PcCredit Six Board

PcCredit6 Board is designed to easily attach a Coin Mechanism and 8 Switch/Button Inputs + 8 Switched Outputs 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 2 Amps and a stand-by current of 1 Amp for the PcCredit Board and Coin Validator.  You can use the Disc Drive Type connector and power the Board/Coin Vaidator from the PC's power supply, or you can use a seperate 12V power supply wired into the PcCredit Board via its Screw Terminals. Please ensure that the power supply connection to PcCredit has a 2A Fuse in line with the 12V supply. Connect the positive to the + terminal and the negative to the - terminal. PcCredit6 also requires a seperate 12V supply for the Switched Outputs with a suitable current rating and fuse for the devices connected to it.

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 Coin Validators, here is a list of such devices. 12V Coin Validators such as Mars Electronics Models MS111B1, ME111 and Cashflow 330 range (with Dual Polarity, Parallel 17W Interface) and Coin Controls Sentinel, C220 and C435 range also other makes and models which support the Gaming machine 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 five LED indicator lights on the PCB, the Red one near the Coin Validator Connector marked "+12V" indicating that the 12V DC Supply is present. The Red one marked "Error" indicating an Error (normally Serial) detected by the PcCredit Board. The Green one marked "Inhibit" when lit indicating that the Coin Validator is ready to accept coins. The Green one marked "Inhibit" when lit indicating that the Coin Validator is ready to accept coins. The Green one marked "Coin" flashes every time a coin is accepted by the Coin Validator. The last Green one marked "Serial" flashes everytime a Serial Communication takes place between the PC and the PcCredit Board. This green LED can be used to give a simple indication during testing that the PC is communicating with the PCB correctly, by using the Inhibit/Accept commands.

The switched inputs should be connected using connector J3 with Pin One being connected to Ground of PcCredit, Pin Two connected to +5V of PcCredit and Pins 3 thru 10 being the inputs 1 thru 8 respectively. Inputs should not exceed 5 Volts in amplitude and should have a pulse length of at least 50ms to be "seen" by PcCredit. Inputs should normally be High (Inactive) with an Active low signal of  >0.5V. Any negative voltages at the inputs will destroy the board, so be careful that this cannot happen when designing cabinet looms etc.

The switched outputs can handle up to 500ma each output, at upto 50V DC. The outputs are open-collector type with a total current capacity (all 8 outputs) of 2 Amps. Use connector J6 with Pin One and Two connected to the GND2 connector of the "Outputs Power Supply" connectors J8 or J9 (Pin 1)and Pin Three and Four of J6 to the +V2 terminal. Pins 5 thru 12 are the switched to ground outputs, 1 thru 8 respectively. One word of warning when using these outputs, at power up, the outputs briefly turn on whilst the board initialises (approx. 30ms), please take this into account.

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 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 Validator last accepted a Coin. So that the host PC does not have to constantly monitor Coin acceptance, PcCredit stores Coin 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 Coin.

Notes

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

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

Click Here To Download The Information Sheet For This Version