loach33 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Random problems are always fun, aren't they? At seemingly random times, this bill acceptor will take the dollar bill but will not register credit for it. This might happen 3 or 4 times in a row. Or it may happen 1 in 30 attempts. This Rowe 548 is about 15 years old. I bought it used and had it on location for over a year before this problem happened. They booted me because I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I know it was on a dedicated circuit at the old location. I was then in storage for a little over a year before going to a new location recently. No troubles for a couple weeks, but now it's back. When it was on the old location I cleaned the acceptor. Then I replaced the old bill acceptor with this MEI that I bought off ebay. Same problem occurs. I have not replaced the coin mech. Coin mech is a coinco but I don't have the model of that written down. Any thoughts on where to start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 What MEI val is it and have you double checked your siwtch settings? It does sound like a val issue but if the switches are right you may be looking at the UCB in the machine. Probably isn't the coin mech as it should have no bearing on the val credit line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 What MEI val is it and have you double checked your siwtch settings? It does sound like a val issue but if the switches are right you may be looking at the UCB in the machine. Probably isn't the coin mech as it should have no bearing on the val credit line I did check the switches on the last location as Vendnet told me to do that. I 'll have to check on the exact model, etc of the validator. I'll reply again. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAvend Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Sorry you are having such a hard time with your 548, I know how frustrating that can get. If you want, give us a call and we would be more than happy to help troubleshoot your machine. If we can't decide what the problem is then we may just have you send in your validator, coin mech, and board. Go ahead and give us a call at the number in my sig and let us help you out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Sorry you are having such a hard time with your 548, I know how frustrating that can get. If you want, give us a call and we would be more than happy to help troubleshoot your machine. If we can't decide what the problem is then we may just have you send in your validator, coin mech, and board. Go ahead and give us a call at the number in my sig and let us help you out! hey why dont you help troubleshoot it on the forum so we can all benefit. its cool to have you here but spamming your number in every post doesn't really help anyone but you. technivend helps trouble shoot on here, and i have bought a few parts from his company , even though its a bit more expensive than getting them local..because of all the invaluable help he's provided to people like me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAvend Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 hey why dont you help troubleshoot it on the forum so we can all benefit. its cool to have you here but spamming your number in every post doesn't really help anyone but you. technivend helps trouble shoot on here, and i have bought a few parts from his company , even though its a bit more expensive than getting them local..because of all the invaluable help he's provided to people like me. It does not cost you anything to call up here and talk to a tech of ours. We can obviously not afford to have all of our techs browse the internet all day and troubleshoot. If enough information is provided in a post, I do ask one of our techs what they think the problem is (see http://vendiscuss.net/index.php?/topic/9675-merlin-iv-out-of-order/ ). When trouble shooting a machine, there are many variables and much information we would need to know. As far as troubleshooting goes, I can not tell you the exact problem with the board, validator, or coin mech unless it is perhaps such a common problem that it is easy to diagnose, which is very rare. As far as the information you have given us, i would still say it is your bill acceptor. The universal control board has little to do with the credit pulse, only receiving it. On some of the newer bill acceptors the credit pulse coming out is almost too fast for the older equipment to see. I would still try another bill acceptor, maybe a coinco might interface better. I'm sorry it feels like I am spamming but I just recently took to the forums and am browsing. I'm sure you would do the same were you in my place. Again, if you have any other questions then give us a call. We don't charge per minute or anything. We would want nothing more than to help you out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sideshot Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 It could be a flaky outer door switch make shur the door has no play in it When the door is open you can pump money in all day and it wont register Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 It could be a flaky outer door switch make shur the door has no play in it When the door is open you can pump money in all day and it wont register Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk You know what...that outer door is a bit touchy. It doesn't close flush, but it does close. I think it's because the bill acceptor that I put in is just a bit too big. The door sits out just a bit at the bottom in order for the machine to go to the "insert money" mode. It's always OK and no errors when I return to service it, but I wonder if that's it. I did just replace the board ($40 on ebay) about a week ago. If I'm still getting problems, then I'll focus on this door next. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 Update: I replaced the control board and I have the same random problem. $1 bill inserted and it will register credit most times but occasionally not. Since I replaced the board we'll assume it's not that. Technivend said it's probably not the Coin mech. FYI - There is a Coinco 9300L in there. The bill acceptor is a MEI Vn 2511. Now, this is the second or maybe third acceptor I've put in here. This machine was in storage for about 18 months so I'm going off of memory, but I'm pretty sure that this problem has gone on thru at least 2 acceptors. The outer door switch. I wouldn't say it closes real easy, but what Rowe does? It seems that since I got this MEI validator that the door is harder to close as the validator is pretty deep. But, the outer door does close all the way and I have jiggled it, etc to make sure that the "Insert Money" message stays on (i.e. it's not coming open) Could it be the harness from the validator to the board? I will also assume that the connections are fine as I have unplugged this harness and replaced when I got the validator and the new board. The harness part number labeled on it is 548-01880 Could that be it, or should I put a different validator in? Does anyone have one of these harnesses? I assume this is a hard part to come by. One last thing if it helps anyone who has an idea (Technivend I assume).... Occasionally I will open the door and it tells me I have an error. The error is usually "No Strobe msg" - I believe that's what it says. Is this related, or is this a coin thing? Quarters fall directly into the coin bucket instead of loading in the mech even though quarters are only half full. And sometimes a quarter will just go right through and be returned without giving credit. So, that's as much info as I can think of. Any ideas? I need to figure this stolen $1 bill problem. People don't like to have $1's taken. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Wow, you jumped quick. We were waiting to see how you made out with the door switch. Since you tried a new val and board there is not much left. Do you have another coin mech to try? While it is doubtful this is the issue anything is possible. I have been in this long enough to know you can;t say it can't be even when it doesn't make sense. You also say the coin mech is diverting coins to the cash box when the tube is not full. Do you have the coin mech setting on low quarters? This in itself can cause flaky issues. Before spending any more money. Try a coin mech of you have it. If the door is not closing properly tape the door switch in the closed position to see if it helps. The harness is always a possibility but that is usually a bad pin in one of the connectors that you may be able to visually see. But as STA state you have an older machine with newer electronics. These can be tricky at times and the obvious may not be so obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted November 19, 2011 Author Share Posted November 19, 2011 Wow, you jumped quick. We were waiting to see how you made out with the door switch. Since you tried a new val and board there is not much left. Do you have another coin mech to try? While it is doubtful this is the issue anything is possible. I have been in this long enough to know you can;t say it can't be even when it doesn't make sense. You also say the coin mech is diverting coins to the cash box when the tube is not full. Do you have the coin mech setting on low quarters? This in itself can cause flaky issues. Before spending any more money. Try a coin mech of you have it. If the door is not closing properly tape the door switch in the closed position to see if it helps. The harness is always a possibility but that is usually a bad pin in one of the connectors that you may be able to visually see. But as STA state you have an older machine with newer electronics. These can be tricky at times and the obvious may not be so obvious. The board was 40 bucks so I figured I'd try it. The validator I replaced a long while ago before putting it in storage. I'll mess with that door again but it does seem to close ok as in I never have trouble getting the machine to go to the "insert money" mode. And when I pull on it, push on it it doesn't come out of sales mode. The low quarter setting. I'm not sure I know where to change that. I do not have a coin mech as this is the only Rowe I have. I'll look around eBay for one. I have to get this fixed somehow as they are not buying from it after getting burned a time or two. The coin mech is the one thing I have not tried. I'll check the piñs again too. I assume that I would see something bent or broke if that was the problem? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Behind the accveptor portion of the coin mech should be 3 switches. One marked lo 25. MaKe surte it is not on lo or just try flipping it and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Behind the accveptor portion of the coin mech should be 3 switches. One marked lo 25. MaKe surte it is not on lo or just try flipping it and see what happens Just a suggestion but I would take the wires off of the door switch strip them back and twist them together. That way you know for sure it is not the switch and you can test it with the door open. I have done this a couple of times with pop machines left them that way and never had a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venddoctor Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 How do you have the dip switches on the validator set? Make sure you have number 7 off and 8 on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 How do you have the dip switches on the validator set? Make sure you have number 7 off and 8 on. I know that only 2 and 4 are on. One of those is to accept 1's and the other is to accept bills 4 ways or maybe it only 2. Either way I know that both 7 and 8 are off. What is 8? Is that the flash or pulse? This brings up something else I had forgot about. On the last location I sent the bill acceptor out to have it looked at thinking it was the problem. When it was returned to me all the switches were off. So I had no idea what to turn on. As far as I remember I was told to only turn on 2 and 4. Lots of ideas here. I'll try them. Thanks for the help! I hope something works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venddoctor Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I know that only 2 and 4 are on. One of those is to accept 1's and the other is to accept bills 4 ways or maybe it only 2. Either way I know that both 7 and 8 are off. What is 8? Is that the flash or pulse? This brings up something else I had forgot about. On the last location I sent the bill acceptor out to have it looked at thinking it was the problem. When it was returned to me all the switches were off. So I had no idea what to turn on. As far as I remember I was told to only turn on 2 and 4. Lots of ideas here. I'll try them. Thanks for the help! I hope something works According to a Mars document I have from 2001 when you use a mars vn25XX on a 548 or 648 the validator must be set to Credit line which is accomplished by turning dip switch 7 off and 8 on. I can remember having this problem back when I was an operator and turning 7 off and 8 on solved the problem. dip switch 7 and 8 control the pulse settings of the validator. 7 on 8 off = short pulse 7 off 8 off = long pulse 7 off 8 on = Credit line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Vendoctor is right. We may be chasing gremlins if the switches are set wrong. Did you right down what the switch settings you were told as per post 3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 Vendoctor is right. We may be chasing gremlins if the switches are set wrong. Did you right down what the switch settings you were told as per post 3? Yeah, they told me only 2 and 4 stay on. I'll be there tomorrow - I'll turn on 8 and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loach33 Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Unbelievable. I turned switch 8 on. I put $27 dollars in on multiple vends. Worked every time. If that was the problem the whole time, then I'm sickened, elated and surprised all at once. The one and only account I ever lost was mainly because of this problem. That account was worth $1200 a month - since then the machines went into storage for 18 months and now are in a location doing $650 a month. I figure this one problem cost me about $18,000. If it's in fact fixed, Hallelujah!! I'll try it again next time in to make sure it wasn't just a fluke that it today. THANK YOU Vendoctor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venddoctor Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 You are welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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