Plexidor's RFID-activated sliding doggie door: it's about time
By Paul Miller 
posted July 28th 2008 9:14AM
posted July 28th 2008 9:14AM
Frankly, we're disappointed. It's 2008, the veritable future, and you still don't have an RFID-based automatic sliding doggie door? For shame! The Plexidor Electronic Doggie Door allows for all that nice canine coming and going with none of the less-nice house robbing a regular flap door enables. Your dog gets to wear an RFID chip on his collar, which lets the door know to automatically slide up when he shows up -- hopefully with a sort of squeegee sound to complete the sci-fi effect. Prices range from $700 to $800 depending on configuration.
Why is it enormous?
It has to be twice as high as the door opening itself because the door has to rise up. The drive mechanism must either be above the risen door or alongside it, which means it either has to be taller or thicker. In the product I bought, they chose the "thicker" option, but that can cause problems if you want to open and close the full door often. These guys chose to put the mechanism above, and I think that's the better choice.
The door I bought was sold in different sizes, and ours was quite a bit smaller (we used it for a cat, not a dog). The one pictured here seems to be the only size they sell.
The door looks large from the inside of the house because the panel has to slide up and down the surface of the house door. That means the height of the interior frame must be twice the size of the opening. The actual inside frame dimensions are 17 1/2"w x 54 5/8"h. However, the actual hole through the house door or wall is only 12 3/4"w x 20"h. When you view the pet door from outside you only see an opening of 12 3/4"w x 20"h.
I hope that answers your question.
I've had something similar installed in the back wall of my house for the past 8 years, though the technology is not RFID. (Google Solo Pet Doors). It's not 100% secure, as other commenters have noted, but it does the trick, and keeps me from having to worry about the dog on very cold (below 20F) or very hot (above 95F) midwestern days. My motion detection security cams pick up the slack in terms of security.
If they could manage to squeeze some kind of timer functionality onto this I would buy it in a second.
The Mrs. and I both leave for work around 5:30 am... our dogs like to piss the neighbors off by going outside (via analog doggie door) and barking their fool heads off after we leave.
Noise curfew ends @ 8 am... I would love to have the door only accessible after that time.
Put it on a timer.
It is possible to link this to an automatic timer. Just like people add the timer feature to lighting systems.
Guillotine!
Alert! Alert! .....mALfuNCtiOn.......
"I gotta pee!!!" *scratch*scratch*whine*whine*
"I'm afraid I can't do that spot"...
AWESOME Movie Reference!!! Very Nice!
What happens if the door fails and crushes your dog?
You get to go with the men in white coats for having a pet made of marshmallows.
The door is a lot lighter than a dog. No crushing will happen.
You wouldn't be able to sleep with "little rascal" playing all night with the door, the barks and the "swooshes" *star trek sound* would last all night.
Regarding the use of RFID, here's an article about using crowds data mining: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=156444&f_src=flffour . It's basically attaching a sensor and a transmitter to a person, animal, car and measure a particular thing (from temperature to UV rays to traffic).
When is some bright company going to build one that doesnt req
When is some bright company going to build one that doesn't require the silly collar since most dogs nowadays are chipped by the vet?
[sorry for double post erroneous first post]
Requiring the user to configure their door to work on the Vet-installed ID tag would be a major barrier to many possible purchasers. Most likely, if you know how to do that, you could do it with this system right now, but the company is not providing a neat little software interface for it.
For $800 though... they should have the installation service offer to use your dog's ID tag so you didn't have to configure it yourself.
My doggy door responds to my dogs' secret handshake.
1. Steal Dog Collar
2. Steal Underpants
4. Profit
Ur plan is flawed fool. No #3.
srsly. too lazy to type: ????????
Hate to break it, but this has been available for a long time: Power Pet http://www.hitecpet.com/powerpetdoors.html
I have one installed at my house. It's so-so, though over priced if you ask me.
The power pet is not rfid and is not as reliable as rfid.
Is it free "Highest Ranked" day on this thread or what? I thought I would get flamed for the 2001 ref...
They should make a RFID activated door for people. We can get in with our RFID passports.
It'd be cool if it made the Star Trek door slider sound.
Faslane
Too expensive. The electronics and programming of this thing might cost $100. You could even go further than this design goes with some adjustable timer.
This is all fine and dandy until your chiuauah goes to the back door to inverstigate the sound of someone trying to break in and then inadvertantly triggers the doggy door open, providing a more that adequate portal into your home for the bad guy.
My dog would plunk down next to the door and let the air conditioning out all day.
if you guys think its so ugly then make your own!
its not very hard actually. you can put a DIY design together using some parts from Parallax.
All RISE!! Doggie Captian John Luc McWoof on the Bridge!!
1. Locate the doggie and steal RFID collar
3. Put it on yourself
4. Approach the doggie door
5. Door opens
6. ??????
7. Profit!!
the raccoon hackers have already finished the jailbreak for this.
Design fail: it's missing the dog head catching basket.
Sometimes I am amazed at the creativity of inventive geniuses.
Sometimes I am not.
I don't know anyone in their right mind who would pay >$700 for this ugly doggie guillotine. It takes up the whole door, motivates criminals to kill your dog in the process to gain access and can potentially ruin your day when the battery dies. Doggie doors are usually installed on the back or side door of the house yes? Anyone have one of those doors without a window?
I just hope someone's dog doesn't get hurt or killed because one of these things decides to close early
I will never use the door again, just squeeze through this thing