AP LCM4 Bill validator

[Kong7014]

Hi just got my first machine up and running. It's an AP LCM4 combination for snacks and cans. I have read through those comments about combos already but there's a space issue at this location and final price was about $1000 as-is but works.

I'm finding that the bill validator is kinda picky. It doesn't accept 1 dollar bills sometimes (a lot of times) even if the dollar seems fine.

In the mean time, does it simply need to be cleaned? If so is there an area or areas I need to pay attention to?

I plan on upgrading this part anyway so that it can take at least 2 bills at a time rather than 1.

Any suggestions on what manufacturer and part to go with?

[ruff84]

MEi units are generally the go to for bill validators. You'res needs cleaned or possibly rebuilt. It can take 2 bills but you will have to mess with the settings. Should say something about bill escrow on the bill validators itself. Turn that on and it should hold the first dollar in escrow and wait for the second bill to be entered.

[AZVendor]

Kong, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first machine. The AP LCM machines are good, reliable machines and the LCM 4 is an excellent combo machine. As long as you buy machines made by one of the US manufacturers you will be fine. Manufacturers to consider are Dixie Narco, Automatic Products, Crane/National Vendors/GPL, Vendo, Royal and Wittern/USI/Selectivend/Federal. They all build quality machines and provide good support.

On the AP LCM, the coin mech and validator are 24V. You need to tell us which model validator you have in order for us to give you info on it. You may be able to clean the sensors but don't be surprised if you have to rebuild it or upgrade it, this was a used machine after all. If you upgrade you will want to use a Mars VN2502 or 2512 or a Coinco BA32/Mag32 or Mag52 validator. If you already have a Mars VFM or VN 2502, then stick with Mars so you won't have to change the validator harness. If your validator is a Coinco then stick with another Coinco for the same reason. Coinco and Mars are good comparable validators. If you have an Ardac or Conlux validator you will need a harness to match the replacement you put in. It is also possible that you have an MDB coin mech and validator and if so, your existing harness will work with any MDB capable validator.

As Ruff said, the ability to accept more than one bill is controlled by the Escrow option. Follow these steps to change it:

1. Press the service mode button on the control board. The display should read the number of motors in the machine, one per selection, in LCM4 = 30.

2. Press letter E on the front keypad and the display should show "OPTN."

3. Press letter B on the keypad and display should read "EScY" or "EScN". The Y means escrow is on, N means escrow is off.

4. Press letter B again to change the display to EScN which turns escrow off and allows the validator to take more than one bill.

5. If you find the machine times out and exits the programming, just begin step 1 again.

6. When finished, press the service mode button to exit back to the vend mode, and test the ability to accept 2 bills.

In order for more than one bill to be accepted, you also have to set one price higher than $1. This can be a phantom price of a selection not in the machine, such as A10, but I presume you already have something selling over $1.

One last thing to remember with any LCM model of machine, and something not in the service manual, is to always go in and out of the service mode 3 seperate times when leaving the machine to ensure the machine sees all of its motors. The LCM will sometimes not see a shelf after servicing the machine. When you go in and out of the service mode, it reports the number of motors the board sees. If you find you are short 5 or 10 motors on the display, this means either a 5 sel. or 10 sel. shelf is not being seen. Pull out the respective shelf, push it back in and then turrn power off and back on. This will force a motor scan, then check again by going into the service mode. Once the correct number is shown you may lock the door.

Again, this is a great machine and you will be glad you got it.

[Kong7014]

Thanks.

And it's thanks to this forum that I went with AP. After a lot of shopping around I learned that Futura is a junk model from evending.com and those RS 800/850 machines are crap from 1-800 vending. That's why you see so many of those on sale. I also almost got an Anters mechanical or a combo from Seaga LOL.

Let me try what you suggested above first. I'll post back if there are more problems

[moondog]

Thanks.

And it's thanks to this forum that I went with AP. After a lot of shopping around I learned that Futura is a junk model from evending.com and those RS 800/850 machines are crap from 1-800 vending. That's why you see so many of those on sale. I also almost got an Anters mechanical or a combo from Seaga LOL.

Let me try what you suggested above first. I'll post back if there are more problems

You also got the Ap at a very good price - I often see them for twice what you paid

[Kong7014]

well I'll probably need an upgrade but the location doesn't warrent it yet. It's at a Fire dept. where I voluteer at and prices are low bc it's just for our convenience.

- I tried escroll on and off - Still only takes 1 - dollar at a time

- There were already items for $1.45 but tried setting something to $2.05 and again setting escroll on or off - same results

Also, it gives quarters instead of the dollar back.

Thanks for the validator suggestions. I'll probably go with the VN-2512 when the time comes.

[AZVendor]

Hmmm, some validators aren't capable of bill escrow, but we don't want that anyway. With bill escrow off, no bills will be parked in the belts held for escrow. So if escrow is off, that is correct. Now one other thing to do is to make sure that Force Vend is turned off. Force vend will override any bill escrow function. If force vend is on, once enough money is inserted that matches or exceeds the lowest price in the machine, then a purchase must be made. For this reason, escrow is then ignored so that no money, bills or coins, can be returned once that lower price is met. Conversely, if Force Vend is on, it may also ignore any setting of Escrow Off as well.

Go into the programming and enter E for OPTN.

Press letter A and you will see FrcY.

Press letter A again so you see FrcN.

Press the service mode button to exit the programming and test multiple bills now.

Hopefully this solves the issue for you.

[Kong7014]

Thank but I already had to turn force vend off. (had recieved complaints about the change button not working lol)

Oh and it's a Mars series 2000. I finally remembered to look at the model.

[cvending]

Kong, When you turn escrow "ON" the validator will hold the note to be returned. When you turn escrow "OFF", the bill get accepted and stacked. Pushing the coin return will then payout coins. Unfortunately,m this sometimes leads to depleting your coin tubes but there really is now way around that.

[Kong7014]

Ok. Gave it one last try

Force vend Off - check

Escrow Off - check

Stuff 2 bills in - Works!

Thanks to everyone that posted. Just had to put it all together.

[shortfinger]

On 3/16/2013 at 10:20 AM, AZVendor said:

Kong, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first machine. The AP LCM machines are good, reliable machines and the LCM 4 is an excellent combo machine. As long as you buy machines made by one of the US manufacturers you will be fine. Manufacturers to consider are Dixie Narco, Automatic Products, Crane/National Vendors/GPL, Vendo, Royal and Wittern/USI/Selectivend/Federal. They all build quality machines and provide good support.

On the AP LCM, the coin mech and validator are 24V. You need to tell us which model validator you have in order for us to give you info on it. You may be able to clean the sensors but don't be surprised if you have to rebuild it or upgrade it, this was a used machine after all. If you upgrade you will want to use a Mars VN2502 or 2512 or a Coinco BA32/Mag32 or Mag52 validator. If you already have a Mars VFM or VN 2502, then stick with Mars so you won't have to change the validator harness. If your validator is a Coinco then stick with another Coinco for the same reason. Coinco and Mars are good comparable validators. If you have an Ardac or Conlux validator you will need a harness to match the replacement you put in. It is also possible that you have an MDB coin mech and validator and if so, your existing harness will work with any MDB capable validator.

As Ruff said, the ability to accept more than one bill is controlled by the Escrow option. Follow these steps to change it:

1. Press the service mode button on the control board. The display should read the number of motors in the machine, one per selection, in LCM4 = 30.

2. Press letter E on the front keypad and the display should show "OPTN."

3. Press letter B on the keypad and display should read "EScY" or "EScN". The Y means escrow is on, N means escrow is off.

4. Press letter B again to change the display to EScN which turns escrow off and allows the validator to take more than one bill.

5. If you find the machine times out and exits the programming, just begin step 1 again.

6. When finished, press the service mode button to exit back to the vend mode, and test the ability to accept 2 bills.

In order for more than one bill to be accepted, you also have to set one price higher than $1. This can be a phantom price of a selection not in the machine, such as A10, but I presume you already have something selling over $1.

One last thing to remember with any LCM model of machine, and something not in the service manual, is to always go in and out of the service mode 3 seperate times when leaving the machine to ensure the machine sees all of its motors. The LCM will sometimes not see a shelf after servicing the machine. When you go in and out of the service mode, it reports the number of motors the board sees. If you find you are short 5 or 10 motors on the display, this means either a 5 sel. or 10 sel. shelf is not being seen. Pull out the respective shelf, push it back in and then turrn power off and back on. This will force a motor scan, then check again by going into the service mode. Once the correct number is shown you may lock the door.

Again, this is a great machine and you will be glad you got it.

i had a mag32sa not taking the second bill all the way in and your solution fix it the ESCN thank you save me a service call to a tech thank you again for the info