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Continental-Girbau: Washers (Serial)

Installation Guide for Continental-Girbau washers

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Written by Kurt Bernhard

This installation guide is for Continental-Girbau Washers with a COM daughter board (should exist on all washers manufactured 2015 or later). Some example model numbers include RMG055, EH020 and more.

This board enables the ability to use Serial communication with the Card Reader.

If your machine does NOT have the Serial/COM daughter board, you need to follow our Continental-Girbau: Washers (Coin) article.


Required Parts

  • Card Reader Kit

    • The reader board type MUST be "Continental" - Part #: ASSY-02-02-12

  • Card Reader Wiring Harness​​

    • Part #: 02-06-67


Installation Summary


Installation Steps

Step 1: Turn Machine Power Off

It is always recommended to power the machine off before install the card readers.
​

Step 2: Remove Coin Drop if present (For Card Only Install)

The Card Reader will be mounted in the area where the Coin Drop has been removed. If you are performing a hybrid (card + coin) install then leave the Coin Drop connected.

Step 3: Number the Card Reader using the reader's DIP switches:

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In order to configure a Card Reader to report as a specific Washer or Dryer number, you need to set the reader's DIP Switches to specific positions. These DIP Switches ONLY affect what the reader will display as for it's machine type (Washer/Dryer) and it's machine number:

Review our: Reader DIP Switch settings article for details on how to set the Card Reader's Machine Type, and Reader Number.

​You need to do this BEFORE mounting the Card Readers onto the machines, as accessing the back of the card reader is required.​

Step 4: Card Reader Serial Connection​

Connect the three RS485 wires coming from the reader harness to the screw terminals on the COM board, as shown below:

  • Card Reader's WHITE wire to ”+”

  • Card Reader's YELLOW wire to ”-”

  • Card Reader's BLACK wire to “Gnd”

Step 5: Card Reader's Power Connection

Card Only Installations (click to expand)

Connect the 2-wire power connector to the Coin Drop header:

The newer reader harness will likely have a blue and red wire wire as shown below

Hybrid (Card + Coin) Installations (click to expand)

Both the Coin Drop and card reader will need to share the same power source from the machines control board. Cut off the white end of the readers power cable and splice in parallel to the existing Coin Drop wire (take note of the wire positions).
​

It might be the case that the existing coin drop has three wires instead of two. In that case, you will need to determine which is the common wire (ground) and power wire (12V or 24V). Refer to either the machines schematics, labelling on the wires or machines control board labelling where the coin drop is currently connected.

Step 6: Machine Side Settings - Enable Serial Communication

In order for the Card Reader to be able to communicate with the machine's control board directly, you need to enable serial communication through the machine's program settings.

Go into the machine's setup mod (Nod) menu and change setting from id-0 to id-1

Step 7: Mounting the Card Reader

Step 8: Activate the Card Reader

Proceed to secure the reader into the place where the Coin drop was removed (Secure the reader to through the slots intended for the Coin drop) and power ON the machine.

Then Activate the card reader using the Activation Card for this specific location:

Note: you MUST use the Activation Card for THIS SPECIFIC LOCATION,
or else the card reader will not appear on the LaundroPortal for this location.

This will activate the reader and programs the reader with the location's specific Support and Location IDs.

The Card Reader will then automatically connect to VAC01's wireless network and once connected, will be visible on the LaundroPortal where you can configure it's vend prices.


Setting Vend Pricing

Card Reader vend prices is set via LaundroPortal.

The Card Reader will then update the machine's vend prices automatically.

For additional information about machine vend pricing, review our Configuring Card Reader/Machine Vend Prices article.


Troubleshooting

Below are problems commonly encountered during installation of readers on these machines.

For more general card reader troubleshooting, see the Card Reader Troubleshoot section of our Help Center.

Issue

Resolution

Machine displays incorrect pricing that does not match reader

If the machine screen shows incorrect prices (such as negative or unusually high numbers) but the reader shows the correct price, the issue is likely the machine’s control board.
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Do a swap test to confirm the issue is with the machine and not the reader. If it is, contact Continental Girbau for a replacement control board.

Card Reader says "No Comm with machine"

There's no Serial communication between the Card Reader and the machine control board.

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