Does cold (20F) have a
significant effect on the units?
Yes. The unit is meant to
operate in a temperature range of 40F to 100F. It should be allowed to
warm up to within that temperature range before attempting
operation.
Some of the things that cold does
to an AccuVote:
- The grease in the readers
bearings gels up. This may cause the reader to be sluggish and reject
ballots, until it warms up.
- The LCD will be dim, until it
warms up.
- The battery operating
time will be shortened, until it warms up.
- Moving from a cold
environment into a warm environment may cause condensation to form on the
circuitry. In dryer climes, that is less likely.
I took
79464 back to the office and attempted to force a ballot through to
clear any debris that might be in the unit. You could not force a ballot
through. The motor
would start up when a ballot was inserted but it did not appear that the
drive wheel was turning. I removed the motor, turned the gear by hand
and replaced the motor. Same problem but I wqs able to force a ballot
through from the back.
That doesn't make any
sense. If you could push a ballot through from the rear, why couldn't
you push a ballot through from the front? Unless the blockage in the
paper path gives way with paper coming at it from the rear.
Could you see a blockage, if you looked at the paper path from the
exit area with a light shining through from the entrance?
Primarily check the card guides on either side of the paper path to ensure
that they are clear. The card guides are the narrow gap on the either
side of the paper path, that prevents two ballots from moving through the
reader.
Ian