Bill Cleaning Cards. Do They Really Work?

[5 ACES]

Do these bill cleaning cards really work? I see they have two brands. One with Alcohol and one without. I just worry that it may fog up the optics on the bill acceptor or do some weird thing to it. It claimes to be safe for use. Has anyone actually used these before?

[Ron (r273)]

The ones I have used at home does not pick-up much dirt even running thur the second time. Here is how they recommend from and old manual.
This is for a Vision or S-2000.

Ron

[Ken Layton]

Yes they work. My friend has some pretty dirty locations and the cleaning cards pick up alot of dirt/grime from the belts/rollers/mag head.

The "alcohol free" cards are for use on bill acceptors where alcohol may affect the belts or rubber rollers. Personally, I always use the alcohol types. If the alcohol appears to affect the belt, then the belt is likely shot and needs to be replaced anyway.

[Ron (r273)]

I suspect my cleaning cards don't work as well because some of my machines have not been cleaned since they left the casino, 8 to 10 years ago.

Ron

[jay]

Frankee (OP Bells wife) who was a former JCM tech gave us a course in field dressing a Bill Valdidator at the July 4th BBQ.
She showed how to take it apart, clean the sensor and windows and put it back together.
OF course she can do it with military percision in about 45 seconds. I took about 3hrs and 20 min, and had parts left over......

[StatFreak]

Frankee (OP Bells wife) who was a former JCM tech gave us a course in field dressing a Bill Valdidator at the July 4th BBQ.
She showed how to take it apart, clean the sensor and windows and put it back together.
OF course she can do it with military percision in about 45 seconds. I took about 3hrs and 20 min, and had parts left over......

And as I recall, she said never use alcohol or these cleaning devices on a bill validator.  She uses a Qtip slightly dampened with water, or for stubborn cases, water with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid (the mild hand soap kind without anti-bacterial chemicals in it), followd by a clean water Qtip to remove any soap residue. Dry with a dry Qtip.

I believe that among other reasons, alcohol is discouraged because it will hasten the demise of the head by causing the plastic that covers the optics to cloud. The cards are also more likely to scratch these same optics, as well as the other sensors in the head.

[brichter]

And as I recall, she said never use alcohol or these cleaning devices on a bill validator.  She uses a Qtip slightly dampened with water, or for stubborn cases, water with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid (the mild hand soap kind without anti-bacterial chemicals in it), followd by a clean water Qtip to remove any soap residue. Dry with a dry Qtip.

I believe that among other reasons, alcohol is discouraged because it will hasten the demise of the head by causing the plastic that covers the optics to cloud. The cards are also more likely to scratch these same optics, as well as the other sensors in the head.

QFT!!!

And Jay, I had parts left over the first time around, too. You know what they say: there's never eniough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to do it over.

[kforeman]

imho these cleaning cards do word to a limited extent.  we have had several different brands and types over the years, including the Happ one's you have pictured, and they all will pull some of the grime off of the pinch rollers and belts.  right now i think the best ones out are the "waffle" technology type, basically these just have some texture to them similar to the more expensive "quilted" type of paper towels.  the texture along with the alcohol will reduce the amount of crud in the bv head.

that being said i don't commend the use of the cleaning cards unless the situational circumstances require it.  for instance we have some techs, mostly swing shift, who carry the cleaning cards and calibration paper on them at all times for the occasional bv that is having acceptance problems.  95% of the time a pass through with the cleaning card and calibrating the bv will have the game making revenue within a few minutes.  i try to get the other techs to make a list of machines that they have done this to so someone can go back to it later and clean it properly.  we also perform active and constant preventative maintenance on our games.  each tech is assigned a bank or banks and due date to get it cleaned by, cleaning or replacing the validator is one of the required steps on the pm checklist.  we get through our entire floor about every 3 months so the validators usually don't get too much build up and our acceptance rate is pretty decent.

as jay stated earlier there is a proper method to cleaning the validators.  the WBA model is pretty simple to tear apart and clean up once you have done a few hundred of them.    this procedure along with calibration and testing is one of the first shop procedures our new techs are taught once they have learned the basics of keeping the floor up and running.  we use mild soapy water and a soft bristled toothbrush to scrub all parts of the bv once it is disassembled. dry each part off with compressed air, reassemble, calibrate and shop test then the unit goes on the "good" shelf and is floor ready.  as stated before use of alcohol and/or chemicals will shorten the life of the clear plastic lenses and belts.

btw a JCM tech once told me that the company had the crud analyzed once and it was discovered that about 90% of it was composed of dead skin cells.  for this reason i don't recommend using the toothbrush on your teeth after cleaning your validator.

[5 ACES]

Great advise, I'll stay away from the cleaning cards and when the time comes, I'll clean it the right way. Thanks again for all of the advise!!

[StatFreak]

...
btw a JCM tech once told me that the company had the crud analyzed once and it was discovered that about 90% of it was composed of dead skin cells.  for this reason i don't recommend using the toothbrush on your teeth after cleaning your validator.

I figured that mite be the case. (pun)
What about the cocaine?! Aren't all $100 bills supposed to have cocaine on them... or is it crack and ecstasy now?

[jdkmunch]

lol I remember hearing about the cocaine too...   Once home if you take the bill validator apart and clean the glass and head with a lint free cloth when would you ever have to clean it again?  Isn't a home machine much less likely to get dirty?  I've never had a problem after a nice polish.

Except for the dbv-200 that doesn't work... that is

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

And as I recall, she said never use alcohol or these cleaning devices on a bill validator. 

This is 100% true. They get blurry (white) if you use alcohol...  BAD IDEA!!!!

[stayouttadabunker]

[btw a JCM tech once told me that the company had the crud analyzed once and it was discovered that about 90% of it was composed of dead skin cells.]


I knew money was dirty but that is gross......ew

[Op-Bell]

The lenses are an unusual kind of plastic. I don't know the exact type but they're clear to infra red as well as visible light, which many common plastics aren't, and the validator does most of its work by IR. They definitely react with alcohol so it's important not to get any on them, though you can use alcohol on the belts and rollers. Environment has a lot to do with it. There are particular problems on riverboats, where they need cleaning about six times more often than usual. Turns out the contamination on riverboats contains a lot of iron dust, which screws up the magnetic sensors and is also very abrasive. In casinos of course you have people breathing smoke into them 24/7 covering everything with yellow tar, and it's a hell of a job getting that off if it's been left to build up for a long time. In an average home environment, though, I'd be surprised if you need to clean it at all after the first time.

[stayouttadabunker]

The plastic is exactly like the tiny little black plugs on the insides of a hopper optics sensor...I was always surprised that the optics "see" through it...

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

The lenses are an unusual kind of plastic. I don't know the exact type but they're clear to infra red as well as visible light, which many common plastics aren't, and the validator does most of its work by IR. They definitely react with alcohol so it's important not to get any on them, though you can use alcohol on the belts and rollers. Environment has a lot to do with it. There are particular problems on riverboats, where they need cleaning about six times more often than usual. Turns out the contamination on riverboats contains a lot of iron dust, which screws up the magnetic sensors and is also very abrasive. In casinos of course you have people breathing smoke into them 24/7 covering everything with yellow tar, and it's a hell of a job getting that off if it's been left to build up for a long time. In an average home environment, though, I'd be surprised if you need to clean it at all after the first time.

This is the kind of post why it's pleasant to come to this forum. 
Excellent explanation Op-Bell (as usual!!!)

Kudos to you mate!!!!

[Op-Bell]

The plastic is exactly like the tiny little black plugs on the insides of a hopper optics sensor...I was always surprised that the optics "see" through it...

In my alternate life as a mad scientist, I researched this once. They're not black. The plastic contains two dyes, which probably have official Pantone numbers but which I discovered are better known as "Primary Red" and "Congo Blue". The red will pass no blue, and the blue will pass no red, and neither will pass any other color, so the mixture looks black to the eye. However, both are transparent to infrared, so to the IR optics they appear clear.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

The plastic is exactly like the tiny little black plugs on the insides of a hopper optics sensor...I was always surprised that the optics "see" through it...

In my alternate life as a mad scientist, I researched this once. They're not black. The plastic contains two dyes, which probably have official Pantone numbers but which I discovered are better known as "Primary Red" and "Congo Blue". The red will pass no blue, and the blue will pass no red, and neither will pass any other color, so the mixture looks black to the eye. However, both are transparent to infrared, so to the IR optics they appear clear.