CH-268T coin comparator performance

[68Camaro]

Got the basic unit today, quick ship.

Spent a few minutes setting up a base for it. Instructions are basic and easy (assuming it works). The power supply and connector were functional and adequate given the price.

Plugged it in, it beeps, and I started feeding it test sets.

In a word, out of the box (supposedly setup for pennies, with a copper penny in the comparator), the CH-268T sucked. Having said that, I'm hoping that I'll find out that I've done something wrong, or something isn't setup right. And if I find out that I've done something wrong I will follow-up and change my comments. However, it was advertised as ready to go to work, and it won't. Here's what I see.

In a run of all zincs, first pass I was getting about a third of the zincs in the copper pile. Re-running those, it would generally push them to the zinc pile on the 2nd or 3rd go. Not good, but I'm thinking, ok, maybe just needs adjusting.

So I ran all coppers. Probably a third of the coppers went into the zinc pile. What differed here was that re-running those over and over again did not generally get them all to read as coppers; a subset just wouldn't go at all. This seems to be a problem. If only zincs or coppers were off, I could envision an adjustment that works. However, with them both off, I'm troubled as to how to get it setup.

I looked at the adjustment options.

There are three opportunities for adjustment (four, if you count the comparing penny itself):

a) a low/high sensitivity switch - came set to low
b) a "VR" sensitivity screw - half-turn end to end, it came set roughly mid-way
c) a trigger time switch with three settings, 20 ms, 50 ms, 100 ms - it came set to 20 ms

I tried playing with them all, as well as replacing the copper penny with a fairly bright unblemished 1974. Nothing I could find gave a consistent improvement.

I'll email the supplier and let you know what I find out, and if I'm doing something wrong.

[Finder]

Something is wrong thats for sure, he will fix you up.
Im really surprised it wasnt working great out of the box.
Keep us posted on what happens.

[TXBullion]

I dont know if it would matter but try an 81 cent. I think Ryedale recommends that because sometimes some of the 70's coins will have a trace of somthing to throw it off. Not sure if thats it but a suggestion

[68Camaro]

He did try to call and has sent me an email, so he's eager to help fix it. I've got a birthday party to give for my wife's grandmother shortly, so may not report further until tomorrow. I will look for an 81 to try, thanks.

[silverhedgehog]

Lately, I have been using a sheild zinc coin in my comparitor. It kind of make sense to me to go that way was since in it's normal vending job it is set up to accept fiat junk coins and they fly right through. The ones we want it rejects and the kicks them the other way and since they are are smaller percentage it should be able to be fed faster. I'll try the 1981 suggested by TXBullion and see how that goes for the next brick.

Buffalo, NY
29.5% Cu YTD
2.42% Wheats
8.97% Canadian

[tinhorn]

I've had the same dilemma with the same comparitor. If I run the mis-sorted coins a second time, many of them will drop into the correct bins. But I agree with you, which way do you adjust it if there's copper in the zinc AND zinc in the copper?

I look forward to hearing how you end up resolving this.

[TwoPenniesEarned]

I had the same issue. Works well for CDN nickels but not for pennies as advertised.

[misteroman]

I've always used the best 79 penny I could find for my ryedales. I actually had a small pile of them put aside and then thought"how am I ever going to lose one lol"so I just put them in with the coppers. The last Ryedale I bought actually had a 79 in it when I received it so that may tell ya something
.
Silverhedgehog, I sent ya PM a little while back, did you see it?

[tinhorn]

Sheesh--been tweaking for hours now. 81 penny, 79 penny, 59 penny, shiny, tarnished, Lincoln's head right-side-up and upside-down--the only way I can get all the trash out of the copper is to end up with 75% of my copper in the reject bin. Except for one stupid dime that ALWAYS falls into the copper bin. Arrrrghhh.

[68Camaro]

I've had the same dilemma with the same comparitor. If I run the mis-sorted coins a second time, many of them will drop into the correct bins. But I agree with you, which way do you adjust it if there's copper in the zinc AND zinc in the copper?

I look forward to hearing how you en

Sheesh--been tweaking for hours now. 81 penny, 79 penny, 59 penny, shiny, tarnished, Lincoln's head right-side-up and upside-down--the only way I can get all the trash out of the copper is to end up with 75% of my copper in the reject bin. Except for one stupid dime that ALWAYS falls into the copper bin. Arrrrghhh.

d up resolving this.

I talked to Howard on the settings, checked the power supply to confirm it's ok (12.2 VDC), and then gave up. He believes there is something wrong, so I'm shipping it back and he's sending a new one. Will let you know what happens.

[Finder]

Cool, looking forward to hearing the resolution.

[68Camaro]

Got the replacement unit in mail today, but the base apparently was shipped separate and didn't come today. I'm just going to wait for it rather than trying to use my previous setup.

[68Camaro]

Eh, never mind on the base. I apparently misunderstood what he was going to ship. No base coming. The new unit does have 3 L-brackets pre-attached, which makes it easier to mount to something. I'll give it a test when I get some time in a day or two. Have to make a new mount for it.

[tinhorn]

Cool, looking forward to hearing the resolution.

Yup, me, too.

[Finder]

"no base coming"

I have a slightly used one I will sell you for $100.

Just 3 easy payments of just $33.33.

Each time I look at the thing it pisses me off more.
No more impulse purchases for me, ever.

So in the long run it will pay for itself in that regard.

[68Camaro]

New unit initial trial:

Bolted the thing to a plastic shoebox that I cut slots into, and ran it. Grabbed a handful of zinc and coppers, mixed them up, and randomly fed it. Pulled the trays out and counted. I had 34 zincs in the zinc tray, zero coppers. I had 31 coppers in the copper tray, one zinc. I re-fed it and it correctly went into the zinc. Due to my rapid setup it could have just been a bad bounce.

The annoying thing as it sits is that it beeps constantly, for no obvious reason, and when it beeps, if you don't let it stop, it doesn't necessarily feed correctly right away. The beeping doesn't seem to have anything to do with speed of feed, or type of coin.

It says "The sensitivity switch is only used when there isn't enough range with the VR adjustment or if your getting a lot of beep sounds." So maybe I can adjust further. Anyone had any luck messing with the adjustments to reduce the beep?

In summary, this new one seems to work! If I can get rid of most of the beeping, I think I can make use of it.

[Finder]

The only time mine beeps is when I first plug it in.

[Joogaler]

I've always used the best 79 penny I could find for my ryedales. I actually had a small pile of them put aside and then thought"how am I ever going to lose one lol"so I just put them in with the coppers. The last Ryedale I bought actually had a 79 in it when I received it so that may tell ya something
.
Silverhedgehog, I sent ya PM a little while back, did you see it?

Does the 79 do the trick? I've been using an 80 in my apprentice. Double sorted around $200 in copper only netted 6 zincs!

[tinhorn]

I've never messed with the sensitivity switch. And like Finder, mine only beep when first plugged in.

[68Camaro]

I'll have to play with it some more, but (see threads elsewhere on the Ryedale Sniper) it seems to do with how the coins are fed. Coinalyzer claims that if you feed the coins at a small angle to the slot that this keeps the coins from bouncing inside, which is one of the things that can set off the anti-fishing feature which is there to keep people from fishing with a coin on a string (not applicable to what we do, but there anyway). I wasn't taking any particular care, but after I read on this I realized that feeding the coins straight was when I had the worst of the problem.

[coinalyzer]

68camaro, sorry about the misunderstanding on the base stand. Does feeding on an angel help you to feed more reliability. I'm going to try to find a way to disable the anti string or get a version with out anti stringing. I will let you guys know when I find a way to disable anti stringing.

[68Camaro]

I ran most of a box through it tonight. Feeding on an angle does help a lot, especially with the zincs. Much less so with the coppers. I still get lots of beeps on the coppers, even with a "clean" angled drop, probably one in three coppers creates a beep, which does put a crimp in the sorting since I either have to wait 3 seconds, or sometimes I end up feeding another into it before I can stop, and I have to decide if I want to try to dig it out and make sure it didn't go into the wrong pile. What I actually did tonight was stop with every roll and quickly examine the coppers, which I needed to do anyway to pull out wheats; sometimes quickly re-run them by themselves to make sure no zinc got in. Overall it's about as fast as a fast hand sort, and a lot less trouble. But it isn't a speed demon. Still, I like it better than hand sorting.

[Finder]

I feed about as fast as Im sure only one coin is going in at a time, never worried about the angle or anything.

I wish your worked as well as mine, especially being as I endorsed it.

After feeding it to boxes the last 3 days Ive only come across a couple of coppers in the zinc bin. Most are easy to spot, its a unique brown color. Coffee with cream.

sounds like a job for...

[tinhorn]

I thought I had one of my units set to reject all the coppers (which are fed to a second unit). Browsing through the zinc after the last few boxes, I found only one or two coppers. But LAST night, flicking through the zinc pile resulted in finding 25 cents! I give up.

If results were consistent at all, I could keep adjusting. But when there is no consistency, and/or when the units reject a coin, then accepts it on the next pass, that's no longer an adjustment problem. It's a bought-a-piece-of-junk problem.

[TwoPenniesEarned]

It's easy to spot the coppers amongst the zincs, as Finder said. To pull the zincies out of the coppers, just slosh a magnet through them. The zincies zip right up and the coppers sit tight. Not worth running through the Ryedale a 2nd time...unnecessary wear and tear, and takes too much time. Just my two cents worth. hehehe