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In bay bill accepters

MudMoney

MudMoney

Well-known member
I am going to update to inbay bill accepters,my question is limit them to accept only 1's and 5's or 1,5,10,20'? I am concerned about those that put in a $10 or $20 and expecting change back when they don't use all their credit.# 2 What percentage is the rejection rate and is moisture a problem? I was going to use a Mars and my start up rate is $ 2.75 @ 4 minutes.Thanks
 
we accept 1, 5 and 10's (also quarters and dollar coins) in our S/S bays. Want to make it as easy as possible for customers to spend money. We do get plenty of 5's and a few 10's each week. no water issues with Mars. We do post NO change returned. The only call I ever got was from someone that put a 10 in and expected change. I offered to send a $10 card as a courtesy, explaining that someone likely used the time and or that the unit was not in the stop postion. Also told the lady our changer, as posted, is for car wash use only. She got mad, and hung up...never got an address to send the card.
 
We have Mars acceptors and have never had a moisture problem. We get mostly 1's and a very few 5's. We get about 70% coins and about 30% bills.
 
I had some minor issues with moisture in Mars, never a failure but sometimes they'd stop working until I disassembled the acceptor and dried it out. I drilled a large hole on the bottom of the plastic snout so any water that entered the bill slot could run out the bottom before getting to the board and haven't had a problem since. The face of the door is angled into the bay and it gets lots of overspray. Rejection rate is extremely low; I wipe them clean with a soft towel once a month and have only replaced one out of six in 7 years.

When I installed them, there was no option for $10/20 acceptance. A friend of mine built a new wash and upgraded an older one and takes both the larger bills. He said he gets 3 or 4 $10's a week per bay and maybe one $20 a week per wash. Only once in five years has he gotten a call from someone expecting change from unused time. I posted in large letters "Bills are accepted for wash time only - no change given" right below the acceptor. No one's ever called for a refund.
 
Have had Coinco Vantage for a couple of years. Happy with them. Set for 1,5,10, no issues with people expecting change.
 
Is the CoinCo Vantage the latest one that was designed for wet environments?

Over the years I've noticed in changers, grocery store self check-out lanes, post office vendors, etc. that have CoinCo validators that they were much more finicky about accepting bills. How is the Vantage in that regard?
 
I have coinco vantage in the bays. No water problems. They seem to accept pretty much anything I put in them as long as the bill is not totally destroyed.
 
MEP001 said:
Is the CoinCo Vantage the latest one that was designed for wet environments?

Over the years I've noticed in changers, grocery store self check-out lanes, post office vendors, etc. that have CoinCo validators that they were much more finicky about accepting bills. How is the Vantage in that regard?
Click to expand...

Yes, I was sold on it when I saw it at the ICA show about 2 years ago. They were demonstrating it by squirting water into it. If it is excessively wet, it drys itself out by making the bill go in and out a few times.

I also am using the Coinco version of the Tokenote, selling them at a discount in bulk. I took their standard note and bought a custom rubber stamp to label the note for my wash.
 
I must be the only one that has had problems with the Coinco Vantage validators. I just ordered two new Mars units to replace the Coinco's that I bought off of Jim at Etowah Valley 3 years ago. We had constant problems with them, sending them back for repairs at least 4 times each unit. In those 3 years my in bay bill acceptors were operational less than 50% of the time and I was finally so frustrated that I decided to put Mars units in. I have Mars units in 7 other SS bays at different sites and in the past year have had zero problems.

Jim was very clear to me that Mars will not warranty the units if the lower circuit board gets moisture damage. He wanted to make sure that I knew that before buying them, and I thanked him for that clarification but still took the Mars.

Hopefully they work as well as my other ones do.
 
My history of Coinco Vantage issues is as follows.

I have 8 bays in Service. Just about at the 2.5 year mark.

One was mangled and pushed in By Vandals. Reinstalled as Mangled.

Worked for a year or so after that . Now it stopped working and was told cost of service exceeded replacement value.

One stopped a week or so after instal. Sent for warranty work and promptly replaced at no charge.

After a year. One seemed to stop and need service code appeared.
Sent for service and was told it was working. Apparently after it dried out all was fine. No charge for service diagnostics or return shipping.

One is now in for service. Waiting for repair cost.
 
ScottV said:
Jim was very clear to me that Mars will not warranty the units if the lower circuit board gets moisture damage.
Click to expand...
In retrofitting to a Hamilton changer, the validator is used in "downstack" mode. Typically when you use them in a bay it's in "upstacker" mode and the board is now above the snout and mostly safe from water. I haven't had one need repair from water damage. The one that did fail after six years in a bay was making a loud clicking noise for months before it quit.
 
I’ve repaired a lot of Mars and Coinco validator with water damage to the upper and lower boards. Most of them are from Texas and they are nasty. 9 times out of 10 they are beyond repair, the screws are rusted in so when try to get them apart the frame will break. When you have customers who put the nozzle right into the bill validator bezel and let it rip you’re going to have water damage. I’ve been coating the boards so they aren’t as susceptible to damage, this has helped somewhat. Most of the time the water damage (corrosion) is on the leading edge of the lower and upper boards, sometimes they can be repaired, but not always. The main board gets the corrosion on lower portion of the board. It almost looks like the water wicks up the board. If you have bill validators in the bays you want to have at least one spare validator. The nice thing about Mars is the validator frames are all the same, if you want to change the model of the validator all you have to do is change the bezel, as long as the voltage is the same. I have a customer who is using Mars AE2602 24 volt in his Goldline ACW he has a spare for the Goldline and he needed a validator for his bay box. He wanted me to next day air him a validator, I told him to use his spare validator for the Goldline, all he had to was change the bezels.
 
I have had Mars in my SS bays for 5 years with no trouble at all. The rollers have to be cleaned with alcohol and a cottom swab every now and then. I have watched idiots stand there with the wand in their hand resting it on their arm while they put more money in, and the weep water shoots right into the bill acceptor. I also have to gently chip the ice off of the face of it so that the bills will go in. Still no problems. I keep a spare on the shelf just in case. They are upstackers. Years ago I had downstackers in JC entry wizard (IBA) and they gave me a lot of trouble until I switched to Unitec entry machines. Occasionally when the temps are below zero the Mars in my IBA's (which are outside in the shade until noon and wind all day) get sluggish. Then people get impatient and keep trying to jam bills in one after the other. That's the only real problem I have had with Mars. For some reason I don't have problem with Mars in SS even below zero. And yes, there are plenty of people washing when it's sub zero. My bay meters are inside the bay so they gets lots of overspray on them.
 
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FWIW I use 24V Heaters with thermostats from KR in the bill meter boxes. Ice on the acceptors is not an issue. Still have to ue a torch to get them open sometime.
 
As an update to my post #12 was just advised Coinco is warrantying repairs. Needed a board.

Must say I have been pleased with their warranty service.
 
My Mars acceptors are in the middle of the bays and they will almost never reject bills. I love them. We take 1, 5, and 10s. Ratio is about 50/50 quarters to dollars.
 
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