Card Dispenser Issues - Asahi-Seiko
This article covers troubleshooting the Asahi-Seiko card dispenser (standard and large capacity models)
If your card dispenser is black in color, you most likely have a SyncoTek card dispenser (shown below):
For issues specific to the SyncoTek brand card dispensers
see this article: Card Dispenser Issues - SyncoTek
Issue: Jams or unable to push cards
Before attempting to make any adjustments or fixes, it's important to gather details about the symptoms of the problem. For example, simply knowing that "cards are jamming" is not sufficient to solve the problem. You will want to open the VAC (Value Add Center) kiosk and take note of the final position of any cards getting jammed, and if possible, observe the behavior as cards are getting pushed out.
Symptom/Description of Issue | Action |
Card jamming against front | Align the card dispenser so that the cards come out perfectly centered in the front slot |
A single card gets stuck half-way through, sticks out partially at the front. View from inside: View from front: | Adjust two things: 1. Raise the support rod. See the Raising the Rod section below for a video. 2. Increase card slot thickness. See the Adjusting Gap Thickness section below for a video. |
| Two cards fed into slot, get stuck together | 1. Fan-out cards before putting them into the stacker. Especially during hot summer months, it's possible for cards to get stuck together 2. Check gap thickness. Decrease thickness if possible to push two cards into slot gap. See Adjusting Gap Thickness section below for a video. |
Card struggling to get pushed into slot | 1. Check slot thickness. Increase thickness if unable to freely slide one card partially into slot. See the Adjusting Gap Thickness section below for a video. 2. Add some roughness to the push roller. See the Adding Roughness to Push Roller section below for a video. |
Raising the Support Rod
This can help if the card gets stuck midway through the slot. Remove the card dispenser, loosen the two screws holding the support rod, lift rod to the top (it allows 1-2mm movement), and tighten.
Adjusting Gap Thickness
Adding Roughness to Push Roller
This might be helpful if cards are struggling to get push into the card dispenser, especially for systems that have been operating for a couple of years or longer.
Issue: Loose card detected message
NOTE: This is NOT a card jam.
The VAC display and/or the web Portal are reporting "Loose card detected". This typically results from one of two things
1. A card is stuck half-way through the dispense path. See the above section for how to resolve (it's likely resolvable by lifting the support rod slightly)
2. A customer managed to insert a laundry card into the card dispenser slot (instead of putting the card into the card holder). This is different from a card jam - in this case, there's a loose card near the card dispenser assembly and it is preventing the proper dispensing of cards.
Open the VAC and look for this card. It might be underneath the green RFID board attached to the card dispenser. Or the card might be near the card dispenser. An example of a loose card might look like this:
Note: We have also seen this loose card message being caused by a coin. In 1 example, a customer found a quarter was inside the card dispenser slot, and this was stopping the NFC card reader from being able to detect the presence of laundry cards.
If you get this error, and are not able to find any loose cards in, or around, the card dispenser area, it is recommended that you remove the card dispenser so that you can inspect the card slot for any foreign objects pushed inside of it.
Issue: Dispenser dispenses two cards
The VAC is dispensing two or three cards instead of just one. If two cards are being dispensed at the same time (one on top of the other), try adjusting the gap thickness (see above section "Adjusting Gap Thickness" for a video).
If the VAC is dispensing multiple cards, one after another, this might be a rare glitch, or a malfunction in the RFID/NFC reader attached to the card dispenser assembly.
Depending on the type of dispenser you have, the green RFID/NFC reader that's mounted on the card dispenser will be oriented in 1 of 2 ways:
You'll want to check to make sure the antenna section of the RFID/NFC reader board is centered over the area that the cards travel through when being dispensed.
If this antenna is not centered over the card's travel area, it may not be able to read the cards consistently, resulting in multiple cards being dispensed during a new card purchase transaction. Try centering the antenna over the card's travel area to see if that resolves the problem.
If this issue happens repeatedly, you'll want to contact us or our dealer to replace the RFID/NFC reader board.
Issue: Portal reporting "No Cards in the Card Dispenser" but there are cards in there
Take out all the cards and make sure there is nothing obstructing the bottom of the card stacker. Always ensure that the steel weight is resting on top of all the cards as shown in the picture below and NOT under them.
Removing the card dispenser
Open the VAC, and use a socket-wrench to loosen the three or four nuts holding down the card dispenser assembly, as shown below. Make a slight adjustment, and trying dispensing a card to ensure it comes out perfectly centered.
Replacing the RFID Reader
If a replacement is sent to you. Follow the steps provided in the following article:
Card Dispenser Connectivity
If there no clear jams, then the problem might be with the cable harness connecting the card dispenser to the main control board, or with the card dispenser itself. Start by checking the cable harness connection: Card Dispenser Connectivity
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