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Crane/Mars payment systems changes are coming

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Randy

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I was talking with my Mars validator rep yesterday and he informed me after placing my order for a number of Mars AE series validators that Crane/Mars is going to be discontinuing the production of the AE series validators possibility within the next 90 days, these are the most popular validators that are used in the car wash industry. Crane/Mars will be coming out with the “Talos” T6 validator as a replacement for the AE2600 series validator. I’m trying to get my hands on a couple of the Talos T6 validators to see how they’ll work in the bill changers. https://www.cranepi.com/en/products/note/validators/talos He also informed me that Crane/Mars will also be coming out with a new card reader, the “Alio” https://www.cranepi.com/en/products/cashless/card-readers/alio he thought that the Alio card reader might be a good fit for the car wash industry because it will interface with either MDB or pulse protocols. More to come as I find out more I will share.
 

OurTown

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That card reader is interesting but it does not look like it would hold up in a self serve bay. Have you heard about pricing of these new products?
 

Randy

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That card reader is interesting but it does not look like it would hold up in a self serve bay. Have you heard about pricing of these new products?
Nope, no pricing information yet. I'm trying to get my hands on a couple of units so I can beta test them or have someone on the forum test them in the real world.
 

boywonder

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I got some rough environment self serve bays. Ill be willing to test
 

mjwalsh

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Randy,

Hopefully, the MEI AE2600 series will still be repairable. We have been having great luck with the Etowah Valley's Coinco-Paper Token featured Vantages the past few years ... so my hopes are for them to also be repairable.

It looks like the TALOS have improvements with connectivity ... maybe built in wireless functions??? Not sure specific connectivity features will make the value that much better for many of us?
 

GoBuckeyes

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If anyone looks into the Alio card reader would you please post what you learn? I'm curious if it could be incorporated into a Hamilton ACW 5 to replace Hamilton's credit system. ACW's dial up is slow, requires a phone line, and the CRC computer seems to be temperamental and expensive to service. This would refresh an old ACW and introduce Apple Pay etc to our customers. I wonder what their processing rates are?
 

Randy

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If anyone looks into the Alio card reader would you please post what you learn? I'm curious if it could be incorporated into a Hamilton ACW 5 to replace Hamilton's credit system. ACW's dial up is slow, requires a phone line, and the CRC computer seems to be temperamental and expensive to service. This would refresh an old ACW and introduce Apple Pay etc to our customers. I wonder what their processing rates are?
The problem is the interface between the ACW controller and the credit card reader. When you swipe or tap your card and push the button there's nothing to tell the card reader what to charge because there is no interface between the the two. If you had one price point like Costco does here at their car washes it'd be easy.
 

Randy

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[QUOTE="mjwalsh,

Hopefully, the MEI AE2600 series will still be repairable.
[/QUOTE]
Yes there will still be repair parts avaliable for a number of years. CPI/Mars is the business of selling validators not repair parts.
 
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