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Hacking FunKeys? Electronics Question.

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  • Hacking FunKeys? Electronics Question.

    Luke is 10 today. One of his presents was the UB Funkeys starter set - look on YouTube for a v.quick intro. Essentially you have a USB 'hub' on to which you stand little plastic characters. Each different character unlocks different parts of a game. Its a brilliant idea from a marketing point of view because by the time you have bought all 40 at £5 a pop, you have paid a lot of money for the game.

    So, and you can probably guess what is coming next, I'm looking at hacking it, physically

    On the bottom of each character is a row of 5 metal contacts- 1,2,3,4,5. These match terminals on the hub. I have metered the resistance on two different ones to see the differences and this is what I get:

    On both 1-5 = 1kOhm
    Then you find equal resistance from 1-2 and 2-5, 1-3 and 3-5, 1-4 and 4-5.

    Lets call 1-2 (or 2-5) A, 1-3 (or 3-5) B and 1-4 (or 4-5) C

    On my red Funkey, A = 160KOhm, B = 18KOhm and C = 110KOhm

    On my white Funkey, A = 18KOhm, B = 110KOhm, C = 360KOhm

    What do you reckon is going on in there? Obviously its the different resistances program the 'identity' but I can't help thinking I'm missing something. Why the equal resistances to pins 1 & 5 from each middle pin?

    T.
    FT.

  • #2
    Happy Birthday! (sorry)
    The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

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    • #3
      I suggest that the keys contain a semiconductor, not just a resistance, and this is sent an interrogation signal. If you do the resistance measurement with both polarities and one differs, even slightly, then I'm right, but this is not a 100% test. If I were designing such a thing, I would not rely on resistance. What are the voltages on the other side?
      Brian (the devil incarnate)

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      • #4
        Thanks Paddy.

        The pairs of resistance vary a little e.g. 1-2 and 2-5 vary within the tollerance of typical resistors. I'll check wrt polarity and voltages tonight.

        My thinking was that if the device were 'polled' for an ID code then they would all meter out the same. I do have a spare of one of the characters and may consider cracking it open if this can't be sussed easily.
        FT.

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        • #5
          Snake some wires out as leads, then measure things when one of the toys is in the base unit. Ideally you'd want to trace for any signals, but voltage and frequency checks can tell you if there's any signaling going on.
          Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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