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More on doofers


chrisb
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SANEF have nstalled an improved lane for doofer users at the Boulogne toll station. The doofer is read as you enter the lane so that by the time you reach the barrier it is already raised (so long as you stick to the 30kph limit).

Are these in use anywhere else? It's the only one on our route.

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Just got back from the Pyrenees and the the Boulogne one was the only one I saw.  Perhaps they will catch on though. Seems a good idea.

Had to back up at one above Bordeaux, must have gone through too far and it missed the doofer.

I live in dread of the battery running out and it not working  when at the front of a que.

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That sounds a good idea, I hope they'll install more. I imagine it would be a very good place to start rolling them out. We've only had a problem once with one not working, but they sometimes seem very slow. How soon we get used to not having to queue!

I've never thought of the battery giving up - nasty idea!

GG

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On a more negative note I've noticed a gradual tendency at some of the smaller peages for what was the dedicated doofer lane to be redefined for doofers, cartes and (in some cases) coins. Again this has taken away some of that special doofer magic of sailing through. Yesterday we got stuck behind someone who could not get the machine to accept his payment card so we all ended up having to do the backing out thing.
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[quote user="briwy"]
I live in dread of the battery running out and it not working  when at the front of a que.
[/quote]

Had mine for 5 yrs now - literally untouched high on the windscreen, cooked in summer, frozen in winter.

Never failed yet.  

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There is one on the A64 down in 31 near Muret. Think it was installed just before the Boulogne one.

From personal experience if you are travelling over 30kph you are directed off to the tortoise lane (i.e. the normal one where you have to approach the barrier very slowly.

The only thing I have against the express lanes are that you cannot look at the miserable faces in the slow queues to pay for very long [6]

Paul

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[quote user="chrisb"]On a more negative note I've noticed a gradual tendency at some of the smaller peages for what was the dedicated doofer lane to be redefined for doofers, cartes and (in some cases) coins. Again this has taken away some of that special doofer magic of sailing through. Yesterday we got stuck behind someone who could not get the machine to accept his payment card so we all ended up having to do the backing out thing.[/quote]

Not me this time ! Happened last month,,my CB card had expired the day before ....
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My understanding is that they do have something like a lithium battery inside, and that they do eventually fail.  Hence when this happens, you just go through a normal booth, and the cashier will scan the barcode on the unit.  You can then just apply for a replacement, or if you are lucky enough to be on a section of autoroute that supplied your box, and they have a booth, pop in and exchange it.

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[quote user="Alan Zoff"]So what does power these gizmos? Does it have a mini battery or is it - like ipods, etc which supposedly store hundreds/thousands of songs without so much as a magnetic tape - just magic?[/quote]

If you dig around on the autoroute concessionaires sites, they say that doofers contain a lithium battery which is supposed to last at least 3 years.

[quote user="cooperlola"]I am totally non-techie, but is it not

possible that the power all comes from the machine at the payage and

all it needs to do is detect the existence of the doofer?  Is there a

reason it needs to be powered at all?  Or is that a dim idea?[/quote]

Given that what the device needs to be is a reasonably secure (ie not easily counterfeitable) means of providing a unique ID, then you are really left with a radio-based challenge/response system. Current radio frequency ID tag technology (as used in shop anti-shoplifting systems and Oyster cards and other contactless card systems), in which the transponder is powered by the radio energy transmitted by the challenging device (the energy being collected by the RFID tag's antenna) operates only over rather short distances (centimetres): too short for use at a peage. Hence the doofer needs its own power source in order to provide a signal that will carry over a range of a couple of metres (and through coated glass) - at present to project the kind of power level necessary to get a reliable signal back from a non-powered transponder would cause all sorts of other problems ... anyone with a pacemaker want to run THAT risk?

Regards

Pickles

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm sure Pickles did not mind me pointing to exactly what sort of

battery it has even if you do, and remember, the previous poster asked

what sort it was and now they know precisely.

Pickles answer

was very comprehensive and I cannot fault it however he (she) obviously

has not seen inside one which I have and I see no conflict,

undermining, or disrespect in my response.

Here is HERE, not sure what happened to my link first time.

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[quote user="chrisb"]SANEF have nstalled an improved lane for doofer users at the Boulogne toll station. The doofer is read as you enter the lane so that by the time you reach the barrier it is already raised (so long as you stick to the 30kph limit).

Are these in use anywhere else? It's the only one on our route.

[/quote]

In answer to the OP's original question, the "télépéage sans arret" is available on several French motorways now. I beleive there are also some péages where you can approach at 50Km/hour without stopping. Let's hope the batteries are working in yours if you do try this out !!

This link explains all

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[quote user="Pickles"][quote user="Alan Zoff"]So what does power these gizmos? Does it have a mini battery or is it - like ipods, etc which supposedly store hundreds/thousands of songs without so much as a magnetic tape - just magic?[/quote]

If you dig around on the autoroute concessionaires sites, they say that doofers contain a lithium battery which is supposed to last at least 3 years.

[quote user="cooperlola"]I am totally non-techie, but is it not possible that the power all comes from the machine at the payage and all it needs to do is detect the existence of the doofer?  Is there a reason it needs to be powered at all?  Or is that a dim idea?[/quote]

Given that what the device needs to be is a reasonably secure (ie not easily counterfeitable) means of providing a unique ID, then you are really left with a radio-based challenge/response system. Current radio frequency ID tag technology (as used in shop anti-shoplifting systems and Oyster cards and other contactless card systems), in which the transponder is powered by the radio energy transmitted by the challenging device (the energy being collected by the RFID tag's antenna) operates only over rather short distances (centimetres): too short for use at a peage. Hence the doofer needs its own power source in order to provide a signal that will carry over a range of a couple of metres (and through coated glass) - at present to project the kind of power level necessary to get a reliable signal back from a non-powered transponder would cause all sorts of other problems ... anyone with a pacemaker want to run THAT risk?

Regards
Pickles
[/quote]

 

Sorry Pickles but there are some technical errors in your post.

 

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) come in a varierty of guises.

Passive - pure identification - requires no battery

Active - identification and data exchange - requires a battery to to store the information

data logging - does what it says and collects data over time - most frequent use is tracking frozen or controlled temperature distribution systems (You want to be sure your frozen fish cakes have been frozen throughout the journey).

 

The Doofer is an active RFID - which is wh it beeps as you go through the gate (Usually).

 

All RFIDs are limited to 2W maximum power in the EU so there is never, ever a danger to anyone with a pacemaker (max 4W in N America).

 

RFIDs of all 3 types can be designed to operate over several meters - Although I also accept that many are designed for close proximity reading.  Range is determined by the design of the tag and its anntena.

 

 

EDIT:  The reason the doofer has to be active is to record that you have entered the motorway system - it may even record where, I don't know.  If you have ever had the doofer fail and had to pick up a ticket on entry, you will know that you cannot exit via the telepeage gates, because the doofer did not register the entry.

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