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Setting up your portable card reader

Set up a portable card reader

We’ve made setting up your Barclaycard Portable card machine as easy as pie.

It takes less than 5 minutes to connect your cables, and only about 15 minutes to do the on-screen setup.

Watch the installation video

Watch our short guide to setting up your Portable card machine using a broadband connection.
Viewing time: 03:02.

Watch our short guide to setting up your Portable card machine using a telephone line.
Viewing time: 03:02.

What’s in the box

Your box should contain the following

A portable card machine and a base unit

A pink Ethernet cable, a black phone cable and a power lead

2 Supervisor Cards (if applicable for your card reader) and 1 PIN training card

Connect and charge
1. Choose how you connect to the internet

The cables should all be attached to the base unit when you open the box. It’s good to do a quick check, though.

You can connect to the internet in any of these 3 ways:

Both phone and broadband

If you want to connect this way, leave both the phone and Ethernet cables connected to the base unit.

Why both?
If your broadband ever goes down, the card machine tries to connect using the phone line after 2 failed transaction attempts.

Broadband only

If you want to connect this way, unplug the black phone cable.
Turn the base unit over and remove the cover to find where the phone cable is plugged in.

Phone only
If you want to connect this way, unplug the pink Ethernet cable.

2. Connect the power

Connect the power lead to the base unit.

3. Plug the power lead into the mains

Remember to turn the power on at the wall.

4. Put your card machine on its base

Any time your card machine is sitting on its base, it starts to charge.

5. Leave it for a couple of hours

When your card machine has enough charge, it will switch on. But you need to charge it until you have a full charge in the battery.

6. Power up your card machine

After startup, the screen displays a reminder message. The default reminder says Place handset on a base with a telephone line but a broadband connection also works.

7. Pair your card machine and base unit

Put your card machine on the base unit and press ENTER.

Your card machine pairs itself to the base unit. When it’s done, the screen displays Base Assignment SUCCESSFUL.

Then, the Bluetooth icon goes from red to blue.

8. Get to know your card machine
You can see a row of icons when the screen is active. Here's what those icons mean.

The battery icon shows how much charge the battery has

All coloured bars means a full charge

Any grey bars at the top means a partial charge

All grey bars means almost no charge
You can see a row of icons when the screen is active.

The Bluetooth icon lets you know whether your card machine is paired with the base unit

Blue means connected

Red means not connected
The signal icon lets you know how strong the Bluetooth signal is

The phone icon lets you know what the phone is doing

White, horizontal phone means it’s not connected

Yellow phone at 45^o means the phone is dialling

Green, vertical phone means it is connected and sending data

On-screen setup
At this point, you’ve got your Barclaycard Portable card machine sorted. Now, you’re ready to finish with the on-screen setup.

1. Before you start

If you make a mistake or want to start again, press CANCEL twice to go back to the start of the setup process.

2. Choose how you connect

Under the screen message CONNECTION METHOD, scroll down with the arrow key to choose one of these options.

A) Local Network
If you want to connect using broadband only, or broadband and a phone line

B) Telephone (PPP)
If you want to connect using a phone line only

Then press ENTER.
Option A: Telephone Connection
You should see Card Machine Installation, PLUG IN PHONE LINE on the screen.

i. Plug in the phone

Plug the black phone cable into the telephone wall socket.

If you have broadband on your phone line, you should use an ADSL filter. You should have received one from your broadband provider.

ii. Go through the phone options

Press ENTER.

The first option the screen displays is DIAL PREFIX REQUIRED?

iii. Pick your dial prefix option

A dial prefix is a number (usually a 9) that you dial to get an outside line.

I don’t use a dial prefix.

Press CLEAR.

I do use a dial prefix.

Press ENTER and key in your prefix number.

Press ENTER again.

The screen displays Does Tel. Line have Call Waiting or 1571?

iv. Choose your 1571 option

I don’t have call waiting or 1571.

Press CLEAR and move to the next step.

I do have call waiting or 1571.

Press ENTER.

You may want to ask your phone provider to remove the 1571 service. That’s because it interferes with the card machine connection when there are messages waiting. If you choose to keep the 1571 service, you’ll need to delete your messages regularly.
Option B: Broadband Connection

You should see Card Machine Installation, PLUG IN NETWORK CABLE on the screen.

i. Plug in the Ethernet cable

Plug the pink Ethernet cable into your broadband router or network point.

ii. Step through on-screen setup

Press ENTER.

Your card machine displays KEY MERCHANT NUMBER.

3. Find your merchant number

Your 7-digit merchant number is on the blue sticker on the side of your card machine.

4. Key in your number

Key in your merchant number, and press ENTER.

Your card machine then does some setup on its own. It shuts down and restarts, and displays a sequence of different messages during this time. Just wait till it’s done – about 5-10 minutes.

5. Set the date

When your card machine is ready for you to continue, it displays:

SET DATE/TIME
Enter Current Date
dd/mm/yy

Enter today’s date – 2 digits for the day, then 2 digits for the month, then the 2 last digits of the year. Key in the date using the keypad, then press ENTER.

6. Set the time

Key in the time using the keypad, then press ENTER.

Enter the time, using the 24-hour clock.

7. Check the list

Check the list that the card machine prints out. The list shows all of the card types you are able to accept.

If any card types are missing, or if the list displays CARD TYPES NOT ACCEPTED, contact us.

8. You're set to start

Your card machine displays READY, and your merchant number.

You can now run your test sale.

What’s the next step?

Run a test sale on a Barclaycard payment machine