Bally 5500 series hopper problems

[QbertWPC]

I have a Bally 5500 series slot machine. I have owned it for around 10 years, although it has been in storage for the past 5.

The problem I'm having with the hopper is that when the motor turns for a pay, its going backwards in short pulses. This causes coins to jam under the knife. I reversed the wires on the hopper motor and it spins forward now, but the hopper pays very slowly. Since it used to work very well, and no one has touched it since I've owned it, I think the wires were on the motor correctly.

The hopper knife has been replaced with a metal re-enforced replacement from Happ, as well as the rubber agitator, and the coin deflector plate.

The motor and gearbox spin normally when attached to +24vDC on my bench.

I replaced 3 puffy capacitors on the power supply, as well as the battery on the MPU.

[Jim]

the bally power supply has two power supplies within the same unit. the first supply is the replaceable one held in place with four screws. It is located next to the big blue cap.  It provides +5, +12 and -12 volts DC.  the second supply is the one that may interest you. It is made up of components  D1 (bridge rectifier), C-1 ( 22,000 microfarad cap.) and resistor R1 (500 ohm). This circuit provides +24 volts DC to the machine. I believe the input to that bridge is 21vac, coming from the transformer.

Hope this helps.


Jim   

[QbertWPC]

24v section results:

Bridge rectifier tested good
Filter cap ok...minimal AC ripple shown on volt meter, I did not 'scope it
19.9v AC coming in to the bridge rectifier
20.1v DC in the 24v circuit

The hopper is still pulsing backwards 

[Buzz]

The 24V at your work bench, are you hooking it to the hopper plug, or directly to the motor?

A ace Bally slot tech told me if a Bally hopper sits a long time, sometimes you need to press the forward botton and then the reverse button, back and forth a bunch of times. (Hey I don't make this stuff up, I just repeat it )

[QbertWPC]

A ace Bally slot tech told me if a Bally hopper sits a long time, sometimes you need to press the forward botton and then the reverse button, back and forth a bunch of times. (Hey I don't make this stuff up, I just repeat it )

That would make sense if the grease in the gear box had locked up. Not the case here, and no, that didn't work.


When pressing the hopper motor forward button, the forward and reverse LEDs strobe for a moment with the motor pulse. Pressing reverse lights just the reverse LED, and the motor turns backward very slowly.

And yes, I connected 24vdc to just the terminals on the motor...I don't know the pinout of the hopper plug.