Review for TBS-3101 Phoenix USB
Review for TBS-3101 Phoenix USB
Recently, I bought a Phoenix smart/mouse card reader. Now I'd like to write a review for displaying its advantage and disadvantage, even the problem you might meet when using. Actually, this smart card reader is another commercially made phoenix USB I've used before. Of course, it also can be used as a encrypt card convertor for satellite receiver. Its distinguishing feature is a USB port for powering and data transferring from PC. Though Communication is not USB based, this smart card reader and writer is still done via an RS232 serial port. A slider switch selects between 3.58 and 6.0 MHz options. Two LED indicates data activity; red one is to receive while green is to transfer.
There are three USB power option available. But most of them can only be used with 5V regular plugpack. Be careful! You must not use 6-12V DC plugpacks otherwise damage is likely to occur. Besides, the plugpack seems to be switched mode type; you should always connect the RS232 cable before applying power to avoid damage. Most of its parts are SMD but as the board is only single-sided there is a bunch of zero ohm links. The dish network card reader supports both Phoenix and SmartMouse reset modes but you can change the mode only by disordering and moving one of the links (R7/R8).
I draw a schematic draft for reference. This phoenix card reader is very similar to the SMP01. They've basically just moved to surface mount components, added the USB power option and omitted a bunch of things to cut costs - most notably the voltage regulator IC. Though it it the same theory, it has its own superior features than other products.
* Safe protection resistors are applied to carry a protection for card insertion. It will avoid some unnecessary damage.
* Routing of high impedance oscillator inputs to slide switch is bad practice and makes it susceptible to instability from noise (unlikely to be a problem in practice).
* Minimum a warning sticker has been provided after it has improved its technology.
*A user-configurable link for Phoenix/SmartMouse mode selection could have been accommodated with a little extra routing work.
* There is a supply decoupling for the smartcard to speak of , which makes you know every steps.
* The LED connection to pin 9 avoids loading the smartcard but means that only host commands are signaled
I didn't bother measuring the capacitor values but you can bet they'll be a different to those other products. Diode D1 appeared to be an ordinary LL14 rather than a schottky, but I tested the product with an ACS 4.1 Ireton card and it worked fine.
Curiously they've routed handshaking signal DTR to CTS but not to DSR. If you own this product but have trouble with some software, you might like to try linking pin 6 to pin 8. While you're there I recommend you also link pin 9 to pin 5 (GND) to suppress spurious RI events. Thomas Keller – The Story of the Best American Chef Planning Easter Holidays to Gulu, Uganda Will Tiger Woods Get Free Golf Holiday Availing Villas for Sale Greek The real charm with goa tourism Viet Travel Advisor offer expert Vietnam Travel consultant, Custom tours and private tours and Hotels in Vietnam Make The Most Of The Beach In Koh Samui Travel Insurance Companies Top 5 Shrubs For Early Spring Gardening Enjoy the beautiful destinations in East Africa Travel Guide for People taking Flights to Rio de Janeiro Top 5 Tourist Places in Uttarakhand to Visit in This Summer Why France is the favourite holiday destination in Europe