Connect a cash drawer to an Epson receipt printer

Epson receipt printers open a cash drawer themselves: the drawer cable plugs into the printer, and the printer sends a short 24 V pulse when the drawer should open. This guide covers the TM-T20IV, TM-m30III and TM-T88VII. The connector and wiring are the same on all three; the differences are in the table below.

Before you start: check the drawer

The socket on the printer is the drawer kick (DK) connector, an RJ12 modular jack. Epson lists these requirements for drawers from other makers; a drawer that does not meet them can damage the printer or the drawer:

• The drawer solenoid is connected between pins 4 and 2, or pins 4 and 5.
• It is powered by the printer's 24 V output on pin 4, not by a supply of its own.
• The solenoid has a resistance of at least 24 Ω, or draws no more than 1 A.
• If the drawer reports whether it is open, its switch sits between pins 3 and 6.
• The drawer cable is shielded.

Connect the drawer cable

1. Switch the printer off.
2. Plug the drawer cable into the drawer kick connector and press firmly until it clicks into place.
3. Plug the other end into the cash drawer.
4. Place the printer so it cannot slide when the drawer opens and closes, then switch it on.

Check the buzzer settings

The optional Epson OT-BZ20 buzzer uses the same connector. While it is enabled in the printer settings, the cash drawer does not work, and the two must never share one socket through a splitter. It is off by default; if the drawer does nothing, check this setting with the printer's Windows utility or Epson TM Utility.

The TM-T88VII in our shop has a built-in buzzer that sounds on pin 5. Use a drawer that is driven by pin 2; Epson cash drawers need no change. If your drawer must use pin 5, move the buzzer to the other pin in Epson TM Utility under Change Printer Settings › Various Settings › Buzzer › Select buzzer › Internal Buzzer, or in TM-T88VII Utility under Main › Detailed Settings › Buzzer › Internal Buzzer. Set the pin that drives the drawer to Off.

Open the drawer from Windows

With the EPSON Advanced Printer Driver 6 (APD6), the printer driver itself can open the drawer whenever something is printed. Install the driver first, as shown in our Windows driver guide.

1. Open Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, select your Epson printer and open Printing preferences.
2. Find the cash drawer setting of the APD6 driver. Choose the drawer output your drawer uses (drive signal 1 on pin 2, or drive signal 2 on pin 5) and when the drawer should open.
3. Save the setting and print a test page from the printer's properties. The drawer should open at the point you chose.

The exact screens are described in the APD6 manual that comes with the driver package. Many POS programs open the drawer themselves after a cash payment, through Epson's OPOS driver or a direct printer command. In that case leave the driver setting off, so the drawer does not open on every printout.

Open the drawer from your POS app

Most POS apps send the drawer pulse through the receipt printer when a cash payment is completed. Set up the printer in the app first, then run the app's own test.

In Loyverse POS, the drawer opens after a cash sale, a cash refund, when you open or close a shift, on Pay In or Pay Out, and when you use Print Test. The printer must be added with the "Print Receipts and Bills" option. To open the drawer without a sale, allow "Open cash drawer without making a sale" for the employee group in the Back Office, then use ⋮ (More) › Open Cash Drawer on the Sale screen. Our Loyverse setup guide has the full steps, and the printers we sell for Loyverse are in our Loyverse printer collection.

If the drawer doesn't open

• Printer prints? If receipts don't print either, fix the printer first; see the troubleshooting guide for your model, for example TM-T88VII troubleshooting.
• Cable in the right socket? It must sit in the drawer kick connector, not the Ethernet port, and click into place.
• Right drawer and cable? The drawer must be a 24 V printer-driven drawer, and its cable must match Epson's pin layout above. For a drawer that is not from Epson, check it against Epson's requirements above.
• Wrong drawer output? Some drawers react only to pin 2, others only to pin 5. Try the other drive output in the driver or your POS app.
• Buzzer enabled? An enabled external buzzer blocks the drawer. On the TM-T88VII, check that the built-in buzzer is not set on the drawer's pin.
• Pulses too close together? Epson says to leave at least four times the pulse length between two drawer pulses.