AMS EPIC SENSIT 3, Operation And Service Manual

L0190D

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Regardless of this setting, if there is cash-based credit on the 
machine when a Card is inserted (or swiped) in a Cashless 
device of this type, the credit is immediately transferred to the 
Cashless Account.  (If there is more Credit than the Cashless 
system can accept, the remainder will be paid back to the 
customer as change.) 

Bill and Cash-Less Applications:  
Sensit 3 software allows running the vendor with no coin mech. 
The changes to allow bill-only and bill and cashless applications 
affect fundamental MDB behavior of the VMC. It was decided to 
make these changes without introducing new layers of option 
settings. The typical customer using a coin-based system should 
not notice any changes except under unusual conditions. This 
section will explain those changes and unusual conditions.  
To simplify the discussion, the term “healthy” will be used to 
describe a peripheral (coin mech, bill validator, or a cashless 
device) which is present, which is communicating normally to the 
VMC, and which has no fatal out-of-service conditions.  
 
MDB Out-of-Service: 
Previously, the VMC would go out-of-service if what it determined 
a “critical” peripheral became unhealthy. In a coin-based system, 
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 healthy, 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 now continue running with the 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). 
 

8. Hide Card Value  

Use this feature to display or not display the value transferred 
from the card. 
 
The factory default is “

N

” for no. With this setting, the value 

transmitted from the card to the vendor will be displayed. This 
amount is usually equal to the highest priced item in the vendor. 
 
When set to “

Y

” the feature is enabled, the value transmitted 

from the card to the vendor will be displayed as “-.- -”. 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.  

9. Card Refund  

The factory default is “

Y

” for yes. With this setting, the vendor will 

try to refund credit from a failed vend back to the Cashless 
device if that device reports that it is capable of this action. 
 
When set to “

N

”, the vendor will retain the credit from a failed 

vend. This setting should be used only for certain card readers 
that have difficulty processing refunds. Any credit displayed after 
a failed vend will be held for 15 minutes and can be used for 
making selections, but cannot be returned as change. More 
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. 
 

Special MDB-Related Operation 
This section does not apply to machines using ‘Executive’ Coin 
Mechs. 

 
MDB Out-Of-Service: 
MDB Devices are necessary to provide Credit to the vendor.  
These include Coin Changers, Bill Validators and Cashless 
Devices.   
 

6

SERVICE

PROGRAMMING