New Life Games Tech Forums

I have a splus (Five Times Pay) that I have had for about 3 years.  It has worked great up until about a week ago. 

Game Prom:  SP872
Reel Prom:  SS7906

After playing the machine for a while, a 3100 error came up.  I checked the hopper, opened and closed the door several times, and the error did not clear.  I tried hitting the reset button as well as turning the key.  No luck.  So I just turned it off.

Now when I turn on the machine, I hear the bill validator cycle, the reels no longer spin, a “1” appears in the winner paid window, a “0” appears in the coins played window, and the candle blinks repeatedly with the door open or closed.  The bill validator will not accept any bills and coins just drop through.  Pressing the reset button has no effect.  Also turning the key no has effect. 

Anyone have any ideas? 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

A 3100 is a hopper error.

I would turn off the machine - pull the hopper out and slide it back in again. As it sounds like your hopper is not working correctly.

The "1" is what it has paid out before it got its error.

First a little S+ hopper theory:

When the S+ goes to pay out it turns on the hopper motor.
It continues to spin and spit out coins until the hopper optics has counted the correct number of coins. Then it stops.
It will also stop if the motor has run for xx period of time and no coins have been counted. This is a hopper empty tilt.

Some of the common problems you see with hoppers:
   Hopper Brake - On the back of your hopper you have a little spring that pulls the brake into place. When the motor is running there is a solinoid that extends and releases the brake.
   If the spring breaks - then the hopper brake doesn't get put into place and you get an error from an over pay.
   A common fix to this is to use a old pen and steal the spring - cut it to size and fit it to the back.

   Optics dirty. Your mother always said not to put money in your mouth. After years of coin handling (by all sorts of gross people) the optic can become dirty and as such can't count coins. A little clear water and a qtip fixes this.

   Broken, Bent, melted hopper knife. This is a composite item that is shaped like a knife - when the coins are lifted into place by the hopper the knife makes sure they are fed correctly. A bent knife (usually from a slug or the wrong kind of coin) either bends or breaks. Some of the early knives were more plastic like and kind of decinigrate or melt. This adds a sticky residue to your coins which then contribute to the dirty optic problem

Thanks for the very detailed and quick response. 

Sorry for such a newbie follow up question, but where can I find the optics as described above?  I have looked over the users manual but have failed to find it. 

Also, is using a bottle of compressed air recommended or not?

I try to keep things as dust free as possible, but still have managed to kill off a few dvd players so a dust related problem is very possible. 

It no longer gives me the 3100 error, instead just shows “1” in the winner paid window. 

Also as an observation, I can see that there are two LED lights (red) that are illuminated on the bill validator, but the green light on the coin comparitor is NOT illuminated.   

Thanks again for taking the time to read this post.

I truly detest any idea of using compressed bottled air.
All it does, when used incorrectly, is shove dirt deeper into crevices
that accumulate and just makes things worse.

Also, if the bottle is ever so slightly tilted, out comes micro spores of water.
I know, it's mixed with drying alcohol but any water jetting out and
being forced into electronics will eventually cause metal deterioration and rust.

If you must use it, do not tilt the bottle...instead, manipulate the small
tube straw that normally comes with them.

If the 3100 error is gone, then the winner paid 1 is the last pay and it stays on the display.
Have you popped in a few coins and tried playing the game ???

Another thing to try is to open the door press the white button a number of times and make sure the screens change - if the button appears to do nothing then we go down a different path.
If the screen changes then close the door, and see if the game plays.

To answer your question the hopper optics Look like a square plastic U and it sits on the top left hand (assuming you are looking in) side of the hopper usually near the rear.
The coins are picked up by the wheel and are raised up above the level of the hopper where they pass through the U breaking the invsible beam and subsequently counting the coin.
It then rolls down the hopper knife and out the front of the hopper.

I used the word "usually" as older hoppers had the optics at the front - there was a device called a light wand that cheaters used to put up the front of the machine and it would basically blind the optic allowing more coins to drop out than was supposed to. So a very early mod in electronic gaming was the move of the hopper optic to the rear of the machine where it would not be impacted by the light.

http://www.newlifegames.net/uploads/up/IGTmanual.pdf (http://www.newlifegames.net/uploads/up/IGTmanual.pdf)

part #20 on page 47 of this pdf shows the optic.

The 3100 is specifically a extra coin paid out - this points to your hopper brake more so than the optics.

My recommendation would be to get the error cleared - your machine playing again.
Next you would want to run a hopper test. This spits out 10 coins - we can then deal with what comes of this.

Thanks Jay,

That pdf was very detailed and I was able to find that optic.  Regrettably it did not fix my issue.

Looks like it I might have to do the clear chip.

I would imagine that my key chips for my Game King will not work.

Any recommendations as to where I can buy the clear and set chips? 

Thanks again for all the help, it is very much appreciated. 

Just for kicks turn off your machine and pull the hopper out. Look on the bottom of the machine beside the
power supply, there is the mother board with the power plug from the side of the power supply to the mother
board. Wiggle and pull up the connection at the mother board. Turn it around and if it looks like the picture you
will need to replace it.

Ron (r273)

You didn't answer any of the questions:

- What happens when you push the white button ??
- What happens when you put coins in ??
- Have you hit the spin button ??
- Have you tried removing the MPU Board ? and reseating ?


Your key chips won't work - any of the vendors on our banner page can fix you up with a set and clear.