Add on Bill Acceptor Boxes in Bays

[mjwalsh]

I am leaning towards keeping my 12" wide x 8.5" high x 6" depth coin boxes even though I will have to do some modifications for the touch pads, led readouts, & coin acceptors. There is not enough room for a bill acceptor but there would be enough room for a surface mount magnetic card swipe.

Has anyone gone the route of the add on bill acceptor box? I know Nat'l Pride & Dultmeier has them. Anybody else?

Do these add on boxes work out? --- I am thinking that some of you may have put them in many years ago & then decided you need bigger boxes for credit card swipe anyway --- then you may be considering selling the stainless add on boxes?

The overspray really ricochets off of the campers etcs so the acceptors will probably get drenched from time to time. Are some better than others? I have the Mars 2612U3E in our new dog wash. Is this Mars just as waterproof as the new Coinco?

 

[MEP001]

We have the Mars upstacker (don't recall the exact model) in the bays - only one has failed in the last six years. Maintenance has been pulling out the stacker and bottom reader and wiping it clean with a damp cloth once a month. I did have a minor issue of water getting on the board above the acceptor until I drilled a 1/2" hole at the bottom of the snout.

 

[Earl Weiss]

At the ICA show a year ago I saw the Coinco Vantage tested by them spraying water in it. I bought 4 with add on Boxes from Etohwah. (Did not feel my D&S boxes with pin locks was secure enough and this was a lot cheaper than a retrofit from D&S anyway. One failed in a couple of weeks and it was replaced free under warranty including shipping. Another was vandalized and repaired for about $25.00. I was so happy that I bought 4 more. No more failures. Not even a jam. I did add thermostats and heaters to keep boxes ice free. Glad I did. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the boxes to drain water. Mounted them on the Door side of the main box thinking further from center will result in a little less spray.

No maintenace yet. I guess maybe I shoud do something once in a while. Not sure what.

The Vantage flshing lights are an attention getter as well and th ebox is less cluttered / confusing, and a seperate box allows a larger seperate sign highlighting the existance of the box.

 

[ScottV]

Earl,

Your post sounds exactly like my experience. After searching around the ICA show floor at Orlando (2 years ago) I settled on the Etowah Valley bill acceptor box and mounted it on the side of my I-Wash coin box. It has a Coinco acceptor and 1 of the two failed within a month. I sent it back to Etowah and it was replaced under warranty.

They have worked flawlessly since. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the box to allow water to drain out and added 30watt heater strips to help with the moisture / ice issue.

Overall, I have more than 50% of my customers use the bill acceptors versus quarters. I'm very happy with the product, the customer acceptance and the service that I get from Jim Gosnell at Etowah. They are very easy to work with and make a good sturdy product.

ScottV

 

[torquewrench]

I would like to have bill acceptors in the bays. Is this just something I can mount next to my coin/timer assy. or do I have to build new boxes and cut the hole in the wall bigger?Some pics would be great

 

[Earl Weiss]

I would like to have bill acceptors in the bays. Is this just something I can mount next to my coin/timer assy. or do I have to build new boxes and cut the hole in the wall bigger?Some pics would be great

When I get a chance I will send pictures. Heres a description of what I did. Existing meter boxes are mounted back to back but surrounded by about 4" of masonry on the sides. I told etowah valley to provide Boxes with holes for 3/4 conduit 1 inch from the back and one inch from the bottom. Half had holes on te left and half on the right since I was also mounting those back to back on the side of the meter box closest to the door. This location on the bill box matched up with an area of te meter box that had room for a matching hole to pull wires thru without interfering with anything else. Yours may differ. I then drilled thru the block and meter box for a matching hole and conenected with very short 3/4" ridgid conduit threaded on both ends and secured inside the boxes with conduit nuts. Drilled 4 3/8" holes in the corners of the boxes (Stand them on the floor back to back to make sure the holes line up. Then used those holes to drill thru the Block walls. Bought stainless nuts, bolts and washers from McMaster car long enough to go thru the walls and boxes and bolted in place. Order a wiring harness long enough to reach from the bill acceptor to the wires in the coin box. Using plastic type splice connectors (One side allows wire to pass thru and the other adds the seond wire the bill acceptor ties into the box / timer wiring. Since I was set for quarters I told Etowah to set the acceptor for $1 = 4 Pulses. If you have another setup you may have them program it differently.

 

[slash007]

When I get a chance I will send pictures. Heres a description of what I did. Existing meter boxes are mounted back to back but surrounded by about 4" of masonry on the sides. I told etowah valley to provide Boxes with holes for 3/4 conduit 1 inch from the back and one inch from the bottom. Half had holes on te left and half on the right since I was also mounting those back to back on the side of the meter box closest to the door. This location on the bill box matched up with an area of te meter box that had room for a matching hole to pull wires thru without interfering with anything else. Yours may differ. I then drilled thru the block and meter box for a matching hole and conenected with very short 3/4" ridgid conduit threaded on both ends and secured inside the boxes with conduit nuts. Drilled 4 3/8" holes in the corners of the boxes (Stand them on the floor back to back to make sure the holes line up. Then used those holes to drill thru the Block walls. Bought stainless nuts, bolts and washers from McMaster car long enough to go thru the walls and boxes and bolted in place. Order a wiring harness long enough to reach from the bill acceptor to the wires in the coin box. Using plastic type splice connectors (One side allows wire to pass thru and the other adds the seond wire the bill acceptor ties into the box / timer wiring. Since I was set for quarters I told Etowah to set the acceptor for $1 = 4 Pulses. If you have another setup you may have them program it differently.

Do the bill acceptors that come from Etowah Valley not have the wiring harness that is needed to connect them to the Dixmor timers? If you had to buy them separately, which harness did you use and where did you buy it from? Thanks.

 

[Fatboy769]

Do the bill acceptors that come from Etowah Valley not have the wiring harness that is needed to connect them to the Dixmor timers? If you had to buy them separately, which harness did you use and where did you buy it from? Thanks.

I'm sure they do, since it"s just a 24v hot, neutral and coin signal wire. Original harness probably wasn't long enough for Earl's situation.

 

[MEP001]

You should call Jim to make sure you get the right harness. The ones I use require a half-wide plug and a $5 enable plug to work. IIRC the last one I ordered from Kleen-Rite came with the MDB harness which will not work with a timer.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Etowah provides the harness but they ask how long the leads should be since applications vary.

 

[slash007]

You should call Jim to make sure you get the right harness. The ones I use require a half-wide plug and a $5 enable plug to work. IIRC the last one I ordered from Kleen-Rite came with the MDB harness which will not work with a timer.

I will try to call Jim, but getting a hold of him is near impossible. Still haven't placed my order because the quote he sent me only had one box on it and I need six. I'm waiting on an updated quote. How do I know which harness I need? They are going to be hooked up to Dixmor Led 7 timers.

 

[mjwalsh]

Do the bill acceptors that come from Etowah Valley not have the wiring harness that is needed to connect them to the Dixmor timers? If you had to buy them separately, which harness did you use and where did you buy it from? Thanks.

Slash007,

Randy will possibly vouch for me on this one. There is a 9 pin connector on the end of the harness from the bill acceptor which is a specific Coinco p/n. MEI has basically the same connector harness but is a different length & their own MEI (Mars) p/n. We have interchanged the 2 harnesses & both work identically. This harness & hookup is specific to 24VAC operation like in most of our washes. Other harnesses & hookups are specific to MDB &/or other voltages etc.

We had to come up with our own harnesses to adapt to our update of our Specialty coin boxes anyway so we invested in a Molex Jr Crimper & made an adaptor pigtail for the Vantage &/or MEI 9 pin connector to a 4 pin Molex Jr. Our wires follow to what Dixmor's schematic shows for I believe is the auxiliary terminal & the Dixmor is easily programmed accordingly. Dixmor tech is very good to work with ... if they are needed.

Hopefully, you gain some more understanding from this post.

mike

 

[MEP001]

I will try to call Jim, but getting a hold of him is near impossible.

If he's there when you call, just say you'll hold for him. I don't bother leaving a message anymore.

How do I know which harness I need?

There are several that will work, including one from Hamilton. The only one that won't work is the MDB harness.

 

[slash007]

If he's there when you call, just say you'll hold for him. I don't bother leaving a message anymore.

I think I read somewhere in a different post where you suggested that, so I gave it a shot last week and whomever answered told me that they couldn't let me hold, I would have to leave a message. I insisted but still no go. The only communication I get is via email, and that is only maybe one email response every couple days.

 

[Randy]

Connecting a Bill validator to a Dixmor LED-7 timer is pretty simple. You want to use a Mars/MEI 24 volt AE series validator set in the Gaming mode, always enabled with a MEI #250075007 harness, this harness runs about $12-$15. If you want to use the connector on the end of the harness you’ll have to make up a male plug to connect to the MEI #250075007 harness. You only need to use 4 of the wires that are on the harness.

Pin #5 is 24 volts Hot or Black on the plug – Connects to 24 Volt Hot

Pin #6 is 24 volts Neutral White on plug - Connects to Common

Pin #7 is Credit Relay (N.O) Orange wire on plug – Connects to Coin Pulse or Coin Signal

Pin #8 is Credit Relay (Comm) Brown wire on plug – Common Connects to coin Common or common

On the Dixmor timer side you want to use the newer style LED-7 timer harness that has the Yellow wire with black tracer that comes out of pin #8. Connect the Orange wire from the bill validator to this wire.

If you use a Mars/MEI 24 volt VN series validator use the MEI #250075007 harness along with the 1,2,5 Enable jumper MEI #250074011, these jumpers run about $12 - $15 apiece. They make the VN validator think that it’s being used in a Gaming application. These are a less expensive validator, more of them around.

 

[slash007]

Does anyone have experience with these boxes from Kleenrite? http://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-37433-deluxe-coin-box-long-hull.aspx

 

[MEP001]

FWIW, I would not buy them. There's no reason to have the entire plastic "snout" of the bill acceptor exposed when all you need is a narrow slit for the bill feed. I have seen validators destroyed by crooks trying to get in far enough to pull the bills out of the stacker.

Cam locks for a box with a bill acceptor in it are not secure enough.

 

[slash007]

FWIW, I would not buy them. There's no reason to have the entire plastic "snout" of the bill acceptor exposed when all you need is a narrow slit for the bill feed. I have seen validators destroyed by crooks trying to get in far enough to pull the bills out of the stacker.

Cam locks for a box with a bill acceptor in it are not secure enough.

It does have slots where you can put a bar over the locks for added security. I agree about the snout sticking out, though I do have many pop machines that have the snout sticking out and it hasn't been a problem. You mentioned that you had drilled a hole in the bottom of your Mars acceptors for the water to drain out and that it helped. Any chance you could show me a picture? I am getting mine in soon and want to go ahead and do that before I install them. Thanks.

 

[MEP001]

You mentioned that you had drilled a hole in the bottom of your Mars acceptors for the water to drain out and that it helped. Any chance you could show me a picture?

I actually had a validator out the other day and meant to take a picture of the hole but forgot. I'll try and remember tomorrow. I don't think water getting in them is generally a big deal - I suspect the worst problem I was having was with an employee spraying the meterbox to clean it instead of wiping it like he was told to. If your boxes are/will be in the center of the bay you'll have more overspray on them than I usually see.

 

[slash007]

I actually had a validator out the other day and meant to take a picture of the hole but forgot. I'll try and remember tomorrow. I don't think water getting in them is generally a big deal - I suspect the worst problem I was having was with an employee spraying the meterbox to clean it instead of wiping it like he was told to. If your boxes are/will be in the center of the bay you'll have more overspray on them than I usually see.

Mine will be near the center, so they will get overspray. I have a wash that has bill acceptors with the coinboxes on the edge and I have never had a water problem. I want to take every pre-caution on these though. I opted for the 2412 acceptors figuring that accepting $1 and $5 enough. The 2612 and ability to accept $10 was $70 extra for each acceptor. Is there any reason to want to accept $10 bills? I didn't think it was worth the extra cost.