johng7769 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Thank you for the welcome, I am new to the vending machine venue. Im not sure if you can help me but i am a firefighter that was recently put in charge of the soda vending machines at the stations. The issue is that we have a coinco ba30 with a bill validator that is not working. I have no error message on the LED the coin trays are full and the bill accepter is empty. When i try to put a bill in the machine does not reconize it and does nothing. Does not try to accept the bill. The coins work fine. The bill accepter does cycle if i do open and close the door to empy the validator. I am at a loss. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Thank you for the welcome, I am new to the vending machine venue. Im not sure if you can help me but i am a firefighter that was recently put in charge of the soda vending machines at the stations. The issue is that we have a coinco ba30 with a bill validator that is not working. I have no error message on the LED the coin trays are full and the bill accepter is empty. When i try to put a bill in the machine does not reconize it and does nothing. Does not try to accept the bill. The coins work fine. The bill accepter does cycle if i do open and close the door to empy the validator. I am at a loss. Any suggestions? Couple of questions here.. I am assuming it is... but is the red LED light on the bill acceptor solid (ie. solid red LED, not off or flashing)? I am assuming it is as you mentioned there was no error. Secondly, did it work before? Usually, those bill acceptors will give you some kind of an error if there is something wrong with them... but seeing as though it appears to have no error and does not try to accept the bill, it tells me that there is something wrong with the bill acceptor. What kind of a machine is it? It sounds like it may be single-price but I have no idea. A single-price machine is one where you usually put your coins in and there is no display to tell you how much change is in the machine... it automatically gives you change back (or rejects additional money) when the purchase price has been met. If it is a single price machine, you might have a problem with your coin mechanism but that is kind of doubtful. It is also possible that something is simply blocking the entrance or blocking the bills from being read by the sensors. One thing you can try is to take the bill box off (there is a plastic tab on top of the bill box/acceptor that keeps the bill box in place). Then, remove the lower part of the bill acceptor by pressing on a plastic "button" (just a plastic locking piece) and pulling the lower part out (it goes back in by simply pushing the lower part back in until it you hear the slight "snap" from being locked in again). Once you have the lower part out, wipe the upper sensors (still on the upper part of the bill acceptor mounted to the machine) and the lower sensors that you just took out. The only other thing I can think of that would cause your coin mech to work but not the bill acceptor is if you do not have enough change in the coin mechanism. If that's the case, it won't take bills because there isn't enough change. Try to verify that there are enough nickels and dimes in the machine (and quarters too but it isn't as important). I usually keep the dimes and nickels at LEAST half-way full (or half-way empty for those pessimistic people). If the coin mech is full of change, it is possible that there is either a jam or the lower sensors aren't working on your coin mech. Please tell us what model machine it is as it will help narrow things down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johng7769 Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 Chris, you are correct that the LED is a solid red, and i am not sure when it stopped working. Taking care of this was just thrown into my lap. it is a single price machine and the coin trays are full. I did try and clean the sensors as they were pretty dirty but still have the same issue. i am pretty much at a loss with what it could be. Am i missing something so obvious here? are they just old and worn out as they were made in 96? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Since you have power to the bill validator (cycles when door is closed) and you have full coin tubes you should follow Chris' advice to clean the sensors. Only use a soft cloth with no moisture. If that doesn't solve the issue then you probably need to replace the validator. When a bill is rejected can you tell us how many times the red LED flashes on the side-mounted control box. If you need to replace the unit I can exchange it for you. Just send me a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Chris, you are correct that the LED is a solid red, and i am not sure when it stopped working. Taking care of this was just thrown into my lap. it is a single price machine and the coin trays are full. I did try and clean the sensors as they were pretty dirty but still have the same issue. i am pretty much at a loss with what it could be. Am i missing something so obvious here? are they just old and worn out as they were made in 96? Since the LED is solid then that means the coin mech has enabled the validator for it to take bills. If it does not do that after cleaning the sensors then it must be repaired. The BA30B is the first generation of plastic validators that Coinco made. While they can be rebuilt, when I do an exchange for one I change it to a Mag50B as that model has much better security and has some hard part upgrades. Again, send me a PM if you need an exchange for yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Chris, you are correct that the LED is a solid red, and i am not sure when it stopped working. Taking care of this was just thrown into my lap. it is a single price machine and the coin trays are full. I did try and clean the sensors as they were pretty dirty but still have the same issue. i am pretty much at a loss with what it could be. Am i missing something so obvious here? are they just old and worn out as they were made in 96? Sometimes they show no error even though there is a serious problem. I don't know how the validators work but chances are that the validator is worn/broken and needs to be replaced. I really feel like it COULD be the coin mech but, even if it is, your machine will work much better if the validator gets replaced. The MAG that AZVendor is referring to is a good unit to exchange for with your BA30B. All you need to do is take the old one off and put the new one on and plug everything back in and you're good to go. A mars validator is a very good choice but it requires more changes than the MAG would. I recommend you exchange the validator or get it rebuilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Thank you for the welcome, I am new to the vending machine venue. Im not sure if you can help me but i am a firefighter that was recently put in charge of the soda vending machines at the stations. The issue is that we have a coinco ba30 with a bill validator that is not working. I have no error message on the LED the coin trays are full and the bill accepter is empty. When i try to put a bill in the machine does not reconize it and does nothing. Does not try to accept the bill. The coins work fine. The bill accepter does cycle if i do open and close the door to empy the validator. I am at a loss. Any suggestions? The BA30 validators are notorious for this problem - You'll be lucky to get two years out of one. A much better long term solution would be to swap it for a Mei 2500 series but you;ll need a new harness as well. PM (private message) AZvendor and he can set you up with the proper parts to make this change over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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