Wiegand GPIO read not working all the time. Works most times but hangs on some reads

Question

I'm extremely new to Python, I've been learning a bit over the last couple weeks. This is what I've managed to come up with. I'm pretty over the moon the code works most of the time but it doesnt work all the time.

I'm using 2 GPIO pins to read wiegand format from a reader to my Raspberry Pi 2.
However, it doesn't always scan correctly. Occasionally scanning will hang on storing a bit and I'll have to fob the reader a second time to get it to finish. Sometimes it finishes correctly. Sometimes it finishes in a card number that is completely wrong. Usually fobbing a third time gets a new set of information that is correct. I've messed around with the c versions and python versions of PIGPIO to try understand what I'm doing differently. I can't figure out why it always seems to return a correct set of values from the reader using PIGPIO code. I'm not knowledgeable enough to completely understand whats going on in the PIGPIO code so I'm unsure how to go about creating this consistency in my own code as I capture the information from the reader.

Does anything pop out immediately to anyone that indicates a fault in my logic for reading the information from the reader?

Remember, I'm super new so I need a little bit of hand holding with this. I'm looking to capture only 26 bit card format off an HID 26bit card reader. I have 3 different HID format fobs/cards and I've been using them to test. The issue happens utilizing the same fob over and over and if I cycle through them using one after the other. Sometimes it will scan fine for 10+ times, other times it'll fail immediately and not work for 2 or 3 scans.

from time import sleep
import os
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import pifacecad as p
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
#GPIO setup
data0=38
data1=40
GPIO.setup(data0,GPIO.IN,pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
GPIO.setup(data1,GPIO.IN,pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
#Setting up display
cad = p.PiFaceCAD()
cad.lcd.backlight_on()
cad.lcd.clear()
cad.lcd.cursor_off()
cad.lcd.blink_off()
cad.lcd.write("Ready")
#Variables
i=0
dataBits=[]
bitCount=1
fcc="0"
card="0"
Zero="0"
One="1"
hexFilter=[]
hexCard=[]
hexFCC=[]
justRead=0
j=0
k=0
#Main code
while (1):
    #Reading code
    while (bitCount<27):   
        if GPIO.input(data0)==0:
            dataBits.append(Zero)
            print dataBits
            print "Bitcount %d" % bitCount
            bitCount = bitCount+1
            justRead=1
        if GPIO.input(data1)==0:
            dataBits.append(One)
            print dataBits
            print "Bitcount %d" % bitCount
            bitCount = bitCount+1
            justRead=1   
        if justRead ==1:
            if bitCount>26:
    #Transforming our information into usable bits  
    #Rest of the code just handles the information and prints to a screen. 
    #The issue existed before I wrote the rest of the code

I'm using a voltage divide circuit with resistors to drop the 5V to 3V and my data lines and Pi are all grounded together.

Read Hangs
Read is incorrect

EDIT for those curious what the addition of the while/pass in the if statements for GPIO looks like. Also added some code with time() for scans that dont complete and hang. It isn't pretty but it works. When I'm less sick I'll bash my head against the keyboard some more and maybe make some progress that people can help with.

from time import time
current_time=time()

#Main code
while (1):
    #Reading code
    while (bitCount<27):   
        if GPIO.input(data0)==0:
            dataBits.append(Zero)
            bitCount = bitCount+1
            justRead=1
            while (GPIO.input(data0)==0):
                pass
        if GPIO.input(data1)==0:
            dataBits.append(One)
            bitCount = bitCount+1
            justRead=1  
            while (GPIO.input(data1)==0):
                pass
        if justRead==1:
            if time()-current_time <4:
                pass
            else:
                bitcount=1
                print("reset")
                justRead=0
                current_time = time()
                dataBits=[]

Answer 1

There are several problems with the code as written

• There is no allowance for missing bits or starting half way through a Wiegand code
• the same bit may be read multiple times, the software doesn't check for the bit to be finished before continuing the while loop (there is a gap between each bit where neither line is asserted, i.e. both are high).
• Python, generally, on the Pi is not suitable for reliable timings at typical Wiegand transmission speeds. Even if you use a busy loop the process may be rescheduled at an inconvenient time. C is better but still suffers similar problems. (My) pigpio uses special techniques to get around these problems.

As a matter of interest how much more reliable is the code without the following statements?

        print dataBits
        print "Bitcount %d" % bitCount