TM

New MINIMAG
Magnetic Stripe Reader
Port Powered
Quickstart Manual

ID TECH
10721 Walker Street
Cypress, California 90630
(714) 761-6368
www.idtechproducts.com

80066508-001 Rev. B R04/06 #418

AGENCY APPROVED MESSAGE DATA FORMAT
Specifications for subpart B of part 15 of FCC rule for a Class A computing <SS1><DATA1><ES><SS2><DATA2><ES><SS3><DATA3>
device.
<ES><CR>

LIMITED WARRANTY Where <SS1>, <SS2>, and <SS3> are start sentinels for Track 1,
ID TECH warrants to the original purchaser for a period of 24 months from
Track 2, and Track 3, and <ES> is the end sentinel for all tracks.
the date of invoice that this product is in good working order and free from
defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service. ID ISO format: <SS1> is % <SS2> is ;
TECH’s obligation under this warranty is limited to, at its option, replacing, <SS3> is + <ES> is ?
repairing, or giving credit for any product which has, within the warranty
period, been returned to the factory of origin, transportation charges and
insurance prepaid, and which is, after examination, disclosed to ID TECH’s
CADMV format: <SS1> is % <SS2> is ;
satisfaction to be thus defective. The expense of removal and reinstalla- <SS3> is ! <ES> is ?
tion of any item or items of equipment is not included in this warranty. No
person, firm, or corporation is authorized to assume for ID TECH any other <DATAX> is the decoded data for Track X. It is the character
liabilities in connection with the sales of any product. In no event shall ID “E” if the magnetic data on Track X is not valid.
TECH be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages to Pur-
chaser or any third party caused by any defective item of equipment, whether
that defect is warranted against or not. Purchaser’s sole and exclusive
remedy for defective equipment, which does not conform to the requirements
of sales, is to have such equipment replaced or repaired by ID TECH. For
limited warranty service during the warranty period, please contact ID TECH
to obtain a Return Material Authorization (RMA) number & instructions for
returning the product.

THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES OF

MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THERE ARE NO OTHER WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, OTHER THAN THOSE HEREIN STATED. THIS PROD-
UCT IS SOLD AS IS. IN NO EVENT SHALL ID TECH BE LIABLE FOR
CLAIMS BASED UPON BREACH OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WAR-
RANTY OF NEGLIGENCE OF ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHETHER DI-
RECT, IMMEDIATE, FORESEEABLE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL
OR FOR ANY EXPENSE INCURRED BY REASON OF THE USE OR
MISUSE, SALE OR FABRICATIONS OF PRODUCTS WHICH DO NOT
CONFORM TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE CONTRACT.

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 ©2006 International Technologies & Systems Corporation. The information
RS-232 PARAMETERS contained herein is provided to the user as a convenience. While every effort
has been made to ensure accuracy, ID TECH is not responsible for damages
Baud Rate 9600 that might occur because of errors or omissions, including any loss of profit
or other commercial damage. The specifications described herein were cur-
Data Bits 8 rent at the time of publication, but are subject to change at any time without
Parity None prior notice.
Stop Bits 1
Hand-Shaking X-ON/X-OFF (11h/13h) ID TECH is a registered trademark of International Technologies & Systems
Corporation. MiniMag and Value through Innovation are trademarks of
International Technologies & Systems Corporation.

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SPECIFICATIONS TROUBLE SHOOTING PROCEDURES
Power Requirements: 5 to 12 VDC/7mA.
The troubleshooting process can be simplified by reviewing
Operating Current: 5 mA typical (including LED)<9mA peak (<1ms). these reader operations.

Operating Once it has been confirmed that the unit is correctly powered,
Temperature: 32° F to 131° F (0° C to 55° C).
swipe a credit card. The LED will go off while decoding, then
Storage Temperature: -22° F to 158° F (-30° C to 70° C). light green to indicate a “good read,” or red to indicate a “bad
read.”
Relative Humidity: 10% to 90% non-condensing.

Magnetic Head Life: 1,000,000 passes minimum. Once the unit has indicated a “good read,” then proceed to check
the interface configuration.
Rail and Cover Life: 1,000,000 passes minimum.

Magnetic Stripe
Installation of the reader is generally easy and trouble free, here
Encoding & Formats: Two-frequency coherent phase (F2F) compatible are some considerations if problems occur.
with ISO 7811 ANSI, AAMVA, and California DMV.
Does the host COM port baud rate, number of data bits &
Maximum Number
of Tracks: 3 tracks. parity match the reader? See RS232 Parameters.

Swipe Speed: 3 to 60 inches per second, bidirectional. Is the host set-up for card reader operation and is the card
Card Thickness: .015 to .045 inches.
reader application running? Check the application set-up
parameters.
Dimensions: Length: 3.56 inches (90mm). Width: 1.34 inches
(34mm). Height: 1.10 inches (28mm). Does the configuration of the reader’s magnetic stripe data
output match the host application data input requirements?
Weight: 5.5 oz. (with cable).
The application may need to be configured to match.
Cable Length: 6-foot straight cable.

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OPERATION DESCRIPTION
1. Connect the MiniMag reader cable to the 9-pin male serial The MiniMag™ compact magnetic stripe reader can read 1, 2,
port on a computer. Insure the reader cable connector is fully or 3 tracks of magnetic stripe information. Power consumption
seated with the computer. is low; standard RS-232 ports can power it. Operating current is
less than 9mA maximum for a 3-track configuration.
2. Run an RS-232 communication program (such as HyperTer-
minal). Select the serial port to which the reader cable has been The decoding electronics are based on MagChip ASIC technolo-
connected. The application needs to open the RS-232 port with gy designed for use with magnetic stripe cards encoded with F2F
DSR set to HIGH. (A typical communication program sets DSR ANSI and ISO-conforming data. The MiniMag reliably decodes
to HIGH by default.) data encoded within ANSI and ISO standards, on both high and
low coercivity magnetic media. The circuit is designed to read
3. The green LED will light to indicate the reader is powered. cards demagnetized down to 30% or 40% of ISO and ANSI sig-
nal levels, on Track 1 and Track 3 or Track 2 respectively. These
4. Set the baud rate at 9600, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity. reading characteristics are designed to insure that the MiniMag
will reliably read ‘real world’ cards.
5. The LED is normally GREEN (reader ready). Slide a card, in
either direction, through the reader slot, with the magnetic stripe In order to insure reliable reading under varying conditions, the
facing the magnetic head (opposite the LED side of the reader). MiniMag will read magnetic media at speeds from 3 inches per
second (IPS) to 60 IPS with typical accelerations. The output is
6. The LED will be off during a card read swipe. The GREEN standard RS-232.
LED will be on after a good read operation; otherwise, the LED
will be RED for 1/2 second, then return to GREEN.

7. The data on the card will be shown on the screen. Check the
communication parameters if the data on the screen is not cor-
rect.

NOTE: Sending data to the reader while swiping a card will

cause a bad read.

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HOST CONNECTIONS POWER-ON INITIALIZATION
The Port-Powered MiniMag reader is connected to a 9-pin male The MiniMag will always transmit an identification string within
serial port on a host (such as a PC) using a DB9 female connec- 2 seconds after it powers up. The identification string has the
tor. Pinout designations are as follows: following format:

PIN SIGNAL <compressed part number><revision information>

2 TXD The <compressed part number> is eight characters and the

3 RXD <revision information> is three characters.
4 DSR (Supply Voltage in)
5 GND

SLEEP & WAKE-UP

The reader uses a sleep mode to save power when not in use.
The reader wakes-up when a card is swiped. After the card data
is transmitted the reader returns to the sleep mode. The LED
will remain on to show the “ready to read” condition.

The reader also wakes-up 5ms after receiving a character from

the RS232 port. The reader will stay awake for about 100ms to
receive any commands from the host. The reader returns to sleep
mode after commands are processed.

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