dotil wrote:I am planning to add a check reader to our PC system. Someone has graciously offered our church a used but fully functional Magtek check reader. I have not see it yet.
I have researched these devices a bit, and have a couple of questions for anyone who has set these readers up with PC.
One issue is the interface. The reader one buys from PowerChurch is a "wedge" interface, I believe - connects to the keyboard cable. Does anyone see a problem using an RS-232 or USB interface? Are special drivers needed or are they built into PC? Magtek offers readers with all three interfaces.
Second question - the PC folks state the "format" of the reader needs to be 3100. I have read on the internet that Magtek has a Insta-Check thing that makes setting the format easy. You apparently just run an Insta-Check through your reader and the desired new format is read and encoded in the reader. No programming required. Before I call Magtek I thought someone here might have some info on this Insta-Check thing. Anyone
The reader we have is a keyboard connection. With the keyboard connection you don't need any special drivers, however, I do believe with the serial and USB port connections you do need drivers. However, they are available at the Magtek website.
They also have a program that you can use to 'set' the format, its what I used to code the reader. The should have a built-in flash ROM that once set, does not need to be reset.
What I would do is find out the model number of the reader, then access the Magtek site to pull the manual on that model.
PC+ expects to receive input from the check reader via the keyboard. To get the USB version to work, we first had people go to control panel, accessibility options and then the general tab. Turn on the option for SerialKey device. Click the settings button and select the COM port that the check reader is attached to. This worked for the USB reader so it might work for serial version as well. The USB driver installed a "virtual" serial port on the computer and that is how it communicated.
The easiest way to check to see if it will work with PC+ it is to open notepad and scan a check. If you get information, it should work with PowerChurch.
We have not tested the serail version so I can't tell you for sure how to get it working. We first went with the keyboard interface so we didn't have to wory about getting a free serial port on the computer. We are now sending out the USB version because many new computers don't have keyboard ports anymore, just USB.
Their program to set the format is fairly easy to use and once it is set, it seems to keep its settings. We have seen a couple of instances of the format getting reset. We have been able to help most people get it reset to the correct format using their utility.
Iteresting side note the utility must be used on WIN9x computers for the keyboard wedges beause it sends information back through the keyboard buffer. WIN2K & WINXP keyboard drivers won't allow this. If you are using it to program a serial or USB reader though it can be used on WIN2K & WINXP.
I bought a used check reader off of e-bay and after some research and downloading MICRbase from magtek's website, had no problem reprogramming the check reader using the keyboard wedge. I would assume that after you get the driver stuff straight it would work as well for the USB slot. The website did say that there were interfaces for USB slots as well as wedges. I would bet that most stuff out there would still be using the keyboard wedge since the application is fairly old in the POS (Point of Sale) market. I just made sure that the model number that I got was the same as the one that PowerChurch sold.
I have not see it yet.
