How to remove the RFID chip from an Oyster card

Here's how to remove the RFID chip and antenna from a London Oyster travelcard. You can then put it in anything you want.
UPDATE! See my new video for details on how to do this trick on newer Oyster cards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0NM1pl8Vgo
More cool science at: sciencepunk.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• howto
• oyster
• hack

[VampiresDoRule]

Does this still work? I dont want to be tracked every where i go by big brother

[frankcswain]

@VampiresDoRule Well the only way to travel on public transport without "being tracked" would be not buying a ticket...

[bryanford]

I'm going to do this to my MasterCard and put it inside a magic wand. But question - does the chip have to be near the reader or just the antenna? since a wand is long i am unsure whether to put the chip in the end or at the base.

[frankcswain]

@bryanford Cool! When the antenna passes through the magnetic field of the reader, it generates power to run the microchip, so you want the wire at the business end of your wand. Make sure to take pics / video and share them with us!

[frankcswain]

@eggfleece I, for one, welcome our gin-bearing robot overlords.

[eggfleece]

@frankcswain or how about no currency at all?

[hardstyle905]

@eggfleece No currency? You mean going back to bartering like 10,000 years ago? Not very viable is it? Why not go back to gold-backed money.

[frankcswain]

@freeflyhill Hmm.. The Oyster chip is paper thin too, but rigid. I've heard of people soldering on a new antennae - but very fiddly & risks cooking the chip. A possibility would be painting something like UVA glue onto the etched wires and letting it dry into a flexible layer? Don't give up!

[freeflyhill]

This method does not work with the translink GoCard. While the design is very similar, the wires are either some delicate semiconductor, or paper thin foil. As far as I can tell, it is impossible to separate them from the card. Even the chip is paper thin, it seams more like an etched circuit.

[freeflyhill]

Very helpful! I'm trying this method right now on a 'GoCard' for use in Brisbane, Australia. Will post my results here. Not sure if your follow up video is applicable to these cards or not.

[ThEmIdNiGhTiNtRuDeR]

This would be even cooler if you figured out a way to add credit to the card/chip. This seems like a lot of hassle for nothing.

[Corporatism]

@snack881 not to mention regular oyster cards don't have your personal information on them. TFL can see when you made journeys and where you made journeys to, but they can't tell who it was that made those journeys.

[Unforgivendecay]

Now all I have to do is some how attach/put it in a replica sonic screwdriver! :3