Etowah Valley Timer & Dixmor Ultimate Timer

[Bubbles Galore]

I have an EV meter box that I am trying to hook the dixmor ultimate timer up to. I know that I will have to jumper the 24 volt hot and common up to the dixmor, but how should I get the coin impulse wire(s) from both the coin acceptor and the bill acceptor. Should I run two separate wires or what? I am completely out of my element here, but need to get it done asap so I can start my night owl special.

Sidenote: What is the best way to clean a mars bill acceptor?

 

[Randy]

What kind of timer do you have in the coin box? Do you have the Etowah Credit card system? What coin acceptor do you have?

To clean your Mars validator, remove the transport from the housing and clean off the white rollers with alcohol on a cotton swab. Wipe off the upper and lower LED lens covers. You should be good to go.

 

[galen]

Tie them together in the coin box. Run the wire to the Dixmor. All the Dixmor wants is a pulse. One problem I have had with my Dixmors and my coin acceptors is that if the customer puts in a bill and then immediately drops a coin into the acceptor the Dixmor may miss the coin pulse because it's counting the bill acceptors pulses. Two different wires I don't think would help.

 

[MEP001]

Does the EV system use the serial port to operate the display?

You don't need alcohol to clean a Mars acceptor - it won't hurt it, but it takes a lot longer to clean the rollers with a swab than it does with a damp terry cloth. I clean the six in the bays about once a month by just wiping the rollers, belts and lenses clean. Six years in service, all still working perfectly.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I have the IDX coin acceptor (x20?) and yes my timer is the EV cc system. What is the best way for me to find out what wire is the signal wire that comes from both the coin and bill acceptor? I appreciate the help, like I said I am out of my element here guys.

 

[Randy]

I think the first place I'd start would be to call Jim at Etowah Valley.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I have. He told me to call Dixmor. I called Dixmor, he said Jim should know how to wire it up. Just trying to find a few leads.

 

[MEP001]

Does the EV system have separate inputs from the bill and coin acceptors? If so, you won't be able to combine them to the Dixmor. You might as well leave it as a scrolling message, or pull them down and sell them on eBay.

 

[Eric H]

Does the EV system have separate inputs from the bill and coin acceptors?

It does but they can be wired to a single input. If you wire them together the accounting feature does not count the bills seperatly. All the money will be counted as coins.

 

[MEP001]

It does but they can be wired to a single input.

That is true - I wouldn't recommend it based what I've seen happen. If a customer deposits a bill, then drops quarters while the bill credit is counting up, sometimes a coin credit gets lost. I've even seen the quarter pulse completely span between two pulses from the bill acceptor where the timer got only three instead of four or the five it should have.

Back to my earlier question, which hasn't been effectively answered due to Jim saying to call Dixmor - I would assume the EV CC system won't use the serial port on the Dixmor to mirror its display.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Mep: I am not able to answer that question completely. I know that when I talked to Jim, he wasn't sure and Nick at Dixmor said that there could be a few second delay. He told me that sometimes they hook right up and sometimes there could be a 2-3 second delay. I am going to try and dive into tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

 

[MEP001]

If the EV system can output its display to the Dixmor via the serial port, even if there's a 2-3 second delay it would still be the best and simplest answer to your problems.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I will have to check, but I don't think that the EV meterbox has a serial port. I could be wrong, but from what I have seen, I don't think there is one.

 

[MEP001]

It's probably not a "port," just a couple of wires. It will say something like serial or Dixmor.

 

[Kevin James]

I don?t think I fully understand what you?re trying to accomplish here. Are you trying to install a Dixmor Ultimate timer to override the timer that?s in the coin box? What?s the purpose of adding a Dixmor Ultimate timer in the bay if you already have a timer? Won?t the2 timers counter act one another? I don?t understand!!!

 

[MEP001]

I don’t think I fully understand what you’re trying to accomplish here. Are you trying to install a Dixmor Ultimate timer to override the timer that’s in the coin box? What’s the purpose of adding a Dixmor Ultimate timer in the bay if you already have a timer? Won’t the2 timers counter act one another? I don’t understand!!!

He's trying to use the Dixmor to mirror the Etowah Valley display.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

All eight of my bays have the ultimate timer in them. When I put in my new meterbox, I took it down because of the reason that you stated. The main reason I want to get it wired back up is because we are starting a night owl special for the winter. I am unable to program the new meterbox to switch over unless I have the Dixmor wired up also.

***I wasn't able to work on anything this weekend because we were packed. Gotta love it when winter comes early

 

[MEP001]

If the EV timer doesn't have the ability for things like adjustable pricing during different times of day, then I don't think you can or would want to hook the Dixmor to it. That would mean that you're splitting the coin pulses to both timers, and your "Night Owl" pricing would have the timers reading totally different times.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I hate your advice and appreciate it all at the same time

I will have to call Jim and see what there is to be done about this situation. I just saw it in my mind as overriding the system in the meterbox. I don't want to confuse my customers by having the talking meterbox telling you to deposit more money, when the ultimate timer says you have 1:30 minutes left. Thanks!

 

[Randy]

I talked to Dixmor the other day and I?m glad you are starting to see the light because I didn?t want to be the bearer of bad news but what you want to do will not work. You can?t override the EV coin box timer with the Dixmor Ultimate timer or vise versa. Don?t get me wrong you?ve got a great idea. The EV timer might be able to do what you want to do. I know the EV timer will do a lot of different things.