Vendo 81A - First Round Top

[rcosner]

Hello all.  This is my first post here, and my first round top... I probably paid too much, I don't know it seemed like a fair price that I got it for.   $2500.  The outside looks pretty good, the inside looks un-molested.  I'll be posting here probably looking for help, I don't think the light works. I haven't plugged it in yet, it's still recovering from horizontal travel.  It was plugged in at the pick up location though, and didn't see the light working.   I honestly don't know how this works at all, does it only light when you put money in?  The Pepsi one right next to it has the lights always on.

Anyway, with no further delay... here it is.

[mznb1u]

Welcome to the site!  Nice looking Vendo 81A!  Appears to be a survivor in good original condition--hopefully no beltline rust.  If that is original paint and it cools, you did well on the price. If you plan to keep it as is and just clean it up, I would strongly suggest that you get a new wiring harness to make sure all of the wiring is safe.  That looks almost too nice to restore as they are only original once.

  Tim

[briandr1]

I agree if its original paint it displays well I would rewire it and leave it alone.

[mygoose101]

One of my favorite machines! I think it's a re-paint but either way for $2,500 you did very well.

The ice cold lettering was added to the bottom, not original for that machine, was embossed on early version Vendo 39s but looks good. The main door gasket appears to be white? Originals came black so perhaps that was changed at some point. The ID tag on the left side is placed too high as it should be lower. The coin door decals look new, these are just things I noticed that makes me think it's a re-paint but hard to tell from a picture. 

As far as the light, it does have a button/light switch so not sure if you saw that, if you did and still doesn't work then try replacing the light bulb first, hopefully that is all it needs.

Solid investment at $2,500 and you can even plug it in and enjoy it. Nice work.
 

[Ltransam]

Nice Machine !! You did Well !! Most likely an older Restoration Or Repaint as said 
Never saw an Original painted machine with the Ice Cold on bottom.

At the lease check the Wiring harness to see if its been replaced If Not Best to replace it 

[johnieG]

Very nice find!

The light for the door is probably a manual “ Push to Start” type. There should be a push-button on the inside of the machine just above the bottle-door if it is, just push it in once, look for the ends of the door lamp to start to glow,  & release it. It should light up & stay on, if not, try it again, if the light doesn’t “ strike “ & stay lit, then it’s either a bad bulb, ( it’s a florescent light BTW) , or a bad ballast.

Give it a try.

[rcosner]

Ok, I found the button for the light, or the remnants of it.  Anyone have any links to how to replace this and/or where to get a replacement switch?

Here are more inside pics, including the mangled button.

[rcosner]

I think I found what I am looking for.  So to be clear, I have to replace both of these?

https://www.fun-tronicsllc.com/all-bulbs-and-ballasts/repl

[johnieG]

That is a good replacement kit, but all you'd need to fix yours is a 4-wire switch and possibly a new lamp,  I found mine at a local ACE hardware, also, here’s a link to a discussion regarding the three basic types of fluorescent light wiring

http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,16840.0.html

[rcosner]

Ok found an old one on ebay for $10.   New ones are listed for $65+       Hopefully that does the trick.   Thanks!

So I assume I have to remove the door liner to get at this switch?  Is that correct?

[vendo81d]

Yes, you have to remove the door liner to replace the light switch.

[msanborn]

Yes remove the liner, but be careful, they are very brittle due to age, and may crack on you.  Good looking machine.

[MoonDawg]

        Your liner is already cracked and held together by duct tape. It cannot be reused, you must have a replacement handy if you remove it. 

[coke_and_stuff]

I would not rule out that gray main door gasket as not being original. I recently acquired a B model that is 100% untouched original with a gray main door gasket.

[johnieG]

very good you found one, yes, you will have to open the liner at least along the top half in order to get to the switches wiring on the back-side, good news is it's pretty easy to replace, just match the colors & use wire-nuts to splice it in place.

keep in mind that old wiring is sometimes cotton covered & it can be hard to tell the difference between the colors, keep an eye out for the pairs that seem similar, ( dark & dark, lighter & lighter) so if your replacement switch has say two blues & two blacks, just correlate that to say black is darker than blue, so the darker pair of cotton wires will be a match for the black wires & the blue pair for the lighter set of cotton wires, (in this example) hope that kinda helps...

[rcosner]

The harness looks a little dusty, but doesn't look frayed or in any way degraded. Perhaps it was replaced already.  The previous owner did tell me the power cord was replaced.

[rcosner]

So this pair of wires that comes off the light harness and goes into the coin mech area and ends in electrical tape.  Any ideas what this is supposed to be for?

[MoonDawg]

       The wires used to lead to a heater that would keep the slug rejector from freezing in the winter.

       Seems to me that leaving a machine outside in below freezing weather.......exploding bottles would be a bigger concern. 

[mygoose101]

Your last photo shows the back of the coin return bezel painted red so I'm sure the machine was a re paint at some point.

[johnieG]

       The wires used to lead to a heater that would keep the slug rejector from freezing in the winter.

       Seems to me that leaving a machine outside in below freezing weather.......exploding bottles would be a bigger concern. 

Fun fact... Actually, the evaporator fan motor keeps the bottles from freezing in cold temperatures, as it produces about 10-watts of heat by itself, plus the compressor only minimally runs in the winter months to keep the bottles chilled but not frozen,  Only in the coldest / sub-zero locations did they add an actual heater inside the bottle compartment to address this issue.

[coke_and_stuff]

Ive got a 81 outside right now stocked with product. It got down to -1 a few nights ago and zero problems with freezing bottles.

[vendo81d]

Here is a picture of the heating element that typically connected to those wires you found.  It has a clip that connected to the coin mechanism to keep it in place.

[rcosner]

I know I should replace it, but don't have funds for the new one and the crazy shipping for it, so I prettied up the liner, removed the broken 4 wire light switch, replaced it with a "new" one. I had to bend the light frame a little to get the new switch in place, apparently it was a slightly different model. The used one I got on ebay was only $10, So I am just dealing with it. I bent the frame back into position with no issues. If it happens again, maybe I will replace the whole thing, but I plan on being careful with the switch. You can see the shorter broken switch, the longer replacement switch installed and the machine with the light working. I still need to do a little more work before putting it all back together though. The main latch for the door is missing the sleeve in the back, so I have one of those on the way. Then I will clean it up and put it all back together.

[rcosner]

Here is a picture of the heating element that typically connected to those wires you found.  It has a clip that connected to the coin mechanism to keep it in place.

Interesting, thank you.

[Jim]

A job well done ! ! !  Looks great ! ! !

[rcosner]

Thank you!

Anyone looking for these switches. This is the ebay item. Like I said, the particular one from this auction is about twice the length of the ones in the machines, so the light frame needs to be bent down slightly to get it through the hole.   Otherwise seems to work fine.  No clue how many he has left.  "More than 10" at time of my typing this.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leviton-Cat-388-Fluorescent-Lamp-And-Starter-Push-Switch-40-Watt-125-Volt-A-C/122337224798?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[ajf5577]

Looks great. I also like keeping the original door liners and other areas with original instruction sheets.