Connect the cash drawer

Also known as: cajón portamonedas, cajón de caja, drawer kick, open drawer pulse, RJ11 drawer cable.

The cash drawer doesn't connect to the brasio terminal — it connects to the thermal printer with an RJ11 cable (similar to a phone cable). The printer sends an electrical pulse to the drawer when it prints a cash receipt, and the drawer pops open. This is a standard hardware mechanism supported by any thermal printer with a DK (Drawer Kick) port.

There is no in-app drawer configuration in brasio. Everything is done at the hardware level.

1. Plug in the cable

1. Locate the RJ11 port on the back of the thermal printer. On the Epson TM-T20 it's labelled DK (Drawer Kick).
2. Plug one end of the RJ11 cable into that port.
3. Plug the other end into the connector on the cash drawer.

If your drawer came with its own RJ11 cable, use that. Otherwise any standard RJ11 cable will do — note that it's not the same as an Ethernet (RJ45) cable, which has more pins and won't seat properly.

2. The drawer opens automatically

Once the cable is connected, the drawer pops open every time the printer fires the DK pulse. Brasio sends a print job to the OS default printer whenever a cash receipt is produced, and the Epson TM-T20 automatically fires the DK pulse at the end of each print job.

No setup is needed inside brasio. If the printer is working, the drawer opens.

3. Test the drawer

Take a small test cash payment. The drawer should open when the receipt prints. If it doesn't:

• Check that the RJ11 cable is properly seated at both ends (you should hear a click).
• Make sure the receipt actually printed. If nothing printed, the drawer can't open. See Printer not printing first.
• Some drawers have a physical lock: if it's set to locked with key, the electrical pulse won't open it. Turn the key to the centre position.
• Check that the cable is RJ11 (4 or 6 pin), not RJ45 (8 pin Ethernet cable). They look similar but are different.

Opening the drawer without a payment

If you need to open the drawer outside a sale (for example, to give change), use Cash → Open till on the terminal. This requires a manager PIN and is logged in the cash movements and the end-of-day cashup. Nothing is printed — the printer only fires the drawer pulse, so no paper is used. See End-of-service cashup.

Not working?

• The cable is RJ45 (Ethernet): it won't seat properly. Swap it for an RJ11 cable.
• The printer doesn't print kitchen tickets but does print receipts: the drawer still opens, since it depends on the receipt print, not the kitchen tickets. To fix kitchen tickets, see Printer not printing.
• The drawer is locked with a key: turn the key to the centre (unlock) position.