Resolving a Magnetic Encode Error on a ZXP8 printer

Topic or Information

Magnetic encoding issues

Applies To

ZXP8 Printers

Details

The two most common reasons for problems with magnetic encoding are putting the cards into the printer in the wrong orientation or having the wrong coercivity selected for the card in use.

 The first relates simply to how the cards are loaded into the card hopper. The magnetic stripe should be facing down and towards the rear of the printer (the side away from the operator panel).

Coercivity is simply a measure of magnetic field strength required to encode the card. Typically magnetic stripe cards are either High Coercivity (HiCo) or Low Coercivity (LoCo).

To determine what type of magnetic stripe the card has is to read the label of the box or wrapper the cards came in. If that is not available the color of the magnetic stripe may indicated the coercivity of the card. LoCo cards are generally a milk chocolate color and The HiCo cards are generally more like a dark chocolate color.

The windows driver must be set for magnetic encoded cards by going to “Printing Preferences” selecting the “Card Setup” tab and then selecting the appropriate card for “Card type is use”