Royal 376 double vends

[tedk]

I have an 8 column Royal 376 that has started intermitent double vending from the eighth column (button four). Apparently this has happened at random for a couple of weeks. I've lost thirteen cans on two hundred and fifty vends.

 

When I tried about fifteen vends in test mode there were no double vends, With cash there were five or six doubles in thirty tests. The vends give the appearance of the machine going past the brake point. The display continues to show hold until the second can drops. There are no cams on this machine and I'm not sure where the brake is and what to look for in the way of a problem.

 

I read that Technivend suggests spraying with WD-40 but Walta disagrees. Does anyone else have thoughts on what to spray motors etc with to clean them.

 

Thanks, Ted

[AZVendor]

You have a Merlin machine with logic board, no sold out switches, no motor switches and a drop sensor to determine when a product hits the chute to stop the motor.  There are brakes on the motors but they are simply pieces of cork that are on both the outside end of the motor armature and the inside of the armature bracket.  This is usually enough friction to stop a motor before a second product drops.  Because you say the HOLD message is still showing until the 2nd can drops means that your drop sensor isn't detecting the first product.  This is likely because the sensor is not sensitive enough.  You can adjust the sensor with a tiny flat blade screwdriver.  There is a hole in the logic board cover inside which you will find a small potentiometer with a tiny screw facing you.  You only want to make a 1/4 turn adjustment in the sensor at any one time.  Turn the screw in the clockwise direction.  After adjusting it then you need to test vend all selections 2-4 times to see if the adjustment solved the problem and didn't create a new one.

 

If the problem isn't solved or is made worse then you should reset the sensor to the factory setting.  To do this turn the adjusting screw clockwise until the LED above it turns on solid. Now turn counter clockwise until the LED just barely goes out. Now turn counter clockwise 2 full turns and test all columns again.  You can make fine tune adjustments from this point 1/4 turn at a time.  1/4 turn clockwise if you have multiple vends, and 1/4 turn counter clockwise if you get dry vends.

[tedk]

Thanks AZ. I'll give this a try and keep you posted.

[tedk]

Thanks for the help Randy. You were spot on. I adjusted the sensor and everything seems to be working fine.

 

Ted