11 replies to this topic

[Lourence Vending]

I'm still pretty new to the vending world but i have been making minor repairs to arcade games for 2 years. My Snackshop 4000 stoped taking coins at first but then later bills. I've read several other forums and still cant find out why. When i turn on the machine that changer spits out a dime and sometimes a quarter. I do have a VFM1 Validator and the board for it. I am told that normaly the board will have 1 LED on when its working properly and 2 if its having a problem like out of change or something like that. I am able to set prices and check them but when i enter the service mode it wont dispence the coins. When I turn on the machine the validator cycles but it doesn't try to pull in a bill when i have it in opperate or test. Because the display works i assumed the board was fine but now that i think of it that small VFM board might be the problem. A volt check on that will probably show me the issue. However i dont know if that board also controls the changer. If you know more about these machines and think you might have a solution please let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lourence Vending

[vend1ng]

I'm still pretty new to the vending world but i have been making minor repairs to arcade games for 2 years. My Snackshop 4000 stoped taking coins at first but then later bills. I've read several other forums and still cant find out why. When i turn on the machine that changer spits out a dime and sometimes a quarter. I do have a VFM1 Validator and the board for it. I am told that normaly the board will have 1 LED on when its working properly and 2 if its having a problem like out of change or something like that. I am able to set prices and check them but when i enter the service mode it wont dispence the coins. When I turn on the machine the validator cycles but it doesn't try to pull in a bill when i have it in opperate or test. Because the display works i assumed the board was fine but now that i think of it that small VFM board might be the problem. A volt check on that will probably show me the issue. However i dont know if that board also controls the changer. If you know more about these machines and think you might have a solution please let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lourence Vending

You have a few things going on here, 1. "My Snackshop 4000 stoped taking coins at first" What model coinmech do you have? If it was taking bills an not coins you may have lost your tune or had jammed coins. 2. "but then later bills" Because coinmech wasn't taking coins the coin tubes ran out of coins. Vali won't take bills if there isn't 10 coins each in each tube. 3. " When i turn on the machine that changer spits out a dime and sometimes a quarter" Thats not good but could happen with a power surge. 4. "when i enter the service mode it wont dispence the coins" Its not the payout solenoids because they spit coins out when you power up must be a control problem. Vali will run a startup sequence when powered up Vali will not accept bills without an accept signal from coinmech/control board. Note: VFM board has nothing to do with coinmech or machine control only validator. I can't tell you much more without knowing what coinmech you have. Disconnect the vali for now it has nothing to do with anything except verifying dollar bills.
Vend1ng

[Lourence Vending]

Thank you for all the advice. I checked all the contacts then took apart the changer to look for any blockage or damage. Everything seemed fine. I put it all back together and I'm still having the same problem. When I turn it on after a few seconds a quarter and dime are dispenced. None of the 2 LEDs on the board light up. The validator won't pull bills and the changer doesnt accept coins. The validator does cycle when it powers on. I'm able to set prices but the service button doesn't do anything. There's a small insert between the main board power connector on the bottom. It's just a connector that seems to have a small battery hard wired to it but it seems to be getting pretty hot. I doubt that's normal but I don't know. That may explain why turning it off clears all the prices and stored data. The changer model it MEI TRC-6000. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks

[vend1ng]

Thank you for all the advice. I checked all the contacts then took apart the changer to look for any blockage or damage. Everything seemed fine. I put it all back together and I'm still having the same problem. When I turn it on after a few seconds a quarter and dime are dispenced. None of the 2 LEDs on the board light up. The validator won't pull bills and the changer doesnt accept coins. The validator does cycle when it powers on. I'm able to set prices but the service button doesn't do anything. There's a small insert between the main board power connector on the bottom. It's just a connector that seems to have a small battery hard wired to it but it seems to be getting pretty hot. I doubt that's normal but I don't know. That may explain why turning it off clears all the prices and stored data. The changer model it MEI TRC-6000. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks

That connector that looks like a battery isn't a battery but there is a battery soldered on the control board and if you loose pricing when you turn power off you need a new battery. But thats not all your problem. I'm confused about the 2 led's on the board which board?
Vend1ng

[Lourence Vending]

That connector that looks like a battery isn't a battery but there is a battery soldered on the control board and if you loose pricing when you turn power off you need a new battery. But thats not all your problem. I'm confused about the 2 led's on the board which board?
Vend1ng

Well in mine there are 2 boards. The larger one that seems to be the origional logic board thats conected to the display and buttons, then theres a small one mounted to it. It looks like its after market because the main connectors to it would also fit the board below it if the smaller board was removed. This smaller board is also connected to the bill validator and has 2 leds and a set of dip switches. I attatched a picture i found online of the same one.

[vend_dr]

The board is aftermarket - the 4000 series was built before validators where developed.

[vend1ng]

Well in mine there are 2 boards. The larger one that seems to be the origional logic board thats conected to the display and buttons, then theres a small one mounted to it. It looks like its after market because the main connectors to it would also fit the board below it if the smaller board was removed. This smaller board is also connected to the bill validator and has 2 leds and a set of dip switches. I attatched a picture i found online of the same one.

yes, its an aftermarket board disconnect that board and plug the harness into the control board. Disconnect the vali we'll worry about that later. We need to get the coinmech to payout coins thats the inportant part. Check that and let me know.
Vend1ng

[Lourence Vending]

Yeah i went ahead and removed the validator board and connected the changer directly to its origional board but the symptoms continued. I swapped the solenoid from the nickle to the dime slot and the problem moved with it. So I replaced the solenoid but that still didn't help. Then i realized when moving it back and forth i never changed its wiring so the machine thought it was still doing the same thing. When the machine is doing its diognostic there is a faint vibration coming from the changer you can only notice if your holding it. I thoguht that may be the solenoid trying to engage but not getting full power. In the end i figured i need to replace the board or the whole changer. If you have any other ideas please let me know. Also im looking for another snack machine if you have any recamendations on models or companys with quality afordable machines i would appreciate that too.

Thanks

[vend1ng]

Yeah i went ahead and removed the validator board and connected the changer directly to its origional board but the symptoms continued. I swapped the solenoid from the nickle to the dime slot and the problem moved with it. So I replaced the solenoid but that still didn't help. Then i realized when moving it back and forth i never changed its wiring so the machine thought it was still doing the same thing. When the machine is doing its diognostic there is a faint vibration coming from the changer you can only notice if your holding it. I thoguht that may be the solenoid trying to engage but not getting full power. In the end i figured i need to replace the board or the whole changer. If you have any other ideas please let me know. Also im looking for another snack machine if you have any recamendations on models or companys with quality afordable machines i would appreciate that too.

Thanks

What solenoid did you change? I'm going to say that your problem is the machine main control board since anything that may be "vibrating" in the coinmech would only be controlled by the control board. As for buying machines we need to know where abouts your located since shipping will negate any "affordable" machines. Just a thought.
Vend1ng

[Lourence Vending]

Thanks. I'm just south of Sacramento in the city of elk grove California.

[Lourence Vending]

I was able to find a referbished machine. I hope you dont mind me asking you more questions. I have just the one snack machine at this bowling center. I was wondering what percentage of snack machine revenue is normal to be shared with the location. Right now i am splitting all prophet 50/50. The owner is a nice guy but i just want to make sure im not getting taken advantage of.

[cvending]

When you say you are splitting "profits"...how do you determine profit? Is that revenue about product cost or are you also factoring in cost of equipment, sales tax, labor? If you include those in figuring profit, then a 50/50 split is not out of line. Otherwise a 10% commission would be ample.