hoosier96 Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 I have an AMS VisiCombo that appears to have some sort of gremlin that I can't find. This issue started appearing about a month ago. It had a Vendscreen credit card reader installed and it would randomly lose connection with the machine. It would show that I had good signal strength and everything appeared well. When I shut the machine down and re-started it, it would re-establish the connection and everything would work for a short period of time (a few hours to a few days). This problem kept happening so I thought it was the Vendscreen. So.... I had an extra AirVend credit card reader that I swapped it out with. Same thing is happening except it will only stay connected to the machine for about 30 minutes. I went there this afternoon and swapped out the computer board in the vending machine thinking that was the issue. Initially after swapping it out, everything worked smoothly. It was accepting credit cards and was connected to the machine. Now, 1.5 hours later, it's not connected to the machine. Also, something weird is that when it loses connection to the machine, i still get cash sales reporting and for every item sold, it records it 5 times. I have a call scheduled with AirVend on Monday to see what we can troubleshoot but thought I would reach out to everyone to see if they have every had this type of thing happen. Sorry for the long post, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walta Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Are you saying the CC reader is losing its connection to the cell tower or the CC reader is losing its connection to the vending machine? What message is being displayed on the screen of the CC reader? Is the CC reader the first device the vending machine control board is connecting to? Next I would start swapping all the MDB wiring and devices. It seems unlikely AirVend will be much help as the problem was present before any of their equipment was installed. Walta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosier96 Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 Walta, thanks for the reply. The CC reader is losing its connection to the vending machine. When the CC reader loses its connection to the machine, it displays "Cash Only" I'm not sure of the connection order but I believe its the same as a USA Tech CC reader. I think AirVend is interested because they are trying to figure out what is causing the device to record sales 5x for each item that is sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 The recording of the same sale 5 times is definitely related to the AirVend unit only. The loss of RSSI to either card reader is subject to cellular signal strength only. You need to perform an RSSI test and then allow it to stay in the test mode so you can watch it. I don't know whose cell service each of those card readers uses, but I would bet that your signal is weakening. It is, after all, only a cellular signal so you could have fringe service, especially if it's deep inside a building. Depending on the provider your readers use, they might be using higher frequency bandwidth which doesn't penetrate well into buildings. You can try mounting the antenna on the outside of the machine to begin with and add a high gain antenna if that isn't good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosier96 Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 AZVendor, thanks for the reply. This device is actually operating in WIFI mode. The reason I think it is not the device is that it is acting similar the Vendscreen device which was operating via cellular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Unless you can force your card reader or Vend Screen to use wifi then they will default only to cellular signals. If you have forced wifi then you are subject to the quality of the wifi that is available in your location as you will be connecting to their public wifi or to their secure wifi if you have their password. That wifi will be only as good as the signal and the number of other users on it. But I think you are strictly using cellular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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