Barcode scanners on eBay

If you’re in the market for a barcode scanner you probably know there are thousands of barcode scanners available on eBay. Some are brand new, most are used. Some are from the major manufacturers like Honeywell (formerly Hand Held Products), Motorola (formerly Symbol), PSC/Datalogic and Metrologic.

The question you need to ask yourself is, “How do I know what kind of barcode scanner I need and how do I know what I purchase is worth the price paid?”.

If you’re looking for scanners on eBay then chances are you’re not a Walmart or a Target :-) You’re a smaller establishment that needs one or two barcode scanners for your point of sale system. Or you’re just looking for some spares in case one of your older scanners breaks down. I’m here to say that buying scanners on eBay is just like buying anything else. You need to do your research before you make a purchase. If you do your research and know exactly what you need then chances are you can find it at a very good price on eBay. Barcode scanners are not a consumer item. So unlike consumer items on eBay where the price is typically no better than what you can get at a brick and mortar store, you can get a good brand name barcode scanner on eBay for a really good deal.

So what are some of the things to look for when you’re considering buying a scanner on eBay? There are a number of things you need to consider. I’ll list a few then go into more details below.

1. Tethered or cordless.
2. Interface from barcode scanner to PC.
3. Imager or laser based.
4. 2D or 1D barcode scanner.
5. Working range of barcode scanner.

Tethered or cordless?  You have the option to get a scanner that has a cable connected to the bottom of it and the other end of the cable connects directly to the PC.  Or you can get a cordless unit.  Cordless barcode scanners have a base station that connects to the PC with a cable.  Then the barcode scanner communicates to the base station wirelessly.  It works a lot like a cordless telephone.  Newer cordless systems are bluetooth from the barcode scanner to the cradle.

What about the interface?  If you read a previous post of mine it explains the different types of interfaces available in just about every barcode scanner.  Most barcode scanners support all the interfaces.  You would just need to scan a programming barcode to enable the interface you need.  But just to re-iterate what I stated in that post – USB keyboard is probably the most popular interface being used today.  It’s completely plug and play.  You set the scanner up for the USB keyboard interface and then plug the cable into a USB port on the PC running Windows or Linux.  The correct driver will load automatically.  Then whenever you scan a barcode, the barcode data will be inserted at the point of your cursor on the PC.  Here’s a link to my post about interfaces. Barcode scanner interfaces .

Do you want an imager based barcode scanner or a laser based scanner?  Imager based scanners come in two types.  Area imagers and linear imagers.  You would use an area imager if you plan on reading 2D or 1D barcodes.  A linear imager can only read 1D barcodes.  So why would you even bother with a linear imager if a 2d imager can read both 2d and 1D barcodes?   At this point in time linear imagers are less expensive and offer a greater working range than area imagers.  The other type is a laser barcode scanner.  Laser barcode scanners are very similar to linear imagers.  They can only read linear barcodes.

To furthur elaborate on the difference between 2D and 1D barcodes.  2D barcodes look like the Data Matrix shown here.

They can hold a lot of data. Depending on the type of data, they can potentially hold up to 3116 characters. Most scanners have trouble reading that amount of data, but it is possible. For a good overview of Data Matrix see this Wikipedia entry. Data Matrix on Wikipedia. There are other 2D barcode types. Aztec, QR Code and Han Xin to name a few.

Linear barcodes are the types of codes you see on pretty much every single product at a grocery store.  They can’t hold nearly the amount of data that a 2D barcode can hold, nor are they as error tolerant.  But they are easy to read and can be read with a very inexpensive barcode scanner.

Finally, working range needs to be considered.  Working range is defined as the farthest point at which a barcode can be read minus the nearest point at which a barcode can be read.  For example:  A barcode can be read out to a maximum distance of 18 inches for a particular barcode scanner.  That same barcode can be read at a near distance of 2 inches with the same barcode scanner.  The working distance is then 18 inches – 2 inches = 16 inches of working range.  The point that needs to be taken away from this message is that linear barcode scanners always have a better working range than 2D barcode scanners.  So that’s another point that needs to be considered when purchasing a barcode scanner.  Most applications do not require the longer working range of a 1D barcode scanner.  But some do.

I’ve listed some of the things you should really consider when purchasing a barcode scanner.  If you know what you want there is no reason you can’t purchase it off eBay.  You’ll get a really good price.  And barcode scanners are very durable.  They do not break often.

If you have any questions at all about what to look for in a barcode scanner, or if you find a scanner on eBay and you want my advice please don’t hesitate to email. Below is a selection of scanners available on eBay. Click one of the auctions to see more.

2D Barcodes in Healthcare

It’s long been known that using barcodes in the healthcare industry has the potential to greatly improve patient safety. I’ve seen reports that claim numbers of 7000 – 100,000 people die and up to 1,000,000 are injured every year due to medical errors. I’m not here to validate or invalidate those numbers. It doesn’t really matter what the numbers are. Even one death or injury due to medical error is too many. There are serious problems in the healthcare industry if people are dying because of human error.

Barcodes are being used extensively in healthcare. And they do help reduce the the number of deaths and injuries. But many healthcare operating systems allow the user to bypass the barcode reading if there is a problem reading the barcode with the barcode scanner. It’s these types of system overrides that need to be addressed and improved upon. The barcodes are in place, now the underlying issues need to be fixed.

One area that is in need of serious improvement is the patient wristband. How many people get admitted to a healthcare facility per year around the world? It’s hard to find an exact number. Do a search in Google on the number of hospital admissions per year and the numbers returned are staggering. For every one of those admissions there’s a wristband being used. In the United States a typical wristband might look like this.

Notice the linear barcode to the right of the patient information. It’s that barcode that gets scanned many times per day. When the patient gets transferred to another department for testing the bacode is scanned. If medication is administered the barcode gets scanned. There are many instances when that barcode gets scanned throughout the day.

These linear barcodes are very small and difficult to read, even when printed perfectly. Rarely have I seen one printed perfectly. Many of the printers simply cannot print perfect barcodes this small without constant maintenance. When the barcodes aren’t printed perfectly the barcode scanners cannot read them. When the barcode can’t be read the nurse or doctor must rely on manual data entry. With manual data entry comes errors. The healthcare operating system allows manual data entry as an override to reading the barcode. What can they do? If the barcode scanners can’t read the barcode the patient data needs to get entered somehow.

A new design for the patient wristband has been proposed and is being used in more and more healthcare facilities. The design looks like this.

You’ll see the original linear barcode is still present. But there is also a series of redundant Aztec 2D barcodes that cover nearly the entire wristband. Each Aztec barcode contains the exact same data. That means that no matter what position the wristband is in at least one of the Aztec barcodes can be read by the barcode scanner. If a patient is sleeping and the linear barcode is not visible the nurse would need to move the patient’s arm to read the barcode. Not with the 2D barcode. There will always be a barcode visible.

The 2D barcodes also have built in error correction meaning the barcode can be slightly damaged and is still easily read by the barcode scanner.

The only disadvantage is the Aztec barcode can only be read by a 2D barcode scanner. If the facility is not yet upgraded to 2D barcode scanners they can still use the older linear barcode scanner to read the linear barcode.

In summary the use of 2D barcodes on patient wristbands provides some real advantages over linear barcodes. It’s this type of thinking combined with the use of newer technology that will greatly improve patient safety in healthcare facilities.

Barcode scanner connection to a PC

If you’ve never worked with a barcode scanner you might be wondering how they connect up to a PC or a host computer. I’ll explain the most common connection types in this post.

• PS/2 – If your computer has a PS/2 style keyboard connecter you can “wedge” the scanner between your keyboard and your PC.  In fact this style connection was typically called PS/2 wedge. To make the connection you disconnect your keyboard from your computer. The cable connected to the scanner will have two PS/2 style ends. One female and one male. Simply connect your keyboard to the female end of the scanner cable and connect the male end of the scanner cable to your computer’s PS/2 keyboard port. Don’t mistakenly plug the scanner into the mouse port.  Once you have the scanner connected, each time you scan the barcode with the barcode scanner, the data will be placed at the point of your cursor.

• USB keyboard emulation – By far the most common type of connection today is USB keyboard emulation.   Simply plug the scanner cable into an open USB connector on your computer.  If you’re running Microsoft Windows or Linux the USB keyboard driver needed for the scanner is part of the operating system.  That driver will load automatically when you plug the scanner in if the computer is powered on.  Or it will load when the next time the computer is powered up.  Just like the PS/2 connection, when you scan a barcode the data from the barcode scanner will be placed at the point of your cursor.

• RS232 – Most newer laptop computers and many desktop computers no longer have an RS232 connecter.  RS232 is a communication protocol.  This post is not a tutorial for RS232.  Just suffice it to say that if you use this connection type both the barcode scanner and the host computer must be setup with the same communication parameters.  They have to speak the same language.  Plus the application you’re scanning into will need to support getting data from an RS232 port.  Not all applications have this capability.  If you’re unsure I recommend you speak with your application provider to find out if your application supports RS232.  The 9 pin connector shown below is the most popular RS232 connector type.

• USB serial port emulation – This scanner interface is similar to RS232.  The difference being USB serial port emulation uses the USB port and not the RS232 connector type.  It’s the same USB port that is used for USB keyboard emulation.  USB serial port emulation creates a virtual serial port on your computer.  If using this interface, just as with RS232, your application must be able to get data from a serial port.  Many applications do not support this.  Also the driver for USB serial port emulation is not included with the operating system.  You must get the driver from the scanner manufacturer.  You can usually download it from their website.

These are four very common barcode scanner connection types.  They are certainly not the only connection types.  There are also connections for IBM cash registers and many other types of terminals.  Now there is even wireless connections using Bluetooth.

If you have questions on connecting a scanner please email me.

Handling spaces within a Code 3 of 9 font

I’ve got nearly 15 years experience working in a help desk environment for a company that manufactures barcode scanners and data collection equipment. However, in all the time I worked there I never ran into this problem. One of my readers had downloaded a free Code 3 of 9 font. He wanted the font to handle spaces. A space between somebody’s first and last name. For example: Select the Code 3 of 9 font in Microsoft Word and then type in your name. This is what it looked like.

See how the space turns out to be a blank area in between the names? There’s not a barcode scanner in the world that could read that barcode :-)

So I did some research online and actually found a free Code 3 of 9 font that handles spaces. Now that same information encoded in a second barcode looks like this.

Now that’s a legal barcode and one that is easily read by any scanner. There is one catch with the font though. In order to encode the space, you need to use the exclamation point (!) and not the space bar. So keep that in mind – if you need a space, type in an exclamation point. I don’t know why that is. Maybe someday i’ll look into it further. But I’m unable to find any free Code 3 of 9 font that can encode a space using the space bar.

The free font I found can be downloaded at Free Code 3 of 9 font download

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