Core board

PN: (PN: GV-B-CB101)

What is this device?
This device includes all our 20 years vending machines development experience. Drawing from our past in-house and client projects, we moved forward finding more and more solutions for the vast world of vending machines, on both hardware and software layers. Over the years we found that the vending market is not so homogeneous as you may think. Different manufacturers, with different communication protocols implementations, different interface electronics approaches and even different power requirements, forced us, day by day, year by year, to search and find different workarounds and solutions, in order to make our products compatible with as many machines and peripherals as possible. All of them included with the GalaxyVend core board.

The key elements of GalaxyVend core board

  1. Flexible power input.
    • The board operates within a wide input voltage range (9–36VDC or 7–24VAC).
    • There is no need for specialized power supplies; you can power it directly from a machine’s transformer (for master applications) or via the MDB interface (for slave applications).
  2. Switching between master and slave modes is simple—just resolder a few bridges on the PCB.
  3. The board features two MDB connectors, eliminating the need for "Y" or proprietary cables. If your peripherals lack their own cables, you can connect up to two directly to the core board.
  4. An Executive interface is also available for older machines or for special projects (such as easy vending machines retrofit applications).
  5. A direct connection to an RFID reader (proprietary, optional), that can be used to identify users by simply scanning any MIFARE Classic support (cards, tags, tokens, bracelets, etc.), returning the media serial number.
  6. You can interface with computers, tablets, or SBCs (like Raspberry Pi) via:
    • USB: Built-in USB-to-serial bridge for Windows, Linux, or Android.
    • MQTT over WiFi: Use our SaaS backend to send and receive JSON messages to remotely control the core board and its expansion boards.
  7. Built-in push button, that simply sends an ON/OFF message, allows your application to switch from user mode to service mode anytime.
  8. The architecture is fully expandable, allowing for the addition of existing expansion boards or the development of custom modules to fit your specific project requirements.
  9. USB-A output, to power small devices (such a Raspberry Pi Zero or other devices, with an withdrawn power needs of 5V/1A).
     

GalaxyVend core board possible applications
The core board is designed for versatility, adapting to different roles based on the loaded firmware and onboard solder jumper configurations.

1. MDB Master Interface
In this mode, the board acts as the central controller for standard MDB peripherals: Payment Handling:

  • Manages 1 x MDB coin acceptor (including changers), 1 x MDB bill validator (including recyclers), and up to 2 x cashless devices.
  • Closed-Loop Payments: You can attach a proprietary RFID reader to read MIFARE Classic media serial numbers.
  • Cost Efficiency: This setup allows you to create a custom closed-loop payment system, bypassing the need for expensive commercial MDB cashless systems.

2. MDB Slave Interface
This mode allows the board to "talk" to an existing vending machine as if it were a payment peripheral:

  • Mobile & Online Integration: Connect to standard MDB vending machines to implement modern payment solutions like mobile apps or online payments.
  • Employee Access: By adding the optional RFID reader, you can identify customers using their existing MIFARE Classic building access cards or tokens.
  • Wallet Solutions: This is ideal for implementing office wallets using existing employee ID media with no additional card costs.

3. MDB to Executive Converter
The board can also bridge the gap between different machine standards using two specific firmware versions:

  • Standalone Firmware: Simply attach modern MDB peripherals to older Executive protocol machines.
  • Assisted (External) Firmware: Acts as an externally controlled bridge. It communicates with the Executive machine while allowing an external device to control MDB peripherals, receive payments, and approve product selections.