Quick answer: The drawer does not connect to your computer — it plugs into the receipt printer over RJ11, and the printer fires the pulse that releases the latch. In SambaPOS that has one consequence people miss: the drawer only opens if that printer is configured as a Ticket Printer (the raw ESC/POS route). Set it as a Windows Printer and receipts will still print while the drawer stays shut.
For a restaurant, plan one drawer per cash-handling station — counter and bar are separate tills with separate accountability. Our NBCD-410 comes in 12V or 24V; tell us your printer and we ship the matching build.
The chain, in one line
SambaPOS → ESC/POS pulse command → receipt printer → 12V or 24V pulse → RJ11 cable → solenoid → drawer opens
An electronic cash drawer contains a solenoid and nothing else — no computer, no USB stack, nothing to install. It needs a brief burst of 12V or 24V to retract the latch, and the receipt printer is what supplies it, through the socket on its back usually marked DK or Drawer Kick.
Every problem below is a break somewhere in that chain. The wiring details, voltage matching and command variants are covered in depth in our cash drawer wiring guide — the hardware behaves identically whatever POS software you run. What follows is what is specific to SambaPOS and to restaurants.
The SambaPOS-specific trap: printer type
SambaPOS lets you define a printer in several ways, and the choice determines whether the drawer can work at all.
| Printer type | Drawer opens? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket Printer | ✅ Yes | Raw ESC/POS — the drawer-kick command reaches the printer intact |
| Windows Printer | ❌ Usually not | The driver renders the job and filters control codes it does not recognise |
| Port Printer | ✅ Yes | Direct to the port, same as Ticket Printer in this respect |
This produces the most confusing symptom in the whole setup: the receipt prints perfectly and the drawer never moves. The printer is obviously working, so the drawer looks broken. It is not — the open command is being discarded before it gets there.
If that describes your situation, check the printer type before you check anything else. It costs thirty seconds and it is the answer more often than not.
Do not let the kitchen printer open a drawer
This one is specific to multi-printer setups, which means it is specific to restaurants.
Once you have a counter printer and a kitchen printer, it is easy to end up with the drawer-kick command in a template or print job that both of them use. The result is a kitchen printer attempting to fire a drawer it is not connected to — harmless in itself, but it means the command is not doing what you think it is, and it makes diagnosing the real drawer harder.
Keep the drawer-kick tied to the printer that actually has a drawer attached, and to the event that should open it: settling a bill, not sending food to the pass.
One drawer per station, always
A pub with a bar till and a food counter has two cash-handling points. It needs two drawers.
The temptation to share one is understandable and always regretted. Cash accountability works by matching what is in a drawer against what a till recorded. Two staff members taking money into one drawer destroys that, and when the count is short at the end of the night there is no way to work out where it went. This is a management problem long before it is a hardware problem.
SambaPOS supports this properly with work periods and per-till reporting, but it can only reconcile what is physically separate to begin with.
| Station | Suggested drawer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Main counter | NBCD-410 (410mm) | Full note and coin capacity for the busiest till |
| Bar | NBCD-460 (flip top) | Flip top opens in tight spaces behind a bar |
| Service desk with no printer | NBCD-460 with USB or RS-232 | Triggered directly, no printer needed |
Opening the drawer without a sale
Restaurants need this more than shops do — giving change for a taxi, breaking a note, adding a float at the start of service. SambaPOS handles it through its automation system: an action that fires the drawer, attached to a button, optionally restricted by user role.
Two things worth deciding when you set it up:
- Who is allowed to use it. An unrestricted no-sale button is a shrinkage risk. Restricting it to supervisors is the normal arrangement.
- Whether it is logged. A no-sale that leaves no trace is exactly the event you will want a record of later.
Neither is a hardware question, but both are worth settling before opening night rather than after the first discrepancy.
Voltage: the failure that looks like a loose cable
Drawer solenoids are built for either 12V or 24V, and printers output one or the other. A 24V drawer on a 12V printer does not fail cleanly — it may open when the drawer is nearly empty and refuse when it is full of change, because the spring has more to push against. That intermittent behaviour reads as a cable fault and sends people looking in the wrong place for an hour.
The fix is to match them at the order stage. Both our drawers are available in either voltage — it is a build option, not a different product, and costs the same. Tell us the receipt printer you are pairing with and we will ship the right one.
NETBYE cash drawers
| Model | Style | Width | Voltage | Interfaces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBCD-410 | Standard, metal | 410mm | 12V or 24V | RJ11 |
| NBCD-460 | Flip top | 460mm | 12V or 24V | RJ11 / RJ12, optional RS-232 and USB |
Both are printer-driven by default and work with any receipt printer that has a drawer-kick port — ours or anyone else's. See the full range of cash drawers, and our receipt printers if you are specifying both together.
Frequently asked questions
Receipts print but the drawer never opens.
In SambaPOS, check the printer type first — a Windows Printer will print receipts while discarding the drawer-kick command. If it is already a Ticket Printer, the next suspects are voltage mismatch and an installed printer driver interfering.
Do I need a drawer for every till?
For every till that handles cash, yes. Sharing one drawer between two staff destroys cash accountability.
Can the drawer work without a receipt printer?
Only with a drawer that has its own interface. The NBCD-460 is available with USB or RS-232 for exactly this — useful for a service desk or ticket booth. Decide before ordering; an interface cannot be retro-fitted on site.
Will your drawers work with an Epson or Star printer?
Yes. RJ11 drawer-kick is a de facto standard. Confirm the printer's output voltage so we ship the matching solenoid.
What size drawer for a restaurant?
410mm suits most counters. Go wider if you handle several currencies or want more coin compartments. A flip top is worth considering behind a bar where there is no room to pull a drawer fully out.
The drawer worked yesterday and stopped today.
Check the key lock before anything else. Every electronic drawer has a lock position that disables the electronic release, and it gets turned by accident at closing time.
A note on this guide. The wiring, voltage and failure modes above are hardware behaviour we know from the products we supply and they hold regardless of POS software. The SambaPOS-side points describe how its printer types and automation model relate to the drawer, in structural terms rather than as a screen-by-screen walkthrough of a specific version. If a setting is not where we say it is, 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 hospitality fit-out companies worldwide. Our 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 branding, drawer layout and note/coin tray configuration.
Tell us which models, what quantity, which country, how many cash stations and the receipt printer you are pairing with, and you will get an accurate quote in one reply. Request a quote.
Related guides
These guides form a set. If you are specifying a complete till, the other hardware for SambaPOS is covered here:
- Receipt printer for SambaPOS
- Barcode scanner for SambaPOS
- Label printer for SambaPOS
- POS terminal for SambaPOS
And if you are comparing across POS software, the same hardware for other systems: