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Digital Coin Counter

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ruggerbugger

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Hi guys and Gals,

I am new to this forum and quite a bit rusty on my electronics. I am sure it will come back quite easily to me.

I have read a lot of helpful posts on here in the last little while and now want to get back into the hobby.

The project I am working on now includes my other hobby of wood working. I am in the middle of building a realy nice money box. However I want to add some electronics to the whole project to make it that much more special.

The box I have will be for $1 canadian coins only. I would like to install a digital LCD counter under the lid and coin slot. I would like for there to be a total count of how many coins are in the box. The LCD will be installed into the lid for display.

I have searched this all over the net and am finding very little results.

I have attached a link to a product already on the market, which will give you an idea of what I am looking for. The only difference as I said to this product linked and my box is, that it will only need to count one type of coin

**broken link removed**

Thanks for your time and help

**broken link removed**
 
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Does it have to reject other coins?

If not a pair of contacts could be used to trigger the counter, it could be as simple as a a couple of PCB traces which become connected when the coin slides across them.
 
Thanks for your reply Hero,
It doesn't have to reject any other coins. So I guess it is as simple as you say. I just have to go find the parts now and figure out how to put them together.

Thanks for your help.


Does it have to reject other coins?

If not a pair of contacts could be used to trigger the counter, it could be as simple as a a couple of PCB traces which become connected when the coin slides across them.
 
Last edited:
If you want reliability use an IR transistor/led combo. The coin may bounce on the PCB traces and register 2 or may not connect at all.
 
Hi ruggerbugger,

counting coins you certainly don't want the circuit to count anything tossed into the jar.

Here's a mimic limiting cheat counts effectively. The insertion slot must not be larger than the coins to put in.

Buttons might have an allowable size but fail having the correct weight.

The inserted coin rolls downslope and if the weight corresponds with the real value it triggers the counter.

You might want to know how many dummy coins you collected. Use a second counter based on an IR-barrier and count everything being dropped into the jar. Subtract the "real" counts from the total count to know if the money suffices to throw a party. :D

Boncuk
 

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Thanks for the responces guys.
Boncuk, I like your idea a lot. I am going to plan yours and Mikes. It will just be myself and the wife putting the coins in. This money box is a little motivation for quiting smoking. No buttons or crayons will make it in, lol.

Mike you make a valid point about the PCB traces possible errors.

I just moved to Canada not so long ago, so I was wondering if you guys new of the best online electronics store to pick this stuff up?
 
So this is like a swear jar? Damn good idea, after awhile you can break into the box to get a pack of smokes... :)
 
Canadian Coin Sorter alternative

If your application is small business to light commercial, consider the following Canadian coin sorter, **broken link removed**
 
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