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Title: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: shortrackskater on July 21, 2010, 05:48:30 PM Please scroll to the end of this story for my main question!
I found this listed as nonworking on Craigslist and made an e mail offer of $50 and got a "$75 and it's yours" reply. Twenty five hours later I was dragging it out of my back seat and onto the dolly and into my garage. If I had looked closer at the machine before I bought it, I may have changed my mind. When I REALLY looked at it, I noticed the door would not shut fully. Upon removing the CRT module I was disappointed to see that it looked as if the module had slipped out and hit something! The top part of the frame was bent slightly and the CRT itself had shifted down. This was preventing it from sliding all the way back in the machine. Then I noticed what I should have noticed...the connectors had been torn from the CRT: both the power and the data plugs. The power wires still had their plugs, they had just been ripped out of the plastic housing, which was still IN the machine. The data plug (or whatever it's called) was still on a PC board but the wires were just hanging there. This was not looking good! Furthermore, the machine has a lot of "clumpy" dust inside. I peeked back into the machine and saw that the other side of the data plug was there, intact and with all the wires still attached in the plug. I removed it and "lined" it up with the side from the CRT. Hmmmm...What if I just simply reattach all the wires? I didn't know if the thing had gone haywire (pun intended) and someone just ripped the connector out, or if ALL the wires had been ripped at once, when it was dropped or whatever had happened. I got out my crimp collection and crimping tool and went to work and got everything back where it looked like it should be - I'm NOT a slot tech by profession but I seem to be able to get stuff working. My only problem is that I didn't know which colors on the other connector were to connect to the white and black wires for the CRT power. I assume it didn't matter since it's AC but the other connector's colors were brown and orange and that bothered me...a little. I then connected the data plug, slide the CRT module after bending the tab back and repositioned the CRT so it fit properly and the door could close. Now it was test time! I plugged it in and switched it on...LIGHTS! We have lights and a whirring sound of the fan. I was expecting to hear a CLICK from the door but heard nothing and, unfortunately the display on the screen was a bunch of colored squares, and there was nothing recognizable. Just for the heck of it, I closed the door and just put in a quarter. The quarter went through and just dropped out the reject shoot and rolled on the floor under the dolly. I thought maybe that was it and this machine was beyond my knowledge and capability. But I persisted. I pulled the plug and started removing all the modules, cleaned lots of plugs and contacts. I vacuumed more crap out of the interior. An hour later, and I was ready to test again. I plugged it back in and got LIGHTS, and the same whirring of the fan AND...a BALLY boot up screen with prom test, followed by TWO DECKS OF CARDS, credit display and sound too! So I closed the door again and dropped another quarter in just to have it fall back out the darn reject shoot. Once again, I opened the door and scoured around looking for any reset button and FINALLY noticed a teeny red button on the middle circuit board below the CRT, pressed it and heard a glorious CLICK! I closed the door again, put in my quarter and YES...we have a working machine. As far as I could tell by playing, everything seems to work. ALL the suggestion buttons come on at the proper times and the hopper pays out correctly. Now I'm dealing (pun intended) with the notion of replacing all the capacitors that may want to blow up in the future. Any comments will be appreciated. Title: Re: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: shortrackskater on August 28, 2010, 01:34:22 PM Isn't there ANYONE here how knows SOMETHING about capacitors???
Title: Re: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: brichter on August 28, 2010, 02:21:30 PM All the electrolytics are in the same condition unless they've been replaced, and depending on the year, they may be at the end of their service life. Check for swelling, malformation, and leakage.
Title: Re: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: Tilt on August 28, 2010, 03:38:09 PM Isn't there ANYONE here how knows SOMETHING about capacitors??? Here's an entire site dedicated to capacitors: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/ Title: Re: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: StatFreak on August 28, 2010, 08:46:15 PM I agree with brichter. Given the age of the machine, I would replace all of the electrolytics to avoid future complications. Other than that, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Title: Re: 1986 Video Slot: Is this a TIME BOMB??? Post by: shortrackskater on August 31, 2010, 03:32:38 PM THANK YOU everyone! That helps a lot.
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