Mars Bill acceptor

[JamboWash]

i installed new self serve doors with mars bill acceptors just a few month ago , now i have two of them acting weird it would take the bill half way in and spite it out , i have tried cleaning them but still to no vain it will not accept any bill , i could not find a troubleshooting manual for them, anyone have any idea what i could be overlooking .

 

[Randy]

Is the Red light on the back of the validator steady On or is flashing? It kind of sounds to me like water damage. A couple of good blasts from a high pressure wand will ruin a validator pretty fast. Water damage is not covered on Mars 2-year warranty. As the Mars validators in our bays failed we took them out and didn’t replace them. You can try drilling a couple of holes in the bottom of the bill transport to let the water out, that works sometimes.

 

[MEP001]

Clean them with a damp cloth, water only, wipe as much of the belts that you can get to, remove the stacker, pull out the optical reader and clean it and the rollers, reach inside with the cloth wrapped over your fingers and wipe the inner optical lens making sure you get the side sensors, and before you reinstall the stacker wipe off the little sensor that faces the stacker.

 

[JamboWash]

the red light is not flashing its steady , there is no water inside the optical reader as there is holes on the bottom factory made, i cleaned as mentioned but still having the same issue .

 

[Randy]

Unfortunately about the only thing you can do is send it in for repair. Who did you buy them from?

 

[DakotaHoskins]

May be a stupid question but have you tried unplugging it and plugging it back in. We have to do this way to often in our bays. It's to the point I power cycle them every time they are emptied.

 

[mjwalsh]

Just what i believe is a relevant observation:

Considering the number of times we have had to send in ($$$ ouch) both our Mars & Coinco bill acceptors ... there is no way that anyone will convince me that bill acceptors are less maintenance than the better coin acceptors. Especially when they get too heavy of use from a majority of one dollar bills vs five & ten dollar bills.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

there is no way that anyone will convince me that bill acceptors are less maintenance than the better coin acceptors.

Who has been trying to convince you of that?

 

[Earl Weiss]

Just what i believe is a relevant observation:

Considering the number of times we have had to send in ($$$ ouch) both our Mars & Coinco bill acceptors ... there is no way that anyone will convince me that bill acceptors are less maintenance than the better coin acceptors. Especially when they get too heavy of use from a majority of one dollar bills vs five & ten dollar bills.

Dang, those pesky 5's and 10's as opposed to coins.

 

[mjwalsh]

Dang, those pesky 5's and 10's as opposed to coins.

IMHO, fewer or even no $1 dollar paper money would help improve the number of times bill acceptors & also high end bank bill counters have to be repaired. Us in more rural USA are more likely to have shipping as an added expense also. LOL ... much better to have bales of 5s & 10s & muscle building trouble free dollar coins than bales of paper 1s ... again IMHO.

 

[chaz]

Paying for repairs and maintenance is part of doing business. True a $5 bill causes the same wear and tear as does a $1 bill on my validator, but I'm not about to stop taking the $1 bills. My equipment also takes larger bills and quarters and dollar coins. As much as I don't like spending money on repairs I believe there's a bit of a realtionship between $ spent keeping equipment running correctly and $ spent at my wash.

 

[Bud]

Speaking of Mars, who does service them. I will not send them back to the supplier. I sent them a Standard hopper recently and it was gone about 6 weeks. They just sent it to Standard which I could have done myself.

 

[Kevin James]

We've been sending our MEI/Mars validators to Randy to be repaired. He's pretty fair. 6 weeks is ridiculous for any repair work.

 

[MEP001]

I send them through AECO Sales. It's rarely over $100 and they work like new.

 

[loewem]

Randy does a great job, fair price and good turn around time.

 

[2Biz]

Randy does a great job, fair price and good turn around time.

+1 for Randy! You won't find any better Service and Support!

 

[Bud]

Thanks for the info.

 

[lilb93]

The only way to prevent failures of MEI in a bay (wet place) is to remove it from the housing, take the lower part you pull out to clean. Use a small flathead, pop the cover off where the clear plastic is over the LED"S you have to press down on the metal clips to remove the locking rod. Use a small flathead and pop out the bottom circuit board. Unplug the wire connector. Get clear nail polish and put two coats on top and bottom and ALL SIDES. Do not cover the LED"S or the clear or red readers on the sides. Reinstall and will last. Water gets in and corrodes the very fine circuits really quick. Did my in bays over a year ago and never looked back. I did take photos and when I find them I will post them. It takes about 35 minutes to do one.

 

[soonermajic]

Who is this "Randy" y'all speak of?