Snack - Based Troubleshooting and Repair Guide
September, 2002 Page 15 of 54 1670065
5. DEX (pronounced “decks”) is an electrical interface which connects a vending machine to
an external computer (or hand held device). The interface has a standardized set of data
and transmission protocol. This standardized interface allows any portable data collection
device using this protocol, to communicate with a DEX equipped machine.
6. The data sent consists of the overall status of the monetary, sales totals and the vend
counts. Additionally, product counts, sales totals, and vend counts are sent for each indi-
vidual selection. An automatic data clearing capability (if enabled by the operator) will
clear the DEX data in the machine memory after the data download.
7. The amount of data transmitted will be larger for those machines which have more product
selections, because each selection has data to send. Several seconds are typically required
to download data from a machine.
8. The external computer or P.D.C.D connects to the DEX connector, a round female stereo
jack which hangs down from the controller card approximately behind the bill validator.
9. The device that collects the data from the vending machine is typically hand held, but any
computer with DEX client software loaded can be used. The data collection devices can
decode the data and display it for the operator.
10. Typically, the hand held device collects the data from several machines and then transfers
that data to a main office computer for further data processing. The main office computer
provides data analysis and planning capabilities for the individual machines of the entire
route.
11. The DEX hardware interface is built directly into the main controller on P.I.E controllers,
so no additional electronics are needed. The DEX function is built into the standard soft-
ware. A DEX data cable is the only additional component that needs to be added to a stan-
dard machine to make the DEX capability operational.
12. A portable data collection device is used by opening the machine door and connecting it to
the DEX cable. The data download may be automatically initiated by the data collection
device on NV models, or the operator may initiate the download as described in the
Programming Guide.
H. SureVend™
The SureVend™ product detection system consists of ten(1-9 and “H”, H represents 10) infrared
light emitters and ten infrared light detectors that scan the product delivery area with a pattern of
crisscrossed light beams. An additional emitter/detector pair is dedicated (in most instances) to
detecting product from the gum & mint dispensers. The light beams are specially modulated to
ignore changes in ambient light. While the machine is idle, the SureVend™ system is constantly
calibrating itself for optimum performance in all temperature, humidity, dust, and alignment con-
ditions. The SureVend™ detection system is used by the controller to assure that the selected
product is delivered.
1. When a selection for a product is made, the controller checks that the SureVend™ detec-
tion system is ready and tells the system to begin scanning for the particular type of prod-
uct to be delivered.
a. Different scanning patterns are used if the product is a snack or candy selection, or a
gum & mint selection.
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