Epson TM-T20III Thermal Receipt Printer 250 mm/sec USB and Serial C31CH51001

End of life. Epson has discontinued the TM-T20III. Its named successor is the TM-T20IV, which Barcode Printer Shop does not currently stock. This USB and Serial build is also out of stock. The closest printer we can ship today is the TM-T20III with USB and Ethernet - the same printer, same speed and same paper widths, with a network port in place of the RS-232 port. If the serial interface is a hard requirement, contact us and we will source it rather than sell you the wrong interface.

Key Features

• Prints at up to 250 mm per second (9.84 in/sec) at 203 dpi for fast receipt throughput.
• Takes both 80 mm and 58 mm paper rolls, with the 58 mm roll guide supplied in the box.
• Auto cutter rated for 1.5 million cuts, so the mechanism outlasts most deployment cycles.
• Powered from an external 24 V DC adapter, which is included with this part number.
• Compact 140 by 199 by 146 mm footprint suits a counter, kiosk or back-office position.
• Drop-in paper loading gets a fresh roll in and the cover closed in a few seconds.
• Printhead rated at 150 km, with 360,000 hours MTBF and 60 million lines MCBF.
• Drivers cover Windows, macOS and Linux, with OPOS, JavaPOS and the Epson APD supplied.
• Built-in USB and Serial RS-232C interfaces connect to modern and legacy POS hosts alike.
• Energy-efficient design with a low standby draw, suited to always-on counter deployment.

Key Specifications

• Print Method: Thermal line printing
• Print Speed: Up to 250 mm/sec (9.84 in/sec)
• Print Resolution: 203 dpi
• Paper Widths: 80 mm and 58 mm; 58 mm roll paper guide supplied
• Auto Cutter: Rated for 1.5 million cuts
• Interfaces: USB Type-B and Serial RS-232C, built in
• Power: 24 V DC from the included Epson AC adapter C1 (model M235B)
• Colour: Epson Black
• Reliability: Printhead 150 km / 150 million pulses; MTBF 360,000 hours; MCBF 60 million lines
• Dimensions and Weight: 140 x 199 x 146 mm (5.51 x 7.83 x 5.75 in); 1.7 kg (3.75 lb)
• Driver Support: Windows, macOS and Linux; OPOS, JavaPOS, OPOS for .NET, Epson APD and ePOS SDK
• In the Box: Printer, AC adapter C1, 58 mm roll paper guide, sample roll and setup guide

Print Performance

The Epson TM-T20III (C31CH51001) prints at up to 250 mm per second, about 9.84 inches per second, at 203 dpi, on either 80 mm or 58 mm paper rolls. The 58 mm roll paper guide is supplied in the box, so switching width is a matter of fitting the guide rather than ordering a part. The auto cutter is rated at 1.5 million cuts, which on a busy till running a few hundred receipts a day works out at a service life measured in years rather than months. Thermal line printing means no ribbon, so the only consumable is the paper roll itself.

Connectivity

C31CH51001 is the built-in USB plus Serial RS-232C configuration. That pairing covers both ends of the point-of-sale estate: USB for a modern till or PC, and RS-232C for the legacy hardware and cash-drawer controllers still running in many sites. There is no Ethernet and no wireless on this part number, so if the printer needs to sit on the network, the Ethernet or wireless sibling part number is the one to order. A DK cash drawer port is provided for a drawer kick, as on the rest of the range.

Compact Footprint

The TM-T20III measures 140 by 199 by 146 mm and weighs 1.7 kg, which puts it in the middle of the counter-printer range: small enough for a till position or a kiosk, substantial enough to stay put when a receipt is torn off one-handed. Paper loading is drop-in rather than threaded, so a fresh roll goes in and the cover closes in a few seconds, which is what matters when a queue is waiting. Epson quotes the weight as 3.75 lb on the specification sheet, and a conflicting 3.31 lb appears in the technical reference guide; 1.7 kg is the figure to work from.

Reliability and Drivers

Epson rates the TM-T20III printhead at 150 km, or 150 million pulses, with a mean time between failures of 360,000 hours and a mean cycles between failures of 60 million lines. Those are the figures that justify buying a purpose-built receipt printer rather than repurposing a general office printer for the job. Driver and toolkit support covers Windows, macOS and Linux with OPOS, JavaPOS, OPOS for .NET, the Epson Advanced Printer Driver, a TM Virtual Port Driver, a CUPS driver and the ePOS SDK, plus utilities for deployment and monitoring across a fleet.

Power Supply

The TM-T20III takes 24 V DC at the printer from an external Epson AC adapter C1, model M235B, and that adapter is included with this part number. The distinction matters because the printer input is DC, not AC: the 100 to 230 V at 50 or 60 Hz figure that appears on the specification sheet is the adapter's mains side, and listings that describe this printer as taking 24 V AC are simply wrong. It is also worth noting that this adapter is not the PS-180 used elsewhere in Epson's POS range, so a spare from a different model is not necessarily interchangeable.

Availability Notes

Epson has discontinued the TM-T20III and named its successor, but discontinued does not mean unusable or unsupported: drivers, utilities and consumables remain available, and a printer already embedded in a working point-of-sale configuration has no reason to be replaced before it fails. Barcode Printer Shop carries C31CH51001 for organisations matching an existing fleet, sourcing replacement units, or maintaining a configuration where introducing a new printer model would mean revalidating the integration. Confirm quantity requirements early, because remaining stock on a discontinued model is finite.

For retail, hospitality and service counters that need fast, dependable receipt printing from a proven Epson platform, the TM-T20III C31CH51001 remains a solid choice while stock lasts. Contact us to learn more or secure this solution for your business today.