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Setup guide · Centralized server

Set up Pisonex on an Orange Pi One

Flash the Pisonex image to a MicroSD card, plug the Orange Pi into your router, wire the coin slot to three pins, and install the client on your café PCs. About 45 minutes from parts in a box to your first coin.

Download Orange Pi image (v1.0.9)Download PC client

On this page

  1. 1. What you need
  2. 2. Flash the SD card
  3. 3. First boot
  4. 4. Open the dashboard
  5. 5. Pin configuration & wiring
  6. 6. Coin slot settings
  7. 7. Install the client on each PC
  8. 8. Test everything
  9. 9. Troubleshooting
  10. 10. Updating to a new version

1. What you need

Hardware. Prices are typical for the Philippines and only a guide.

ItemNotesApprox. price
Orange Pi OneAllwinner H3, 512 MB RAM. This image is made for the Orange Pi One only — other Orange Pi models will not boot it.₱1,200 – 1,500
MicroSD card, 8 GB or largerClass 10 / A1 from a known brand (SanDisk, Samsung). Cheap no-name cards fail under 24/7 use.₱250 – 500
5V 2A power supply, 4.0 × 1.7 mm barrel plugNot a phone charger on the micro-USB port — it can’t supply enough power and the board will crash.₱200 – 400
Ethernet cable to your routerThe image uses Ethernet only (no Wi-Fi) — more reliable for a café.₱100 – 300
Coin acceptor, 12V multi-coin (e.g. CH-926)Accepts the pesos and sends a pulse per coin.₱1,500 – 2,500
12V 1A power adapterPowers the coin acceptor. Often included with it.₱200 – 400
5V single-channel relay moduleOptional but recommended: lets the server switch the coin slot on only when a PC asks for coins.₱60 – 150
Female-to-female jumper wiresAt least 5.₱50 – 150

Software & files.

  • A Windows, Mac, or Linux computer with a MicroSD card reader
  • balenaEtcher (free) — writes the image to the SD card
  • The Pisonex Orange Pi image (pisonex-opi-one-v1.0.9.img.gz)
  • The Pisonex Client installer for each café PC (Windows 10/11)
You also need an internet connection on the Orange Pi’s network: the server activates and checks its license with pisonex.com. Café PCs only need the local network.

2. Flash the SD card

  1. 1Download the image pisonex-opi-one-v1.0.9.img.gz (about 620 MB). Don’t unzip it — Etcher reads the .img.gz directly.
  2. 2Install and open balenaEtcher.
  3. 3Put the MicroSD card in your computer’s card reader. If Windows asks “You need to format the disk…”, click Cancel — never format it.
  4. 4In Etcher click Flash from file → choose the image. It should show about 2.4 GB.
  5. 5Click Select target → choose the MicroSD card. Double-check the size matches your card.
  6. 6Click Flash! and wait for Flash Complete (a few minutes, including verification). Eject the card.
The image only boots on an Orange Pi One. Flashing it for another model (Orange Pi Zero, PC, 3, 4, 5…) won’t work.
Optional: check the download isn’t corrupted

In Windows PowerShell, in the folder with the file, run:

Get-FileHash pisonex-opi-one-v1.0.9.img.gz

The Hash shown must match this (capital or small letters don’t matter):

e78b90bebc2c9c4db1757a459d4d2f92251cc798a44eb29ba98ce7a886c9f110

3. First boot

  1. 1Insert the MicroSD card into the slot under the Orange Pi One until it clicks.
  2. 2Connect the Ethernet cable from the Orange Pi to your router or switch.
  3. 3Plug in the 5V 2A barrel-jack power supply. The power LED lights up.
  4. 4Wait about 2 minutes. The first boot expands the system to fill your SD card and creates this device’s own security keys — later boots take about 30 seconds.
Don’t power the board from a phone charger on the micro-USB port. It can’t supply enough current and the board will crash or corrupt the SD card.

4. Open the dashboard

  1. 1On a computer on the same network, open http://pisonex.local/dashboard. If it doesn’t open, find the device named pisonex in your router’s list of connected devices and use http://<its IP>/dashboard instead.
  2. 2Log in with username admin and password admin123.
  3. 3Change the password right away: sidebar → Account.
  4. 4Activate your license on the License page with the key from your pisonex.com dashboard.
  5. 5Set your branch name in Settings → Branch and your prices in Coin Rates (e.g. ₱5 = 30 minutes).
Check Overview → Server Health → Disk: it should show about your SD card’s full size. If it shows only ~2.3 GB, reboot once from Settings → System Control.

5. Pin configuration & wiring

Unplug the Orange Pi and the 12V adapter before touching any wires. Wiring a powered board can permanently damage its pins.

Only a few pins of the 40-pin header are used. The defaults below match the server’s factory settings, so if you wire it this way you don’t need to change anything.

Orange Pi One · 40-pin header

3.3V125V · relay VCC
PA12 · COIN signal345V
PA11 · RELAY control56GND · common ground
·78·
GND910·
·1112·
·1314GND
·1516·
3.3V1718·
·1920GND
·2122·
·2324·
GND2526·
·2728·
·2930GND
·3132·
·3334GND
·3536·
·3738·
GND3940·

Pin 1 is marked on the board (small triangle or square pad). Odd pins are in one row, even pins in the other.

Pin 3PA12Coin pin = 12

Coin signal — one pulse per accepted coin

Pin 5PA11Relay pin = 11

Switches the relay that powers the coin acceptor

Pin 6GND

Common ground with the coin acceptor’s 12V supply

Pin 2 / 45V

Power for the relay module (VCC)

Coin acceptor wires

CH-926 colours shown — check your model’s label or manual if yours differ.

WireFunctionConnect to
Red+12V powerRelay NO terminal (with relay) — or + of the 12V adapter (without relay)
BlackGround– of the 12V adapter AND Orange Pi Pin 6 (GND)
White (COIN / PULSE)Coin signalOrange Pi Pin 3 (PA12)
Other wires (counter…)Not usedLeave disconnected

Relay module (recommended)

The relay powers the coin acceptor only while a PC is accepting coins, so nobody can drop coins in when no PC asked for them.

Relay pinConnect to
VCCOrange Pi Pin 2 (5V)
GNDOrange Pi Pin 6 or any other GND pin
INOrange Pi Pin 5 (PA11)
COM+ of the 12V adapter
NO (normally open)Coin acceptor red wire
NC (normally closed)Not used
The most common mistake: the coin acceptor’s black wire must go to both the 12V adapter’s minus and Orange Pi Pin 6. Without that shared ground the coin pulses are not detected.

Checklist before powering on

  • Black wire → 12V minus AND Orange Pi Pin 6
  • Red wire → relay NO (or straight to 12V plus without a relay)
  • White wire → Orange Pi Pin 3
  • Relay VCC / GND / IN → Pin 2 / Pin 6 / Pin 5
  • No bare wires touching

Power on the 12V adapter first, then the Orange Pi.

6. Coin slot settings

Dashboard → Settings → Coin Slot Hardware. Changes apply immediately, no restart needed. Factory defaults:

SettingDefaultNotes
Coin pin12PA12 = Pin 3
Relay pin11PA11 = Pin 5
Coin edgeFALLINGCH-926 and most optocoupler acceptors. Missing coins? Try RISING.
Coin debounce30 msOne coin counted twice? Raise to 50–80 ms.
Coin pulse timeout3.0 sPause after the last pulse before a coin is credited.

7. Install the client on each PC

  1. 1Download the Pisonex Client and run PisonexClientSetup on each café PC (Windows 10/11).
  2. 2On first start the Pisonex Client Setup window opens. The server address is already pisonex.local — click Test. If it fails, click Scan for Server or type the Orange Pi’s IP.
  3. 3Give every PC its own PC Number (1, 2, 3…) — never reuse a number.
  4. 4Set an admin password for the client’s settings (opened later with Ctrl+Shift+F12). Leave the API key empty unless you turned it on in Settings → Security.
  5. 5Save. The PC shows the lock screen and appears on the dashboard’s Overview within a few seconds.
Want to turn café PCs on from the dashboard (Wake button)? Connect the PCs by cable and enable Wake on LAN (or “Power On by PCI-E”) in each PC’s BIOS. The client sets up Windows for it automatically.

8. Test everything

  1. 1On a PC’s lock screen, click Insert Coin. The relay clicks and the coin acceptor’s light turns on.
  2. 2Insert a coin. The amount appears on the PC screen.
  3. 3Click Done. The PC unlocks with the time from your coin rates.
  4. 4Let the time run out: the PC locks again.
  5. 5Dashboard → Backup → Create backup now → Download and keep the file somewhere safe (laptop, Google Drive).

9. Troubleshooting

http://pisonex.local doesn’t open

Use the IP address instead: open your router’s admin page, find the device named “pisonex” under DHCP clients / connected devices, and browse to http://<that-ip>/dashboard. Android phones generally can’t open .local addresses — always use the IP there.

The dashboard doesn’t load at all

Check the Ethernet cable and that the green power LED is on. Give the first boot up to 2 minutes. Make sure you used the 5V 2A barrel-jack supply, not a phone charger.

Server Health shows only ~2.3 GB of disk

The card grows to its full size on the first boot; sometimes it finishes on the second. Reboot once from Settings → System Control and check again.

Coins aren’t counted

Check that the acceptor’s black wire goes to BOTH the 12V adapter’s minus and Orange Pi Pin 6 — without the shared ground the pulses aren’t seen. Then try switching Coin edge between FALLING and RISING.

One coin is counted twice

Raise Coin debounce to 50–80 ms in Settings → Coin Slot Hardware.

A café PC doesn’t appear on the dashboard

The PC must be on the same network as the Orange Pi. In the client’s setup (or its admin panel, Ctrl+Shift+F12) click Test next to the server address; if it fails, click Scan for Server or type the Orange Pi’s IP.

10. Updating to a new version

  1. 1Dashboard → Backup → Create backup now → Download. Re-flashing erases the SD card — this file brings back your members, balances, sales, PCs and settings.
  2. 2Flash the new image onto the card (steps in section 2) and boot.
  3. 3Log in with admin / admin123 → Backup → Restore from a file → pick the file you downloaded.
  4. 4Re-activate the license on the License page.

Stuck? Message us on Facebook with a photo of your wiring and what you see on screen.