IGT Aristocrat circa 1982 - ???

[wutsit4]

Greetings,
New to this forum.  I have successfully owned and maintained EM Pinballs, Electronic Pinballs, United Bowler, Williams Rifle Game, Midway Chopper helicopter game, and a Seeburg 1959 Jukebox.  This slot machine is in a class by itself.  I think I've owned it for about 10 years now.  Never Worked.  Made it past the blowing fuses phase.  Can't find any manuals.  I've serviced some old Mills Mechanical slots, but am pretty clueless with this thing.
On power up... One reel spins, two solenoids will not snap in.  If I meter all three coils, they all show about 6 ohms, and the connector shows 24 Volts are available to each coil.  The stop motor and cams run, the home switch clicks, but the motor just keeps running.  If I pull out the reel basket, and apply power to the machine, the hopper starts pulsing out quarters for a while, and then stops.  I guess the hopper works.  If I leave in the reels, they never reset, and the hopper just sits.
In the "computer" box, there is a chunk missing from one of the big chips labeled S68A21P / AMI 8215.  I think this is a memory chip, as there are a few lined up, but I really don't know.  I get partial numerals in the upper display sometimes.  Attached should be a machine pic.
Can anyone please identify this machine?  Is there a troubleshooting guide or service manual available?
I am comfortable repairing mechanical, electrical, hydraulics, pneumatics, etc.  Electronics are not my strong suit.  If I can't see it move, I really don't understand how it works, but I can swap parts with the best of them.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.  I got the slot machine in a package with my shuffle bowler.  Up til now, I figured out that if I slid out the power supply, it made a nice lamp.  Recently removed the fuses that the previous owner put into the lamp sockets, and cleaned up some wiring to stop blowing fuses.  Maybe there is some hope afterall.  Thanks in advance.
   Keith

[klorvinborno]

Keith, if it makes you feel any better I have 4 of the same machines and yours is in better shape that a few of mine.

The first thing I would suggest is typing ARISTOCRAT in the search button on this site.  There is a extremely nice person on this site that might be able to help you out with the manual.

I was planning on parting out atleast one of my machines so if you need any parts let me know.  You should probably start with checking to see if you have a leaking battery on your board (you will see a thread on this if you do the search).

The condition you are describing has happened to me several times and doesn't appear to be a problem with the reels themselves.  Someone replaced the batteries on my boards with capacitors at some point so for me to start over I unplug the machine for awhile (I assume that is clearing the memory).

[wutsit4]

Thanks for the response.  I sent you an e-mail with some specific items if parts are available.  I still don't know a name for this type of machine.  I changed the batteries on my board, but don't yet know what I need to clear or set in memory.  I think this machine is still a bit confused, as one chip has a divot in it's back.  Good luck with your machines, and thanks again.  I'll be searching for a manual in the mean time.
   Keith

[Op-Bell]

It is an Aristocrat Esprit. I raised one from the dead a couple of years ago, so I guess that makes me the resident Esprit geek    When I get home from work I'll come back to this topic, but meanwhile do search, as thousands of words have already been written about it. This is an aggravating machine to trouble shoot but once it's working, it's fine.

@klorvinborno, if you're parting out a machine, mine is missing the handle release solenoid.

[Op-Bell]

The 68A21 chips are the IO drivers. There should absolutely not be a bit missing! These are obsolete chips but can sometimes be found (used) on Ebay, or from people who service old pinball and arcade games. I think I have two or three that I bought from a Hong Kong seller on Ebay when I was working on my Esprit.

[klorvinborno]

When the release solenoid is engaged is that when the handle is released? 
On 2 of my machines without power the handle freely goes down and on the other 2 the metal latch on the bottom of the solenoid plunger is sitting in the handle gear not letting it go.

Op-Bel if you can help me even get one of my machines going the solenoid and any other parts you want are yours for free and I'll even pay the shipping!  At this point I'm still not sure which machine is the worst.

Here's what I have.

1- 3 reel, I've got it to the point where the reels cycle and click, at one point the LED lit up, but not lately

1- 3 reel, sometimes the reels spin on start up, sometimes I get Tilt and sometimes it makes an odd alternating sound through the speaker

l- 5 reel, dead aside from the lights coming on.

1- 5 reel fuses were found blown in the coin tray, however power cord was frayed with all 3 wires touching one another, this one is the worst cosmetically so I was planning on parting this one out.

[Op-Bell]

This is just a suggestion, but it sounds like RAM problems, maybe it would be a good idea to replace your RAM chips. I got to a point with my Esprit where I was tearing my hair. It seemed to be executing the program, it would do the reel reset, it would click the coin acceptor, sometimes it would flash the LEDs, then it would just tilt and do nothing more. In frustration one night I wired up a kluge to replace my 5101 RAM chips (I didn't have any spares) with a 6264, and bingo, everything powered up and ran like magic.

5101s are obsolete but you can get them from pinball parts houses and some of the vendors on NLG, otherwise I can post the details of my kluge and if you're handy with a soldering iron you can use an easily obtainable 6264.

Incidentally, you MUST have a working back up supply (batteries), otherwise the Esprit clears the RAM and stops until you turn off and on again, and when you turn off power the RAM gets corrupted, so the  Esprit clears the RAM and stops until you turn off and on again, and when you turn off power the RAM gets corrupted, so the  Esprit clears the RAM and stops until you turn off and on again, and when you turn off power....

[wutsit4]

Thanks for all the help I received today.  If I avoid electrocution, I will provide a further update.
Keith

[stayouttadabunker]

 
If you DON'T report back...then, I guess we know what happened??




What the heck is going on around here?
Is this Friday nite?

[klorvinborno]

Are the 5101's the 6 chips on the right side of the board on the right?

I think I'll first try replacing the capacitor that was used to replace the battery pack given the age of it.

[Op-Bell]

Oooh - you have later boards than I've seen before.

The RAMs are the pair of 22 pin chips in sockets near the center of the left board. You might try just reseating them in case they got a bit corroded in their sockets, especially the one near the battery that probably got electrolyte spewed all over it.

That's not a capacitor at the top of the left hand board, it's a 3-button-cell NiCd battery that someone substituted in the past. It should read 3.6 volts if you had the game powered for any length of time. If not, heave it out and replace it with a couple of AA cells that you can get out of a cordless phone battery.

The six chips on the right board are all 6821 IO chips. That's all the machine's IO in one place.

[bob in phx]

Having just finished an aristocrat myself, I know have some knowledge. Op Bell is the master thou....
With that said,
First thing I see on this board is battery damage. On the board on the left, there are two brown looking foam pads that were once double sided tape. The foam needs to be removed, fully. This foam can hold the acid from the leaking battery for years, letting it out slowly and damaging the board more!!!!!!!!
Then I noticed that the three traces directly left of the brown foam, appear to be heavily damaged, as do some of the other traces. I am guessing here, but I think that if you send a picture of the back side of the board, we will find more battery damage.

Your first order of business is to arrest the damage by cleaning the board. To clean the board, get an old (clean) toothbrush, some vinegar and then some backing soda and of course lots of running water.
Scrape off as much of the brown foam as you can, then wet the 1/4 of the circuit board that appears to have battery damage. Once wet, add vinegar and scrub the board with the toothbrush, be careful around any chips (like the 5101's) and try not to get any sockets too wet. Be sure to repeat this for the backside. You may see some of the green solder mask come up and wash away, but that’s ok...

Rinse with running water.

Now make a soupy paste of baking soda and scrub the area you’re cleaning again. You might see some light foaming, but you might not.

Rinse again with running water and this time, make sure that all the baking soda is gone…..

Dry the board with a hair dryer. USE CAUTION, do not over heat the board or the chips!!! Drying, with low low low heat could take a half hour or more.

Now the really fun part. Any traces on the board that are grey and looking rough on the surface, maybe damaged enough to not let electrical signal pas. You will have to use your eyes and your meter, set of diode checking, to figure out if the traces are damaged. The same goes for any components. Look for off color legs or any other signs of corrosion.

If you find any parts that are suspect, replace them. If you find bad traces, use a thin gage wire and jumper them from start to finish. By jumpering them, you create a new path for the signals.

I would also take a real pen eraser and lightly clean the edge connector pads on both boards. You want then shinny and clean, but don’t go so far as to remove the gold color…

There is another board that you didn’t show, it’s the interconnect board. This board is most likely still in the bottom of the cpu cage. You will have to remove this board also. You want to look at the socket that the boards push into for any bent or missing pins. You will also want to look at the board for battery damage.

[wutsit4]

Still Alive..., Re-Seated socket mounted chips, switched positions on a couple of the 68A21P chips.  Still only getting one reel to spin at power up.  Still lights up tilt.  Still only getting a couple of segments in the upper display to illuminate.
Does anyone know the spec for the "festoon" lights that I need to acquire... are they rated by size or wattage, etc???
I imagine that until the processor board is feeling better, that I really can't proceed to diagnose any further issues.  I think the chunk that is missing from one of my I/O chips is letting the program leak out.
   Keith
On opening my eyes, if anyone else needs to know, the festoon lights are 24V AC 3 Watts