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Replacing the Card Dispenser's NFC/RFID Reader Board

Installing a new NFC card reader2 board for Card Dispensers

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Written by Kurt Bernhard

The NFC Card Reader2 Board is responsible for reader/writing values to Laundry Cards that are dispensed by the kiosk.

If this board suffers a hardware failure, all cards that are dispensed by the card dispenser will produce a "Card Write Error" or "No Card (place card back to get owed value)" error with every Laundry Card it dispenses.

Replacing the Card Dispenser's Card Reader2 Board

Step 1 - Power OFF the VAC

Step 2 - Location the NFC Card Reader2 Board

For VACs that have a front access door, this reader will be seen right ontop of the front of the Card Dispenser.

If you have a rear access door VAC, this reader can be seen behind the Card Dispenser stacker.

Below is a picture of an Asahi-Seiko Card Dispenser:

Below is a picture of the NFC reader on a Syncotek Card Dispenser:

Step 3 - Disconnect NFC Reader's Wiring Harness

​Remove the 5 Pin Connector from the NFC Card Reader Board:

Step 4 -Unmount the NFC Card Reader Board

Remove the NFC board by unscrewing the 2 nuts securing it to the white plastic card dispenser mount (orange box in picture below):

On Asahi-Seiko Card Dispensers especially, there is nothing underneath the white plastic mount that holds the bolts in place, so once the nuts are removed, the bolts will fall to the bottom of the VAC cabinet.
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Before completely removing a nut, use a finger or something to hold the bolt in place so they don't fall out of place.

To make it easier to fit you fingers underneath, you can loosen one of the screws that holds the plastic mount to the card dispenser, and completely remove the other mounting screw, so that you can lift up the plastic mount to easily fit your fingers underneath it (these are the screws in the red boxes in picture above).
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Step 5 - Mounting the New NFC Card Reader Board

​Secure the new board to the Card dispenser by fastening the 2 nuts and bolts from step 4 (these nuts should NOT need to be too tight, just a little more than finger tight is enough).
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In some cases, it may be necessary to drill new holes into the white plastic mounting plate, as new NFC/RFID card readers may have their mounting holes positioned in a slightly different orientation.
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Drill the new holes, into the plastic mount, so that the new RFID board sits in the same position that the old RFID board was previously mounted in.
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You'll need to make sure that the antenna area of the new RFID board is centered over the area that the cards travel through, on their way out of the dispenser.

Depending on the card dispenser model installed in your VAC, the final mounting position of the card reader board should look like one of the pictures below:

Step 6 - Connect NFC Boards Connector and Test

Re-connect the 5 Pin connector, from step 3, to the new board.​

Then turn on the VAC and wait for it to completely boot back to the main home/idle screen.
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When an NFC/RFID card reader is initially connected to power, it's green LED light will flash twice quickly.
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To test the card reader, once the VAC is fully booted back up, you can place a known working Laundry Card on top of the card reader from the inside of the VAC.
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You will know the NFC card reader is working because you will see the Green LED light on the board come ON, as shown below, and if the card is left there for an extended period of time, the VAC kiosk may also start beeping to indicate it's detecting a Card Jam:

If you do not see the green LED light come on, when a working Laundry Card is placed near the card reader (it does not need to be physically touching the reader);

check the connection of the 5Pin connector, to the NFC Card Reader Board, to make sure it's secure; then follow that harness back to the VAC control board to make sure that it is secured on the control board side as well.
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The harness should be plugged into the connector labeled #5 in the picture below:

The VAC board itself will also have this header labelled as "READER2 DISPENSER".

If both connections look secure, try unplugging the 5PIN connector harness (on the VAC control board side, or from the NFC card reader side directly), and then plugging it back in and check to see if the green LED light flashes twice once the connector is plugged back in. (this light will flash twice very quickly, and then turn off, as soon as the NFC board receives power)
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If you do see the green LED come on, when a Laundry Card is place on top of it, this board is working and you can test out the card dispenser by dispensing a card from the VAC using any of the following methods:

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