Does anybody knows if this device can read 2d printed fingerprints? If not, does anybody knows of any one? If it can read both real fingerprint and 2d images the better!! Thanks!

Fingerprint Scanner - 5V TTL GT511-C1 [RETIRED]

We don't sell the cable with the GT-511C1 fingerprint scanner https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11836. You would need to get the 4 wire JST SH jumper cable separately https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10359. There is more than one way to create a connection between the fingerprint scanner and your system. For a more secure connection with the thin gauged wire, I recommend modifying the cable. Any loose connections can have issues powering the sensor and sending reliable data. Check below for more information:

Serial UART Connection w/ 4 Wire JST SH Cable

For a secure connection, I recommend soldering the ends of the wire to some header pins [like these https://www.sparkfun.com/products/116 ] so that the connection is not loose when inserting it into a standard female header sockets on an FTDI or the RedBoard/Arduino Uno. This will provide easy access to the small 4-pin JST-SH connector that is on the fingerprint scanner.

After checking the connections of the scanner in the datasheet, I soldered connections from the JST -SH connector labeled J2 from the scanner to the header pins. I used some heat shrink in order to use it with the FTDI to reinforce the solder joint. As a note, make sure to remove the JST-SH SMD connector that is on the 4-wire jumper wire assembly. This is the same connector that is on the fingerprint scanner. You should be able to remove the connector easily with your hands without cutting any of the assembly off. The connections with the header pins are based on the footprint of the 3.3V FTDI basic breakout https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9873 w/ a mini-B cable https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11301:

Pin #    Fingerprint Scanner    <-> FTDI 3.3V
1          UART_TX (3.3V TTL)   <->   RX
2          UART_RX (3.3V TTL)   <->   TX
3          GND                  <->   GND
4          Vin (3.3V~6V)        <->   3.3V

Note: If you were using the JST-SH cable, you would be wiring the black wire to pin 1 (next to the notch indicating the polarity on the fingerprint scanner to the Rx pin of your FTDI,For an example of the modified cable assembly, I suggest checking out the images from our Google drive:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0jwgLkjMWzDfnktUkt5ekQxQi1TcXk3QnhMN2J0Q3VXT2Y4NXRZdG9wa05EemZjY0dCazg

Demo Software Development Kit (SDK) w/ a FTDI

For basic operation with the demo software, I recommend checking out the demo software that is linked in the documents section of the product page. Each demo software is unique to that version of the fingerprint scanner and it will not work with the other versions. After connecting the fingerprint scanner to the FTDI, I was able to utilize all of the features as stated in the datasheet. These features in the demo software are based on the protocol commands.

To operate on a computer using the SDK, just open the SDK_DEMO.exe executable, select the COM port that the FTDI enumerated to from the serial port number's drop down menu, and click on the Open button. You would need to enroll your finger 3 times for the ID before the scanner can save it as a template.

Demo Software Development Kit (SDK) w/ an Arduino Microcontroller

Testing this with an Arduino Uno and the serial passthrough code https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/xbee-shield-hookup-guide#example-communication-test, I was able to connect to the SDK demo software. This might be another alternative if you not have a 3.3V FTDI to connect to your fingerprint scanner. You just need to make sure that have the correct logic level translation, are selecting a COM port that is lower than COM10 (the lower COM number, the better; COM3 is the lowest that you can use), and selecting a baud rate of 9600 in the SDK demo software.

Example Code for Arduino If you were using a microcontroller with the fingerprint scanner, you would need to write code based off of the demo software and the protocol commands. Luckily, there was someone in the community that wrote some example code to blink the blue LED, enroll, and identify the fingerprint that was saved in a template. The library is limited in the functionality compared to the SDK demo software but is sufficient enough for basic use. It is posted in a GitHub Repository https://github.com/sparkfun/Fingerprint_Scanner-TTL.This code works with the GT511C3, GT511C1, and GT511C1R. This code is incomplete and would require more code to utilize all the features of the fingerprint scanner like in the SDK. Here are the connections that you would need to make using a bi-directional logic level converter https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12009:

Pin #    Fingerprint Scanner     <
 Logic Level Converter 
> Arduino Uno
1          UART_TX (3.3V TTL)    <
      LV4 
> HV4            <->  RX (pin 4)
2          UART_RX (3.3V TTL)    <
       LV1 
> HV1           <->  TX (pin 5)
3          GND                    <
       GND 
> GND         <->     GND
4          Vin (3.3V~6V)         <
           HV                
>      5V
                                              LV                    <->     3.3V

Software Serial with the Arduino Mega 2560 The demo code was designed for the Atmega328P on the Arduino Uno. If you were using it with an Arduino Mega2560, you would need to re-configure the software serial pin definitions. The reason why is because not all the pins on the Arduino Mega can support change interrupts for a serial Rx pin as stated in the limitations => https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/SoftwareSerial . Just change this section of code on line 18:

 FPS_GT511C3 fps(4, 5); //software serial pins for Arduino's / Atmega328P's

to

FPS_GT511C3 fps(10, 11); //software serial acceptable pin for the Arduino Mega

Direct USB Connection w/ USB Port

Demo Software Development Kit (SDK) To connect the GT-511C1 fingerprint scanner with the demo software and your computer's USB port, you can connect the pins on the back of the board labeled with J1 directly to the USB port of your computer. I used a micro-B breakout board and a USB micro-B to A cable. Here are the connections that you would need to make:

Fingerprint Scanner <=> USB Connector
Shield (left most pin)  <=> USB Shield (not necessary if you use a USB breakout board)
GND                     <=> GND (Standard USB Black Wire)
D+                       <=> D+ (Standard USB Green Wire)
D-                       <=> D- (Standard USB White Wire)
Vcc (square pin)         <=> 5V (Standard USB Red Wire)

By connecting to your computer, it will show up as a USB Mass Storage Device on My Computer ("Gingy Disk" is the name of the Removable Storage Device).

Note: Certain USB Cables have D- as green and D+ as white. For an example of making your cable assembly, check out the images in our Google Drive. The images provided shows the non-standard colors wired up for the data lines with a USB connector. If the fingerprint scanner is not recognized by your computer in the device manager or there is a warning message, try reversing the data pins on the fingerprint scanner and it should enumerate properly.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0jwgLkjMWzDSnVtc2tVMllYS1E

Troubleshooting

Scanner Not Recognizing your Fingers? There have been issues trying to enroll with the Arduino example code. This is usually due to fingers being dry and not having good contact on the scanner. The timing of your finger on the scanner is a little tricky too. I had to try enrolling a few times before it was able to enroll or identify my finger. This is common with any fingerprint scanner like the one that is on my smartphone. Try re-enrolling your finger.

Hardware Connections: Loose Connections Make sure that there are no loose connections. The last thing to check is the connection between your scanner and Arduino. Each of the fingerprint scanners use the same command protocols so the Arduino example code in the Instructables tutorial can be used for any of the scanners.

The "demo software" link (GT-511C3_SDK_20130410.zip) is for the C3 model and does not work with the C1 model (at least not with the one I got). The software associated with the C1 model is here, but this version of SDK_DEMO.exe doesn't have an option for a serial connection mode so you have to hook up using USB or roll your own serial interface.

Also, the C1 serial connection does not support the image download and template management commands. But it does all the basic commands required for fingerprint identification (enrollment, LED control, capture, identification, etc). The image upload commands only work when using a USB connection.

It might be my imagination, or maybe individual device variances (I only tried one of each), but the C3 model seems a little better at enrollment and fingerprint identification. So for best results, and a demo program that works in serial mode, and all the features like image download, get the C3 model and make sure you're using the correct SDK_DEMO.exe file.

Finally got this working on arduino! I'll post some stuff when I've got a sketch working perfectly, but in the meantime here's what I did:

byte highbyte = 0;
byte lowbyte = 0;
byte command = 1;
word checksum = 0;
byte highcheck = 0;
byte lowcheck = 0;

//Here comes the part you want to put in void loop that sends the command to the device

  command = 0x12; //The command goes here. This is the command for the LED.
  valueToWORD(0); //This value is the parameter being send to the device. 0 will turn the LED off, while 1 will turn it on.
  calcChecksum(command, highbyte, lowbyte); //This function will calculate the checksum which tells the device that it received all the data
  Serial2.write(0x55); //Command start code 1
  Serial2.write(0xaa); //Command start code 2
  Serial2.write(0x01); // This is the first byte for the device ID. It is the word 0x0001
  Serial2.write(0x00); // Second byte of Device ID. Notice the larger byte is first. I'm assuming this is because the datasheet says "Multi-byte item is represented as Little Endian"
  Serial2.write(lowbyte); //writing the largest byte of the Parameter
  Serial2.write(highbyte); //Writing the second largest byte of the Parameter
  Serial2.write(0x00); //The datasheet says the parameter is a DWORD, but it never seems to go over the value of a word
  Serial2.write(0x00); //so I'm just sending it a word of data. These are the 2 remaining bytes of the Dword
  Serial2.write(command); //write the command byte
  Serial2.write(0x00); //again, the commands don't go over a byte, but it is sent as a word, so I'm only sending a byte
  Serial2.write(lowcheck); //Writes the largest byte of the checksum
  Serial2.write(highcheck); //writes the smallest byte of the checksum

//Now for the functions

void valueToWORD(int v){ //turns the word you put into it (the paramter in the code above) to two bytes
  highbyte = highByte(v); //the high byte is the first byte in the word
  lowbyte = lowByte(v); //the low byte is the last byte in the word (there are only 2 in a word)
}

void calcChecksum(byte c, byte h, byte l){
  checksum = 256 + c + h + l; //adds up all the bytes sent
  highcheck = highByte(checksum); //then turns this checksum which is a word into 2 bytes
  lowcheck = lowByte(checksum);
}

It's pretty rough, but I hope this helps someone who was struggling with this as much as I was.

If you're not familiar with some of this:

A byte stores 256 values. A word consists of 2 bytes, and a Dword consists of 4 bytes. The bytes to be sent here were represented in hexadecimal, which is base 16. A word can be split into 2 bytes to be sent. For example: 0x1234 is made up by the bytes 0x12 and 0x34. highByte(0x1234) = 0x12 and lowByte(0x1234) = 0x34.

Hope this helps!

Man am I stuck on this! Using a Teensy 3 to communicate via serial to this fingerprint scanner, measuring 3.3V on it's UART line (Serial 3) and getting absolutely nothing on the serial monitor in the Arduino software. Thinking it was a problem with level conversion I then tried using an 2N7000 MOSFET to prevent high levels damaging the scanner, still no response. The puzzling thing is I'm not sure if the scanner is expecting 0 - 5V TTL values or 0 - 3.3V TTL, and the same goes for the Teensy (although when it runs off of the USB connection I'd assume the Vref is 5v?). I've connected the pins as if the JST SH's black wire is the Rx from the scanner, although they could be better colour co-ordinated! I'm completely stumped, any ideas guys??

Hi everyone, i have bought GT-511C1, the problem that the software didn't work with it, i can't choose the port for it, and i need the software urgently as i use it in my graduation project, so could anyone help me with this. or if any one know the preprocessing type that this sensor use.

I'm having a lot of trouble getting this to communicate with the software. I first tried using it with the 5V FTDI cable (and a 5k resistor) with no results. (And reading the comments, rsp has noted that it will not work over serial with any of the software) Also, it seems that Sparkfun has the wrong pinout. On this page it says Vcc, GND, Tx, Rx whereas the data sheet says Vcc, GND, Rx, Tx. Hopefully It didn't damage the device. Anyways, I tried it with different baud rates as well, because the video says 115200 and the site and datasheet say 9600. So I'm guessing the video was for the C3 model? I'm a little disappointed with the documentation here. I also tried a USB connection with the pins that rsp has given me: Pin 1 (square pad) = +5V (usually the red wire in a USB cable) Pin 2 = D- (white or yellow) Pin 3 = D+ (green) Pin 4 = Ground (black) Pin 5 = Shield (optional)

But that doesn't seem to work. Perhaps I need the right driver for it? When I plug it in, the light for the sensor blinks quickly and then the green status light flickers very dimly. The software doesn't recognize it, and my computer doesn't seem to recognize it either. :/

I'm hoping to get it working with the software first so I can better understand how to properly operate it, but if not, I'll just have to connect it to my arduino and play around with it from there.

Hi. One of my students clicked on "update firmware" and sent the first ".bin" file he found ! Now one of my GT-511C1 is out of order. It's always recognized by my PC (such a disk), but can't dialog with the SDK_DEMO program. Is there a way to restore the firmware (I'm in USB mode) ? Thanks.

Would it be possible to get around the 20 fingerprint limit by this solution?

Let say we are going to store 10,000 fingerprint templates on central server. We also have 1,000 fingerprint scanners across the country that have access to this central database.

Will this scenario work for Enrolling a user? 1, Ask user for phone number 2, Exec Delete All 3, Exec Enroll 4, Set Database (to central server) 5, Intercept the Set Database to assign an additional column titled phone number (primary key)

Will this scenario work for verifying a user? 1, User enters phone number 2, Queries central database using phonenumber 3, Get Database (I am assuming the ID will need to be 1-20 so we'd need to modify the query above to strip phone number) 4, Exec Verify 5, User places finger on scanner, sensor verifies.

Logically this should work...has anyone tried this? If so, are you are you able to exec the HTTP query's quick enough for this process to be usable in a production environment?

Thanks in advance for anyone's input on this

I have gt511c1 and I am connecting pins started with squared pin (suggested by Member #487587 and rsp) with the USB cable. When I connect it with pc it says "USB device not recognized". There is also no response on the demo software. I am using windows 7 64 bit.Is there any driver issue or something else? please let me know if somebody knows the problem Regards ahsan856jalal@gmail.com

Has anybody tried to download the fingerprint template from the reader? What format is it in? is it a set of raw 506 bytes that can be stored in an array of bytes?

Guys - common !! Upgrade your server !! I had to restart this video 5 times just to finish it - it kept stalling on me and going to error/failure !! Great video - but very frustrating !!

Hi everyone, I just bought GT-511C1 and i want to know if i can use it with an Arduino Uno and his UART port ?

I saw in GT-511C1 datasheet a lot of function like (Verify, verifytemplate etc...) can i use it with the arduino ? Is there a specific line to note at the beginning of the code ?

Please help me !

Hi i am new to this product. I am using the 511C2 version( i have no idea how have i ended up with a C2 version when on the site it says only C1 and C3), can anyone please help me with the coding part. I have connected it to my raspberry pi serially, and i want to communicate with it using the serial communication. However i want to know how should i be doing this communication. I will appreciate your help.

Hello everyone, I am working on my senior project and I was trying to connect this fingerprint scanner and arduino uno together. I also purchased the Jst sh jumper 4 such that they were able to connect, I am having issues with this. Can someone give me more insite if you guys are using it too. Thanks! much appreciated.

Hey guys. Do you send to Brazil? Thank you.

Has anyone had success with or tried using this to operate a relay?

Has anyone successfully hooked this unit up to a Mac or Linux machine via USB?

I've soldered the module directly into a USB cable using the test pads on the bottom and tested it using their windows software successfully. However I have not been able to figure out how to communicate with the module via Mac or Linux. Any information on how to do this would be a huge help!

Someone read "The Game" and is peackocking...

Does anyone know if this unit will work behind a piece of glass or clear acrylic? How about smoked acrylic? Trying to figure out ways to waterproof this!

Has anybody used this scanner with any PIC microcontroller? I'm thinking of using it for a finger print access control project.

Building on the great work on FutureInventions, I have made a sketch for the Arduino Mega which acts as a link between the scanner and a computer.

Load the sketch onto the mega, open the serial port monitor in Arduino and send two letter/number commands to control the scanner.

github link

Are the 5 open pads on the end of the board connected to the JST connection? Can the be used in lieu of a JST cable?

Adafruit makes a fingerprint scanner that is somewhat pricier then this. both sensors seem identical spec wise. they've prepared an arduino library for it." https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Fingerprint-Sensor-Library " just curious as to whether or not this could successfully be used with this one.

I want to hook this up with an Arduino. Is this what I need? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8745

arduino code?

Could you bring us some C++ or CCS demo code?? Because I haven't found any of it and I have had a really hard time trying to communicate with the device, even with the demo software, wich, in deed, does all of the functions about storage, templates, etc. But the functions that imply the fingerprint sensor itself (detect if the finger is pressed, enroll, identify or verify...) are really a pain for my brain, because hardly ever detects the finger. It almost every time goes "Timeout". Thanks

I need to use this fingerprint scanners in several locations. but i need only one database for all scanners. is that possible?

I just got one of these and realized that there's no connector cable. Does anyone know which one I need? I only see a 6 pin one on here.

Does anyone know if I could use this with an Arduino to identify fingerprints and then unlock a door if the fingerprint is known? Thanks

Does anyone know of a fingerprint reader like this which instead of matching live prints against stored "known" prints, just passes out some kind of fingerprint GUID or "checksum" for each fingerprint press? My problem is that I want to write software to keep track of more people than this module will hold, and I have no problem maintaining an external database of "fingerprint codes" but using this module, you have to keep all the known fingerprints stored in the module..

Kind of what I want is the same concept as a typical RFID reader, but for fingerprints.. A long, unique, but repeatable number for each print, to be fed to be via serial...

Why does the website say 2 comments, but show none? We'll see if this one shows up.. I'll ask my question in a separate comment..