By James Kelly on January 10th, 2020
HID offers a vast array of access control products, and they’re widely known as an industry leader. You can learn more about its families of access control cards in our HID product guide, but we thought it’d be a good idea to answer some common HID-related queries too.
You can find info on ordering, printing and compatibility below.
HID cards are designed to be as secure as possible and are designed to be unique. This means they are customer and site-specific. To order HID cards you’ll need to know some key details including the existing card format and site/facility code. Our dedicated guide to reordering proximity cards tells you exactly what we’ll need to know.
If you don’t know your programming information for your HID products, here are some methods that’ll help you identify your cards. If you’re still struggling, you can send a card directly to us and we’ll be able to test it. However, please bear in mind that if your card has been formatted a security company, it’s possible that it will have a ‘Proprietary’ format. This means you’ll need to purchase cards from the original supplier.
No – you can’t print directly onto clamshell HID cards because of the material type and the thickness of the card. However, you can print onto self-adhesive white cards that can be stuck directly onto the clamshell card.
Alternatively, you can replace your clamshell-style cards with HID Isoprox cards which can be printed on with a retransfer printer.
IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to print onto HID cards with a direct-to-card printer: it will damage the print head.
Yes, you can directly print onto Isoprox and iClass HID cards, provided you’re using a retransfer printer. If you use a direct-to-card printer, you could damage it due to the raised surface of HID cards.
Yes, you can have multiple HID products on the same system. The only important thing is that you must follow the number range when you order products. Regardless of the card type and facility code, the number range of the cards cannot be duplicated.
Yes, you just have to ensure that the key fobs are the same technology and that the number range follows on from the card number range.
Some customers prefer to start the number range with a higher number so they can distinguish the card number range from the key fobs, but this isn’t an actual requirement, they can just be followed on accordingly. Note the same principle would apply for a site with key fobs wanting to add cards.
Providing the other Manufacturer’s reader doesn’t have a bespoke format it is possible to use HID cards. In general the Standard 26-bit Card Format (H10301) would apply and cross use of HID Proximity cards with other Manufacturers readers is quite common with Proximity.
In the case of iClass or MIFARE you would need to check if the readers support iClass and Mifare technologies before purchasing cards.
Both iClass and MIFARE technologies (13.56mhz) have higher levels of security so there could potentially be compatibility issues. We would always recommend testing a sample card with your systems before purchasing any cards.
We’re here to help. If these FAQs haven’t solved your problem, you can ring our helpful team via the phone number below for assistance, or check out our other resources in our hub.
Prefer to Talk?
Our team have more than 25 years of industry knowledge and are happy to help. We're available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.