Validator Software upgrades for the new $5 bill

[Randy]

With the release of the new $5 bill in early February 2008 upgrades are going to have to be made to you’re to bill validators to properly accept this bill. It has been found that some of the bill validators will accept the new $5 bill and payout incorrectly, this also happened with the colored $10 when it was released. It is best to upgrade your equipment to properly accept the newest currencies when they are released. The software upgrades for the Standard, Mars, Pyramid validators should be released in early to mid January. Hamilton has already released there software upgrade for the STA & XE bill validators. I’ve installed a number of software upgrades into the Hamilton STA & XE validators and they are very easy to do. The Hamilton HVX validator is NOT! Upgradeable.

[Joe Law]

Which validators are paying out wrong and how have you confirmed this? The government has not released the bill to the general public yet and posting things that have not been confirmed may cause undue panic.

[Randy]

Joe, The US Bureau of Printing and Engraving have made available the new $5 bill to the major bill validator manufacturers so they can do the necessary reprogramming and software changes to their equipment so that their currency validation equipment will accept the new $5 and payout correctly. What I’m saying is anyone who is using bill validation equipment should be aware that there are changes coming and they should make provisions to upgrade there equipment. I think you’d be surprised at the number of people who do not know that there is a new $5 bill coming out soon.

[Joe Law]

Randy,
I agree completely, I have my service tech's tell everyone that calls about the $5 bill coming out. Some people don't know about the $10 that came out almost 2 years ago! My question was about the new $5 paying out improperly. I know that Hamilton has already released their upgrade for the new $5, is that the one that does not pay out properly with the new $5. I have been in contact with MEI,Pyramid and Coinco and none of them has mentioned anything about it.
thanks
Joe

[seflaundry]

can these upgrades be done easily or do we have to call in the professionals?

[Randy]

Most validator upgrades are not hard to do depending on the make & model of your validator.

[DuboisLaundry]

easy?

I have Pyramid validators on both my changers (laundromat & carwash) so I can't say for the others.
Sometime in January when Pyramid's update is available I expect it to be just as easy as the last change (10's) .

1) Call Pyramid and get a password to download the new version
2) Connect a Pyramid USB cable between my laptop and the change machine.
3) Open the Pyramid software management tool, and with just a few clicks load the new version into the validator.

I bought the cable and installed the management tool last time, so it should only take a few minutes on the phone and a few minutes standing next to each changer.

[DuboisLaundry]

Almost forgot, my Snack/Soda vending has a Coinco MagPro validator and I have no idea what would be needed to update it.

The dip switches are currently set for $1 bills only so I will probably do nothing.

[Joe Law]

For the Coinco it depends how old it is. If it is from before 2003 and has not been updated for the new bills it will require a board change for around $113.00 You can change the board yourself but make sure you get the calibration paper and clean the unit before doing the upgrade.

[Randy]

Joe is correct. The older Coinco validators with a long control board will need a board change. The Coinco service center recommend not doing the board change on the older validators as it will cost over half the cost of a new validator to upgrade the old one. I took a couple Coinco’s in last week and had them upgraded. The Mars software upgrades have just been released to the service centers. They will have 2 different programmers, one for the 24 volts validators and another for the 110 volt validators. The going rate is about $20 per unit to flash the new $5 program into a Coinco and Mars validator. The EPROM chip for the Hamilton XE & STA $75 from Hamilton, I saw some on Ebay for $40 the other day. No word on the Standard or Pyramid validator grades.

[seflaundry]

Has anyone bought one off of ebay?

[Palmyra Jim]

Randy,
I did not see an answer to that question. Who said there could be a false payout?
Jim

[pete f]

In the past my changer repair person has made rounds and flashed or chipped what was needed. I know I skipped and upgrade or two, and made no difference as to acceptance. I will wait till the bills are out and test my changers before doing any upgrade. I think the last $10 one caused some problems, at least with Rowe.

[Randy]

Palmyra Jim,

Last September the new $5 bill was tested on every major bill validator by one of the major players in the validator industry, I’m not going to tell you which one. Some of the validators would accept the $5 bill with a 60-70 percent acceptance rate after you tried it a half a dozen times. Some validators would not accept the $5 bill at all. Some would take the $5 bill and sometimes pay out $10 or $20 in change, not all the time but enough that it could be a problem. If you decide to do nothing then audit your changers every time you pull money out and put money into it. If you pull out $850 from the stacker and you’ve dispensed $890 then I’d say you have payout problem. You’d be surprised as to how many operators don’t audit there changers. Most of them just dump in more quarters and call it good. When the $10 changed to last time I serviced a changer at a Laundromat that would payout $20 every third or fourth new $10 bill. They couldn’t figure out why they were getting so many new $10 bills. They ended up losing hundreds of dollars in quarters before they figured it out.

[Amex]

Randy,
Is the $5 update available for Mars yet?

[Randy]

Yes, the $5 upgrade is available for the Mars validators. It came out about a week ago.