Hamilton cash validator

[Dirt Buster]

Does anyone with a hamilton goldine know if I change to a mars cash validator, will I be able to program mars wash coupons with it? One person at hamilton says that unless I have an XE in there, it won't be able to accept coupons

 

[OurTown]

Does anyone with a hamilton goldine know if I change to a mars cash validator, will I be able to program mars wash coupons with it? One person at hamilton says that unless I have an XE in there, it won't be able to accept coupons

I bet he meant that you can't accept Hamilton's Tokenotes anymore.

 

[Randy]

Does anyone with a hamilton goldine know if I change to a mars cash validator, will I be able to program mars wash coupons with it? One person at hamilton says that unless I have an XE in there, it won't be able to accept coupons

The answer to your question is NO. If you install a Mars validator in a Goldline ACW your Hamilton Tokenotes will not work. But you can use the Mars coupons, there are a couple of problems with the Mars coupons, they are very expensive and the Mars validator sees them as cash. I've installed many Mars validators in Hamilton equipment but they do have a few draw backs, but overall they work very well.

 

[Dirt Buster]

The answer to your question is NO. If you install a Mars validator in a Goldline ACW your Hamilton Tokenotes will not work. But you can use the Mars coupons, there are a couple of problems with the Mars coupons, they are very expensive and the Mars validator sees them as cash. I've installed many Mars validators in Hamilton equipment but they do have a few draw backs, but overall they work very well.

Randy, do you think the XE works just as good in the goldline?

i also called a second person at hamilton and they also said that my Hamilton coupons will no longer work, which i knew. But they are the second person from hamilton that has said the Mars coupons won’t work as well. Because the goldline won’t listen to them. That’s what their 2 cents were.
But if you’ve done the conversion and saw the mars coupons then I’ll take your word for it. When you say it sees it as cash. Does that mean someone can hit refund and get quarters back for it after inserting it?

 

[MEP001]

I've never tried it, but I think I can get a Mars validator to fool the Hamilton controller into thinking the Mars coupon is a Hamilton Tokenote. Mars validators only output a single pulse per dollar, and their coupons can be any dollar value. The Goldline will only see it as cash in. Hamilton Tokenotes trigger a combination of $1 and $5 pulses that the controller reads however it's programmed. It might still require an XE or STA validator to program, but by using a programmable relay I could intercept the Mars pulse output and have the relay convert it to a Tokenote signal.

The Mars coupons are very expensive, something like a dollar each until you're ordering quantities of 10,000 or more.

 

[Dirt Buster]

I've never tried it, but I think I can get a Mars validator to fool the Hamilton controller into thinking the Mars coupon is a Hamilton Tokenote. Mars validators only output a single pulse per dollar, and their coupons can be any dollar value. The Goldline will only see it as cash in. Hamilton Tokenotes trigger a combination of $1 and $5 pulses that the controller reads however it's programmed. It might still require an XE or STA validator to program, but by using a programmable relay I could intercept the Mars pulse output and have the relay convert it to a Tokenote signal.

The Mars coupons are very expensive, something like a dollar each until you're ordering quantities of 10,000 or more.

Thats really interesting. I was thinking it was a different reason. But that’s nice to know what is going on.
jeez they are that expensive? I think the Mars coupons for my wash select II are at least half that i think.

 

[Randy]

The Mars only uses the dollar line for all the denominations $1 - $20 and the Hamilton Tokenotes use the $5 dollar for the Tokenotes. There’s no way you can accept a Mars coupon as a Tokenote in a Goldline ACW. The Mars coupons only come in denominations of $1 and $5 coupons and the Mars validator sees them as cash. Generic Mars $1 and $5 coupons are .59 with a minimum order of 500.
Hamilton made it really easy to convert the Goldline over to a 24 volt Mars validator. Everything is on the back of the door.

 

[MEP001]

As I said, I haven't tried it, but I have tested a Hamilton validator with Tokenotes and watched it pulse a combination of $1 and $5 signals. I'm sure I could capture oddball-number bill pulses from a Mars validator coupon and have a programmable relay output a Tokenote signal. There's no reason for it to not work.

 

[Randy]

Miles why don’t you go ahead and work on this project and report back. The Mars validator sees the Mars coupon as a $1 or $5 depending on the coupon and sends the corresponding pulses to the host controller. A Mars validator will only accept the Mars coupons.

 

[MEP001]

So there are no Mars coupons that are for any value other than $1 or $5?

 

[Randy]

So there are no Mars coupons that are for any value other than $1 or $5?

That would be correct. The only coupons that Mars have have a value of $1 and $5

 

[Dirt Buster]

As I said, I haven't tried it, but I have tested a Hamilton validator with Tokenotes and watched it pulse a combination of $1 and $5 signals. I'm sure I could capture oddball-number bill pulses from a Mars validator coupon and have a programmable relay output a Tokenote signal. There's no reason for it to not work.

Yeah i'd be curious if you try it and make it work

 

[MEP001]

Unitec does it by using the MDB setup. I doubt I'll be able to do it that way.

 

[Dirt Buster]

Yes it is MDB, not pulse. That does complicate it

 

[Randy]

You can't use a MDB validator in any of the Hamilton equipment. You want to be very careful to not use a validator that's stated for MDB equipment in a pulse application.