The credit card reader in my WS II is now over 4 years old. We maintain it well, clean it etc. It seems to have gotten a bit finicky over the past year. I find it very difficult to use for big fingered people as the card must be inserted so far in and then pulled back. Is there an upgrade or better reader to use?
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WS II credit card reader
- Thread starter Ric
- Start date
ProCarWashes
Member
Reader
You might consider upgrading to Unitec's double headed card reader. The only issue I have had with this unit is that the body of the reader is not enclosed in a cover. The electronics are exposed. I found the reader would fail if a hard driving rain hits the face of the WS2, water droplets from the coin acceptor, would drop right down on the reader. Unitec replaced it. But the issue of no cover to protect the electronics is still present. I did a home spun fix, taking a high quality zip lock bag and sliding it over it and a rubber band to hold it on. Don't use a sandwich bag. They are thin. Use a thick heavy duty one. Year and half now and no problems. Customers love it. No fighting with the card. I will add that if your WS2 is an older model you may need to upgrade your machines OS software also. Which means replacing a chip.
You might consider upgrading to Unitec's double headed card reader. The only issue I have had with this unit is that the body of the reader is not enclosed in a cover. The electronics are exposed. I found the reader would fail if a hard driving rain hits the face of the WS2, water droplets from the coin acceptor, would drop right down on the reader. Unitec replaced it. But the issue of no cover to protect the electronics is still present. I did a home spun fix, taking a high quality zip lock bag and sliding it over it and a rubber band to hold it on. Don't use a sandwich bag. They are thin. Use a thick heavy duty one. Year and half now and no problems. Customers love it. No fighting with the card. I will add that if your WS2 is an older model you may need to upgrade your machines OS software also. Which means replacing a chip.
Please note that Panasonic card reader covers are now available to protect the card reader electronics from any water that may enter the unit. The covers are available at no charge under our Equipment Warranty. Your Unitec Authorized Distributor may order the cover (P/N SA2249) - please make sure they have the original Sales Order or Invoice number.
Thank you,
Jennifer Ward
Unitec Electronics
Thank you,
Jennifer Ward
Unitec Electronics
What's the P/N of the reader itself? Is it a direct replacement for the single sided reader?
ProCarWashes
Member
Reader cover
This the kind of BS that I have dealt with for YEARS with OEM's "please make sure they have the original Sales Order or Invoice number." Let me ask you Jennifer, where the hell would we get this damn two sided proprietary card reader that will only work with your equipment? Huh? You think maybe we might have $hit it? Mine has been replaced twice. I told your tech's the problem and I don't want to publicly say what they said for a solution. My 10 year old granddaughter would have come up with a better solution. So now you have covers. Great! Why the heck didn't you notify anyone? We have this option called email that is a great way to communicate. You want to use this forum as a third person way to address your customers? I've invested heavy in your equipment, and I have to always find out about improvements on my own.
This the kind of BS that I have dealt with for YEARS with OEM's "please make sure they have the original Sales Order or Invoice number." Let me ask you Jennifer, where the hell would we get this damn two sided proprietary card reader that will only work with your equipment? Huh? You think maybe we might have $hit it? Mine has been replaced twice. I told your tech's the problem and I don't want to publicly say what they said for a solution. My 10 year old granddaughter would have come up with a better solution. So now you have covers. Great! Why the heck didn't you notify anyone? We have this option called email that is a great way to communicate. You want to use this forum as a third person way to address your customers? I've invested heavy in your equipment, and I have to always find out about improvements on my own.
Ric, to answer your question, the P/N for the Panasonic upgrade kit is KT1797. It is not a direct replacement and please note that it may require a software upgrade.
Galen, when I posted the other day and asked that distributors include the original sales order or part number, I was referring to your distributor's original WSII order with Unitec, which your distributor should be able to locate. I apologize if there was any miscommunication there.
With regards to us communicating the availability of the new cover, please note that a notice was sent to our distributors on 9/24. In addition, there is a post in the Unitec Electronics user group titled WSII Dual CC Reader that was started in August. On 9/29, I posted that the card reader cover was available.
Since we sell through a distributor network, we encourage our distributors to notify their customers when an applicable product enhancement is available. However, realistically, we know that this does not always happen. That is why we participate in this Forum, continually update our website, attend trade shows, etc. - with the hopes to extend that communication to the equipment owners. If you continue to feel that you are not being properly notified, please email me directly and we will work with you and your distributor to rectify that issue.
Jennifer Ward
Unitec Electronics
Galen, when I posted the other day and asked that distributors include the original sales order or part number, I was referring to your distributor's original WSII order with Unitec, which your distributor should be able to locate. I apologize if there was any miscommunication there.
With regards to us communicating the availability of the new cover, please note that a notice was sent to our distributors on 9/24. In addition, there is a post in the Unitec Electronics user group titled WSII Dual CC Reader that was started in August. On 9/29, I posted that the card reader cover was available.
Since we sell through a distributor network, we encourage our distributors to notify their customers when an applicable product enhancement is available. However, realistically, we know that this does not always happen. That is why we participate in this Forum, continually update our website, attend trade shows, etc. - with the hopes to extend that communication to the equipment owners. If you continue to feel that you are not being properly notified, please email me directly and we will work with you and your distributor to rectify that issue.
Jennifer Ward
Unitec Electronics
Did the upgrade go smoothly? What was the cost of the readers?
Jennifer, I had upgraded to the dual head reader sometime ago and never heard of such enhancements of improvements for the reader. Please let me know of any must have things so we can get it up to date. Just today I experienced my first problem with the reader. I just flat out quit reading cards of any type (credit, wash cards and passcards). I basically powered the WSII off and after a few seconds turned it back on. This seemed to have resolved it for now but don't know why it even happened in the first place. Please let me know of any known issues like this.
We installed the Panasonic card reader a few weeks ago. We have been monitoring the bad card reads. They have dropped significantly. The unit is more user friendly since the card can be inserted in either direction as long as the mag stripe is up. Our credit card sales in the iba are over 50%. I feel this upgrade was worth it to make it as easy as possible for our customers to make credit card transactions.
I installed them about 3 months ago and the bad card reads, bad orientation issues stopped very fast, had one go bad pretty quick due to the rain and they fixed and shipped me the new rain covers rapidly to cover the others. Two kind of side notes are the inability in this industry to get some sort of $$ back from the manufacturers (car wash mfgs problem in general) and the issue what to do with the old card readers.
side note - jenward handled that thread with superlative customer service skills that I hope I and my attendants use at our wash when an a$$ presents themselves to gripe about our products/service. We can't have it both ways, if you want good customers, be a good customer.
side note - jenward handled that thread with superlative customer service skills that I hope I and my attendants use at our wash when an a$$ presents themselves to gripe about our products/service. We can't have it both ways, if you want good customers, be a good customer.
tobaccofarmer
Member
The problem with upgrade credit card reader, is for one you have to change out main cpu board on wash select, atleast I did because it was locking up with new reader, and secondly the gap between sides on new reader is so narrow that quarters get jammed in between all the time and its next to impossible to get them out! The original reader wasnt as narrow and the quarters would roll in between the sides. Lastly you miss out on seeing people drive to the right when wash select says "stripe to the right". Other than that the dual reader is a must in my opinion!
I upgraded my single side card reader with the new double side card reader. Had to change out the cpu, but got one with the upgrade and sent the old one back to Unitec. They didn't charge me for the cpu , just the new card reader. Has been working flawlessly for several months with very few "bad card reads" maybe 2-3 a week. I am seeing more and more of the Panasonic dual side card readers, mostly in gas stations.
cleaning up mud
Member
So whats the cost?????
I need to change two of mine we get so many bad card reads.....
I need to change two of mine we get so many bad card reads.....
cleaning up mud
Member
what is the price of the new double sided reader????
cleaning up mud
Member
What is the price of the new double sided conversion????
