Are you looking for ways to make extra income? Then convert your PC into a self-serve coin operated Internet Station or arcade style PC Game Box. It’s perfect for places where you get constant traffic or have people waiting in line. Convert that traffic into extra revenue and be profitable.
Coin operated Internet Station or PC Game Box saves you management and hiring cost. All you need is just a PC with internet access, some popular games, and office application software. You don’t need a server or cafe management software to control the time duration of each user. The time is dependent on the number of coins they put in a coin slot. For example, you set the controller to accept one peso coin and the timer will register 4 minutes, the more coin you drop, the time just add up or accumulate.
The coin operated controller can be separately put in a box or integrate it in one pc system. If you are into a cafe type, then you can put it beside the monitor. But if you like the arcade style, then the controller is just part of the box. The idea of the controller is to cut the power of the monitor. If the time is consume, the monitor will turn-off.
The coin slot and the timer module are widely available in any electronic stores. When you buy these items, just add an additional power supply or a transformer with 12 volts secondary voltage, one ampere rating. Other option is to connect the timer module to the PC’s 12 volts power supply.
Wiring the coin slot and the timer module is a little bit tricky. Some coin slot will not match with the timer circuit if the brand is not the same. This is due to mismatch in output signal of the coin slot with respect to the input sensitivity of the timer circuit. But I figure out a solution to that. See the attached illustration below.
The timer has a built-in relay to switch off the power of the monitor. Please connect the wires according to the given schematic below. Be extra careful not to short circuit the connection since the voltage in this area is equivalent to the wall outlet and fatal if somebody accidentally touches the connection.
So if you’re interested in building this project, I hope this article is of great help. For more details, just comment to this post and I shall give you a reply. Enjoy!
