Hamilton coin hopper

[BigVic1993]

Good morning I need some help
I’m new to the CarWash community
I am currently having issues with my coin hopper every time I refill the hopper with quarters for some odd reason it kicks the money dispenser to out of service and it has to be reset

I refilled the hopper with quarters Saturday night
Went this morning
One hopper was empty and the other only had $40 in bills

any help?

 

[I.B. Washincars]

There are several ways for crooks to empty your hoppers. First off, you need to determine if it is being stolen or is the changer malfunctioning. Does this only happen in the dead of night? Is the amount of money missing in multiples of $5?

 

[BigVic1993]

I believe it’s a malfunction
Nothing seems to be tampered with
This happens every time we load the hopper with more quarters

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I'm assuming this is a dual changer, DRS model? If so, what validator is in the side that loses the money? Stringing will not leave any evidence unless the crook loses part of their bill in the machine. Was the money lost in multiples of $5? Also, harness tampering can easily be missed. I don't know if I've ever heard of a Hamilton hopper jackpotting, but I'm sure Randy will chime in on this (He's the Hamilton guru.).

 

[Kimberly Berg]

I have a dual DRS hopper system from Hamilton and 10 years we were being strung. This was before we had cameras. I realized we had a problem when the amount of cash we were pulling out didn't match the numbers on the rotary counter on the hoppers. No damage whatsoever. We were always off in increments of $20, until the thieves got greedy and drained the hoppers of quarters. Then we switched to $1 tokens and credit cards.

 

[Randy]

Good morning I need some help
I’m new to the CarWash community
I am currently having issues with my coin hopper every time I refill the hopper with quarters for some odd reason it kicks the money dispenser to out of service and it has to be reset

I refilled the hopper with quarters Saturday night
Went this morning
One hopper was empty and the other only had $40 in bills

any help?

What kind of bill validator are you using? If it's a XE validator I'd suggest installing a Mars validator. Check your harness going down to the hopper. Is it loose? It could be the harness has been tampered with. If the bill changer is new enough there should be a plug with a green or orange tag on it about halfway up the harness that goes to the hopper, make sure that that plug is unplugged. Another easy way to tell if it's unplugged is to flip the hopper dump switch at the bottom of the hopper, if it dumps coins it's plugged in.
I'd keep a minimal amount of quarters in the hopper until I found out what the problem is. But it sounds to me like your getting strung.

 

[MEP001]

I am currently having issues with my coin hopper every time I refill the hopper with quarters for some odd reason it kicks the money dispenser to out of service and it has to be reset

This might be the hopper payout switch failing. Read the error code off the controller and write it down each time.

C2000 Controller Operational Manual (#101-0009) | Hamilton Manufacturing Corp.

www.hamiltonmfg.com

I refilled the hopper with quarters Saturday night
Went this morning
One hopper was empty and the other only had $40 in bills

Are you missing a lot of quarters, or did one side shut down and was still full?

 

[Randy]

They got it fixed. The problem ended up being the cheesy adapter harness relay from the validator to the Hamilton harness had a short in it and when they filled the hopper the movement of the harness or vibration would shut the changer down until they wiggled the harness. I sent them a better adapter harness and relay and they are back in business. Now for the next problem, the power switch box on the changer.

 

[Jsshac]

I'm assuming this is a dual changer, DRS model? If so, what validator is in the side that loses the money? Stringing will not leave any evidence unless the crook loses part of their bill in the machine. Was the money lost in multiples of $5? Also, harness tampering can easily be missed. I don't know if I've ever heard of a Hamilton hopper jackpotting, but I'm sure Randy will chime in on this (He's the Hamilton guru.).

I had one jackpot it was the controller, the customer called me and gave me all my quarters back.

 

[MEP001]

I had one jackpot it was the controller, the customer called me and gave me all my quarters back.

Luckily there are still some decent people out there. I left the locks sitting on top of my vendors the other night, and this morning there was the correct amount of money in the drawers for the product missing. It's probably the fifth time I've done that and so far only once did someone take anything.

 

[BigVic1993]

What kind of bill validator are you using? If it's a XE validator I'd suggest installing a Mars validator. Check your harness going down to the hopper. Is it loose? It could be the harness has been tampered with. If the bill changer is new enough there should be a plug with a green or orange tag on it about halfway up the harness that goes to the hopper, make sure that that plug is unplugged. Another easy way to tell if it's unplugged is to flip the hopper dump switch at the bottom of the hopper, if it dumps coins it's plugged in.
I'd keep a minimal amount of quarters in the hopper until I found out what the problem is. But it sounds to me like your getting strung.

Thank you Randy for the help and new parts sent to us