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I wanted to let everyone on NLG know about a project I am working on that I need to recruit some help for.  I am in the process of designing and testing a circuit that will be capable of running TITO on slot machines without having to connect a computer.  I am currently working with a s2000 machine, and want to make it possible to use this on other machines as well.  Here is the call for help...  I am in need of the comm board pin out diagrams for any machines other than the s2000 so I can work on designing the cable connections that would be needed to get the other machines to communicate with my board.  Once I get this project working on one machine I am planning on taking the next step to be able to connect multiple machines at once so a ticket out of one machine can be inserted in another. 

Sounds Good

What microcontroller do You plan on using? Your best bet is probably to connect your micro to a max232 IC terminating in a standard DB9 and leave it up to the end user to build a harness between the device and his/her machine. I dont really see the benifit of doing TITO - With SAS You can simply send an EFT or AFT transaction and credit your machine without having to worry about bv's , ticket printers and tickets.

Have a look at my SAS@home thread - I have a Pic Micro sending credits to a PE+ when I presss the service button and in another version I credit the machine as soon as the credits on machine are zero.

Ian

Love the idea


TZ  -  your slot is hooked up to a computer for credits?  I got it to work that way.

At least in my situation the reason of wanting to use TITO is for those of us that do have multiple machines and want to switch without having to just add more credits. also i believe alot of folks with 2 or more machines want the casino feel of it.

I am not sure yet what microcontroller I will be using.  I am just in the starting phases of designing this project since I got my TITO with a computer working.  Now I want it to be easier for everyone to be able to make the transition to computerless TITO.  Initial estimates are coming up about $40 to make the board and of course the higher qty printed at once the cheaper the PCB's I am making will get. It is just a great way to make the machines more authentic to what they do in a casino environment.

I'm for sure not the smartest person on this but I don't see how it will
work like in the casino without being hooked into a computer.

It will be set up eventually that machines can be connected and one machine would have a host board with a database stored on it that they all can validate tickets against

Man i hope you you are successful at this tito project. That would be da shit!!!

Oh I will be.  It is all in my head.  I am just needing to find the right people to help me get it from my head into reality.

Wish i could help but that stuffs over my head im afraid.

You don't know it until now, but by getting some of those tickets I was selling you have been helping to finance my toying around with the idea on paper.

Cool! I shoulda bought more. :)

You wouldn't happen to have the wiring diagrams for any of your machines would you?  I am trying to absorb as much as I can to encode what may be needed to work.

Other then s2000, I only have the 2 sigmas. Got the uv1700 pdf. Ill look

Is it really required to have validation in a home environment? Why not simply credit the machine with the ticket value regardless if it has been used before?
Those of You who already have TITO working via PC care to elaborate if this is practical ?

What developement environments are You familiar with ? Are Your interests commercial or are You willing to publish code/construction details so eveybody can DIY.

It will not be removing the ticket from the database when used so it will function like the pc based ones, but without the pc.  I have not determined if it will be a commercial or leisure adventure.  It depends on development costs.  I am going to be using c for the coding, and completely custom designing the circuit

What is the difference between your TITO system
and the ones we already have working on our home machines with a laptop?
A circuit board doing the same thing as a cheap, old $45 ebay-bought XP-based laptop w/a wireless keyboard & mouse?
If so, that would be pretty good as I'll have more room in my machine's topbox!   :72-

Mine will be updated as I get the capability set up to link machines together so tickets from one machine can be used in another.  I am also doing it for energy savings and also for people that don't have the knowledge of how to do the computer based ones.

Hi

Have a look at this thread - http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=15698.0
If You or anybody else would like to continue work on this project PM me for the code done so far (In basic) as I dont have any TITO stuff this side and currently no machine to test on.

I think it should be possible to extract the ticket value from the SAS string sent when a ticket is inserted and then send the relvant AFT/EFT command for the ticket amount.
If this is the case it wont be required to link controllers together and would reduce cost and complexity of the project

The hardware is about $20 - If there is enough interest I am sure that Cisecos' american distributers can bring in the board and even if ordered from the UK shipping is fairly reasonable
http://shop.ciseco.co.uk/xino-pro-for-pic/ (http://shop.ciseco.co.uk/xino-pro-for-pic/)

Ian

When a ticket is printed or redeemed in a machine it is not normally a AFT/EFT function between the machine and the Host.

It could be AFT/EFT but it is not required. all that is required is that the ticket, amount, and other data be retrievable when ticket is redeemed by a player in a machine or cage, and noted as redeemed in the system.
When a ticket is printed the machine puts the SAS code for Cash out button pressed and Voucher/Ticket printed
ON the next poll by host responds to the ticket printed, then sends ticket inquiry command, machine responds with ticket number and amount, both in BCD.as one long string.

Let me see if I can get some sample comm data  for you, my program does not log the bytes sent and received like another program will.
Ticket printed.
RX  66 Cash out pressed
RX  3D Ticket printed
TX  01 4D 00 C2 AC Ticket inquiry
RX  01 4D 00 08 05 25 20 12 17 21 11 80 97 06 48 06 36 49 98 00 00 00 25 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 30 00 00 66 24
I have forgotten what the 08 and 30 means.
but the next part is the date and time in BCD 05 25 20 12 17 21 11
then the ticket number 00-8097-0648-0636-4998 if you do not know this already EZ-Pay tickets (SAS) always have 00 as the first 2 digits, so the leading 00 is not TX to the host.
then the amount $25.00 as 00 00 00 25 00
RX  26        A player initiated cashout has occured.

Ticket redeem
RX  67            ticket inserted
TX  01 70       Ticket inquiry
RX  01 70 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 62 40 22 26 89 60 34 38 39 3E response from machine ticket number is "00-6240-2226-8960-3438
TX  01 71 10 00 00 00 00 25 00 00 00 62 40 22 26 89 60 34 38 4D 6D program changes the 70 to 71 and puts he amount in as 00 00 00 25 00 ($35.00)
RX  01 71 10 40 00 00 00 25 00 00 00 62 40 22 26 89 60 34 38 4F FB response from machine changing the status of the ticket
RX  68 ticket transfer complete.
TX  01 71 01 FF 1F D0 host then does a second inquiry on the ticket (not sure why but it does)
RX  01 71 10 00 00 00 00 25 00 00 00 62 40 22 26 89 60 34 38 4D 6D machine just responds with the data again.

TX means to machine RX is from machine
The last 2 bytes are a CRC created by the host or machine for all the longer responses. note the CRC is not required for some commands.

Thanks Foster - I already have some data You sent to me previously.

Thanks Foster.  That should help me a lot converting from c# to C so it will work for my setup.

heres my very small contribution. lol. wiring diagram as requested. its only for sigma/mokohn uv1700 but they are great machines! wish more people had them. Tim

That photo is not able to be read for the pin outs.  Can you read the comm board port and see how many pins there are,, and which ones are for tx, rx, and ground?

I wonder if a micro controller could just be used to handle the 9th bit mode.

Here is what I am thinking the a PC sends the SAS commands with no wake up bits in or out
The micro controller on getting bytes from the PC, briefly buffers the bytes and then sends them out with the wake up bit where needed..
Bytew from the machine can be sent to the PC without the wake up bit set
No more parity or framing errors

Sorry about the photo. I looked but im not sure i can find what your asking. Heres the linc for the manual in .pdf
http://slot-tech.com/interesting_stuff/sigma/All_Docs/Manuals/UV17CD19.pdf (http://slot-tech.com/interesting_stuff/sigma/All_Docs/Manuals/UV17CD19.pdf)

Thanks for the link.  Now I can read the image much better so I can try to find the comm board connections.  I sent you a pm to look at something for me as I can't find it on the manual file. 

Didnt get pm. Send again.

You beat me to it.  lol.  I was just typing it when you replied.

ok from pm discussion heres photos. i couldnt send in pm it seems.

shit! sorry about sideways photo again. ive done that before. need to check them before i send.

The bottom pic is where it would have been, but I see a connector on the top one that looks like a serial port.  Where in the machine is that located?

Thats the SIB board

On the sib board is there a connector labeled cn2?  That is the one I need to find on the sib board.

yep! its labeled on the port. its also labeled 'debug port'
hope that helps.

Found this on the same site where IGTFanMan found the manual - May shed some more light on the SIB board - http://slot-tech.com/interesting_stuff/sigma/All_Docs/EIBs/1998/98019.pdf

Great find.  It confirms if the right version is there it supports SAS

Yep - And the comms pinouts. Seems you have RS232 and TTL - But it seems like only metering available via SAS. Never worked on one of these before but may be running into a few sometimes next month.
Good to know there are some NLG members familiar with the platform.

Foster, do you have any information on the algorythm for the CRC coding from the machine, or do you know if it can just be dropped off the data when it comes in?

This May help - http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=13799.0

Thanks TZtech.  That helps a ton.  It was exactly what I needed.

hello, i thought i would comment my thoughts...jejej....i love the idea of a small microcontroller (master) in one machine, then (slave) units in the other machines for a low cost home TITO system, i also like bhinklys part of explaing 'part' of the protocol associated with ticket redemption....here's a few pointers....
 - dont confuse EFT or AFT with TITO, ticket redemption has nothing to do with EFT or AFT , what happens to the ticket if an EFT credit is issued during ticket redemption? , the ticket will be rejected by the validator, and both transactions will fail (EFT or AFT is not allowed during ticket redemption)
 - if the validation number(bar code on ticket) is generated by the machine its just a serial number, 8 digits for standard validation, 16 digits for enhanced (or secured enhanced) validation, the home TITO system needs the credit amount on the ticket,  the only way to encode the credit amount on the ticket is in the barcode (validation number)  by using 'system' generated validation, in other words, the microcontroller will interogate the machine for the credit amount then encode that number in the 'system' generated validation number printed on the ticket, this eliminates the need for a "back-end" database management system (sql)....
- ok, thats all.....just an idea

As far as the TITO system, it doesn't have to work completely identical to the ones in the casino behind the scenes, just so it can read and create tickets.  Many of us already have working TITO systems using a PC.  I am basically removing the PC, but using the same technique with a microcontroller.  there will be a memory chip that will be able to store upwards of 60,000 tickets that are generated.  I am not reinventing the wheel, just merely improving the wheel as it may be.   :72- 

Tom,
Nice to here from you here.
Let me know when you back in the States and I'll buy the  :151- :154- :151- :222- :134-

thanks R, as i am thirsty for some home brew , the part they are not getting is that they dont need to store the ticket data, they dont need a database, just encode the ticket amount in the barcode, believe me this is nothing like a "back-end" casino system, nor am i suggesting the home system be anything close to a "behind the scenes" system i am just suggesting the most efficient way to make this work for a home system...sorry i didnt get in this earlier.....

Tom,
If I understand your sudgestion, dont use standard 8 digit validation.
Use enhanced vlidation and encode the value in the 16 digits.(first 8 digits) of the bar code.

i dont believe thats correct, you would have to use system validation .

standard---machines creates 8 digit
enhanched-- machine creates 16 digit
system -- the host creates the 16 digit number

Progress is a wonderful thing.  I have the circuit designed and am just working to get the code ready to write to the microcontroller.  Then the fun begins of plugging it in and seeing if it works.  It is an extremely small board.  The board itself is approximately 2 inches by 3 inches. 

Great

What micro are You using ? How are You communicating between boards?
Good luck with the testing.

I am using a PIC16F687 and will be using cat 5 cable between boards when I move to that step.  Right now I am focusing on just getting it to work on one machine before I start trying to build in the networking aspect

can you make it work on a s2000? id be so happy to be able to use tickets in my top dollar.....

I actually have an s2000 myself so it will work there no problem.  As long as the machine supports SAS in the right way it would work on any machine.

Another update for everyone.  My initial coding is done now.  I have boards on order for testing and if people want them from me directly.  I will have 8 boards that are not spoken for yet.  PM me if you want me to hold one for you.  I should be ready to start assembling the test board on thursday or Friday of this week, so it is getting close.  :)

Great job man!

We are getting very close now.  I have the boards and I have assembled the test board.  Now I just need to get the coding programmed into the chip and testing can be done.  I still have 4 boards available for now.  If I get enough response I can always order more.  If you want me to build the board for you, it would be $37 plus shipping for the board with all chips and programming.  You would need to make the cable for the power and the connection to the comm board.  If you are not interested in me building them I will be posting the schematics and the material list.  The coding involved will not be posted though.  Here is a pic of the test board.  As you can see it is very small.  Just over 2" x 3" total.

Your project is coming along nicely - Great Job

Are the 2 * 8 pin chips EEPROM and RS485?
Where did You have Your PCB's fabbed and how much does it work out to per board. Have You seen http://batchpcb.com. This will allow You to sell Your PCB directly from their website.
Unfortunately only US citizens can put up boards for sale

One is the RS485.  The other is the flash memory.  The 20 pin is the EEPROM micro controller.  I use www.pcbwing.com to print the boards, then I personally put the components on myself.  At that site it cost about $62 to have 10 boards printed.  The more you buy at once the cheaper it is for each one.  Then there are the actual parts that I get from various sources.  Most come from www.mouser.com

Does anyone know how to easily compile c programming code to a hex file for a PIC18F13K50 micro controller?  I can't get the compiler I have to work right.  That is all I have left before testing.

Initial testing hit a minor snag.  One part I have is not compatible with my circuit, but one that is shall be here soon.  We are getting very close to being ready to roll this out.  I will be immediately starting the networking coding once I get the initial board working, and will be able to start producing the boards while doing the coding possibly as well.

Hi

Are You using standard or enhanced validation or the host generated System validation  that Tom suggested  ?
Would like to add similar functionality to my project next and would be interested to see how You did it.

It is enhanced validation

Well, this is sort of a downer so far.  I have the circuit assembled, and programmed, but for some reason it is not running at all (not even on a serial port on the computer).  :(  I am still troubleshooting.  I am very determined to make this work for everyone. 

keep on it im sure you will figure it out.......

Which compiler are You using ? With PICS one of the most troublesome aspects is getting all the peripherals defined correctly and defined properly - Ie is external oscillator enabled - Is serial port enabled etc. Break the program down into blocks and get each subsystem working. On mine once I got the poll to the machine working (Ie getting the ninth bit manipulation working) the rest fell in place easily.

I am using mcc18 for the compiler.  Do you have knowledge in various PIC configurations to help determine what is wrong?

for the PIC18F25K22 the setting look something like this - http://www.myamicus.co.uk/showthread.php?931-PIC18F25K22-Fuse-Settings

I am afraid I have almost no expericence when it comes to C Compilers so I am not sure how You would define them in that dev environment. Have You tried the microchip forums ?

Not yet.  I will have to check the forums out.  I don't know anything in c either, but I have a programmer working with me to get what I need into c code for me.

Just an update for everyone again.  Still working to get the PIC chip to work correct.  Please hang tight.  it will be well worth it once this chip gets going to have the stand alone TITO working for systems.

*****UPDATE******   Progress is being made.  I finally got my PIC to blink an LED, which it wasn't even willing to do before, so now we are on the right track, so now things are moving forward all be it slow progress.  I still have a list of everyone that is interested in the boards.  Initially I did say the boards would be $37 a piece plus shipping.  Depending on how many people order them the price could be lower as parts I can order do have discounts for higher quantities ordered at once.  You will have to make the cable to connect to the power and to your machine, but I will include instructions on how the cable connects to my board to make that part very simple and I will include all settings you need to do for the key chip config to get the machines set up to do so and have the machine know how to communicate once this is running.  If you have not let me know of your interest in purchasing a board when they are completed, please let me know and I will add you to the list.  That way when I am ready I can let everyone know what the updated price for their patients with the delayed development will be.  Anyone that does not do a pre-order will not get in on the discounted price as I will not get the qty discount for the parts.

Now I am starting to see the fruits of my labor.  I have another progress update for everyone, and sort of a minor setback.  First the progress.  I have the PIC micro controller now actually running basic serial communications that I can monitor with my computer, so no that we have that step of the process up and running we are getting extremely close to getting the first phase of the TITO board up and running so I can move on to the networking phase and get this project up and live for everyone that has been so patiently waiting..

Now for the minor setback.  I broke my custom made cable yesterday to connect my machines to my computer or boards while playing with a new machine I just birthed yesterday, and don't think I have the parts needed to fix it, so I may need to wait for new parts to make a new connector on that before the next step of TITO testing can commence, but that is just a minor thing. 

For everyone that has already put your name on the list for boards, a big thank you goes out to you.  Due to your pre-orders you are going to be pleasantly surprised how much it is helping to reduce the costs of the boards that you are going to be getting thanks to the very large number of identical parts I will be getting to order at once so I can get discounts on those.

Congrats on your current progress, and keep up the great work!  Let me know if I can help.

i cant wait im excited!!!!!  congrats on progress :259-

Sorry about the delay everyone.  Getting the pic to work together with the slot machine is proving to be a little more work than I expected.  I have made progress though.  I have reliable communication from the pic to the computer for testing now.  All I have left is getting it to respond correctly to input back from the computer to the pic correctly and then putting the coding in place I already have for the slot interface to do testing.

Is your version going to validate the ticket so it can't be used again?

It will validate the ticket to make sure it is a valid ticket, but will not remove it from the database, so yes the ticket will be able to be used repeatedly.

We are making some good progress.  I finally have the pic responding consistently to input from a computer now, so I am working to get the coding for the slot machine responses in place that I already have worked out.  Once that is worked into place I will just need to do testing with my machines and phase 1 (working with one machine) will be complete.  For those of you that are looking for the set up where you will be able to network multiple machines together I hope to have that completed very quickly after the single machine setup is done.  The boards I currently have designed will work for both phases, it is just a matter of different coding in the PIC and a jumper setting to have those work once done.  As I get closer to finishing I will PM each person that has pre-ordered to find out where it will be mounted in the machine for them so I can make sure the cable to connect to the comm board is appropriately set up.  If you wish to and have pre-ordered and want to get a jump on the info, you can send me a message to let me know where you will be mounting the board.  It is a 2.5" x 3.5" board approximately.


For anyone else that has not already pre-ordered and is interested in pre-ordering, the machines this will work with right now are IGT machines that are able to run SAS Enhanced validation.  I will be accepting pre-orders until 12/1/2012.  The final pre-order pricing is still yet to be determined as I am giving the lowest possible pricing based on the delay and what kind of qty discount I can get for all the parts I need to order at once, but right now the pricing for pre-order is looking like somewhere between $30-35 plus shipping per board complete.  All you would need to do is supply a source of power to connect to the DC input plug that I will have installed on the board when I send it to you.  If you are interested and have not already let me know, please let me know before 12/1 if you want to pre-order.  Payment is not due until the project is ready for production so that I know everything will work for people.


Special thanks to TZtech for working on helping me with the PIC issues.  I appreciate your assistance with keeping this project rolling so we can get this moving for everyone.

Yet another update.  I am starting to see really good progress now.  The PIC is registering all commands coming from a computer now.  I am just working on implementing and testing so it will recognize them from the machine instead of a computer and we will be good to go.  Just so everyone knows, this is not in any way a part of Bettor Slot's TITO system.  This is designed and set up by me.

Thank you for everyone's being patient while I work out the bugs in the system.  This has turned out to be much more of an undertaking than I thought it would be.

Here is the newest update.  I am working with TZTech to get this TITO board of mine off the ground.  I have a file I will be testing when I get a different processor to try it with.  This file will be able to add credits to the machine by pressing the service/change button.  This will now be the first step that I will be offering available to people if they want it at a reduced price as some components won't be needed on the board for that part to work.  Let me know if you would be interested in that step only.  This should be able to get phase 1 to be completed where a single machine TITO will be up and running successfully and we will still be working to get the validation working correctly so that all the minor details will work, but that would only involve a change in the programming, no hardware changes at all.  After that is complete, phase 2 which involves networking machines together will hopefully not be far behind.  Thank you everyone for being so patient while I work out all the bugs that have come with this process.  It will be well worth it.

Great news everyone!!!  I have successfully just tested TITO on my game king machine.  Single machine tito with my board is working on game kings, and it is turning out to be cheaper than I initially planned.  I am ironing out the details on the multi machine and configuration details for the s2000 machines.  I will be reaching out to everyone that has preordered boards to let you know how much your board would run each as they will be less than this post says because of presale pricing.  Anyone that has not preordered, if you are interested in ordering for the IGT s2000 or game king machines, you can place orders for a board for $45 plus shipping now by sending me a personal message.

These boards will print tickets, and accept tickets back in.  They will also add credits if you press the service/change button if you have that feature enabled.

Brian

Great news, Brian! Keep up the great work!

 On my Cleopatra S2000 the TITO will not take in tickets  all the others will . Is there a switch on the bill validator ?? it is set up as the same as the others . It will add credits. with cash or the add credit feature . any ideas ??

Did you try to swap bill acceptors with one you know works?

FORD . Not yet. It was next thing to try . I was wondering if there was a switch or something in the settings as per tickets  . As this game with the  top screen monitor is a little differant than the 3 reel and 5 reel games i have.  P.B.

I had some that would take bills but not tickets. It was always the head that was wore & would not read tickets.

Thanks for the reply FORD i will try swapping bill validators as it is easy enough

This jogged my memory too.  If you want it to take bills and tickets make sure all the switches on the right side of the bill validator transport are up.

All the switches should be off (would be up if you are holding a WBA as it would be in the machine)
Switches 1-7 control acceptance and Switch 8 enters test mode

SW# Enabled when off and disabled when on (exception #8)
1 Tickets/Vouchers
2     $1
3     $5
4   $10
5   $20
6   $50
7 $100
8 Test mode entered when on (test entered depends on sw1-7)

 Update as to problem with bill validator not taking tickets . Swapped  BVD with a known working unit . Problem followed the BVD  . I noticed the BVD that would not take tickets but would take cash (BILLS) ran a little slower than other units . So i just swapped out the head assy and left the transport from the 2 units and it now works ??? . Is it because of a slow in taking of the tickets or MAYBEE a bad connection in the connectors in the head  Hmmmmm  :103-   P.B.      NOTE **** all switches were off as needed

Had the same thing happen.  New head fixed it.  Might buy a jcm calibration paper.  That can resolve bill and ticket rejections too.  Use after a thorough cleaning.

Jason

It sounds like there could be a few things that possibly caused it.  The slow moving head could cause a reject if the machine doesn't recognize the full ticket number before the BVD rejects for a bill in it too long.  The other thing as mentioned could be a need for cleaning and calibrating the head.  One thing you could try if you run into something like this and don't have a calibrating paper (I know this to work with relatively good success, but it is not perfect) is to take a piece of black construction paper.  Cut it to the width of a dollar bill but the full 8 in length or whatever it comes in.  Then do a calibration using that.  Often that will work to calibrate.