Spintek hopper plate?

[poppo]

I picked up a S+ machine today to be a parts machine. It had a 21 error which was fixed with a new working coin optics and it works fine.  I noticed it had a weird hopper plate. I did a search and only come up with one hit that mentioned that it was an 'enhanced security' plate. I took the cover off of it to see where the wires (circled in the first picture) went. It sort of looks like this plate is actually a scale of some sort. does anyone have  any more insight as to what this plate did? Just curious.

[Ron (r273)]

I have the same thing in my S+. See...

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=8926.msg77057#msg77057

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Spintek+Gaming+Technologies+announces+international+product+placement.-a017821734

Ron (r273)

[poppo]

I saw that first thread, but it didn't really say what it did. But the second one seems to confirm it's a scale of some sort.

[stayouttadabunker]

You're right Poppo.
I think it communicated through the small board with the two telephone jacks
that's attached to the plate bracket with the two thumb screws.

I never had whatever what was on the other end of the lines.
My guess there's some sort of "weighing" software needed for it...

[Forrhouse]

I had  one of these in each of my two old 19" GameKings.  I ripped them out. I was told that it let's the casino know how full the hopper is without having to physically go to the machine.
I believe it does it by measuring the weight of the hopper.
E~

[StatFreak]

When I used quarters in all of my machines I always "counted" them on a scale.

Early on, I didn't have a scale with a "count pieces" feature, so I figured out the average weight loss percentage of used quarters, weighed the tared bucket of coins, and divided by the "used" weight. At first I double checked by counting them; it worked every time so I stopped. Later on I bought a scale with a count feature and it made life much easier. I double checked the count accuracy as well.


   Interesting tidbit: It turned out that the percentage of weight loss in generally circulated nickels was the same as it was for quarters: 0.9939 of minted weight. That number was accurate for random samples of 700 coins or less, which was the most I weighed at one time. Attached dirt is pretty light, as are layers of paint, and the weight always seemed to even out with a large sample.

For those who care, a mint quarter weighs 5.670 grams. A mint nickel weighs 5.000 grams.


Stat

[poppo]

I pulled it out since I'm stripping the machine for parts anyway. Each side has just a simple 4 lead weight sensor. There are no electronics in it other than the wires.  One of these days when I have nothing better to do, I may play around with it. I can probably get it working with just a few lines of code.