Cat6 Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 A little about me, I started with 10 Wittern 3589's, then recently took over another company of 10 more multi style machines. One set of Wittern 3503/3505, three sets of Wittern 3120/3172's, two Purco 173 Office/Deli/Entree's, three Genesis Go380's, and one Savamco Mac 22. All were already on locations, all are working, but 2 have a bit of a cooling issue. One of the GO380's, and the Savamco, which I pulled from their locations to fix and update with card readers, and clean them up. I already updated and cleaned up all the Witterns and put them back out on location. I pulled one of the Purco's tried to update it, cleaned it up, and put it back out on location with a nonfuctioning card reader, waiting for a Dex harness. Now I'm far from an expert, but I am mechanically and technology inclined. I had 2 yrs of Autoshop back in high school, and I have a degree in information/technology from college. But oh holy hell! What the hell is with these GO380's?!?! And the Purco's?? The Savamco I expected to have issues with. But I haven't even gotten to that one yet. I'm about ready to completely gut these things out and put all Wittern wiring/motors/control boards in them. But that would really suck for my wallet, and my time. Oh, and did I mention, I'm in my mid 40's, a mother of an 11 yr old, and 2 10yr olds. Running this business by myself, I'm a Webelos Scouts den leader, with a Girl Scout also. Not to mention 3 dogs and 2 cats. Time is more precious than money over here, which is why the card readers and wifi inventory is kinda a must on these machines. I was reading y'alls threads about these machines, which cracked me up when I read the part of wanting to delete the threads to save having to relive it all again. lol But not doing so for the next poor soul stuck with them. Hahaha HI! Here I am! And I am soooo sorry. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 Dump the Purco, the Genesis and the Savamco machines. They are all imported junk and not worth fixing even if you could find parts. The Witterns (USI) are definitely worth keeping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 18, 2017 Author Share Posted August 18, 2017 Hi thanks for responding! The Witterns were definitely easier to clean up and get updated. It's a shame the others are that bad. These seemed to have been taken care of and are still working. I just don't have communication with them, or the CC sales which is about half my sales on my other machines. Has anybody ever tried putting in a different board/harnesses/motors/ display/keypad/etc. basically turning it into a different machine on the inside? I'm asking because I haven't seen any vending machine type "pick a parts" junk yards to experiment with any modifications like we use to do with cars. My dad made me help him build my first car out of the junk yard when I was 15. We finished it by the time I got my license the following year. My husband put a corvette motor in a Mercedes, and shortened a 4 door 57 chevy into a 2 door. I was planning on turning my 79 5.0 Mustang into a 4 wheel drive, before I hydroplaned it across 6 lanes of the 101 freeway into a palm tree and a barrier wall. I'm sure I'll figure out how to make these machines work it. It's just going to take longer then I figured it would. I was hoping someone had already done it and could point me in a more "compatible" direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 No Frankensteining can be done. Why would you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 18, 2017 Author Share Posted August 18, 2017 Hahaha lol well it usually starts off with a, "it can't be done," or "you can't do that," or "it won't work." And then a, "why not?" Then if/when no viable/concrete reason as to why it wouldn't, I couldn't, or can't happen. Then there's a, "hold my beer," or a "well I'll see about that," or a "whatcha me" moment. LoL Beside's it wouldn't look like Frankenstein, I have a Cosmetology degree, I'm real good with bondo. 😆😉 But so for its looking like I'm going to turn the Purco's into Seaga's, found a Seaga board that has a Dex port on it and I already have the Dex harness for that. Why do I bother? Because the hotel where that machine is, makes between 175.-250 a week, just in $1.'s & $5's alone. The front desk said they have people wanting them to run their card so they could get cash for the machine. Which they can't do. I have already swapped the GO380, that was on the 3rd floor, with one of my 3589's. Which I was planning on putting the GO380 at the location where I took the 3589 from, but then decided the Savamco would probably be better to go there. It's an old folks home that is to a little to far away from any convenience store for some of them to be able to get to on their own. It's usually makes 100-200 a month. But for as much as I am in business to make money, that location is more of a compassion for the people there location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuikVend Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 If you have a machine doing close to $1k a month in sales, why spend the extra time and effort on something that probably won't work? Just buy a refurbished and reliable machine that will give you all the options you want and you'll have plenty of replacement parts available to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 I'm always on the hunt looking for machines, I have a few locations waiting for them. When I took over another vending business's route these were already in locations. It's after I took over and went to upgrade them with card readers when I found out that 1/2 of them were becoming increasingly difficult to find what I needed to get the Dex to communicate. I could just leave them the way they are where they are, but with 10 machines spread out up to 25 miles north in one county with card readers, and 10 machines the exact opposite, up to 25 miles south in another county without card readers, isn't cost effective at all. But why wouldn't they work? The only thing I can't fix myself is the refrigeration units. I have already modified and upgraded 3 cheap computers for the kids to do their homework on a couple years ago. Still working. The only thing at the moment that I'm researching is size of control board, and what units it works with like bill, coin changers, display screens, keypads, and coil motors etc. Once I figure out what is or isn't compatible, then I can work on how what will fit where. How hard could it be? (LoL the perverbial famous last words) But seriously, these things have less moving parts, wires, and fuse boxes than my Tahoe, and we have a garage with enough tools in it to open an auto repair business. I just can't see throwing out something that isn't beyond repair at the moment. If I can get all 5 doing what I want them to do for (realistically) 1000.- 3000. for all 5 of them to get new boards and what not, than spending 1000.-2000. a piece just to replace the ones that already have locations. Then, still having to find more for the other locations waiting for one, seems crazier to me. I was told the Wittern machines were made (all or in part) by a US auto maker. So I guess I'm looking for those guys to "talk shop" with. lol 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 FYI you're not turning a Purco into a Seaga because the Purco was made with all Seaga electronics already. Seaga is on the list of garbage machines because every part is imported, they have horrible tech support and they refuse to supply wiring diagrams for any machine. The Purcos also have parts in them that are not from Seaga so good luck with those. The Witterns are all made in the US but not by an auto maker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 No reason that you can't gut the cabinet and reinstall all the insides from something else and eventually get it to work - but because you can do something does not mean it's a good choice. You say your time is valuable, and I presume you need to get machines back on location before you lose those accounts. The quickest (and probably cheapest truth be told) is to go shopping for site ready used equipment. Salvage any common parts (changers, validators) and sell the rest to the scrapyard. If you must, store it for future parts or projects; but don't spend good time and money on a bad project if you can help it. The MDB/DEX equipment you want is out there, I see many good deals that I have to pass on for lack of space or money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 15 hours ago, AZVendor said: FYI you're not turning a Purco into a Seaga because the Purco was made with all Seaga electronics already. Seaga is on the list of garbage machines because every part is imported, they have horrible tech support and they refuse to supply wiring diagrams for any machine. The Purcos also have parts in them that are not from Seaga so good luck with those. The Witterns are all made in the US but not by an auto maker. Thank you AZ! I really do appreciate any info, opinions, and experiences I can get. (Well Except for the words, No, Give up, and Throw them out lol). Really anything can and does help spark where to search and what to look for. At first it was hard to tell the difference whether it was Seaga or not, but I found out that while the mechanical parts, so for, seem to be the same, the electronics aren't. Seaga sent me their Dex harness for their machine and I had no where to plug it in. That's when it started hitting me that this was gonna suck. I had found a control board for a Seaga that day when I was thinking I would do that, it has the plug that fits the Dex harness, and it was looking like the easiest quickest way to get those two done so the locations will stop asking me about the card readers. But 400 bucks a board is a bit much, especially for "crappy" machines. So I kept searching, And... found a company that makes the old stuff compatible with the updated stuff. Sounds awesome! I sent them an email, waiting for a response, more than likely Monday. ☹️ And yes, getting wiring diagrams other than the simple ones has been not so fruitful. I did think is was odd that an auto maker would make vending machines, but with the housing and construction job crash of '08(?), and hearing Detroit was looking like a ghosts town, (I have never been there personally), but it did seem plausible. I'll have to check back with who told me that, and find out what that was all about. I'm not really expecting these machines to last forever, I'm mostly just wanting/needing them to buy me some time. When I took over the route, I honestly wasn't planning on keeping the route, except for a maybe a couple of them. I already had locations waiting for machines. I have been able to get a few of those taken care of, but the locations that already had these, have turned out to be locations worth keeping and would benefit with the card readers. So now I just piled more locations to add to the list of "find better machines for." I need about 8 -10 more machines. And the fact that I haven't had any problems with these yet, other than not being able to get them online, is why I'm bent on making them work, for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 7 hours ago, Southeast Treats said: No reason that you can't gut the cabinet and reinstall all the insides from something else and eventually get it to work - but because you can do something does not mean it's a good choice. You say your time is valuable, and I presume you need to get machines back on location before you lose those accounts. The quickest (and probably cheapest truth be told) is to go shopping for site ready used equipment. Salvage any common parts (changers, validators) and sell the rest to the scrapyard. If you must, store it for future parts or projects; but don't spend good time and money on a bad project if you can help it. The MDB/DEX equipment you want is out there, I see many good deals that I have to pass on for lack of space or money... Hi Southeast! Thank you! I'm Southwest, over here in the same neck of the woods. Yes time is very short. Kids just got back into school, and all the Cub Scout/Girl Scout, and PTA meetings are already beginning to start. At the moment there is only 2 in the garage, I have been giving the Savamco a fresh coat of paint, cleaning it out, it's going to get put back out here shortly, without a card reader. The old folks home isn't as savvy with their debt/CC as the other locations plus is closer to me than most of the others. But the GO380 that wasn't keeping the drinks very cold is going to be my experimental model and/or maybe used has parts for the other two should that happen anytime soon. I already have some parts coming like coin changers that make change with the dollar coins, and bill changers that accept up to 20$. I have been searching all over the place to find out what would be the most cost effective and time effective way to go about all this. Internet searches, and driving to and from Punta Gorda in a Tahoe to check on machines, not knowing if they need filling, or what to bring is sucking a good chunk of my time at the moment. I'm pretty use to getting about 4-6 hours of sleep, sadly. The faster I get those Purco's online the better for them and me, cause my trips from the Ellenton machine to the Punta Gorda machine is a little over 50 miles. I live about dead center between the two, but I'm on the water, 10 miles from away from 75. If I knew when and what they needed, I wouldn't have to debate ↕️➡️whether or not to make the whole shot down the freeway to check it or not. Plus I have to carry more than I need on me, verses just bringing what the machine needs. For as much as I would hate to gut the machines, if it ends up being what I gotta do, then I'll pull an all nighter or two and get the guts swapped out, I guess. And pray all my research was correct as far as fitting it all back in it lol. Question: what exactly is "site ready" used equipment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 That is simply equipment that is clean, working, and ready to put out on site. I still like to pull stuff in and go thru it anyway if I have time. I can see where you are there may be a few less people selling equipment! I'm near Daytona and Orlando. I know there is a big equipment seller in the Tampa area but have never dealt with them, I buy a lot of used equipment direct from other vendors. I like the way you are thinking about the telemetry, saving trips and being more efficient is exactly what it's there for... good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 Thank You! Ya, I heard about a place in Tampa and I went up there to go to it, but I could not find it to save my life. I had the address, and my gps, drove up and down and around for what felt like an hour. And I tried calling. I figured they either moved, or went out of business, or I was loosing my crackers and gave up. I would love love love to go to a warehouse of machines and machine parts so I could see the way they are layed out on the inside and the differences in machines. I hate ordering stuff online that I can't see in person. There is ALWAYS something different than it looked. Is there a place like that in Orlando? Or actually anywhere in Florida? I am very willing to make a road trip lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Orlando has Vendors Repair Service and Locking Systems, a company based in Atlanta; GS Vending Repair, a one man shop that I like to deal with for fixing changers and validators; and an office for Betson, which sells mostly game equipment but some vending also, but not much in stock. Danny at Vending Florida CO in Apopka has a lot of odds and ends equipment he buys and sells, but no one with an open warehouse of used equipment that I know about. I have seen advertising for machine sellers in Tampa and Miami but have not dealt with any of them..... Clearwater - http://vendingdepotfl.com/ Miami - http://www.vendingdiscount.com/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 If you haven't looked in the food and beverage forum yet, that is where you will get the most and best responses on this type of vending... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Also, the regional rep for Crane Merchandising is out of Miami, he is a good source if you ever want new equipment. Good guy to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat6 Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 Thank you so much Southeast!! You are the bomb! 💥☄️ I'm looking into all of them! Thanks for the leads!! 😉👍🏼 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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