snack machine dollar bill question.

[sprint54fan]

Have a fullsize snack machine that the DBA was working until just a week ago and it just stopped..

My question..on a soda machine the DBA has sensors and the pop guy tell me to use a old toothbrush to clean off the junk from the sensors and see if that works.. does snack machines have the same issue?

[qualityvs]

Yes sir that might work. What brand DBA are you having problems with?

[mission vending]

What do you mean by just stopped??? Won't take in bills at all? Take's in bills but spits them back out?

If it won't take bills in at all check power first, then check for obstruction in bill path.

[sprint54fan]

Ok I have some more information since I went back and investigated today..The dollar bill acceptor is in a coffee, snack combo machine.. the company who had the machine however tore all the coffee stuff out and covered the holes that was on the machine for the coffee used and now it looks just like a big old snack machine. I put it in a warehouse and have had never had a problem with the unit for over 2 years then all of a sudden the dollar acceptor just stopped taking money. So I looked into it now..The dollar acceptor path had a dollar bill jammed in it and I unjammed it..the bill was all the way in the unit and the bottom half of the bill was torn off and no where to be found. After I got the bill out the mech reset itself like it normally did..but when i tryed to stick a bill in again it wouldnt take it in but the kept making a clicking sound and then another clicking sound like it was trying to push the bill back out.. It looks like a older acceptor to me, but I could be wrong. It has the bill unit then a ribbon from the bill unit to a small box..i couldnt find ANY information on the bill acceptor unit itself but on the box it says the folllowing:

MARS ELECTRONICS              Input 117VAC,60HZ

Model No. VFM3-L1-U4C

Serial No. 09211529009

Part No. 91-30-129

I

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[majormajor42]

sounds to me like the belts could be bad.  if you are good at taking things apart and putting them back together, and have a set of screwdrivers, you might want to remove the DBV from the unit and open it up.  If it is the belts, then you can order spares.

to make matters worse, the last costumer lost his/her dollar and he/she might have stuck a paperclip or something up the slot in a futile attempt to recover the bill and might have damaged the unit further.

[sprint54fan]

I removed the DBV today, and I tried taking it apart but its a older unit and I do not know how to get it apart.. any idea where I could just buy a used a one?

[qualityvs]

Ebay is a great place to get spares from. I normally get a spare from there, put it in the machine and send the one from the machine off to have it repaired, if I cant figure it out. Not sure of your location but Im sure there is someone fairly local that fixes them, I think Vendors exchange does this, but I have never used them. Do a search for them, and find out.

Another story. One of the first times I bought 2 maka validators off ebay for less than $30 including shipping. Were supposed to have come from machine working but no guarantee. Whan i got them one of them had $31 in it and the other had $32 in it. On top of that they both worked!

[sprint54fan]

Found one on ebay..maybe ill get lucky and it will have some money inside it to..but with my luck this week I doubt it..  2 coin mechs and 1 dollar acceptor broke down all in 1 week.. wow!