andyinchville Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Hi guys, I recently traded a somewhat local vendor a USI 3 wide machine for his Crane 147 vending machine on site at a local hotel (I also got a soap dispensing machine at the same hotel in their laundry room, so it looks as though I'll have to learn how to do soap vending too). The other vendor indicated that there were potential issues with his machine, but that it should theoretically only be some small repairs, but he did not have the time or patience to do so (he is from out of town and the site was pushing him to get the machine fixed and workimg or to bring them another machine). I looked at the machine and it appeared to be in decent shape except for the fact that somebody tried to drill out the lock (well actually there was a hole drilled above the lock cylinder...I guess they were trying to access the little piece that pops up and down securing the lock cylinder inside the locking mechanism and thus locking the door. The previous vendor (previous to the vendor I was getting the machine from) installed padlock and cover over the factory lock mechanism and lock cylinder to help deter further thefts or theft attempts. The vendor that I traded for the location and machine did not have the keys to the outer lock so I bought bolt cutters and we removed the outer lock (as a side note, the current vendor had attempted to replace one of the control boards in the machine…The core circuit board was still inside the machine. He was able to do so because the door was partially unlatched due to a theft attempt (one could simply lift up on the door and pull out simultaneously to access the internals of the machine even though the lock on the machine was still locked). Anyways, after we removed the outer lock , the other vendor told me he did not have the keys to the interlock as well !..... at this point I began to wonder if we were opening up somebody else's machine, but he assured me that it was his machine and that the previous owner wanted his lock cylinder back (apparently it was a high dollar, high security lock cylinder) ..... So after much to do , we eventually removed the lock cylinder as well (surprisingly, without any real damage to the lock cylinder itself). I placed an out of order sign inside the machine along with my telephone number in it, and secured the machine for the night... I got a signed bill of sale/trade agreement from the vendor and we went to the hotel management to tell them that I was the new owner of the machines. Today, I went to visit the site to see if I could get the machine up and running again. I switched the power on and there was absolutely no noise from the machine....no noise at all from the bill validator that normally "clicks" to knowledge that it is functional..... Also, nothing lit up on the display screen as well (I realize some machines show nothing on the screen until buttons are pressed BUT this machine did not display anything on the screen after buttons were pushed as well). I looked around the machine for further signs of life and luckily there was a green LED glowing on one of the control boards (I'll try to upload pictures). The coin validator was totally empty.... I don't know if that has anything to do with an LED screen coming on or not, or a totally non responsive display (I. E. I tried pushing buttons to see if the selections would show up on the screen but nothing did). To me, the machine almost seems totally dead except for the fact that there is a glowing LED on the control board. What should I do next?.... I've never had a machine that seems totally dead like this one.... No dollar bill validator noise at start up, no apparent response from the screen or machine when buttons are pushed, etc. etc. Also, there is a wire that was dangling and not attached to anything… What is this for?....... I'll try to post picture of that as well. Supposedly this machine was broken into but I did not see any real signs of break in damage or obvious vandalism other than the hole on top of the lock cylinder area. Thanks in advance for any and all help. Andrew PS - I think I will have to take all new pics because I used hi resolution (my pics are all over 5 MB in size (the forum limit is a TOTAL of 2 MB.....aarg)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Andrew, if you open your pictures in Windows photo gallery, you can resize the pics to make them smaller in size and MB. This may allow you to upload them; this is how I did it. It sounds like you might want to take the machine off location to work on it. You have several problems that need to be addressed. If you have another machine that would work here you should make the swap. Especially since the transaction does sound fishy. If the machine isn't there, noone can repo it. The machine has a 110V circuit that is for the lights, coin mech, validator and input to a power transformer that provides lower DC voltages to the boards. If you are seeing a LED lit in the machine then you have 110V in the machine because the transformer is passing DC voltage to the board. Due to this determination you probably have a blown coin mech power board. It is located behind the two large boards on the slide-out panel. If you look at it closely (with power off) you will probably see a burned component on it. This is very common in vandalized machines because the coin mech is usually ripped out of the machine and wires can be shorted. The coin mech power board provides rectified 110V to the validator and coin mech. The light in the door should work regardless because it is on the line-in side of the machine. You may also have a bad main logic board since you have no display lit up. Then there's the case of the loose hanging wire. Before you get the machine up and running, you need to get the coin mech and validator tested to ensure that they don't damage the boards after you get the problems fixed. In a case like this, you don't know the condition of these components and a bad board can damage a coin mech and validator and a bad coin mech or validator can damage a good board. You need to replace the lift handle that has been drilled and get a good quality lock for the lift handle cover. The fact that the door can be opened by lifting it up means that the lock bar is damaged, the latches on the cabinet are bent, the link between the lift handle and the lock bar is damaged, the cabinet is grossly out of level or the door has been forced open to the point that it no longer is held tight to the cabinet and inside the overhanging edge the cabinet provides to the door. This is the type of problem you will always have in a hotel. Hotels are worse than apartment complexes because the machines are usually tucked away and no one but the bad guys are around at night. You also need to put a quality hasp and hockey puck lock or two on the side of the door after you fix it. It doesn't matter if it clashes with the decor or just looks bad, you have to protect your money. Don't get excited about the laundry soap machine. It's only bolted to the wall and uses crappy locks. If they don't pry the machine open to get the money, they will rip it off the wall. I would give it to the hotel to take care of or secure it with a couple of heavy hasps and locks. Post your pictures and lets see if we can get the machine working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyinchville Posted April 18, 2013 Author Share Posted April 18, 2013 Hi AZ, Thanks for the prompt reply… I do like your idea about moving the machine and working on it off site. However, it really does take me a lot of time to organize all the tools and equipment needed to move machines, so if possible I would really prefer to be able to fix the machine on site. I'm not very high tech, so I'm glad that it is possible to edit pictures without having to go out and we take them… I guess it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks!...Thanks for the tip on that. I am posting the pictures that I took other day… Hope these help in making a diagnosis. Also, thinking about it, I think somebody had removed the power supply at one time because the bolts (screws) were undone… Furthermore, the vendor that I bought the machine from claimed he replaced the large circuit board board (largest of the 3)....The vendor I bought the machine from took the old circuit board when we met on site to return it as a core. Thanks again. Andrew PS - Sorry about the small pics but when I re-sized them they got tiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Andrew, Is this the same machine you asked about in this thread? If so, wasn't the machine repaired? It looks like the red plug you're holding is on a harness coming out from where the boards are. It looks like it might fit onto the top right connector you're pointing to on the main board. I only say this because the pin configuration in the connector appears to match the pinout on the board connector (that also looks like the only board pinout on any board that matches the red plug). The harness leading to the red plug looks long enough to reach the top right pinout. In looking at the schematic there is a main board pinout for connection to the coffee module numbered J60, but the coffee harness only used 4 wires from the J60 pinout. I can't see it in your picture, but if the pinout on the main board you're pointing to is J60 and you don't have coffee in the machine, then there shouldn't be anything plugged in there. I don't know why you would have pulled entire sliding panel out, but you may have made a bad connection or missed a harness like the one you're holding when you put it back together. I don't think you ever have to remove that panel to do anything in there. Let me know if you by chance have coffee or had coffee in this machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyinchville Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 HI, Good memory!....no it's not the same machine as far as I know....The other one was in Richmond and this one is on location in a Hotel in Charlottesville... As a side note of how I can across the machine(s), I was given a chance to buy the soap machine from a executor of an estate but declined due to cost (this was the soap machine in the sale Hotel as the Crane 147). The Zion Cross Roads vendor bought the soap machine (he got it for $150 (the offered price to me from the executor) and he put it on CL for $250..it didn't sell and later this vendor bundled it (the soap machine) with his non working Crane 147 and location to swap me for a USI 3 wide).... I'm not exactly sure how the Zion Cross Roads vendor (where he is from) contacted the man who owned the Crane 147 but somehow he got it and bundled it in a deal to me.... That's how I came across the 2 machines and location. As far as I know, the Crane 147 machine was not hooked to a coffee machine...actually where it is now there is an ice machine to the left of it and a Coke machine to the Right of it.....It is possible in the past it may have been hooked up to another machine but where it is no there is no room for a coffee attachment. As far as me sliding the panel out with the 3 boards on it, I have not yet done that (I may try this weekend to see if I can find a burned chip or component). The cord is attached to a circuit board but the other end is just dangling....I suppose this weekend I can pull that out as well to see if there are any other disconnected harnesses I think I have a spare (good) coin mech BUT I would have to order another validator since I don't have anything similar to what is in the machine)..... Just curious...If I hook a good coin mech and/or validator to a bad board can I damage the mech or validator? If so, it would be a shame to have to replace ALL the boards and coin mech / validator at the same time due to cost? How would you advise doing this? Thanks! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Yes, if either the main board or the c/m power board end up being bad you run the risk of damage to a good coin mech or validator. If you don't have another good coin mech (Be sure it's a Coinco 9300L or Mars MC5000 or TRC6000) or good validator (Coinco BA30SA, Mars VFM or VN2501) then you can take a chance on the ones you already have in the machine. They don't always get damaged, it's just a possibility. If you do this, then power the machine up with no coin mech or validator connected. Then if the machine acts normal (except for a "No Coin Mech" error) then power off, plug only the coin mech in and power up again. If all is normal, power off, connect the validator and power up again. If all is normal then the mech and validator are ok. To begin with, make sure you have one of the coin mechs and validators I listed above in the machine. Anything else won't work. What I meant by the coffee module is that some of the 147 machines were made as combo machines, some with a can module under 3 snack shelves and some with the can module and a coffee module built into the machine to the left of the snack shelves. The coffee/soda/snack combo would be in a 5 wide cabinet but only have 4 wide snack shelves so there would be room for the coffee module within the same cabinet. All of the combo versions came as models 474, 475 or 476. So the picture of the sliding panel on the floor must have been taken when the seller took it out of the machine. If the harness with the red plug is connected to one of the circuit boards, you need to tell me which board pinout it is from. Each pinout has a callout next to it, with all board callouts starting with a "J". The callout is printed in the circuit board surface next to each connector. Don't reconnect anything unless you have certainty that it definitely fits where you want to plug it in. You would be best to ID each harness by pin configuration (total pins, how many are blank and how many have wires in them. What position the blank is in as the blanks are usually the key to orientation of the connector) for any that are loose. In addition you should make sure that all harnesses connected to the boards have the same size connector as the board pinout and that no pins are missed by the connector or were bent over when the connector was installed. Again, pay special attention to the coinmech/validator power board behind the two larger boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyinchville Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 Hi AZ, Thanks for the help.....I'm going to go to the hotel on Sunday to see what the boards look like (burned spots etc) and if there are any loose wires , connections etc... I'll keep you posted what I find. Thanks again. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 That is one ugly finger! Well, for one, it looked as if you had the main power switch turned off in the picture, hopefully you have already flipped that on! Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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