AZVendor

Welcome to the forum Drago! You might be incorrectly analyzing the business that this single soda machine does. I say this because the bill acceptor may only be jammed with a bill and the fact that you buy expired soda from the machine could mean that the sales just aren't very good - or that soda sourced locally there is generally on a short shelf life due to having it imported. My first inclination to you is to make your concerns known to the vending operator so that they can correct any deficiencies in their service to your account. This type of communication can correct most issues and if the operator isn't keeping the machine full, they can explain why and how they will correct that. If your population varies from 50 to 200 that could certainly cause the machine to suddenly sell out quickly. Therefore you need to make sure that your operator has a schedule of when you will have the most employees so that the machine can be serviced appropriately. If these types of communications still fail to remedy the situation then you could consider your own machine, perhaps purchasing this machine from the operator (that would save the trouble of importing one). It's hard to say where your closest machine distributor would be but the two machines you mentioned would be good machines to use. One thing to consider is that when locations decide to do their own vending, the usual downfall comes when vending is looked upon as something anyone can do and then various people are told to fill or maintain the machine. This then becomes a mess as no one single person knows how the machine works or how to operate it properly, how to fill it or where to get the product. There can also be a liability for the company if an employee is injured while out purchasing the product. You also have to consider the security of the money and the products in storage, how many keys are floating around and then who has the time to deal with the machine. If you do decide to pursue a machine, neither Royal or Sanden Vendo have a Caribbean distributor. I doubt you want to go through a South American distributor so your best bet would be a distributor in Florida.

PM sent to you.

Just keep that $1 idea in your back pocket. There are accounts out there where you can get that kind of pricing, especially where the location doesn't care about the prices but cares more about the service (yea!) or the commission (yuk). It all comes with vending.

That is not the type of account you should expect to get $1 per can for, unless that is standard in your market. What do you see soda selling for at similar blue collar accounts? You have to remember you want the employee business there too, and they aren't getting rich at those jobs. The people who just dropped $400 on tires probably didn't plan to do that and may not be in the mood for a $1 soda. Now if there isn't any other place nearby for those waiting or for the shop guys to run to, and if you're in a warm part of the country, that cold soda for $1 has more value. On the flip side, the biggest objection to the $1 could be the shop management themselves. But if they are interested in making some kind of outrageous commission from the machine (because you are getting rich in vending, remember?) you can tell them that commission means the price of soda will be $1. You can then negotiate from there.

Pricing depends on your market and the location you're in. You can charge whatever you want and or need to achieve your desired profit margin. You will generally see the highest prices in transient, public and hotel locations, or in any location that requires a high commission rate be paid to them.

Jerry, Use an old single price coin mech harness that you cut off of a worthless coin mech, such as an old Coinco S75. Then use a selection switch from a single price machine. Wire the switch up as the diagram shows and also ties wires 2 and 5 together if you want to test the correct change lamp. Protect any bare connectors and now all you need to do is press the selection switch to set a credit. Let the switch do all the thinking for you.

It is just very handy for confirming that the coin mech is really the problem or for the times you want to quickly test vend columns without having to put money into the machine. Of course, while test vending with coins and forcing the coin mech to make change will completely test the coin mech, sometimes you don't need to do that because you already know the mech is good, so you just want to test the vending. I usually only use mine to quickly confirm a machine works fine with the cheater, proving that a suspected coin mech problem actually exists. You can also use the cheater to confirm a good/bad vend relay when you're not sure if the problem is in the coin mech or the relay, or when you get tired of putting coins in while troubleshooting various problems in a machine.

The cheater cord plugs into a single price machine in place of the coin mech. Each press of the momentary switch will set a credit on the vend relay. This allows you to test the machine on any column without the coin mech. It can be used for quicker testing or to determine if a problem was caused by a bad coin mech. Once you are finished testing the machine the coin mech can be plugged back in and the machine will function normally (assuming the coin mech is good).

PM me your shipping info and we can go from there.

What do you mean by a Versatile Control upgrade? Was this originally a single price machine? If this is actually a Vendo Ver 5.1 board then it's kind of puzzling because it sounds like you can pull a motor switch out of cam notch, then push the door switch and run the motor. And you can apparently start a test vend of any motor, but it won't run. This all adds up to a working board as you found. That rules out the fuses by the main power switch too. Do you have a full 110v in the machine, does the compressor run properly? This only leaves a bad harness connection in the bottom of the door. Is there a chance in between the successful tests using the motor switches and the failed test vends that you changed something like removed or installed the motor cover or had the door in a different position pinching a harness? If your board does everything right in one machine but not in yours then the board is okay. I think that, if you have a full 110+volts then you have a bad connection or a bad/pinched/grounded wire in a harness.

The model and serial number are usually on a label to the left or right of the bottom shelf and sometimes on the back of the cabinet. It might have been painted over. In addition, when the machines leave the factory, there are serial number stickers on the original coin mech, original bill acceptor, the original logic board and perhaps somewhere inside the door. Look for any of those and if you can find one let me know where you see it and what the number is. If you find more than one number, please tell me all you find. I can research the serial number if that's all that you find. I might also need any part numbers or ID numbers off of your logic board. There is a sticker on the EPROM chip and you should see a part number or two printed on the logic board.

Your machine looks like it needs a replacement keypad as well as selection buttons. If you will post the model number of the machine I can determine which keypad you need. These parts are available from here in the US but you can save money on the shipping if you get them from a USI distributor in your country.

What problem are you having with the keypad? Are some buttons not responding? Are they random buttons, changing all the time or do the same buttons give you trouble? How did you get it working and what makes you think you will need to replace it? You may not need the logic board as the keypad is separate and can be replaced by itself. One fix I've found on the Seaga HF3500 keypad is to slightly loosen the nuts that hold the keypad in place. If the nuts are too tight it can tweak the keypad and cause non-responding buttons. Try that first and if you still have trouble I can send you a keypad.

That's a very nice machine there, Mike. You got a screamin' deal. It's a bit of an oddball with one dual spiral selection on the bottom shelf. All of your coin mechs should be capable of accepting dollar coins, but if you want to pay out dollar coins you can do that with any 4 or 5 tube MDB coin mech. You can put any 24V Mars validator in this with the proper MDB pigtail on it.

The board could be the cause if three motor relays have failed. There is another more likely possibility that the columns could be jammed. This doesn't have to be a product jam but a mechanical jam caused by worn out Gate Links behind the motor. This will be evident by the motors not being home. The home position is when the motor switch's actuator arm is in one of the notches of the motor timing cam (should be blue). If your switch arms on those 3 motors are not at home as your working motors are, then you have a jammed column. If they are at the home position, then try lifting the motor switch arm out of it's notch on the motor cam and then press the metal plunger on the door switch by the logic board to start a vend. Where is the source of the "click" that you hear? Is it from the board or the motor? Does the motor begin to hum? If the column is not home but also not jammed by a stuck product, you have a worn out gate link. To remove it first turn off power then remove the motor switch connector and winding connectors (carefully or the terminals pull out of the winding), then remove the 3 motor mounting screws - two top, one bottom left - and remove the motor BUT, before removing the motor note the position of the rotor so if it moves you can realign it with the motor when it's reinstalled. Behind the motor you will see a black plastic part approximately 2 1/2" long sitting diagonally against the stack assembly. It is fitted over the product gate on the left side with a spring providing tension. Remove the spring and the retaining ring on the left (don't loose either part), and remove the gate link, noticing that it's right end tucks into a square hole in the stack. The non-round end has a hook on it that wears down while running on the eccentric race molded into the rotor's face. When the gate wears down it can slip off the eccentric and fail to close the product gate causing a product jam, or it just jams against the face of the rotor and stops the motor. If you find you need some gate links shoot me a PM and I can send them to you. You can leave the motors off the machine and it will still function, but only because it is a logic based machine and each column is run separately.

Check the fuse on the panel next to the power switch to see if it has failed. Also find the 110v power from behind that panel and follow it to the logic board input. The motors are all at 110v and you are probably hearing the click of a relay on your logic board trying to run a motor but if you don't have 110v in to the board, it can't start any motors. If you do measure 110v in to the board then your board has failed and needs to be replaced. Keep in mind that there is also a 24v input to the board as well. If you need a new board you can PM me as I can send you a board on an exchange basis.

Make sure you have the rear spacers up against your products. The method to use is to bring the rear spacer to an approximate location then push your products against the spacer. You should now have only a finger width of space between the front product and the sold out paddle when it is depressed. If you have more space, move the rear spacer forward some more. Make sure the rear spacer is in the same slots top and bottom and side to side. If you have this depth set correctly and still get sold outs, then are those motors jammed and not turning at all? You could also have bad motor switches that don't tell the logic board when the motors are at home.

Sorry about that, I realized after sending the reply that I was not replying to an actual email but rather the PM. I had seen your notes to others and thought "how would I ever make that mistake?" Well the time has come. I will pay closer attention.

I'm sure there are still quite a few parts available. Motors, control boards and of course coin mechs and validators will still be around. The only things that might be in short supply are metal parts and perhaps some harnesses.

I think this is a USI 3067 based on the yellow display, the format of the control panel on the front of the machine and the fact that it's an early rounded cabinet machine. This could very well have been a Lance machine due to the color and, because it has a yellow display, it's not MDB. Based on the model it appears to be, it should have a Snackmart IV board in it. This was the last generation of boards prior to the F80 and later SMVI boards that are both MDB, and the machine was built beginning in 1996. It's probably worth $500-$700.

Hey everybody, we're replying to an original thread from 2009 that Loach replied to as he wants to know what the value of his machine is now, in 2013. Loach, the value of this machine is basically going to be either what you can get for it on craigslist or, as you want to try, what you might get as a trade toward a snack machine that you need. There aren't too many people that like this particular gigantic machine so don't expect much value in a trade unless they feel they can resell it. In particular, if your model is prior to the redesign USI did on it about 3 years ago, this is probably a real old machine, and it's rough as you said. I doubt you will get more than $800 to $1000 for in on CL, if that. I sold one for $400 a few months ago just to get it out of my shop. I got the machine for free from a customer who bought 2 separate machines from me for the account. He didn't want to ever see that problem child again and just gave it to me.

I wonder if that's because they want to sell their single cup machines.

The DN276E can vend 16.9 oz Coke with a correct bottle shim and a rod/spring assy. installed in each column. You can PM me if you need these parts, as I have them in stock.