Our small company is kind of isolated from beverage or snack options, and we've reduced our staff from over 100 to just a handful of people. Our old vending contract expired and they pulled the machines a while ago, and rightfully so because an operator couldn't make money at our site these days considering how far away and small volume we are. However, I thought it was still nice to have machines in the building for times when we can't break away for an hour to go get something. I would have just put in a fridge and have everyone chip in, but efforts like that in the past have largely failed or are more time and trouble to manage, and there's always a few non-contributors in the mix. Then I saw a really nice pair of machines (one spiral, one can machine) on a facebook marketplace for a remarkable price compared to other offerings, so I bought them with the intent to load them and have them eventually pay for themselves. I got both machines for $300 total, which based on take will be ROI in no more than 6 months, probably more like 3. These machines are very well maintained, clean, older machines with bill acceptors, and were supposedly deployed in a similar fashion until just a few months ago at the private company I bought them from.
However... the beverage machine is a Cavalier (cue ominous music.) C9 390-260 to be exact. Every forum I've looked at says Cavaliers are terrible garbage, and I assume that's true from a route standpoint. This one is cooling well, no leaks, no rust, very minimal corrosion typical of a 30 year old commercial fridge, and I'm on site every day and will be able to react to problems that (will?) arise. All the switch contactors and connections are good and shiny, and everything looks to be in order except for the main lights (bulbs removed) and two of the product out indicators. It really is in remarkable condition for being almost 30 years old, it looks brand new on the outside, with just a little scuffing around the change return. However, without a manual I can't test or reprogram it, and I don't know how to cycle it to start loading the cans. I do have a background in electronics and arcade game maintenance from my distant youth, and I see the switches on the front of each column, but I'd really prefer to read a manual before I just go randomly mucking about with it. Anybody got one for this unit they could upload?