Jim Coleman swipe at the bay timer question

[JoelM]

We have 3 JCC vacs and 2 shampoo vacs in a Swipe at the Bay system. All of the self serve car wash bays have the option of putting the rotary switch in the off position to stop the transaction. (Goes to $20 max if they don't turn off the dial.) This lets the customer use the wash as long as they want and they control when the transaction ends. Here is my question...how can I make the vacs do the same thing with maybe a push button switch or etc. They all use the same 1041 timer and if the self serve wash bays can do it, why cant the vacs. Currently I have the max price set at $2 for the vacs because that is the posted cash price. JCC says you cant do it, but i'm pretty sure that is because what I am wanting to do is part of another cc system that is considerably more $ (Swipe-N-Clean) which I have no intention of purchasing.

 

[MEP001]

It seems like it should be pretty simple. You could use a rotary switch on the vacuum and have only "VAC" and "STOP" selections, and they would select the latter to end the transaction.

 

[easy2wash]

coleman swipe at the bay vac timer question

I searched to see if this had been posted/answered before and could not find any info, so here goes;

We have all coleman swipe at the bay timers for 4 wash bays and 3 vacs and 2 shampoo vacs. On my wash bays, you can tell the satb system to max credit card transactions at a given value and leave it up to the customer to stop the transaction by placing the rotary dial in the "stop" position, thereby stopping the transaction at whatever amount they have accrued. However, on my vacs and shampoo vacs, which use the exact same timer, I can only set the max credit card charge to a set value and that is what the customer is charged. I would like to be able to set the max credit card charge and let the customer end the cycle just like in the wash bays. We have never had any issues with customers not understanding this in the wash bays, shouldn't be a problem at the vacs. Does anyone with coleman timer knowledge know of a way that I could incorporate a push button or dial or something to allow this functionality?

The current setup forces me to set the vac credit card charge at the posted startup price, not allowing the customer to take advantage of bonus time. Also, if they need more time than the current 4 minutes startup time, they have to let the cycle run out and swipe their card again. Most customers will just stop vacuuming after the 4 minutes. Allowing them to use as long as they want, would drastically increase my vac credit card sales.

I spoke to coleman and the manufacturer of the timer (b+c electronics) and they say there is no way to do this, but I'm somewhat convinced that they just wont give answers regarding any use outside of the standard setup.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Joel
easy2wash

 

[MEP001]

If I'm not mistaken, the timers are interchangeable between the vacs and bays, at least that's what you said when you posted under the username JoelM. Can you swap timers between a bay and a vac and have the vac work the way you're asking? If so, there's a way to do what you want.

It would be awesome if you'd respond within your own thread when someone tried to help you.

 

[easy2wash]

mep

thanks for responding. I did try to add to my original post, but something happened and my original login did not work, as far as I know I wasn't banned from the site, I know I didnt forget my password, and i tried to contact the admin, but you have to be logged in to do that, but I could not log in, so I re-registered, and posted again. I posted in a different category to try to elicit more responses, because my last posts did not get any credible answers.

 

[easy2wash]

you were the only one that responded to my original post, and the answer was pretty vague. Appreciated, but vague. I was trying to get an answer from someone who knew the actual workings of my equipment, which is a different setup than most rotary dial setups. I know you "should be able to" and I am familiar with generic timer/rotary dial setups. But that does nothing to help me and I was trying to get help from someone with SPECIFIC JIM COLEMAN SWIPE AT THE BAY 1041 TIMER EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE. Thanks for the forum etiquette, though

 

[MEP001]

In the original post to which I replied, I suggested a rotary switch addition, which isn't far from what you wanted (a pushbutton selector). I still believe it would work, but if you want to go the pushbutton route you could add a programmable relay or use latching relays along with momentary contact buttons to emulate a rotary selector.

I don't know Coleman equipment as well as you want, but I do understand self-serve car wash equipment in general far better than you. I had no difficulty creating a system to eliminate the "STOP" button on a Hamilton D.A.N. system to allow selecting the stop position to end the transaction (like almost every other in-bay credit card system does), so I'm certain I can solve your problem. If my credibility is insufficient for you, then please disregard my posts.

 

[easy2wash]

truce...

I in no way intended for this to be a showdown...I appreciate everything that anybody contributes to this forum. I merely thought that if I can do it in the bay with the exact same timer, I should be able to do it at the vac. The only difference is in the programming. You have to tell the 1041 timer what device it is installed in...bay, vac, shampoo/vac, or fragrance vac. When it is installed in the wash bay, the customer returns the dial to the "stop" position when they are done, and remaining in the stop position for 30 seconds stops the cycle and the transaction. The timer then has to report the transaction to the swipe at the bay server in order to complete the final billing based on the amount of money/time accrued at the bay. It would stand to reason that if I can do it in the wash bay with nothing other than the stock coleman equipment, maybe I could achieve this same result with the addition of a push button at the vacs/shampoo vacs and hopefully within the confines of the stock equipment other than the pushbutton. Thank you mep for answering and I value your expertise, as well as anyone else with coleman 1041 timer experience.

 

[MEP001]

The only difference is in the programming.

That won't be the only difference. Knowing how similar equipment functions, it's probably a lack of input to the timer that triggers the credit card transaction end. It would take a setup to emulate that on a vacuum. I see no reason why this would be difficult to do.

 

[Randy]

Easy2wash, Every time I go through Saint Helens I stop by your wash, no one is ever there. Have you contacted the guy who sold you the equipment and installed it? That would be the first place to start.