Connect your own Star mC-Print3 to Vendion

If you already own a Star mC-Print3, you can connect it to Vendion yourself. The printer fetches its printouts over the internet using CloudPRNT – so there's no cable between the printer and the till, just a network connection.

The whole job takes about ten minutes and comes in four parts: reset the printer, find its IP address, set up CloudPRNT on the printer, and add the printer in Vendion.

What you need:

• The printer connected to the same network as your computer (network cable to the router)
• Paper loaded in the printer
• An unfolded paperclip or a fine-point pen
• A computer or tablet on the same network

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Step 1 – Reset the printer

Skip this step if the printer is brand new and has never been used. If it comes from another POS system, always reset it – otherwise old network and server settings stay behind and get in the way.

1. Turn the printer off. Hold the Power button on the right of the front panel for at least one second.
2. Find RESET on the back of the printer – a small hole with a button inside.
3. Press RESET with the paperclip and hold it down.
4. Press and release Power while you keep holding RESET.
5. Keep holding RESET until the network LED (green) in the middle of the panel starts flashing. Then release RESET.
6. If your model has Bluetooth you can now press FEED to choose what gets reset: green flashing = network, blue = Bluetooth, both = everything.
7. Hold down FEED to carry out the reset.

The printer restarts by itself. It's now back on an automatic IP address (DHCP).

Important: Never cut the power while the reset is running.

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Step 2 – Print the configuration slip

The configuration slip is the printer's own business card. It holds the two things you need: the IP address and the MAC address.

1. Turn the printer off (hold Power for at least one second).
2. Hold down the FEED button.
3. Press and release Power – keep holding FEED.
4. Release FEED once the printer starts printing.

Out comes a slip with the printer model and firmware at the top, and the network information further down. Look for:

• IP address – something like 192.168.1.45. You'll need it in the next step.
• MAC address – twelve characters, e.g. 00:11:62:AB:CD:EF. You'll need it in step 5.

Keep the slip until you're done.

No IP address on the slip means the printer isn't on the network. Check the network cable and that the router is running, then print the slip again.

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Step 3 – Log in to the printer's web interface

The printer has its own settings page that you reach with an ordinary browser.

1. Open a browser on a computer that is on the same network as the printer.
2. Type the printer's IP address into the address bar, e.g. 192.168.1.45, and press Enter.
3. Log in. The default credentials are:
   • Username: root
   • Password: public
4. If the printer asks you to choose a new password you can type public again and save – or set one of your own. If you set your own: write it down, you'll need it next time the printer has to be changed.

Can't get in? Check that the computer is on the same network (same router, not the guest network) and that you typed the IP address exactly as printed on the slip.

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Step 4 – Set up CloudPRNT

Now you tell the printer where to call.

1. Open the menu in the top left and choose CloudPRNT.
2. Fill in as follows:

3. Click Save.
4. Choose Save/Restart device and click Execute.

The printer restarts and starts checking in with Vendion.

About the fields:

• Server URL is the same for every Vendion customer and every one of your printers. It's the MAC address that tells the printers apart, not the address.
• Polling time 2 means the printer asks for new printouts every two seconds. That's the setting we recommend – it gets receipts and kitchen tickets out almost instantly.
• User Name and Password must be empty. Vendion recognises the printer by its MAC address, so no login is needed. Fill anything in here and the printer stops working.

Copy the address carefully. If the Server URL is wrong the printer goes completely silent. It isn't broken – just go back into the printer's web interface via its IP address and correct the address.

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Step 5 – Add the printer in Vendion

1. Go to Admin → Devices → Printers.
2. Click Add printer.
3. Fill in:
   • Name – what you want to see in the list and in the kitchen routing, e.g. "Bar receipt printer" or "Kitchen printer".
   • MAC address – exactly as printed on the configuration slip. With or without colons doesn't matter, but the characters must match.
4. Save.
5. Click test print on the printer in the list.

If the test print comes out, you're done. The last step is to point your kitchen routing at the printer if it's a kitchen printer – you do that under Admin → Kitchen routing.

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If it doesn't work

The first printout takes 30–60 seconds. That's normal, not a fault. Vendion's print service needs to warm up against a new printer. Everything after that arrives within seconds. Wait out the first one before you start troubleshooting.

Nothing comes out at all. Work through this in order:

1. Is the MAC address in Vendion exactly the same as on the configuration slip? This is by far the most common cause.
2. Is CloudPRNT Service set to ENABLE?
3. Are User Name and Password empty?
4. Is the Server URL right, character by character? Compare it against the address under Admin → Devices → Printers → "Setup URLs for printer configuration".

The printer worked but has stopped. Print a new configuration slip and compare the IP address. If it has changed, the router handed out a new one. The printer still finds its own way back to Vendion – but you can no longer reach the web interface on the old address. Ask whoever looks after your network to reserve a fixed IP address for the printer and you'll avoid this.

You can't get into the web interface and don't remember the password. Reset the printer as in step 1 and start over. root / public applies again after that.

Tip: Connecting both a receipt printer and a kitchen printer? Do the kitchen printer first. If something goes wrong along the way, a missing kitchen ticket is a lot easier to handle than a missing receipt.