New Life Games Tech Forums

Does anyone have any information on a DBV-146 bill validator?
I have one in a Williams game, and i would like to update the ROM.
does the DBV-145 firmware work? what is the difference between
a 145 and a 146?
thanks!
cfh@provide.net

Not to sure if this will be helpfull for you. I went on JCM
web and made a search for all firmware on DVB-146 US
and none were common with DVB-145 US. I also notify
that all the ID show for DVB-146 were for most of them
protocol i didn't know or not current for gambling equipment.


Spounge

The 146 came out in about 1997, it was like the 145 but included a bar code reader. There appear to be only two protocols - ID-023 and ID-045. The second one, ID-045, is just ID-044 (VFM) extended to support bar code tickets. It has a new reporting code, 8F+data, otherwise it's the same as 044.

The 146 was never a very popular head. It was more a "proof of concept" for the barcode reader than a real product and was mainly produced in support of JCM's patent on barcode technology. JCM directed new applications needing barcode support towards the WBA, which was released at the same time. The 146 hasn't been supported since 2003.

You should be able to substitute a 145 or a 200 head with ID-044 software. DBV-145s can be had out of dumpsters but they don't support the latest bills.

I know the Bally's used the 146 (LV Hilton did for sure) and had the 045 ID, but were the 146 a 1 meg eprom like the 147 or was it on a 512?

To answer that one, I had to go down to the crypt. Stooping under the low vaulted ceiling by the dim light of a flickering torch, I picked my way past piles of skulls and long bones, hacking with my dagger at the thick cobwebs that shrouded the dusty remains in the wall niches. Spiders and nameless skittering creatures fled at my footsteps. I carefully unrolled wire from a spool I carried, having tied the free end to a sconce by the entrance, in order that I might retrace my steps from this hideous charnel house. Finally I arrived at an ancient oaken door, heavily bound with iron. An iron key lay on the ground nearby. I tried the key in the door. It would not turn. Carefully I applied more pressure until something inside the lock broke with a dry snapping sound, as of small dry bones, and the key turned. I pushed at the door, which opened with an eldrich screech of rusted hinges that echoed through the silent vaults loudly enough to wake the dead. My heart quailed within me as I stepped through the low doorway, coughing in the dust. Inside I beheld stone walls lined with crumbling tomes of forgotten lore, hoary with the dust of eons, many written in strange characters of a language unknown to me. Many hours passed as I searched in vain through the brittle parchments, and my torch burned low. Just as it flickered and died I espied another tome behind the others, one which appeared to bear on its face the number "146". Seizing the volume by the last glimmer of my torch I fled that ghastly place. Spurred on by whispers and rattlings in the dark, I was guided back from the looming brink of insanity by the wire I had paid out on the way in. The clutch of bony hands at my neck and arms spurred me to a final heart-rending effort as I ran up the stone steps and slammed the crypt door, dropping the heavy oaken bar into its staples against pursuit. Heedless of the rattling tumult behind the door, I fled from that macabre place into a thankfully well-lit room. I opened the tome I had retrieved from its forgotten resting place, blew the dust off, and read as follows:

DBV-146
<arcane lore omitted>
512k bit, 150ns access time, ST27C512-15 or equivalent.

The 147 was something else entirely. It was the first JCM validator using an H8 CPU instead of an NEC and didn't have a removable EPROM. It had 64k of EEPROM and had to be programmed serially like a Flash device, using a secret incantation devised by the wizard Esplusman in the pits of Ree-Noe. Have mercy, master - please don't make me return to that horrible place to find out more details.

Sounds like someone is already for Halloween!!!!  :118- :118- :118-

 :97- :97- :97-

As always thanks for your wealth of knowledge, and the desire to SHARE it!!!   :3- :3- :3- K+ for that and the most excellent delivery!!!

CaptainHappy  :95-

Wow...You go Op-Bell! :131-  :97-

And to believe 10 yrs is all it takes for something to become so ghastly!  :103- :97-

You better believe it. Fortunately my duties don't often require me to visit the service department.

I tried to get the DBV-146 to work in both a Williams dotmation and
a Bally 5500 pro. I have version 3.20 of the 045 protocol ROM
(which should work for either machine). It will accept bills, but
the DBV146 can't talk to the slot. That is, the machine does not
know that the DBV has accepted and verified the paper bill (the credits
are never shown).

The easiest test of this is on a Williams dotmation. With a working
DBV145 or DBV200 it gives a firm "bong" if the money is not
accepted. And if it is accepted, it gives a firm "dong" for each
credit added. In the case of the DBV-146, nothing happens (if
the money is or is not accepted), there's no confirming tone
either way.

So i think the firmware for the Williams and Bally slots are not
written to accept input from the DBV146.  Too bad, because otherwise
the head works.

You can get the 146 to work on the Bally, if I remember it is a pin change, you are using ID 045 with the 146 head, 044 with the 145, ask OP Bell, have to confirm but it is a different type communication, either serial vs pulse or vice versa, I put many 200 heads in to replace 146's in 5500's, just changed d/s, but before that think it was a wire different (before 200's were out), just a note, newer upgrade software between the Bally and WMS using ID 044/45 is different in the 200 designated P for Bally and W for WMS, also a WP will work in some of the 145 heads on the colored money

Now I've had time to examine the specs closely, I see there is a significant difference between the 145 and 146 heads and the ID044 and ID045 software. The 146 head has an extra handshake line to command the validator to stack the bill. This is on the 14 pin interface connector, pin 2, normally high, pulse low to stack. The pin 2 stack signal is also used on the DBV200 head when running ID045. Now here's the catch. On the DBV145, and the DBV200 when running ID044, pin 2 is the serial/pulse select line. Taking it low Leaving it open on an ID044 validator puts the head in pulse mode, which has no escrow - as long as the head is enabled it will take in and stack the bill, regardless of whether the game sees it and approves or not.

Different manufacturers interpreted the stack signal in different ways. Consequently there are several different versions of ID045 for the DBV200 depending on which machine it's for, and in some cases wires need to be changed on backplanes. Fortunately, if you remove the wire from ground pin 2, ID044 firmware a DBV145 or DBV200 head with ID044 will work in ID045 games except that they won't read barcodes.

<edit note> The ID044/ID045 situation is very complicated because different manufacturers implemented it in different ways, and JCM produced several firmware versions - some want pin 2 low, some want it high, some want it pulsed, some don't care. My advice is suck it and see.

Sir Bell, pray, look what splendid and detailed intelligence do bring you this night from lands unbeknown to most who wouldst frequent these virtual taverns in their wildest thoughts and to which, it would seem, only you have the audacity and yea, the dauntless fortitude to brave in pursuit of even the most minute tidbits of our treasured past. I regret that I had not read of your harrowing journey into that dank and acrid abyss ere this night, having been absent on that fateful day to attend her majesty's needs, which, you well know, must come before my own earthly pleasures. It would seem, indeed, that more accolades are to be found in your near future, Sir Bell. If I may be so bold as bestow upon you the first of these, although I would beg that you forgive the meagerness of my offering, it being, by way of my sincerity, much more than what would otherwise be viewed as so unworthy of your noble deed.
:131- :131- :131-

I think instead of knighthood he gave you another karma :97- :97-

Ok but back to the original question. How do i get a DBV146 SG
to work in a Bally or Williams slot that originally had a DBV145?
i'm unclear how to do that from the above.

You should just be able to drop it in. If the 14 pin interface connector pin 2 has a wire on it, remove the wire and leave the pin open (146 head only). This means that a bar code ticket will never be stacked, but it would not be accepted anyway if the game software was set up for a DBV145. Currency should be accepted as normal.

Correction to my previous remarks above - it appears that with DBV200 and some versions of DBV145 software, leaving pin 2 open puts the head in pulse mode, not serial, and it needs to be grounded (connect to pin 13) for normal operation.