PcCredit 1A Board

PcCredit1A Board is designed to easily attach Coin Mechanisms and Bank Note Readers to a Personal Computer via its RS232 Serial Port.

"How it works"

How The Hardware Works

The PcCredit Board needs a stable +12 Volt Smoothed DC Supply (does not need -12V) capable of supplying a peak current of 3 Amps and a stand-by current of 1 Amp. The 12V power supply is wired into the PcCredit Board via two Screw Terminals. Connect the positive to one of the + terminal and the negative to one of its - terminal. The boards may alternatively be powered by the Power Supply in the PC, assuming it has enough spare capacity for the 3Amps required. Please ensure that the power supply connection to PcCredit has a 3A Fuse in line with the 12V supply.

Using a standard 9-Way D Connector Serial Lead to connect the PC Serial port to the Serial Port connector on the PcCredit Board.

PcCredit has been specially designed to work with a reasonably wide range of Note/Coin Validators, here is a list of such devices. Note Readers such as the "Smiley" NV4 Note Reader by Innovative Technology (both old and new versions). 12V Coin Validators such as Mars Electronics Models MS111 range, ME111 range and Cashflow range (with Dual Polarity, Parallel 17W Interface) and Coin Controls Sentinel, C220 and C435 range (Use the 17W SIL Header), C120 range, NRI G13 (Non Totalising models) Jofemar T40 Classic (Use the 10W DIL Header), Alberici AL 05-7, also other makes and models which support the Gaming machine or G13 style interface. We have designed the PCB so that in most cases, the Validators can be connected to the board with simple "Mirror-Image" looms i.e. pin 1 connected to pin 1 and so on.

There are two LED lights on the PCB the red one indicating that the 12V DC Supply is present and a green one which is used to mimic the "Inhibit Coins/Note" command. This green LED can be used to give a simple indication that the PC is communicating with the PCB correctly, by using the Inhibit/Accept commands.

How The Software Works

"PcCredit" is designed to take out all of the hard-work of wiring a Coin Mechanism or Note Validator to a PC via its Serial Port. PcCredit does not act like a credit board as such, but instead is used to communicate the messages coming out of the Validators, to the PC, when asked. The communication is in the form of a Protocol, which has extensive Error checking etc. The PcCredit does do not try to tell the PC the value of the Coins or Notes that have been accepted, simply because different Validators will have different value Coin/Notes programmed into them. Instead PcCredit tells the PC which channel of the Coin/Note Validator last accepted a Note/Coin. So that the host PC does not have to constantly monitor Coin/Note acceptance, PcCredit stores Coin/Note channel information, and communicates back to the PC the information on the channels activity since last being asked by the PC, this saves the PC from wasting time constantly monitoring its ports so as not to miss a Note or a Coin.

Notes

PcCredit can be used in two ways, "Multi-Credit-Mode On" means that multiple Notes/Coins can be accepted one after the other and stored in PcCredit or "Single-Credit-Mode" means that as soon as a Note or Coin has been accepted, PcCredit will automatically turn off any further Note or Coin acceptance until coin acceptance is turned back on again by the Software. When in "Multi-Credit-Mode", PcCredit will hold up to 16 lots of Note/Coin accepted information, once the limit of 16 has been reached, PcCredit will automatically Inhibit any further acceptance of Coins/Notes and will not switch on acceptance again (even if asked) until enough credits have been cleared from memory, and less than 6 lots of Note/Coin information remain.

After power up, at some point you will need to tell the PCB to turn on acceptance of Notes/Coins, because the PCB defaults to Inhibit Note/Coin acceptance after power up.

The Serial link is fully handshaking at 9600 Baud Rate, No Parity. 8 Data Bits and 1 Stop Bit. We advise only very light use of the Inhibit Note/Coin acceptance command, this is because of an inherent design fault of some makes of Validator.

Serial Lead Connections - Do Not Use Null Modem Cable

Lead available in the UK from Maplin Electronics, Part Number VD73Q

Lead also available in the UK from CPC Plc, Part Number CSLEAD76

If you need extra COM ports for the PC you are using, Fairline Distribution Limited based in Kent, UK, sell a serial card which gives you an extra two RS232 ports and has an extended IRQ switchable range, so as not to conflict with other devices within your PC. Their UK phone number is 01622 716688 The card sells for about £25.00.

http://www.fairline.co.uk

Please note that we offer this as helpful advice only, we cannot offer technical support for the above product.

Firmware Upgrades for earlier versions available at £10.00 each

Click Here To Download The Information Sheet For This Version