

Here are the internal parts. Looks almost like a pencil lead with extremely fine copper thread wrapped around and connected to this tiny circut board. It's all sealed up in this hard wax like material. Question is, what are these parts and their functions?

 

[homer302]

Yours must be the same then. You change the system programming, not the fob so the sensor somehow knows the fob. There is no battery so I dont know what could be in it. How could it put out anything if there is no battery?
When an employee leaves the company it doesn't matter if he gets mad and takes his fob. It is dead with a single mouse click somehow.

 

[txyaloo]

The most well known vendor is HID Global with their Prox card system.

Doors access panels are connected to a central controller typically over ethernet. The controller is provided rights based on the serial number of your Prox card/badge. Neither the card nor the reader on the door actually know whether you are allowed access. All of this is done typically with a windows based client. The client allows the programming of the controller system.

 

[homer302]

The most well known vendor is HID Global with their Prox card system.

Doors access panels are connected to a central controller typically over ethernet. The controller is provided rights based on the serial number of your Prox card/badge. Neither the card nor the reader on the door actually know whether you are allowed access. All of this is done typically with a windows based client. The client allows the programming of the controller system.

EDIT....answered below. Someone must have given them a route in on a specific port in a router so they can get to their network. We have them seperated from our LAN completely though.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

Yours must be the same then. You change the system programming, not the fob so the sensor somehow knows the fob. There is no battery so I dont know what could be in it. How could it put out anything if there is no battery?
When an employee leaves the company it doesn't matter if he gets mad and takes his fob. It is dead with a single mouse click somehow.

I think the reader sends the signal to the fob. We program the fobs to apartment residents and employees. If they are not returned to us when a resident moves out / skips / gets evicted we simply go to the computer and de-activate their fob on our entry system software.

 

[homer302]

Holy Cow, that it EXACTLY what we use.

 

[txyaloo]

Holy Cow, that it EXACTLY what we use.

:beer: That's the most widely used system. They have good reading on their website.