Quick answer: On Odoo the cash drawer is the last link in a chain, and its feasibility is decided entirely by the link before it. The drawer is fired by the receipt printer — so without an IoT system or an ePOS printer, there is no way to send the open command at all. Settle your printer route first; the drawer follows from it.
The drawer itself is the simple part. Our NBCD-410 (410mm) and NBCD-460 (460mm) use the standard 6-pin modular port and ship in 12V or 24V — tell us which printer you are pairing it with and we send the right one.
The chain, and where it breaks
A cash drawer has no driver, no firmware and no network connection. It is a solenoid on the end of a wire: send it a pulse of current, a latch releases, a spring pushes the drawer open. That is the entire device.
The pulse comes from the receipt printer. So on Odoo the chain looks like this:
Odoo POS → IoT system or direct ePOS connection → printer → 6-pin cable → drawer
Which means the question “which cash drawer works with Odoo?” is really two questions, and only the second one is about the drawer:
- Can Odoo reach a printer that has a drawer port? This is the printer decision — see our Odoo receipt printer guide. If you have neither an IoT system nor an ePOS printer, you cannot send the open command, and no choice of drawer fixes that.
- Does the drawer's voltage match what that printer supplies? This is the drawer decision, and it is where money gets wasted.
Once the printer is sorted, you enable the drawer in Odoo's Point of Sale configuration — both the IoT route and the direct ePOS route have a setting for a drawer connected to the printer. Follow Odoo's current documentation for the exact menu, as it moves between versions.
RJ11, RJ12, RJ25 — the same socket
A small thing that causes real confusion when buying, so it is worth clearing up.
Odoo's documentation refers to connecting the drawer to the printer with an RJ25 cable. Cash drawer manufacturers, ours included, usually label the port RJ11 or RJ12. Printer datasheets say RJ11. These are names for the same family of 6-position modular connector, and they physically inter-mate.
You do not need to hunt for a cable matching a particular name. The cable supplied with the drawer fits the printer's drawer port. What you do need to check is that the port on the printer is the drawer port — often marked DK or CASH DRAWER — and not the network port, which is the same shape family and a genuinely easy mistake to make when reaching behind a counter.
12V or 24V: the mistake that costs you a drawer
Drawer solenoids are built for a specific voltage. The printer's drawer port supplies one or the other.
| Combination | Result |
|---|---|
| Matched (12V→12V or 24V→24V) | Opens crisply, every time |
| 12V printer → 24V drawer | Usually will not open, or opens while the spring is new and stops weeks later |
| 24V printer → 12V drawer | May open, running the coil over its rating — risks overheating over time |
The intermittent case is the expensive one, because the drawer works on installation day and fails later, when nobody connects the two events. It is the single most common cash drawer complaint we are asked about, across every POS system.
Both our drawers are available in either voltage. It is a build option rather than a switch, so it must be specified when ordering — which is why we ask what printer you are pairing it with. Our printers state the figure explicitly; the NBTP-5830, for instance, drives a drawer at DC 12V, 1A through a 6-pin socket. If a supplier cannot tell you the voltage their printer supplies, that tells you something about the supplier.
Choosing the size
| Model | Width | Note |
|---|---|---|
| NBCD-410 | 410mm | Compact, for a tight counter. 4- or 5-position bill trays, 8-position coin tray. Rated to 1.5 million cycles. |
| NBCD-460 | 460mm | Standard full size. Up to 6 bill compartments, single- or double-row coin tray. |
Width is decided by your currency and your counter, not by your POS. The practical question is compartment count: if you routinely handle five or six denominations plus vouchers, the 460 saves the cashier a decision on every transaction. If counter space is tight, the 410 is the sensible answer.
Both are steel with ball-bearing rollers and a front media slot for cheques and card receipts. Browse the full cash drawer range.
Frequently asked questions
Which cash drawer is compatible with Odoo?
Any standard drawer with a 6-pin modular port, at the voltage your printer supplies. There is no software compatibility question — a drawer has no driver. The compatibility question belongs to the printer.
Can I open the drawer without a receipt printer?
Not through the normal route. The open command travels via the printer, which is why Odoo needs either an IoT system or an ePOS printer in the chain. If you genuinely need a drawer with no printer, you are looking at a drawer with its own USB or serial interface plus something to drive it — ask us and we will tell you honestly whether it fits your case.
The drawer opens sometimes but not always.
Classic under-voltage symptom, usually a 24V drawer fired from a 12V printer. Confirm both specifications before investigating anything else.
The drawer does not open at all.
Check in order: (1) voltage match, (2) the drawer is enabled in the POS configuration, (3) the cable is in the printer's drawer port and not the network port, (4) the drawer's key lock is not locked.
My cable says RJ11 but Odoo's documentation says RJ25.
Same family of 6-pin modular connector. The cable supplied with the drawer fits the printer's drawer port.
Can two tills share one drawer?
No, and you would not want to. One drawer per printer, one printer per till — cash accountability depends on it.
Does the drawer need its own power supply?
No. It takes the pulse from the printer over the cable. Drawers with an independent USB or serial interface are the exception.
A note on this guide. The drawer side above — solenoid voltages, the pulse, connector naming, port confusion, sizing — is what we know from the products we supply, and it holds for any POS where the printer fires the drawer. The Odoo-specific parts, including the requirement for an IoT system or ePOS printer in the chain and the RJ25 cable reference, are drawn from Odoo's published documentation; menus and requirements move between major versions, so confirm current details with Odoo. If something here did not match your installation, tell us and we will correct this page. We would rather publish something accurate than something impressive.
Get pricing
NETBYE supplies distributors, system integrators and retailers worldwide. Our cash drawers are built by our partner factories in Shenzhen and sold under our own model range — we handle specification, quality control and support, so you deal with one supplier rather than several factories. Direct wholesale pricing, low MOQ on first orders, and OEM/ODM covering colour, tray configuration and branding.
Tell us which printer you are pairing it with, what quantity and which country, and you will get an accurate quote in one reply — with the correct voltage specified, so it works the day it arrives. Request a quote.
Related guides
These guides form a set. If you are specifying a complete till, the other hardware for Odoo POS is covered here:
- Receipt printer for Odoo POS
- Barcode scanner for Odoo POS
- Label printer for Odoo POS
- POS terminal for Odoo POS
And if you are comparing across POS software, the same hardware for other systems: