Bally S6000 noisy reel

[stayouttadabunker]

a69mopar,
I wish I had machines like yours to play with...
I can't figure out what's going on with daddy2yea's Bally6000
because I don't have access to one to play with...
You have to send me one now!  
Write it off your taxes as "educational purposes" or something...

There, I got THAT off my chest...now, I feel better...

*****Back to to your regular scheduled programming******

[a69mopar]

Bunker, if you're ever in Canada, I'm sure you'll leave with SOME machines, they wont be free though.    Mike, The two chips are the same, and it was a shot, I'll look at other components later, if you had another machine I would say to try to swap the board, that is the easiest way to narrow things down.  The tape would essentially insulate the strips from the contact points, this would likely help for now, as well as the single drop of oil.  On 4 reel machines the strips tend to be a bit noisier, however the condition described sounds extreme.  I have to move some machines now, so I'll check back later.

Thanks,
Wayne

[daddy2yea]

AAUGH!!! I checked the resistance of the wires from the plug end that's goes into the backplane to the plug end that goes into the 4Th reel with my ohm meter and all readings were the same.  Now it seems like the 3rd reel is starting to make noise to sometime. Is there anyway to check/verify the current going to the reel motors or am I going in the wrong direction.  OK thats all for now. Thanks  Mike

[stayouttadabunker]

I think you're going in the right direction to Odgensburg,NY
(Famous little town in upstate NY for housing mentally challenged patients...
plus, they give you FREE tight white coats with long pieces of material sewed to the arms )

Actually, when trying to figure out stuff like this and solving them...it's a real challenge sometimes.
Don't give up...how else are you gonna learn?

[daddy2yea]

I don't know if this means anything but when I switch the number 2 reel with any other reel, I get a a reel tilt error in the position the number 2 reel is now in.  When I switch it back, I am able to clear the tilt error code.  Is there any way that the number 2 reel is bad causing the problem with the noisy number 4 reel?  If that makes sense.   I was a little late with this discovery because when I was swapping the number 4 reel with the other reels, it was usually number 1 or number 3, I didn't try to switch with reel number 2 because taking out reel number 2 had to come out between reel numbers 1 and 3.  Swapping reel number 4 with 3 or 1 was much easier.  Once again the noise comes from whatever reel is plugged into the number 4 reel plug.  Just wondering if reel number 2 could be part of the problem.  Confused on why reel number 2 doesn't tilt when it is in the number 2 spot but tilts in any other spot.   Help - I need input.  Thanks   Mike.

[a69mopar]

Hi Mike,
   This is common that swapping reels on a bally will cause it to fail to initialize, you can try to press the test button until 5d shows and hold the change button to make it initialize, may or may not work, or perform a saferam clear (partial will do), you will need saferam clear chips to do this.  Here is a video how to (yeah, I could use a coffee in it) for a partial saferam clear. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/fJ-yRz4AnYc&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/fJ-yRz4AnYc&rel=0</a>   

I just got home and will be on the road again within an hour, but will look for other possible causes later, or tomorrow.  I do check on my cell phone, but it's harder to post on it.

Thanks,
Wayne

[jdkmunch]

 

Great video!


Wayne your much younger than I imagined you to be.   For no reason other than your avatar I envisioned you to be 60 or 70.

I also loved how your machine's chrome was 100% perfect - not even a scratch!! I have an S+ that's *almost as good but that is the cleanest I have ever seen.

[stayouttadabunker]

I vote this one of the best instructional videos of the year
for the "Bent Screwdriver" awards!!!
I wish I had a camera man....LOL

[jdkmunch]

Ya Ya!! I was going to ask who was working the camera.  I may see if my dog will help and strap a cam on her back.

lol

[daddy2yea]

Hey, a69mopar it funny that posted that video cause I just watch it last night on youtube. I must say you make it look so  easy.  I had to do a safe ram clear
the very first week I had the machine and the chip didn't go in as easy  I had to use a toothpick to line up some of the legs of the chips.  Not to muddy the waters but  the 2 reel is now noisy. Not the same noise as the #4 problem which  has an electrical sound to it, but a sound like a bad bearing would make. And in this case it is the reel.  If  I spin the reels by hand (machine off of course) you can still hear the noise on the 2ND reel and it still sounds like a bearing. So this is new plus still trying to figure out noise in #4 spot.  That's all for now Mike

[daddy2yea]

There coming to take me away HAHA.  OK this is just weird.  I had turn the machine off. Typed my previous post about the 2ND reel noise. Then I was showing my wife how the 2ND reel sounded like it had a bad bearing (machine off spinning by hand) and would you believe no noise. Turned the machine on and still no noise from the 2ND reel. Just the noise from the 4TH reel spot Which is what this topic is all about.   This is making my head hurt. will post again if I make any more discoveries.  Thanks Mike
PS.  Atlantic City this weekend.

[stayouttadabunker]

Try this,...
1.Take the strips off and play the game and listen to the reels.
or
 
2.Turn the power off, with no strips installed, look and
    see if the optic cutouts on the baskets are rubbing against the optic enclosures.
or

3.Sell the machine on ebay and
    get something else!

[Buzz]

Mike   A lot of people are watching this thread and staying out of it because you have two of the best helping you. I too should stay out but what the hell,  Are you 100% sure something is not rubbing the reel basket when it is spinning, most times this is a electrical wire hanging down. one thing you weren't told was, where the reel strips overlap you need a piece of double sided tape to hold them in place. Now if nothing rubbing the basket go to Bunker's reply #6 and Wayne's # 20 ( the oil and tape trick )  Bunker places a piece of electrical tape over the hole on bottom side of the basket where the motor shaft goes through, cut the tape much like you would a 4 piece pie. Wayne puts tape on the cross pin on the motor shaft to make the basket fit tighter. Now a word of caution when removing the E clip that holds the basket on, it can and will go flying also the basket must be put back on the motor shaft exactly the way it came off. Myself I mark the basket and the cross shaft with a Sharpie pen. One more thing all reel motors make some noise I think more like a whine than a bad bearing noise. 

[stayouttadabunker]

Buzz made a real good suggestion earlier and
I think it was dubbing a little silicone stuff into the
reel basket hole to help keep the reel hole snug against the shaft.
I, myself, am now torn between whether or not it's a physical or an electrical problem now.

[a69mopar]

I almost wonder if there is a power supply issue, however I think that would affect more than just one reel.  For someone like me, who has many machines that I can just swap a power supply, reel or main board it's easy to narrow things down.  One thing you mentioned is that the reel doesn't make noise when you spin it by hand, a noisy reel usually will make the noise when it spins at a certain speed.  I'll look at the schematics tomorrow (just got back in tonight).  Oh, yeah, did you try the drop of oil?

Thanks,
Wayne

[dogwrangler]

It sounds like the harness for the fourth reel.  you swapped the fourth reel out and the new replacement reel became noisy. you swapped the fourth harness out and the reel became quiet.  could be a short.  you would not see that if you just checked the end to end resistance of the harness.  you might consider carefully inspecting the wires in that fourth harness for breaks in the insulation.

[a69mopar]

The reel wires are in 1 harness, so connecting the wires from the third reel to the fourth reel and vice versa, is the same as moving the third reel to the fourth reel...  the other end of the harness for all the reels connects to the backplane board.

w

[dogwrangler]

Dang!  So unless you can replace the entire harness, you can't isolate that.  Still, a close physical inspection of the cable and connectors might reveal something.  Would it be possible to wiggle the harness while the reel is spinning?

[stayouttadabunker]

It is possible to wiggle the harness while the reels are spinning during actual "game" mode...
but he would have to make a bypass harness for the door optics to get his hand in there with the door open...
or
open the belly door and reach in and
try get at the harness and wiggle it...
wiggling means wiggling the 4 reel connectors AND
the OTHER end that plugs into the motherboard - with the door closed.

[dpalmi]

It is possible to wiggle the harness while the reels are spinning during actual "game" mode...
but he would have to make a bypass harness for the door optics to get his hand in there with the door open...

I have not worked with Bally's - but if it was on my IGT, I would just remove the reel glass itself - 4 screws...

Dan #2

[jdkmunch]

Is there anyway you can record the noise for us?  It may just be normal reel grinding that you hear.    I'm so in tune to it now I can hear the reels make the sound IN THE CASINO!
 
 

[daddy2yea]

Ok Guys - a lot of good suggestions and I have tried all of them.  I have wiggled the wires while the reels were spinning using the pseudo coin button to spin the reels with the door open.  I have checked all of the pins of the 4th reel connector for a short by checking for continuity of each pin to an other on the connector.  I ran the reels without the reel strips and yes  it is still noisy, but not as loud.  But the number 4 is still the noisy reel.  I even tried putting a piece of black tape on each of the reel pins but it didn't dampen the noise.  Just for clarification, all reel motors have been given a drop of 3-in-1 oil.  I put a piece of tape on each of the reel baskets where it slips on to the reel motor shaft.  I have also checked and re-checked to make sure that the reel baskets aren't rubbing against any wires, optic sensors or anything else and they are not.  So basically, I believe we have isolated it to the reel harness back.  Good news is all of the reels, when in any position other than #4, are very quiet due to all of the good suggestions.  As far as the 2nd reel noise that I reported that is a separate issue that has been taken care of.  I don't know what happen but I was able to get an additional reel assembly and have since replaced the 2nd reel with the new assembly and that took care of the problem.  So now, we can stay focused on the original problem of the noisy reel in the 4th position.  Thanks to all.  Mike

[stayouttadabunker]

Can you record the sound for us?
This is the 47th post and it's still not fixed...
If JDKMunch is right, then maybe it's not broken?

[a69mopar]

O.K., working back from the harness the next would be the backplane board that the harness attaches to.  This could have a scrape (the board in the pic has a small scratch that caused the reel spin sound to be non functional, easy fix, was a pain to find.), or a cold solder joint.  Take a look carefully around the board for any scratches, there are two separate voltage feeds for each voltage as can be seen on the inset diagram.
There's a good possibility that the main board is causing this issue, suspect components would be RP17 and U13 which are next to the U11 and U12 you swapped.

I will look a little further later.

Thanks,
Wayne

[StatFreak]

It is possible to wiggle the harness while the reels are spinning during actual "game" mode...
but he would have to make a bypass harness for the door optics to get his hand in there with the door open...

I have not worked with Bally's - but if it was on my IGT, I would just remove the reel glass itself - 4 screws...

Dan #2

I noted that daddy has gone beyond this test, but for future reference, Bally 6000s don't have door optics. One only has to pull out the white cherry switch to play the machine in normal "closed door" mode with the door open. No manipulation of glass or belly is necessary.