P O R T A L
Document Number:
PTL1028
Document Title:
Portal 3 Owners Manual
1 0 . 5 . 1 . 6
C l e a n i n g a n d G e n e r a l M a i n t e n a n c e
The AE2600 series will not need cleaning as often as magnetic sensing bill validators. If cleaning is
required, use a soft cloth moistened with mild, non-abrasive detergent.
10.6
Card Reader
The card reader may be used with the Credit option or just for fleet cards and pass cards.
10.6.1
Cleaning the Card Reader
The internal card reader sensing devices accumulate dirt over time. As this happens, the credit card reader
acceptance rate will begin to decline.
It is best to clean your card reader using card reader cleaning cards. These cleaning cards may be
purchased directly from your distributor or from the manufacturer of the cleaner cards. The cleaner cards
are Unitec stock #MS2031 and can also be purchased from Clean Team by calling 1-800-888-8830.
For the Panasonic card reader, insert and remove the cleaning card into and out of the card reader
several times using both sides of the cleaning card because the Panasonic card reader can read the
magnetic stripes from either side of the reader.
10.6.2
Troubleshooting the Card Reader
The magnetic card reader typically reads both tracks 1 and 2. In nearly all card formats the important data
is on track 2. Major credit cards encode the customer’s name on track 1. In the event that track 1 is not
read for a credit card, the transaction should still go through but the Portal will not capture the customer’s
name. In the Maintenance mode of the Portal TI you can swipe a card and read track 1 and track 2.
Sometimes if the card is inserted and bent upwards, track 2 will not be read. Inserting and removing the
card straight will alleviate this.
To determine whether the Card Reader or the Display I/O board is malfunctioning, refer to the following
table.
Table 3. Magnetic Card Reader Troubleshooting
Symptom
Possible
Cause
Test
Resolution
Card reader not
recognizing card
inserted.
Bad card
reader
Disconnect Card Reader connector from Display I/O
Board.
Short pins 1 & 7 and release. If you get a “Bad Card
Read”, the Card Reader is bad.
Replace Card
Reader.