Rowe conversion to Mars

[Whale of a Wash]

I converted my Rowe to a mars today with the rowe conversion. It was a fairly decent conversion. It only took an hour and a half, it would of been quicker but i had to make change for quit a few. It came with Validator,computer, and a new harness. I think it looked more difficult than it was, I will miss the stacker but not validator. I will use it as a spare , but hope to have alot less bill jams.
John

 

[Eric H]

Was this the conversion put out buy Rowe or Etowah Valley?

 

[Randy]

I believe you'll like the Mars much better than the Rowe transport that you took out. The Mars is hands down a better validator. I believe the Rowe kit is around $700 or $800. Not bad considering what you get, Mars AE2681 validator, mounting brackets, main controll board and wiring harness.

 

[MEP001]

You'll definitely like the Mars. I installed our first Mars conversion in the Hamilton bill changer because one kept jamming and I couldn't figure out why. The Mars almost never jams, and it's actually pretty hard to make it jam. I used to wet and wad up a bill to show customers how it would fold the bill into an accordion shape and spit it back out - it was especially helpful when it would accept the soggy bill when I was trying to cause a jam.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

It was Rowes Conversion, about $860, It retains the fast pay and the large rowe power supply, I will still have some hopper issues , but was tired of cleaning it once a week, i still have 4 more if i decide to do them i guess. I looked at the etowah, it has the direct pay which is fine, a little bit more money, and the power supply looked more like a computer power supply. I have a couple mars , but didn't realize it will accept money 4 ways until today. Left or right and upside down. i just thought i would put it out there for those that hate the rowe validator like me

 

[vinh]

I converted one side of my bc2800 2 year ago and glad I did it. It's been rock stable. Bought the conversion from Capital vending for $200 and bought a used Mars 2600 on ebay for $150. The conversion keeps everything except stacker and validator. Easy instruction. Afterward I resell the rowe validator on ebay for $150 so conversion is cheap about $200. I doing the other side now because it cost $65 to upgrade the rowe for new $5 bill but only $10 for Mars through Randy Nix. You can beat that.

 

[kabak]

rowe to mars conversion

I converted one side of my bc2800 2 year ago and glad I did it. It's been rock stable. Bought the conversion from Capital vending for $200 and bought a used Mars 2600 on ebay for $150. The conversion keeps everything except stacker and validator. Easy instruction. Afterward I resell the rowe validator on ebay for $150 so conversion is cheap about $200. I doing the other side now because it cost $65 to upgrade the rowe for new $5 bill but only $10 for Mars through Randy Nix. You can beat that.

How do you like capital vending conversion kit ?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I bought one for my BC-1400 and it is working out okay. I have had some issues with the validator disconnecting from the system. I think it might be because I bought a refurbed Mars. Overall I am pleased with the system.

 

[starion]

We just took over a car wash that had the original Rowe BC-1400 guts. We replaced it with the Rowe/Mars kit. Had a few challenges getting everything working.

The biggest problem was the swinging door on the delivery chute. When you dump $20 worth of quarters behind it, it takes ten minutes to fish all your coins out of it.

Removed the flap, all works great now. You just have to catch that occasional quarter or two that shoots over the cup, but overall much less hassle.

I'm sure there's a reason for that flap, maybe to keep somebody from hooking the escrow bucket flaps, but someone would have to really want it, and we'd have a nice video of them doing it...

 

[vinh]

capital vending kit works great. Have not had to reset or anything in over 6 months. Rock stable. I would use them again.

 

[Mo's Cow Wash LLC.]

Can i get the info for capital vending?

 

[Randy]

I think I'd go with the Rowe kit. The Rowe kit replaces most of the componets inside the changer and uses a true Mars downstack validator with a large bill box, not a Upstack turned over. Rowe had some problems with the kits early on, but I think they have those problems fixed now. I believe they got a batch of bad Bill Boxes that was causing problems.

Here's a link to Capital Vending web site http://capitalvending.com/home.htm

 

[Ghetto Wash]

I think I'd go with the Rowe kit. ......................................Rowe had some problems with the kits early on, but I think they have those problems fixed now. I believe they got a batch of bad Bill Boxes that was causing problems.

Wrong.

Don't go with the Rowe kit. They are still having problems and still trying to fix them. Meanwhile, my changer still shuts down for no reason. It is a communication problem between the Rowe machine and the Mars validator, It is not the bill box, that is Rowes way of passing the blame to Mars.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I figured I would toss in my .02

I bought the kit from capital vending and I am very pleased with the way it has worked for me thus far. It was easy to set with the dip switches and everything. I bought the whole kit which replaced basically everything except for the hoppers. I have another changer that I need to do also. Overall, I would recommend.