Setting up a Castles S1F2 Spektrix Payments Terminal

Dave Carr
Dave Carr
  • Updated

To take in-person card payments, you’ll need one or more Payment Terminals (also known as PIN Pads, Chip & PIN machines, Chip Readers or PEDs/peds). 

This article will guide you through setting up a Castles S1F2 Spektrix Payments terminal.

This article is for Spektrix Payments users in all regions. If you’re setting up a different device, go to the relevant article:

Spektrix Payments is a cloud based solution, therefore no installation is required. However, you’ll need to set up the S1F2 terminal before it can be used. This article guides you through the process step by step.

TIP: It isn’t possible to use the S1F2 terminal in standalone mode. All card payments must be initiated through Spektrix

Before you read this article, you should be familiar with:

 

What’s in the box?

Your payment terminal will be delivered in a box. Inside the box, you’ll find:

  • 1 x Castles S1F2 payment terminal
  • Rechargeable battery (pre-installed)
  • 4G SIM card (pre-installed)
  • USB-A to USB-C cable
  • Region specific power adapter

TIP: You can use the preinstalled 4G SIM card to set up your S1F2 terminal, however, the terminal must be connected to your organisation’s Wi-Fi network.

The 4G SIM is provided as a back up connection if you have any issues with your Wi-Fi connection.

 

Initial Checks

Once you’ve received the terminal, you’ll need to inspect it. As payment terminals process sensitive card data, you must verify that you’ve received the correct terminal and that it hasn't been tampered with.

  • Verify the Terminal’s Serial Number

    Once you’ve received your S1F2 terminal, check the following:

    1. Look for the serial number (S/N) on the box:


      picture_of_serial_number_on_box.png

       

    2. Look for the serial number (S/N) on the S1F2 terminal:


      picture_of_serial_number_on_payment_terminal.jpg

       

    3. Verify that the serial number (S/N) on the S1F2 terminal matches the serial number on the box. If it doesn’t, contact Support immediately.

       

    Once you’ve verified that the serial numbers match, check the serial number in your Adyen Essentials Dashboard.

    TIP: You may receive your S1F2 terminal(s) before Adyen has activated your account. Once you’ve received an email from Spektrix advising your Adyen account is active, you’ll be able to login and verify the serial number(s) of the terminal(s).

    Follow these steps:

    1. Login to the Adyen Essentials dashboard and go to Terminals

       

    2. Verify that the serial number (S/N) on the box and S1F2 terminal matches the serial number displayed under Terminals:


      list_of_terminals_and_serial_numbers_in_adyen_essential_dashboard.png

      WARNING: If there is a mismatch between the serial numbers on the box, the S1F2 terminal or the Terminals section of the Adyen Essentials Dashboard, do not use the terminal. Contact Support immediately.

  • Inspect the Payment Terminal

    Once you’ve verified that the serial numbers match, inspect the S1F2 terminal for damage or any signs of tampering:

    • Look for missing seals, screws, additional wires, labels, holes in the device
    • Look for anything inserted into or attached to any part of the terminal

    WARNING: If you find that the S1F2 terminal has been tampered with, do not use the terminal. Contact Support immediately.

Once you’ve completed the initial checks, proceed to the next section.

 

Setting Firewall Exceptions

When connecting the S1F2 terminal to your organisation’s Wi-Fi network, you’ll need to set exceptions on your firewall. These exceptions enable the S1F2 terminal to communicate with the Adyen payment platform.

You’ll need to follow this process when you go live with Spektrix Payments or if you or your IT team have made any changes to your firewall.

To allowlist an IP address, you’ll need to add Adyen’s in-person payment URLs as exceptions on your firewall. Contact Support to request the URLs for your region.

Once you have the URLs for your region, click the box below for information on setting Firewall Exceptions.

  • To set firewall exceptions, ask your I.T team to complete the following:

    • Add the URLs to your firewall’s allow list to allow outgoing HTTPS traffic from the IP addresses of your POS apps and payment terminal to the URLs
    • Configure your firewall to dynamically check for IP address updates at least every 60 seconds
    • Open the ports: tcp/443 to the internet, tcp/8443 on your LAN (Local Area Network)
    Once your IT team have set the Firewall Exceptions, you can continue setting up the terminal.

 

How to insert the receipt roll

You can print receipts directly from the S1F2 terminal. The first S1F2 terminal ordered will come supplied with 20 receipt rolls. Take a look at Ordering Receipt Rolls for use with Spektrix Payments Terminals for more information on purchasing additional rolls.

To insert a receipt roll, follow these steps:

 

Powering on the S1F2 Payment Terminal

The S1F2 terminal is powered by a rechargeable battery. You can also use the device while plugged into a mains power supply.

WARNING: Only use the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable and power adapter to charge the S1F2 terminal. Using a different cable or adapter may result in damage to the terminal or battery.

Using the supplied power adapter and cable, plug in your S1F2 terminal to charge the battery while setting up the device.

TIP: The LED indicator will turn orange when charging and green when fully charged.

An empty battery will take approximately five hours to fully charge.

Follow these steps:

  1. Place the S1F2 terminal facing you, and lift the rubber flap on the left side of the terminal:


     

  2. Plug the USB-C end of the cable into the USB-C socket on the terminal:


     

  3. Insert the USB-A end of the cable into the power adapter.

     

  4. Insert the power adapter into your mains/AC power supply and switch on.

     

  5. Press and hold the power key on the left side of the device until the display turns on:


     

  6. The terminal will power on and you’ll see a welcome screen where you can set up the device:


     

Once you’ve powered on the terminal, proceed to the next section.

 

Connecting the S1F2 Payment Terminal to your Wi-Fi

To take payments, you’ll need to connect your S1F2 terminal to your Wi-Fi network.

REMINDER: You can use the preinstalled 4G SIM card to set up your terminal, however, the terminal must be permanently connected to your organisation’s Wi-Fi network.

The 4G SIM is provided as a back up connection if you have any issues with your Wi-Fi connection. There are no charges for using Adyen’s pre-installed 4G SIM card.

The S1F2 terminal will immediately connect to Adyen’s 4G network and start downloading updates.

How to set up your Wi-Fi connection will differ depending on whether you’re at the welcome screen or have skipped setup.

  • To set up Wi-Fi from the welcome screen, click on the Setting up Wi-Fi from the welcome screen tab below
  • If you skipped past the welcome screen, click on the Setting up Wi-Fi from the Network menu tab below

TIP: Menu items with a padlock symbol will require a passcode. If you don’t have this, contact Support.

Do not share or write the passcode on the terminal.

  • Setting up Wi-Fi from the welcome screen

    To set up Wi-Fi from the welcome screen, follow these steps:

    1. On the welcome screen, tap the blue circle to continue setup:


      s1f2_proceed_with_setup_tap_blue_circle.png

       

    2. You’ll see a Setup Wi-Fi screen, tap on the blue + (plus) icon:


      s1f2_set_up_wi_fi_screen.png

       

    3. Tap the Use Wi-Fi toggle to turn it on:


      s1f2_use_wifi_screen_connect_to_wi_fi.png

       

    4. Select your Wi-Fi network from the list:


      s1f2_select_wifi_network.png

       

      TIP: If you can’t see your Wi-Fi network in the list, it might be hidden. If your network is hidden, you’ll need to manually enter the Wi-Fi network details. Follow the steps in How to connect to a hidden Wi-Fi network.

       

    5. Using the onscreen keyboard, enter your Wi-Fi password and tap CONNECT:


      s1f2_enter_wi_fi_password.png

       

    6. If successful, you’ll see your Wi-Fi is connected. Tap the triangle button to go back to the setup screen:


      s1f2_wi_fi_connected.png

       

    7. You may see a Confirm store screen. Check that the store name matches your merchant name. Tap the blue circle to proceed:


      confirm_store.png


      If the store name is incorrect or you’re unsure of your store name, contact Support.

       

    Once you’ve connected your S1F2 terminal to your network, you or your IT team may need to configure the IP address for the terminal. Proceed to Configuring the IP address on the S1F2 Payment Terminal.

  • Setting up Wi-Fi from the Network menu

    To set up Wi-Fi from the Network menu, follow these steps:

    1. Tap Settings on the terminal’s home screen:


       

    2. Tap Network:


      s1f2_tap_network_menu.png

       

    3. Enter the terminal’s passcode and tap Continue

       

    4. Select Wi-Fi:


      tap_wi-fi_to_change_wi-fi_settings.png

       

    5. Tap the Use Wi-Fi toggle to on:


      s1f2_use_wifi_screen_connect_to_wi_fi.png

       

    6. Select your Wi-Fi network from the list:


      s1f2_select_wifi_network.png

       

      TIP: If you can’t see your Wi-Fi network in the list, it might be hidden. If your network is hidden, you’ll need to manually enter the Wi-Fi network details. Follow the steps in How to connect to a hidden Wi-Fi network.

       

    7. Using the onscreen keyboard, enter your Wi-Fi password and tap CONNECT:


      s1f2_enter_wi_fi_password.png

       

    8. You may see a Confirm store screen. Check that the store name matches your merchant name. Tap the blue circle to proceed:


      confirm_store.png


      If the store name is incorrect or you’re unsure of your store name, contact Support.

       

    9. If successful, you’ll see your Wi-Fi is connected. Tap the triangle button to go back to the setup screen:


      s1f2_wi_fi_connected.png

       

    Once you’ve connected your S1F2 terminal to your network, you or your I.T team may need to configure the IP address for the terminal. Proceed to Configuring the IP address on the S1F2 Payment Terminal.

 

How to connect to a hidden Wi-Fi network

When you try to connect to your Wi-Fi network for the first time, you might not see it in the list of Wi-Fi networks. This is usually because the Wi-Fi network is hidden. To connect, you’ll need to manually enter your Wi-Fi network details.

Click the box below to learn how to manually enter your Wi-Fi network details.

  • If your Wi-Fi network is hidden, you’ll need to manually enter Wi-Fi network details. Speak to your I.T team and ask for the following information:

    • Wi-Fi network name (SSID)
    • Wi-Fi password
    • Wi-Fi security type

    Once you have these details, follow these steps:

    1. Tap Settings on the terminal’s home screen:


       

    2. Tap Network:


       

    3. Enter the terminal’s passcode and tap Continue

       

    4. Select Wi-Fi:


       

    5. Tap the Use Wi-Fi toggle to on:


       

    6. Scroll down and tap Add Network:


       

    7. You’ll see the Add network screen. Enter the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) using the onscreen keyboard:


       

    8. Tap the down arrow next to Security:


       

    9. Select the security type set against your Wi-Fi network (WEP / WPA / WPA2 PSK / 802.1X EAP / OWE / SAE)

       

    10. Enter your Wi-Fi password and tap Save:


       

    Once connected, you may see a Confirm store screen. Check the store name matches your merchant name. Tap the blue circle to proceed:


    confirm_store.png

     

    If the store name is incorrect or you’re unsure of your store name, contact Support.

     

    Once you’ve connected your S1F2 terminal to your network, you or your I.T team may need to configure the IP address for the terminal. Proceed to the next section.

 

Configuring the IP address on the S1F2 Payment Terminal

To obtain online authorisation for payments, the S1F2 terminal must have a valid IP address assigned. 

You can assign an IP address to the terminal using the following methods:

TIP:  The IP address of the DNS Server, Router and S1F2 terminals must all be set to Dynamic (DHCP) or Static. You can’t use a mixture of both.

 

Adding a Static IP address to the S1F2 Payment Terminal

If you use Static IP addresses in your organisation, you or your  I.T team to update the Network settings on the terminal.

Follow the steps in the box below.

  • To assign a Static IP address to your terminal, follow these steps:

    1. Tap Settings on the terminal’s home screen:


       

    2. Tap Network:


       

    3. Enter your passcode and tap Continue

       

    4. Tap Wi-Fi:


       

    5. Tap the cog icon next to your Wi-Fi network:


       

    6. Tap on the pencil icon to edit your Wi-Fi connection settings:


       

    7. Tap the down arrow next to Advanced options:


       

    8. Tap the down arrow next to the entry you want to amend:


       

    TIP: You’ll need to scroll down the screen to view all settings. Once you set the IP settings to Static, you’ll see the additional entries to complete.

    Enter the following information. You might need to speak to your I.T team to obtain these details:

    • Metered: Detect automatically.
    • Proxy: If you use a proxy server, enter the details, otherwise select none.
    • IP Settings: Static.
    • IP address: The IP address you want to assign to the terminal. This must be a unique IP address.
    • Gateway: Enter the IP address of your router.
    • Network prefix length: 24.
    • DNS 1: Enter the IP address of the preferred DNS server.
    • DNS 2: Enter the IP address of the alternate DNS server.

    Tap SAVE to connect to your Wi-Fi network using a static IP address.

    Once connected proceed to Diagnostics.

 

Diagnostics

Once you’ve connected the S1F2 terminal to your network, you’ll need to run some diagnostics. You should test the network and hardware to make sure everything works before you take a payment.

  • Network Diagnostics

    To test your network connection, follow these steps:

    1. Tap Settings on the terminal’s home screen:


       

    2. Tap Diagnostics:


       

    3. Under Network, you’ll see the following:


       

    Test the following by tapping the menu item:

    • PSP connection
    • Terminal API
    • Endpoints
  • Hardware Diagnostics

    Within Diagnostics, under Hardware you’ll see the following:



    Test the following by tapping the menu item:

    • Battery
    • NFC antenna
    • Chip card reader
    • Swipe reader

Each option should return a successful status. For example:



If you see any failures, first make sure your I.T team have set the firewall exceptions and that the terminal is connected to your Wi-Fi network. If you’ve checked this and still see a failure message, contact Support.

 

Software Updates

Once you’ve tested your connection and performed diagnostics, the next step is to let the S1F2 terminal check for Software Updates.

This is an automatic process and can take around an hour depending on the speed of your network connection. You’ll see an on screen notification indicating an update is in progress.

The terminal will reboot several times. Once any updates have downloaded, you’ll see a notification on the payment terminal.

Proceed to Maintaining Performance to learn how your payment terminal automatically updates.

 

Maintaining your S1F2 Payment Terminal’s Performance

To ensure your S1F2 terminal is kept up-to-date, several automatic processes will take place on your the terminal:

  • Maintenance calls: Every couple of hours, the terminal contacts Adyen to check for any configuration changes and software updates.

     

  • Rebooting: For security reasons, the terminal reboots once every 24 hours at the restart hour. This is necessary to clear the terminal’s cache.

     

  • Configuration changes: Any configuration changes discovered during a maintenance call are implemented when the terminal reboots at the restart hour.

     

  • Software updates: Any software updates discovered during a maintenance call are installed when the terminal reboots at the restart hour.

TIP: We recommend you keep your terminals switched on and connected to your Wi-Fi network overnight. This enables the terminal to make at least one maintenance call every day and reboot at the restart hour.

To learn more about these processes, click the tabs below:

  • Maintenance Calls

    Every day, the S1F2 terminal will contact Adyen several times to check for updates. We refer to these as maintenance calls. During a maintenance call, the terminal is informed of any changes in the configuration. For example, customising the terminal’s homescreen logo.

    The maintenance calls run in the background, and take approximately 1.8 seconds. Any changes or updates aren’t installed except in the following situations:

    • Changes initiated by Adyen that must be applied as soon as possible. With these changes, Adyen will send an instruction to the terminal to restart after the maintenance call. Restarting takes about 30 seconds.

       

    • Updating the configuration manually on the physical terminal.

    Terminals are scheduled to make a maintenance call every three hours. We call this the maintenance interval.

    If the terminal is busy at the time it is scheduled to make a maintenance call, it waits for one minute and tries again until it has succeeded in making a maintenance call.

    When the terminal has succeeded in making a maintenance call, it waits until the next scheduled maintenance call.

  • Restart Hour

    Rebooting means the terminal is restarted. The terminal automatically restarts as part of this process. This can take around two minutes. Rebooting clears the terminal's cache, which is important for security reasons.

    When the terminal reboots, it also installs any configuration changes or software updates that the terminal was informed of during a maintenance call. Installing the software can take up to 30 minutes.

    To ensure the terminal's cache is cleared regularly and the terminal is updated, the terminal will reboot once every 24 hours at the restart hour. By default, the restart hour is at 6:00 AM in the timezone of the terminal.

Once the software updates have been installed, you’re ready to set the default payment terminal in your Spektrix System.

 

Setting the default Payment Terminal in Spektrix

Once your terminal is connected to Wi-Fi and completed any updates, you’ll need to select the default terminal on each PC to send payments to.

TIP: If you haven't yet gone live with Spektrix Payments, you won't be able to select the terminal in Local Settings.

Follow these steps:

  1. Click the Control Panel button (in the bottom left corner of Spektrix):


     

  2. Under User Options, click Change Local Settings:


     

  3. A pop up will appear listing all the payment terminals by serial number. Select the serial number that matches your S1F2 terminal and click OK.

 

Taking a test Chip & Pin/Chip payment

Once you’ve finished setting up the S1F2 terminal, you can take a test payment.

REMINDER: It isn’t possible to use the S1F2 terminal in standalone mode. All card payments must be initiated through Spektrix.

In the Sales Interface click Counter to start a new transaction. You don’t have to add a Customer to the Basket/Cart:

 

Once you’re in the Basket/Cart, follow these steps:

  1. Click Chip & Pin/Chip:


     

  2. Set the Amount you wish to collect via Chip & Pin/Chip and click Ok


     

  3. The amount will be displayed on the payment terminal. Tap your card on the terminal to continue.

     

  4. If the authorisation succeeds the pop up will close. The payment will be added to the Basket/Cart.

     

You can refund the payment in the same transaction by following these steps:

  1. Click Refunds and select Chip & Pin/Chip:


     

  2. Check the Amount to refund is correct and click Ok:


     

  3. Click Confirm & Mark as Printed.

     

  4. You may see a confirmation pop up appear. Click Confirm:


     

 

Cancelling a test Chip & Pin/Chip Payment

If you need to cancel a Chip & Pin transaction before you take the payment, click Cancel in the Chip & Pin Payment pop up:

 

 

Click Delete to remove the payment:

 

 

You can now take Chip & Pin/Chip payments through Spektrix Payments.

 

Further Reading

To learn more about Spektrix Payments go to the Spektrix Payments section of the Support Centre.