Noob questions

[Paladin]

I just picked up an IGT S+ Mony Storm.  My only other slot repair experience is with a Bally E2000 I got running for a friend, it made me want a game for myself.  One thing I like about the Bally is that when you win anything it immediatly pays out coins, where the Money Storm adds to the credit counter.  I've been searching these forums for a while today, and I'm currently in information overload.  Can someone tell me if my game can be set up this way?

Labels on the chips:
G926
SP779
SS3732

I've only had the game for 2 days, and I've spent most of that time cleaning it up and replacing the top laminate that was half missing.  It cleaned up real nice!  It accepts quarters and spins fine but I haven't tried the hopper yet as it needs a new agitator, and I haven't primed it with quarters.  I've ordered an agitator along with a JP key, as I didn't get one with the game. 

Any help would be appreciated!

Tom

[Brianzz]

With most S+ games you can push the cash credit button when you start playing and it'll go into the pay all wins from hopper mode.. and then later with 0 credits on the machine you can push the white test button till you get to menu 0  5 and change that to 0 and the push the test button till the menus reset to save and after that it should pay everything from the hopper

Mind you when you do this and insert a bill it'll also pay from the hopper

[StatFreak]

First, as Brianzz said, you must have 0 credits on the machine to make these changes.

Actually. when you enter the test menu and see "5   n" (where n= 0,1,2), setting n to 0 puts the machine in auto-credit mode. In this mode, the cash/credit button doesn't go on and off when pressed by the player while there are no credits -- all credits go to the meter and the button must then be pressed to cash them out.

Modes 1 and 2 are manual modes. Mode 1 is probably what you want: the cash/credit light defaults to OFF (cash) after 30 seconds and the player must select credit before playing. Mode 2 is the opposite.

In addition, if you want to use mode 5-1 (default to cash play) but still want bills inserted into the dbv to always credit to the meter, turn the jackpot key after you set option 5-1 until you see option "8  n". In this case, set n to 1.

To move through the settings:

Pressing the self test switch or the Bet One Credit player switch “pages” forward through the self test mode, and pressing the Play Max Credits player switch pages backward.  Changes or selections in the options pages may be made by pressing the Change switch or turning the jackpot reset key.  The self test pages appear in the following order:

Press the Spin button to change the settings.

Paladin, now that you have the specific settings that you've requested, you might want to read Rick's FAQ Files. They can be accessed by clicking on the blue button under the banner ads at the top of the page. It is on the right side of the page. There is a lot of useful information there.

<ADD> While you're looking at those blue buttons, click on the "Submit a new File" button. A copy of the PSR for your SP779 game chip seems to have appeared there for you to download..

[stayouttadabunker]

Fill up the hopper with coins! 
The hoppers will work even without an agitator really....

[Paladin]

Thanks StatFreak!

Well, my game doesn't have a Cash Credit button, but it does have a Cash Out.  I'm guessing that's the right button, but it was labeled that way due to being set up like that at the casino it was in.

I just hit the cash out button to make sure the hopper works, but am getting a hopper empty error.  I adjusted the knife, but the coins still pass under it and continue around.  I took a picture of it, and it seems to me that the wiper and knife look too far apart, so the coins aren't riding up over the knife but go under.  I looked on ebay and found pictures of different types of knifes for long or short coins, but some of the ads show the same picture for both.  Could someone look at this pic and tell me if I have the wrong knife or wiper, or if I'm on the wrong track?

[stayouttadabunker]

Pull the hopper out and put it on the bench.
Put 3 quarters in the positions where
 I've out-lined it in yellow on the pinwheel shelf.
With one hand, grab the hopper moter brake on the back and
close it snug against the motor. This will release the hopper motor brakes.
With the other hand, grab the center of the agitator and
slowly rotate the hopper wheel counter-clockwise and carefully observe the path of the quarters.
Part of the coin should go in between the double black coin optics
 (on the left-most yellow coin)
 in order for the machine to register per credit.
The coins should sit comfortable on the shelf.
If not, remove the 3 screws in the center of the shelf,
flip it around backwards so you'll get a better shelf.
The shelf may be too worn towards the inside and the quarters are falling off...or,
 the pinwheel nipples are spaced too far apart for a quarter, and /
or the nipples are too high...this means it's for a larger token.
You may have to do some shopping for the correct sized pinwheel and shelf.

[Paladin]

Thanks for the break, literally!  I wasn't sure where it was.  Turns out the problem must be a worn knife.  There's a small gap between it and the pinwheel that the coins go under instead of riding up the knife.  I took it off and manually bent it inward so it's touching the pinwheel, and it now works fine.  Gotta love those simple fixes.  I'll put a new knife on my next parts order.

Next step is to look into why the DBV powers up but won't accept bills.  It won't feed in at all even though I can hear it cycle on power up.  Now that I've got the PSR I'll be able to make sure it's turned on, and then go from there.

Why is it I seem to have more fun tinkering than playing??

Tom

[stayouttadabunker]

"Tinkering" around with these machines IS the fun part...lol
One gets a lot of satisfaction from pondering, researching, analyzing a problem,
attacking it with sure fire will power, and
overcoming all obstacles to get a machine working exactly the way you want it to!

They make a metal plate that bolts onto the front of the knife that acts as a "knife stiffener".
This metal helps keep the knife pressed snuggedly against the pinwheel above the shelf.
(By the way...is "snuggedly" a word?....lol)

Look on the DBV from the right side of it...just behind the right side of the main head...
you may be able to actually see the little white gears meshing with each other...
if they aren't, then the DBV isn't installed close enough for the gears to touch...
or , heaven forbid, they are already stripped...argh!
If your DBV had the two brass thumbscrews on the front of it,
make sure that they are tightened up pretty good,
but not too, too tight or you'll strip the threads, okay?

[Jim]

My guess is that your knife looks good in the picture.  the  knife should lay flat against the pinwheel, if it doesn't then its usually the metal plate that the knife rests on is bent, and in your picture it looks as if someone has pryed around it thus the scratches.  take the metal plate off and re shape and see if that doesn't allow the knife to rest flat against the pinwheel. bending the knife is a short term fix, if you don't find out why the knife is sticking out then you won't fix the problem, not even a new knife will fix that.

Jim

[Paladin]

The bill acceptor powers up when turning on the game and shows enabled in the tests, and the lights above the slot work in test.  The acceptor lights don't come on in play mode, and it doesn't even try to feed in any bills put in the slot.  Does this sound like I need a set chip to 'actually' enable it?  Would the game still show it as enabled in the test screen even if it wasn't?

Next question is setup related.  Right now the first 2 coins (it's a 2 coin game) credit, and any others pass through to the hopper.  The PSR mentions an 'Extra Coins In Option' where extra coins that are received after the maximum bet is reached can automatically apply toward the next game.  Is that a fancy way of saying extra coins are converted to credits?  If so I'd like to turn that on, but it says that you have to have SAS EFT enabled.  Is SAS EFT just an accounting protocol, and would it effect anything else if I turn it on? 

What I'm trying to do is set the game so any amount of bills or coins (within reason) can be inserted to add credits, and any winnings (within reason) are immidiately paid from the hopper.  Once I get the bill validator working, I'll pretty much be there other than only 2 coins can be entered before they just pass through.  There's just something soothing about the immediate clank of falling quarters!

[jay]

SAS EFT won't effect anything.... unless of course you have a Electronic Funds Transfer server sitting in your back room.... 

In your current configuration the coins should NOT fall through to the hopper. It should fall through to the coin tray.
Normally the machine has a Solinoid that is extended and ONLY when then the machine has accepted the coin which means it pass the coin comparitor test and the optics test then does the solinoid pull back and allow the coin to enter the hopper. If the machine has reached max play then the solinoid won't pull back either.

Check and see if the divertor paddle has been wired tied back or the solinoid removed. Often when these things burn out people go for the quck fix and just wire-tie them back. Other times when they are starting to get weak they buzz and it gets annoying so people clip the wires and then tie them back.

The option you want to use to acccept these extra coins to credits. Is known as Montanna Credits.

[stayouttadabunker]

I'd like to add that the "Montanna credits" is a program on a different SP Game chip numbered SP1137.
You'd have to physically take out your existing SP chip and replace it with this one to get those
"Credits-to-Meter" options you're looking for....
With this chip, you can throw in all the coins you want and they get registered on the credit display

[Paladin]

Sorry, the extra coins do fall to the coin tray.  I misspoke there.

Good info on the Montanna credits.  I don't want that feature enough to change the game chip though.  As long as bills go to credit I'll be happy, and I've already got that setting done.  I just have to fix the DBV.

I got the DBV manual, so my next task will be to run the bill acceptance test without the stacker.  Removing the stacker from the equation should get me to the next step.

Boy, what am I gonna do when I'm done working on this?  Oh yea, I've still got a couple pinball machines that need some tweaks!

[Paladin]

I ran the test 'without the stacker', and it fed the bill in until the leading edge was just shy of the transport exit.  Is this test supposed to stop there, or continue feeding the bill until it drops into the empty hole where the cashbox normally resides?  I also read a post regarding DBV errors, and it mentioned a 'pusher plate'.  Is that the large spring loaded plate in the cashbox that moves as the pile of bills grows, or is it something that should be helping the bills get from the transport to the cashbox?

I can't find an exploded diagram of the transport or cashbox, and the cashbox is held together with rivets so I'd rather not tear it apart.  What is the validator supposed to be doing on boot up?  Mine makes a lot of noise as it turns various gears, so I know it's doing something.  Does it somehow check that the cashbox is installed, and if so how?  The one gear in the corner seems to be the only connection between the box and transport.  I can manually spin the gear on the edge of the cashbox and the teeth look fine, as do the other white gears.

[Ron (r273)]

There appears to be a DBV-200 Stacker Maintance 3 Pages in the download area, wonder how that happen?

Ron

[Paladin]

Ah, it does come apart!  I'll take it apart and clean everything up and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks Ron!

[Paladin]

No change in the validator.  I think I'll start a thread in the validator section, since I just noticed that there is one!  First though, I have some wires that don't go anywhere and was wondering what they're for.
This connector is on the lower motherboard extension (proper name?)  The other end is a 2 pin connector that also isn't connected to anything.  What are these wires for?