AMS 28 Slim Gem, Operation And Service Manual

L0126J  

 26 

the coin mech was the critical peripheral. In a cashless-only 
system, the card reader was the critical peripheral. Bill-only 
applications were not supported, so an unhealthy validator was 
never sufficient to take the machine out-of-service.  
 
In this firmware, the machine will only go out-of-service if at first 
at least one peripheral becomes unhealthy, then all peripherals 
become unhealthy. 
 
REMAINING IN SERVICE W/O COIN MECH  
If a bill validator is present, and the coin mech becomes 
unhealthy, the VMC will continue running with the bill validator 
(and cashless if present). Over the past several years, the criteria 
for an “unhealthy” finding have become more stringent, as 
various reported error conditions such as coin jams were 
removed from out-of-service consideration. Right now, in 
practical terms, the coin mech either has to burn out completely 
or become disconnected to be considered unhealthy by the 
VMC’s criteria. A healthy coin mech going unhealthy should be a 
rather rare occurrence.  
 
To help notify patrons and service personnel that the coin mech 
has become unhealthy, the EXACT CHANGE message will be 
activated. This should discourage patrons from inserting paper 
money, unless the prices happen to be in paper money 
increments. Also, patrons trying to feed coins into the mech will 
notice immediately that the coins disappear (in the case of a 
serious coin jam) or fall through. 
 
“#” KEY FOR ESCROW RETURN  
In bill-only applications, there is no classic coin return button to 
request return of the last-inserted bill. As a result, when the coin 
mech is considered unhealthy, the “#” key will be treated as 
equivalent to a coin mech escrow return.  
 
BILL-ONLY APPLICATION NOTES:  
In a bill-only system, prices must be restricted to the scaling 
factor of the bill validator. Usually, this scaling factor will start 
from the smallest paper currency unit instead of the smallest coin 
unit. This will limit setting selection prices that would require 
change-making.  
 
Due to the absence of a coin mech, the normal 

No Cheat

 logic is 

disabled, regardless of the VMC option setting. The VMC’s 
fairness is limited to not taking in more money than the maximum 
price in the machine. As mentioned earlier, the ‘#’ key is 
equivalent to escrow return, possibly allowing the patron to 
retrieve the last-inserted bill.  
 
The EXACT CHANGE message should never occur in a pure bill
-only system. 
 
BILL PLUS CASHLESS APPLICATION NOTES  
Prices will be restricted to the scaling factor of the cashless 
device, which is usually the smallest coin unit.  
 
Revaluation occurs in the same way it does with a coin mech, 
except in cases where the payment medium is at or near its 
maximum balance. With a coin mech, the VMC will allow credit to 
exceed the maximum balance as long as any excess can be paid 
back in coins. Without a coin mech, the VMC rejects any bills that 
would exceed the maximum balance (in a card-first revaluation) 
or rejects the payment medium entirely (in a cash-first 
revaluation). 
 
 

Hide Card Value  

Use this feature to display or not display the value on the card. 
When enabled, this will prevent the credit amount from being 
displayed during a card swipe. This can avoid confusion for the 
customer when the maximum priced value is displayed before 
making a selection for a lesser cost product. 

Press “8” to change the YES to a NO and again to change it 
back. Press”#” to save any change and exit this feature.  
 

Card Refund 

should be enabled only for certain card readers 

that have difficulty processing refunds. Any credit displayed after 
a failed vend will be held for 15 minutes. Additional credit may be 
added to this 

un-refundable 

credit for other purchases.  

 
Press “9” to change the YES to a NO and again to change it 
back. Press”#” to save any change and exit this feature.  

OPTIONS 

Message 

The user can customize the scrolling message that is displayed 
when the vendor is idle. It is best to write out the desired 
message first. The message to be displayed on the scrolling 
display can be up to 50 characters, including letters, numbers, 
punctuation and spaces. New messages erase old ones.  
 
Select the message option and the controller will prompt the user 
to press “1” to change the message, or press “#” to exit. 
  
To enter a message, the user should rapidly tap a particular key 
to cycle through a list of characters for that key. Stop at the 
desired character. When the keypad is left idle, the last-displayed 
character is moved over to the end of the message. Continue to 
select the next character. The key definitions are similar to those 
of cell phones:  

KEY 0: 

(space)0 

KEY 5: 

JKL5  

KEY 1: 

!?,.$:;*&”+-/<>=#%

‟

1    

KEY 6: 

MNO6  

KEY 2: 

ABC2  

KEY 7: 

PQRS7  

KEY 3: 

DEF3  

KEY 8: 

TUV8  

KEY 4: 

GHI4 

KEY 9: 

WXYZ9 

 
Pressing the * key will back space through the message. 
Pressing the # key will save the message. 
 

Prize 

The factory default is “0” for none. The user can set the vendor to 
give away a free product after a predetermined number of 
successful vends. Enter the number of vends between free 
vends, up to 9999. Setting the number to “0” will disable the prize 
option.  
 

Language 

Primary 

The user is presented with a menu of available 
languages. The user may choose the primary language 
for the display of all messages. Note that Service Mode 
messages are available in Primary language only.

Secondary 

If desired, the user can select a secondary language for 
the display of all messages. Messages will be displayed 
first in the primary language, then in the secondary 
language.  

6 SERVICE PROGRAMMING