thread APG cash drawer not opening in Payments Troubleshooting

APG cash drawer not opening

SnoConesNWA — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:53:59 GMT

I bought 2 square registers and 2 APG VB554A-BL1616 (usb) cash drawers directly from Square. The first day of usage they both started not opening at the end of a cash transaction. We were able to reset the USB cable and that seemed to resolve the problem (for a bit). This past weekend, it didn't resolve the problem. We tried rebooting the register and disconnecting power completely from the stand. Neither of these resolved the issue. We had to use the key and then leave the drawer open.

I've gone through the troubleshooting article here: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5517-troubleshoot-your-cash-drawer

When it is working, it works for a while and then it will just stop opening.

This is happening at both locations and seems to be getting worse (initially reseating the usb cable would resolve the issue for a while, now this doesn't seem to resolve all the time).

When this is happening, the Square Register still shows the USB cash drawer connected and allows for testing (which doesn't open the drawer either).

Anybody having similar issues? Anybody know how to resolve the issue?

Re: APG cash drawer not opening

JustinC — Wed, 05 May 2021 21:23:15 GMT

Strange. And you made sure the key hole is positioned in the unlocked position right (sideways)? Does the drawer make a 'click' sound as if it's trying to open?

@SnoConesNWA

Re: APG cash drawer not opening

SnoConesNWA — Thu, 06 May 2021 02:35:59 GMT

No. When this happens, there is no "click" sound to try and open the drawer from the register. I've opened a case with Square support and they are taking a look at it. It is happening to both of my Square Register / APG Cash Drawers.

We performed a factory reset on one of the Registers today and it was happening again tonight. :shrug:

Re: APG cash drawer not opening

JustinC — Thu, 06 May 2021 12:20:21 GMT

Eek, I'm wondering if the two drawers you purchased came from a bad batch at the warehouse, esp since the factory resets didn't work. I've seen that happen before but our Engineers can confirm if that's case.

Definitely keep me looped in! @SnoConesNWA