Hamilton ACW4 issue

[Rudy]

A long time regular customer leaves a message. Tells me he inserts a brass token (value $10) into the ACW. The machine gives him $.25 in credit (Instead of $10).

He tells me that's his last token, so he goes to my vendor, and buys (5) more.

Inserts another brass token. The ACW gives him an additional $.25 in credit.

Although I don't know the guy personally, he sounds legit and knowledgeable.

I drive to the wash to investigate.

I expect to see the programming to be lost due to a depleted BRAM module. Nope. All programing appears to be intact.

I insert a Brass token.....$10 in credit. I insert another....it rings up another $10. The unit appears to be working perfectly. I double check to see if a Brass token will fit into the Quarter slot. Nope, a token only fits into the token slot.

I swap out the Slugbuster as a precaution.

A phone call to Hamilton reveals that they have NEVER heard of this.

Have any of you guys ever heard of this, or do you have any clue to what might be going on?

 

[Stan Alan]

I had the same problem. Swapped out the slug buster worked ok for a little while then went back to doing the same thing. Then I cut the plug in connector off of the slug buster and wire nutted together problem has not returned in over 3 months now.

 

[Rudy]

I'm reviving this old thread.

After reading your post Stan, I unplugged, and reseated the Quarter and Token acceptors. The problem went away, and the issue was forgotten.

Yesterday, a long time customer inserts a Brass Token into the Token slot, gets a $0.25 credit, inserts another Brass Token into the Token slot, and gets another $0.25 credit. My Tokens are worth $10.

Same automatic bay and ACW as last spring.

Hmmmm.

I can't figure out how this could be happening. How would an intermittent (or faulty) acceptor connection cause this? You'd think that it'd either work, or not work.......yes?

 

[cbchevy4x4]

Just curious if it was the same "long time customer." Ive been there and done that with some of my clientele. They will wait a month or 6 and try to pull the same stunt thinking you wont remember. Or tell a buddy how they got a free wash etc.

 

[Randy]

I'd check the programming in the controller and if that is good then swap out the coin acceptor with a known good one. Are you using a Parker Slugbuster P-37?

 

[Rudy]

Parker P-37.....yes. I don't understand how a bad acceptor would give the $0.25 credit instead of a token credit. I'd be inclined to think that the acceptor would either work, or not work. It correctly accepts (or rejects) the brass token. Why does the Hamilton ACW think it's a quarter pulse instead of a token pulse???? And....only rarely? Could a floating ground, or other grounding issue be at fault?

Customer was a middle aged suburbanite woman. To be honest, she was not all that interested in getting something back....it was more along the line of "I thought you'd like to know....".

 

[Randy]

Does it do this every time or just every once and awhile? It could be the coin acceptor isn’t sending a good signal the to controller or the coin acceptor is sending a good signal but it getting lost due to corrosion somewhere in the wiring or the controller card edge plug. Check all the connections for any corrosion, check the card edge connection that plugs into the controller, you could spray the connections with electrical contact cleaner. The coin acceptor sends one 50ms signal to the controller. The controller recognizes that signal and issues whatever the controller is set at. You could also have a controller issue. Are you using the quarter side of the ACW?

Aux air doors closed!

 

[Rudy]

It happens very rarely.

Yes, I'm using the quarter side of the ACW.

I swapped Token acceptors with an adjacent bay, so I'll see if the problem migrates.

Your comment about the edge connector reminded me about another issue I had years ago. I can't remember the details, but I seem to remember that a wildly intermittent and pesky ACW issue turned out to be a bad edge connector.

I'll double check the edge connector tomorrow.

 

[DPD36]

I've had a similar intermittent issue on one of my goldlines, except it is when the customer uses a card (cryptopay). My apologies if I am hijacking.
I disconnected the coin acceptors and that seemed to resolve it, but it happened again a few weeks later. I have duplicated the issue myself, so I know that it is real. On at least two occasions this occurred after a power cycle.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to pinpoint the problem. I estimate that this happens every 4 or 500 transactions and when it is hot out. I have not documented it in cooler weather.
Cryptopay and Hamilton acted like they had never heard of this when I spoke with them as well. I've cleaned and inspected all connections.