A cash drawer is connected to the POS PC to hold the cash tender and cheques. The POS will control the cash drawer opening it as required.

A cash drawer is a electro-mechanical device, which requires a high powered pulse of electricity to open it. This pulse cannot be directly generated by the PC, so an additional device is usually required. This device is typically a retail printer, but if you are using a normal printer for receipts, then a serial kicker is required.

Connecting a Cash Drawer to a Receipt Printer

On the rear of the printer (or elsewhere, depending on printer model) will be a connector, that the cable from the cash drawer will plug into. Plug the cash drawer cable into this port. Some printers have multiple ports, these ports are used to connect multiple cash drawers, so you need to be careful to select port #1.

Epson TM88 Receipt Printer The cash drawer port is located at the rear of the printer between the interface port and the power connector. Your printer may look slightly different than the picture, depending on the interface card installed in the printer. This does not change the cash drawer port connection, it means the large connector to the left in the picture may appear different on your printer. Note how the cash drawer connecter is labelled DK, which is short for DrawerKick. Epson TM210 Receipt Printer The cash drawer port on an Epson TM210 printer is located under the printer. The port layout is very similar to the TM88 detailed above. Eltron Companion Series Receipt Printers The cash drawer port on the Eltron Companion series printers is located on the back. The port on a companion printer is often identical to ports beside it, which do NOT connect to cash drawers. This means you need to pay particular attention to which port you connect the cash drawer too. Eltron printers may require an additional cable between the cash drawer and the printer. Although the cash drawer cable connects into the printer, without this additional cable, the cash drawer will not operate. If you have difficulties with cash drawers on Eltron printers not opening, contact your printer supplier and ask if a cash drawer adapter cable is required.

Setting up the POS

From the configure screen, select the option Cash Drawer, and the screen to the left will appear. This screen lets you select the connection method, and any parameters required.

• No Cash Drawer This option should be selected if no cash drawer is connected.

• Serial Port Select this option if a serial kicker unit is being used. You will need to specify the serial port that this is connected too.

• Printer This is the most common mode of operation, where the cash drawer is connected into the back of the receipt printer. The POS automatically selects the default printer being used for receipts as the printer to which the cash drawer is configured. You need to set the firing command, which is the command the POS sends to the printer to open the cash drawer. This command varies by printer manufacturer. Either enter the command directly into the firing command box, or select a printer type, and the POS will enter the generic command for that brand of printer.

  When using the printer method of connection, the POS decodes the physical port of the printer and opens that port directly. This step is performed so that cash drawer opening can be performed as an absolute priority.

• Remote Printer This method is virtually identical to the printer mode of operation, the difference is in the final execution, where this option places a job in the printer queue to open the cash drawer. While this works the majority of times, it may lead to delays in opening in rare circumstances. You should use this option if the printer being used is a network printer queue in Windows.

• OPOS This option is used to indicate that the cash drawer is connected via the OPOS standard. OPOS functionality is not available in all versions of Fieldpine POS.