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ULTIM-8 Users Guide
About this guide
This users guide describes the ULTIM-8 smartcard copier, which supports the duplication of PIC16x84 and PIC16x84/24LC16B smartcards, the latter also known as Goldcards/multimacII cards.
Product Warranty
All products are backed by a one year hardware guarantee.
Introduction
The ULTIM-8 programmer is a stand-alone programmer for PIC16x84 and PIC16x84/24LC16B based smartcards. It is specifically designed for high volume programming, and can program over 1000 cards per hour. The unit has LEDs to show programming progress and status, and is operated using just a single button.
Power supply requirements
The ULTIM-8 unit requires a centre pin positive, 16V DC, 300mA power supply with a 2.1mm jack plug, connected to the Power connector shown in Figure 1.
Warning: Higher voltages are supported, but care should be taken not to exceed 20V DC as this will cause excessive heat to be generated in the +5V regulator, and will result in erratic behaviour of the device and/or failure which will NOT be repaired under warranty repair.
Operation
The layout of the ULTIM-8 unit is shown in the layout section:
The ULTIM-8 unit operates in one of only two modes:
1. Read Master Card into memory.
2. Programming Card(s) from memory.
Each of the modes can only be entered when the STATUS LED is GREEN, indicating that the unit is ready.
Reading a Master Card
In order to program any cards, a master card must first be read into the ULTIM-8 memory, from which all other cards are cloned.
To read a master card, insert an UNPROTECTED PIC16x84/ 24LC16B smartcard into the MASTER CARD socket as shown in Figure 1.
Now PRESS and HOLD the START BUTTON until the STATUS LED turns from GREEN to RED.
Note: The unit will do a quick check of the card to see whether or not it is code protected or not. If the card is code protected, the STATUS light will begin to flash RED.
If you DO want to proceed with the read, PRESS and HOLD the START BUTTON until it turns ORANGE (about 4s), and the ULTIM-8 will proceed to try and read only the EEPROM of the card into its memory and the PIC16x84 memory of the ULTIM-8 will be preserved.
If you DO NOT want to proceed with the read, then simply PRESS and RELEASE (within 4s) the START BUTTON, and the read will be aborted, and the STATUS LED will return to GREEN.
If the read was not aborted, the STATUS light will turn ORANGE and the LED of the master card socket will now begin to flicker to indicate that reading of the master card is taking place. For cards which have a 24LC16B as well as a PIC16x84 (GoldCards), all 8 LEDS will light for a short period towards the end of the read whilst the ULTIM-8 reads the EEPROM into its memory.
At the end of the read, the master cards LED will indicate whether the read was successful or not. If the read was successful, the LED of the master card will remain lit, indicating success. If the read failed, then the master card LED will flash twice on completion, and will go out.
After successful read of master card the LED is Lit
After failed read of master card LED Flashes twice and LED is off.
WARNING: After any attempt to read a master card, any code on the master card is now erased. This is because the PICx84 must be programmed with a bootloader in order to read the EEPROM through the PIC. For this reason, it is always a good idea to make a backup of your master card via a PC-based smartcard programmer.
The card image stored in the ULTIM-8's memory can be changed or updated at any time, simply by inserting a different master card, and repeating the process.
Programming Cards from memory
To program up to 8 PIC16x84/24LC16B cards, you must first program a master card into the ULTIM-8's memory as described above. After that, any number of clone cards can be made simply at the press of a button.
Insert up to 8 PIC16x84/24LC16B smartcards into any of the 8 slots (Note that the MASTER CARD socket is just simply another socket in Programming mode) as shown in Figure 1.
Now simply PRESS and RELEASE the START BUTTON. The STATUS light will turn ORANGE to indicate that the unit is busy, and any slots which have a card in them will now have their LED illuminated.
Warning: be careful not to invoke "Read master card" mode by holding down the button too long (about 4s). This will irreversibly start a master card read, and the ULTIM-8's current memory image will be erased, and will need to be re-programmed using another master card.
After about 25-35 seconds (depending on the number of cards to be programmed) the unit will finish, and the LED of any faulty (or not present) cards will flash twice and then go out. The LED of any cards which were successfully programmed will remain lit.
After successful programming of card the LED is Lit
After failed programming of card LED Flash twice and LED is off.
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