Elmwood no more, long live Elmwood! Elmwood Electronics and PiShop are now together!
Please order via PiShop.ca, as we are no longer taking orders through this site.
More details are in our blog!

SparkFun Electronics

Coin Acceptor - Programmable (3 coin types)

COM-11719

Elmwood Electronics has stopped accepting orders. This product might be available at PiShop.ca. Please check this blog post about our recent team merger.

Note: due to the overwhelming number of calls we get from people who ask "Is this a coin acceptor for a laundry machine?", please read the following:

  • This device is not a "plug and play" device for your coin operated laundry
  • This device is intended for people who build their own electronics
  • You will need to program the device
  • The device is intended to work with an Arduino or other microcontroller.  If you do not know what that means, please do not call us.
  • Please consider giving your tenants free laundry, aren't you charging them enough already?

Are you trying to make a quick dime from electronics? Why limit yourself to dimes? This coin acceptor will take three different kinds of coin! Whether you're building your own arcade cabinet or just charging admission to your house, this programmable coin acceptor makes it easy to monetize your next project.

The sensors in this coin acceptor use the thickness, diameter and fall time of the coins to identify them and it's fully programmable so you're not limited to any particular type of currency. Simply use the buttons and 7-segment display on the side of the unit to select a coin profile, insert a bunch of coin samples (or the same one, over and over) and you're good to go! After you've programmed the coin profiles, the coin acceptor will recognize them and report when each type is inserted, rejecting other coins.

So maybe you won't get rich building your own vending machines but access control using different sizes of tokens might be cool, or even a virtual vending machine where you can buy MMORPG items. There are a ton of cool coin-operated projects just waiting to be built!

Documents:

Replaces:COM-11635