Symbol LS-1220 Barcode Scan Engines, RS-232 output

WBA Consulting · 2012-10-29 23:07

A while back, I picked up 5 scan engines for a project that never became a reality. I am still hanging on to a couple, but am offering 3 of them for sale. I paid $40 each for them, but I am selling them for $20 each (which includes shipping to U.S.) They do have some cosmetic issues, but they have all been verified for functionality. I purchased them from a company that refurbishes them. If I recall correctly, the output is simply an ASCii stream of the scanned barcode. Here are the specifics:

Symbol LS-1220 Barcode Scan Engine

9 pin D-Sub connection for RS-232 data I/O, trigger input, beeper output, and 5 VDC supply.
Pictures shown of the three units, connection chart, and product brochure.
The product reference guide is 1.7MB, but has full details. It can be found here: https://docs.symbol.com/manuals/1207203a.pdf
The 2 page product info sheet is attached.

$20 each, shipped to US address. Please send me a PM if interested, thanks!

EDIT: ADDED DATASHEET PDF

WBA Consulting · 2013-04-10 11:52

While rummaging through my stuff, I discovered that I still have these............

Microcontrolled · 2013-04-10 12:43

@WBA: This reminds me, I believe I still have one of these that belongs to you. I'll pay you the $20 I owe for it if you PM me your PayPal address. Sorry about that.

WBA Consulting · 2013-04-10 17:28

No problem, the one I sent you was for the work you did getting my code started for the original project with these. That project never made it much past the code you did for me unfortunately (the need still exists though). However, I am doing a lot with barcodes at work right now (currently writing a 2D Data Matrix specification), so I may try to finish off that project as part of what I am doing with Zebra label printers. Would be great project for the forums. If I recall correctly, we had left off with trying to weed out the start, stop, and check digits included in the barcode. The attached PDF has some test barcodes that include formats without check digits. The Sample Label PDF has a barcode that does not have start, stop, or check digits.

Microcontrolled · 2013-04-10 21:51

@WBA: I think we were able to identify the start/terminating strings, we just weren't able to decode the barcode data. We could get a unique ID for each individual barcode, but we couldn't read the proper characters. Now that I think back on it, the digits may have been either 4-bit or inverted, because the patterns were identical, they just didn't match up to the proper code. I'll get this back out to work on over the summer (I don't have the scanner module with me here

) and see if I can get it sorted out.

tingo · 2013-09-08 13:37

Hmm, are these only good for scanning barcodes? Or can they be hacked to scan other stuff (like paper tape)?
Does anybody know what microcontroller they use?

WBA Consulting · 2013-09-08 21:25

tingo,
These are laser scan engines for 1D barcodes only. They can not interpret paper tape. Some of the newer 2D scanners that utilize cameras for the imaging could possibly be hacked to do something with paper tape. However, it would be much easier and cheaper to hack something like a PIXY (CMU Cam 5) or similar type camera meant for connecting to a microcontroller. I have seen places on the net where people have used photo sensors to made high speed paper tape readers.

tingo · 2013-09-20 05:30

Understood. Thanks for the info about PIXY.

Symbol LS-1220 Barcode Scan Engines, RS-232 output

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