Hopper found empty

[lighthousecarwash]

I arrived at the car wash this afternoon to find my Hamilton ACW scrolling "use exact change". My worst fear was correct. I opened the door to find the coin hopper empty. I know that there was talk about taping the harness up so it couldn't be reached, but I couldn't find anywhere that it was pulled down or shorted. I re-taped everything so we will see if they return. Could I have missed anything? I wouldn't think that they could have strung the entire hopper out. There were quite a few quaters on the inside of the door laying on the bottom of the unit. That makes me think it started pouring them out and was bouncing down as they grabbed them out of the hopper. And by the way.....today was my first anniversary of owning the car wash....happy freakin anniversary!

Thanks,
Lighthouse.

 

[MEP001]

Do you not track your money so that you can tell whether you were strung or jackpotted? Are you even sure it was theft? Someone may have just used your cashier as a drive-up changer. You need to find out what is happening so you can address the right problem.

 

[lighthousecarwash]

There was only about 10-15 bucks in the stacker so I know they didn't just run it out. Not sure how you could tell the difference between being strung or the other method. All the quarters gone, is all the quaters gone, right?


Lighthouse

 

[Randy]

What model of Hamilton ACW is it? Does the harness look like it's been pulled out the coin cup or tampered with? If it has look for a small pin pick in the wiring, it's possible to short out the wiring harness and makes the Hopper dump. Is the refund button disabled? It could have been strung, what model validator are you using? Which model validator are you using? If you think you've been strung Hamilton has new software available to stop stringing.
If your cabinet is exposed on the back, look for a small hole drilled into the back of the cabinet. It's possible to fish a stiff wire into the back of the ACW and flip “On” the dump switch on the Hopper.

 

[lighthousecarwash]

It's an ACW 4. I would have to check on the validator model. I know that the harness had been shorted once before I bought the wash. It did not look like it had been tampered with this time. Did not find any holes drilled anywhere either. Is it possible that something malfunctioned and it payed it out?

Lighthouse

 

[Bill Manke]

I had a acw 4 that did jackpot. It was quite awhile back. I just happened to be by the acw I saw this guy pay for his wash and heard it returning quarters. well it never stopped the guy grabbed a handful of quarters went into the wash and it was still going finally I shut the power down. Reset it and it was fine after that. Talked to hamilton they said they had never had this happen. I think it was a malfunction in the controller. I finally switched out those acws. Best move I ever made.Have you had any bad weather for lightning strikes in the area?

 

[waterway]

I had it happen to me. Right after a nasty thunderstorm. The next day I came to work to find the hopped empty and quarters all of the bottom of the cabinet and one of the quarters actually fell into the controller and fried my controller. So no matter what hamilton says it definitely happens. How is the only question...

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Where in the hell have you guys been! I've been bitching for years about my machines giving $512 credit, usually after a cycling of power. I even started a discussion about it in May. All you have to do is select a wash and you get all that change. Hamilton knows about it, I just haven't succeeded in getting anyone to admit it. Until now I had never had anyone else say that they have had jackpotting issues after a storm.

 

[MEP001]

There was only about 10-15 bucks in the stacker so I know they didn't just run it out. Not sure how you could tell the difference between being strung or the other method. All the quarters gone, is all the quaters gone, right?

No. Did you not understand what I asked about tracking the money? I can only assume you don't do it. You can tell whether it was strung or jackpotted by comparing the actual bills against the report. If it says it accepted 15 five dollar bills and there are only two in it, you've been strung. It's not rocket science.

 

[Jeff_L]

Are you using a Hamilton XE validator? If so, I would recommend converting to at least a MARs validator. I converted all my changers and ACWs to MARs 3yrs ago and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Randy]

Where there any coins left in the hopper at all or was it completely empty? Is the refund button disabled?

Without knowing what model or version validator your using it’s pretty hard to determine if you’ve been strung or not.

Hamilton’s latest version software, v3.53 is a pretty aggressive version. It s shuts down the validator if it detects a stringing attempt for a predetermined amount of time. They’ve also made it so you can adjust the sensitivity and the length of time the validator shuts down, this can be done in the field.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Here's what I found on one of my ACWs this morning.

 

[Brad Quay]

I.B. Washing Cars and Lighthouse -

I'd like to see if I could get you gentlemen to call me at the office on Monday, which is the 12th. I should be in there all day and will be happy to get the proper people involved to figure out what's going on with your respective machines.


Sincerely,

Brad Quay
Vice President of Sales
Hamilton Manufacturing Corp.
(888)-723-4858

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Thanks Brad, I would definitely like to chat with you about this. I have been screaming this from the mountaintops for about a decade now, but I don't think anyone took me seriously. I definitely want to get this resolved before I give away another hopper full of money.

Pat Hall