lferrante Posted July 9, 2013 Posted July 9, 2013 I purchased my first machine this week for a local business. I paid $1300 for a 2008/9 RC800 combo machine. I'm a bit mechanically and electronically inclined so I started figuring out the machine on my own. I did not receive a user manual from the seller but I did get a copy from a manufacturer a few days later. 3 of the brass "out of stock" sensor arms were slightly bent and the circuity had soda and gunk all over triggering the out of stock sensors. The previous owner had tried to maximize profit by disabling the change return and not enabling the quantity sensors so any money that was put in would stay in the machine or if there was out of stock product it would take the money anyway. I changed all that stuff to make it more user friendly figured out how to stock the soda bins and insert the spacers (which were actually missing 2 pieces) so I fabricated a new set on my own with some help. I've had a hard time figuring out what the deal is with these machines. it appears they are a generic machine that is branded to distributors. There is no manufacturer listed and each distributor has their own version of the user manual. Does anybody know anything about these?
moondog Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 It's made by Seaga in China. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most of us would not have this machine at any price. Once you get it working you'll need to service it often as it doesn't hold much product. This is the problem with combo machines in general - not your specific model.
AZVendor Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 If the RC800 is from Seaga, there may be some overpriced parts they stock and can ship to you at overpriced freight (Not kidding). You might even get some so-called tech support from them, but don't expect too much. You can find them by searching for Seaga Manufacturing. This is one US "manufacturer" we don't recommend to people. You want to stick with the major US manufacturers that truly produce quality machines and offer real tech support and parts sales. Manufacturers to use are AP/Crane/National, AMS, Dixie Narco, Royal, USI/Wittern/FSI, and Vendo. You can search through the Beverage and Snack forum for machine recommendation discussions. Please stay away from anything made overseas.
lferrante Posted July 10, 2013 Author Posted July 10, 2013 Thanks for the input. Fortunately as I said there's some mechanical inclination so repairs shouldn't be too bad. I'm plenty familiar with spending time to find used parts and such as well (or making them by machine.) I did figure out how little these store, but the machine will be in a location I frequent daily so no problem there. I was surprised at how well thought out the ECU programming is as it pertains to the menu tree and procedures. I've only seen an old Wittern machine once while our office guy serviced it so I had no idea that machines now are so user friendly.
lferrante Posted July 10, 2013 Author Posted July 10, 2013 Also, I don't think mine is a Seaga, I can't find any references on their site to the RC800 and there are even models listed under discontinued and it's not there. I'll post a picture later.
moondog Posted July 10, 2013 Posted July 10, 2013 Also, I don't think mine is a Seaga, I can't find any references on their site to the RC800 and there are even models listed under discontinued and it's not there. I'll post a picture later. It was made by Paramount, a US company that manufactures in China ( to me that's a Chinese company with a US office). The machine was originally sold through 1-800 Vending, a biz op. Seaga took over Genesis, another Chinese company - all of these machines are of the same ilk and could well be produced in the same factory.
VendingExperts Posted July 21, 2013 Posted July 21, 2013 Welcome to TVF, when you buy your next machine, stick with the big hitters and I think you will be a lot happier.
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