Recently aquired Bally Machine

[darkfaust]

Hey all, new to the forums and what have you, looks like a pretty cool place so I'll cruise around after I get this posted.

Firstly, completely new to slot machines so excuse the silly questions I am certain to ask.

Anyhow, I recently got this slot machine from a family friend and just plugged it in and noticed it had a few problems. The lights are burned out in a few places, which is an easy fiix. The problem I have is that I have put roughly 25.00 dollars worth of quarters in it and won nothing at all. Now, I know how it goes, you never win etc lol, anyhow is there a way you can adjust the reels to payout a little more often? I noticed a few counters on the inside of the machine that are generally up in the 10k areas, and there is one that is roughly 240k. I have no idea what these counters do either, prolly count coins or something...

Im pretty sure that it is a Bally Model 809 since there is a label that says so, but there is another one that has Model 829 scribbled in on it, so Im not sure which it is.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Neonkiss]

Well that one is a Jackpot Only machine.

In the 100 handle pulls, did you not hit a any bar, any bar,any bar ?
If not that is the lowest payout on your machine.

If you want to test the payouts, Open the door and flick the coin in wire to coin up the machine.
Pull the handle and let the reels spin. Now quickly before the first reel locks, stop the brass fan on the left hand side of the reel bundle.
Hold it stopped and position the reels to a winning combination. Now let the fan go to allow the reels to lock in position. Keep holding the reels so they don/'t move untill they lock.

The machine should now payout on that winning combination.

[shortrackskater]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm still new here and don't reply often but I think it's time for me to try and help out now. I just bought a Bally 809 last week I'm not educated enough on these so I hope someone else can step in if I am wrong here. I've never seen a machine like yours with that kind of a payout schedule. It looks to me like this machine was from a high limits area since it appears that the smallest payout is three double bars. Has it paid at all? If it is a high limits slot, you may have to play a lot more before it does pay. The only way to change that is to replace the reel assembly with a "regular" type: cherries, etc...where it will have a more "normal" payoff set of symbols. You can't change these to pay any more since the payouts are set to the notches that correspond to each symbol on each reel. If I'm wrong, someone please chime in!
To start you off though, here are two links for some information on your slot. It's good to just read through these manuals and educate yourself on EM slots. One is the introduction to Bally slots and the other is a more specific service manual.
Hope this helps!

http://rwatts.cdyn.com/download/bally6000/
http://rwatts.cdyn.com/download/bally_em_manual/bally%20em%20manual.pdf

[StatFreak]

I agree. The lightning strips don't pay very often and usually have a low payback percentage as well. 
Do what Neonkiss suggests and stage a winning combination to see if the machine is operating properly.

As far as changing the game, I'd suggest just enjoying your machine as it is and perhaps looking for another one.
I'll leave it to the experts as to whether or not it's worth trying to change the machine to a regular fruit pay. My inexpert opinion is no.


At an absolute minimum, you'll have to find reel strips and matching payout discs (those saw blades). Then, you'll have to rewire the entire reel wiper boards assembly and the connections to the payout counter. If you're lucky and can find an entire fruit reel assembly intact (that's the entire mech. that pulls out) that might make things a little bit easier. You'll also have to find matching pay glass (not easy).

If you can't find 5cm glass, then you'll also be making changes to the multiplier relays.

And I'm guessing that there's more to it than I've mentioned or know of.

[darkfaust]

Well I tried it again, 20.00 or so, and hit bar bar bar (5) and the payout was 5.00 and I counted it and it was right, then a few times later I hit something similar and it didnt pay it all, it clicked but that was it? Does anyone know what the counters do? One goes to the bottom cabinet looks like a overflow if the machines fills up too much?

[StatFreak]

Well I tried it again, 20.00 or so, and hit bar bar bar (5) and the payout was 5.00 and I counted it and it was right, then a few times later I hit something similar and it didnt pay it all, it clicked but that was it? Does anyone know what the counters do? One goes to the bottom cabinet looks like a overflow if the machines fills up too much?

The payout wiper contacts might be dirty or the payout counter might not be resetting or might be stuck.

The payout counter is near the hopper and contains a disk that has a spiral groove on the surface. You should be able to advance this counter manually by triggering the lever on the top of the unit. It should advance one position each time you press the lever. The reset is activated by an electromagnet plunger and can also be manually triggered. It's probably mounted horizontally. The counter wheel should quickly snap back to the zero position. There is a rubber stopper that cushions the mechanism when it rewinds, and that stopper can get gummy and gooey with age. If so, it might cause the counter to stick. You can replace it with a piece of a pencil eraser if that is the case.

Here's a down and dirty solution for the payout wipers, if the counter is working properly and is reset: If you get a payout and it sounds like it's going to start but doesn't, open the machine and jiggle each reel a bit, starting from the leftmost, until the payout starts up. The idea is to clean the electrical contacts on the wiper arms by moving them back and forth, but our other members might take me to task on this one.

I'll leave it to the experts to tell you how to properly clean them.


Another thing you should understand is that there are multiplier relays in the top of the machine behind the pay glass.

Basically, here's how payouts work: If you hit mixed bars with one coin bet and it pays 20 coins, then each coin out pulse is sent directly to the payout counter, which advances once for each pulse. When it has advanced 20 pulses, a wiper advances beyond the end of an energized contact trace -- breaking contact -- and turns the hopper off. The counter has several wipers and traces for different payouts, and the correct trace is energized from the circuit on the payout wipers (the boards behind each reel with moving contacts tied to the arms that lock the reels down) when they lock down the reels and land on a winning combination.

If you play more than one coin, then each coin out pulse is routed through a specific multiplier relay up top. If you bet 3 coins, then that multiplier relay moves once for each coin out, but but only sends a pulse to the coin counter once every 3 pulses. So the coin out counter on the bottom never advances more than 20 coins. It only receives a pulse once for every three coins instead of once for every coin.

If you stop a multi-coin payout part way through, that counter might end up out of sync. If that happens, the next payout you get for the same number of coins bet will be slightly off. It's not a big deal, but should be expected.

[darkfaust]

Thanks for all the replies guys, this is really interesting lol

But now I have another problem, say I put 3 coins in and hit x3 anybars, well the machine starts paying out, then just shuts off for no reason, I have no idea why either. I let it sit overnight and plugged it back in and still nothing. I messed around inside of it and managed to get it to turn back on, only to have it happen again this morning.

Thoughts?

[Neonkiss]

Could be the hopper run-away circuit
Do all light go out like the machine is off?
The reset for this is the flat metal bar that sticks out from under the hopper guides.
Push it in and it resets the run-away condition.

This is of course if the machine is not paying out correctly. Bally designed a timer to shut down the machine if that spiral cam got stuck.
It was common as Statfreak mentioned in his previous post.

[darkfaust]

Yes the whole machine shuts down lights etc. So I opened it up and took the hopper out and there was a red light in the very back, which im guessing is a service light? Anyhow, stuck my hand back there and well....I got quite the shock, literally lol. I did push the bar you mentioned in and it made the machine work again.

[Neonkiss]

Ya, Guess I forgot to mention that the run-away timer is 110 volts. 

I know I found out by experience.

[StatFreak]

Yes the whole machine shuts down lights etc. So I opened it up and took the hopper out and there was a red light in the very back, which im guessing is a service light? Anyhow, stuck my hand back there and well....I got quite the shock, literally lol. I did push the bar you mentioned in and it made the machine work again.

Remember, newer slots are mostly low voltage computers except for the florescent lights and the PS area.
Your EM is just full of high voltage waiting to bite ya'.



The light should have gone out when you pressed the bar back in.

When you did so, did the machine complete the payout? Was it correct? After the payout, did you watch the payout counter to see if it reset completely when you put in another coin and pulled the handle. It typically would reset somewhere from as soon as you pulled the handle to as late as when the second reel locked down (Again, I'm not an expert. That's just based on observations of my own machines.)

[darkfaust]

Yeah the light does go out when I press the bar, and it continues to pay out as usual. I dont think the counter is resetting though havent paid much attention to it as of yet, I did however just hit bar x3 so the payout should be 20 with 4 coins, ive emptied the hopper 3 times now @ roughtly 80$ each time and its still paying out right now, I think I won too much lol