Well, it's time to go through a quick lesson on electrical vending machines. A previous post explained mechanicals, but if you're new to this, you'll also want to understand how electrical vending machines, mainly snack and soda machines, work.

Unlike mechanical vending machines, you've seen thousands of electrical machines and probably used hundreds of them. You just insert your money, push a button or two, and the machine does the rest, right!

Electrical machines may be intimidating to work on and service for someone that is new to this aspect, but they really aren't that difficult to understand. Without going into a vending machine repair lesson here, we'll give an overview of how the machine functions.

Basically, when you insert the money, an electrical coin acceptor or bill acceptor tells the machine brain that you have $x.xx credit. The machine waits for you to make a selection on the front of the machine. Once you make your choice, the brain decides if that selection is available and if you need any change returned. Then you'll hear some clicks as the changer inside actuates to dispense your coins. Then you'll hear the motor which the brain has told to rotate so that your snack, candy, or soda will be dispensed.

The difference from the mechanical machine described in another post is that it has an internal changer and bill acceptor; also, the turning of the selection mechanism is done through an electrical motor rather than making a motor out of you!

When I have lots of time, we'll go through this in more detail; however, keep in mind that with a nut driver, screwdriver, and voltmeter, you can solve most problems with an electrical vending machine. A couple hours of training does help

For more common sense in vending from Vender Defender, visit www.4MEGA-Vending.com or www.USEDvending.com

Here for You!

As mentioned in another post, when speaking of snack and soda vending machines, there are two very different categories that they can fall into: electrical vending machines vs. mechanical vending machines. 

Everyone is very familiar with electrical snack and soda vending machines.  They are the ones that have a dollar bill acceptor built right into the front of the machine along with a keypad where you punch in the letter / number of the selection you desire.  Then, an electonic motor turns to allow the product to dispense. Also, an electronic coin changer inside is dispensing any change that is due.

Mechanical snack and soda machines are usually much smaller, much lighter, less secure, less expensive, and provide lower product capacity than most electrical machines.  They are made for smaller vending locations so that you can get a return on investment in a reasonable amount of time rather than investing too much in machines that are an overkill for a location.

Mechanical vendors / mini combo vending machines work similar to gumball machines. For the best explanation of this, I've created a 9 minute video that will show you:

• What a mechanical vending machine looks like
• How a mechanical machine is filled with product
• How a customer uses a mechanical vending machine
• How a dollar bill can be used with a mechanical vendor
• How a mechanical vending machine differs from an electrical vending machine

You can find mechanical vending machines at www.USEDvending.com or www.4MEGA-Vending.com