ARDAC Dollar Bill Validator

I finally got everything working nicely on a Rockoka 490-1 I've been doing for a friend.....EXCEPT the dollar bill tray. This is my first experience with a bill acceptor. It's an ARDAC MK8 US1, part #88x235-100. Can anyone give me any tips on how to troubleshoot this animal? I really have no idea even how it's supposed to work. Have only worked on regular coin stuff. Should it light up or something? Seems dead, won't accept a bill etc. I haven't opened it up or anything yet. I do have 24v at the molex power supply plug to it. I also see that credits are added at the juke LCD if I short a couple of the wires in the output plug, so I'm assuming my CPU is OK is far as ability to read credits. The coin switches work and register credits fine. Any help or knowledge of the existence of a service manual for this bill acceptor would be much appreciated! Thanks! Carl.

You'll want to download and print most of the Ardac manuals from my collection posted here:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Coin_Mechs_Etc/Ardac/

Pay particular attention to the C series changer manuals, C8000 manual, C8090 manual, Bulk load bill changer manuals, and SSTR3 manual. They all have details on the tray style bill acceptor.

There are several black rubber belts inside this bill acceptor that break over time and need to be replaced.

Unfortunately, it would be my guess that it is impossible to fix this unit today. The main reason is the specialized lamp used to "detect" bills was "hand made", and is NLA. You can try the following--remove the IR filter over it, and look at it--put a plain piece of paper the size of the bill in the try and slide the try in. Lamp should increase in brilliance, as the try "bottoms". If that' IS happening, remove the paper and look at the filament, It MUST "line up squarely" with the tray edge. If both of those parameters are met, and "NO one" has "messed with" the Reticle settings, there is a chance that you will be able to make it work.
One "caution" about Ken's "download files"--the connector plug on that unit, MAY be different from anything found.
You should refer to RockOla's schematics for this info--ONLY--
Ron Rich

There was a specialized "test bill" made by Ardac that was used in aligning & adjusting these tray style bill acceptors. I still have mine.

Some jukebox versions of the Ardac tray bill acceptor may have a different connector than what is used with dollar bill change machines. If you disable the "secondary detection" circuit (usually be simply unplugging it) the bill acceptor should accept anything that is cut to the size of a dollar bill.

If you need that lamp, CoinTech Service in Burlingame, California has some remaining Ardac parts if you know the Ardac part number.

http://www.cointechservice.com/

Thank you so much Ken and Ron! I will print and review the schematics etc. Again, I haven't I even removed or opened the unit yet. Should there be a light on, or any type of electrical activity if I push the tray in?

If there is a bill in the tray and you push the tray in, the lamp inside should come up to full brightness to shine on the bill.

So should I be seeing at least a dull lamp at all times? It's totally dark now.

No--it's (should be) "hidden" by the IR filter, as I wrote above-- Ron Rich

Coin Tech has the Ardac parts mixed in with Standard Changemakers parts.

http://www.cointechservice.com/StandardParts.html

Just go by the Ardac part numbers.

Just want to say thank you to Ron and Ken for their help. Amazingly, I got the bill acceptor working again. It was mostly a matter of cleaning the optical parts and re-seating plugs and relays on the circuit boards. The ARDAC manuals Ken had posted were a HUGE help in understanding the sequence of operation and troubleshooting of the unit. Pretty cool to watch it suck in bills on one side and spit 'em out on the other. The only parts I still need are some generic o-ring type belts which I was able to find online. They aren't broken, just old and dry. Thanks again for the help. Carl.

Carl,
Glad you were able to fix it--
Ron Rich