IGT S+ from Missouri - DBV wouldn't work - resolved

[knagl]

Originally posted in August, 2007

As promised, pictures of my new baby:





Here's the used base I bought.  $25 for the base, $3 for a piece of wood and some black spray paint (it was missing a board in the front of the base.  You can see that a little bit of the laminate is chipped off, and I need to get a lock for it, but for $28, not too shabby.



As mentioned, the belly glass has a crack in it -- I'm going to re-tape it which should help, and I'll keep my eyes peeled for a new glass.









Judging by the coins out, I think the top meter needs a "1" added in front of the number on it.



Based on a few factors, I'm pretty sure that this machine came from the President Casino on the Admiral in St. Louis, Missouri.



A view of the reels -- the anchor "sinks" down to the payline, and the diver "swims up" to the payline in this nudge game.



...and finally the Coral Reef symbol (reel 3 only), if this lands on the payline it starts the "Spin 'Til You Win" mode.




...and let the questions begin.   

First, the speaker on this game is nice and loud.  Too loud, actually.  Is there a volume adjustment somewhere?

Second, I'm not having any luck with the dollar bill validator.  It has a stacker installed, the stacker door is completely closed (I can hear the microswitch click when I close the door and listen closely, although that's not a confirmation that the switch is actually sending the right signal -- just that it's aligned properly with the stacker door).  The DBV cycles on power-up or upon removal/installation of the stacker box, but no front bezel lights, and it does not attempt to take cash (as opposed to trying to take a bill and rejecting it).

I can see some red (LED?) lights if I look in the front of the DBV where you'd insert cash.

They ran a set chip through (in my presence) as they had to put the right chip for the game in the machine, and it gave them an error code because the game chip had changed from what was previously in use (the wrong game chip).  I saw him set the denomination to "25", and he said that the DBV was set to 'active' (I forget which option number it was, but it was set to "1").

Any ideas on how to bring the thing to life?

Also, is there a list of settings/adjustments anywhere that I can download.  I'd love to be able to tinker with things like sounds, maximum hopper pay-out, etc.  I have a jackpot reset key, but I don't want to go tooling through the menus without having some clue as to what I'm doing.

I'm sure these are the first of what will be many questions.  I've learned a ton already, and I appreciate everyone's help (and how friendly you all are!).

-Kevin


Reply by rickhunter

I edited your picture to show you where the volume knob is.

As far as the DBV, did they test it while they were at the shop?

Typically if the validator is enabled (option 9 on page 0 set to 1), but the dbv light does not light up is usually a cash can that is no inserted all the way.  Also there's a switch on the cash can door.  I have removed those on mine to prevent the problem, but they may be an issue as well.




Thanks to all for your help so far -- I gave positive karma to everyone who's contributed!

So... here's where I'm at.

Rick, thanks for the pointer on the volume -- it's now at an acceptable level.  The DBV was not working at the shop -- I got the game "as is" and was actually pleased that they put the right chips in it for me (it had the wrong game chip in it originally).  I'm hoping with help on here I can get the DBV up and running.  Here's the SS and SP chips that are in there:


SP 1271
SS 4240 (4th of July)  --  in the game bible 4240 is listed as a 90% chip for 2 CM Coral Reef.  I don't see it listed at all for 2 CM 4th Of July?  The reels/nudges/payouts are correct, and the Coral Reef "Spin 'Til You Win" feature works correctly as well.

Neonkiss, my terminology was "bill stacker", yours is "cash can" -- yep, there's a cash can in there, and it's seated all the way in (and latched).



The only "switch" I see in there is an optical beam that goes along the back of the stacker box, plus of course the micro switch at the door of the stacker box (see image below).  Are there supposed to be switches inside the stacker box, or just that set of optics.  Also, is the hole on the cash can that lines up with those optics supposed to be un-blocked?  With the can out of the machine, I can see a clear path of light through the hole (see second picture).





All-

When looking at the machine, there's a white harness that attaches to the left side of the DBV (as you're looking at it), then goes into a black interface box of some kind (I'm guessing), then into a harness inside the machine.  I noticed something curious about the wiring between the interface box and the harness.  Take a look:




The section of wire pictured here is between the black interface box and the harness that plugs into the machine.  The orange wire ("A") is cut, and it looks like at one time it was attached to a gray wire ("B") with a plastic splice thing.  The orange wire that goes into the harness ("C") isn't connected to anything.

Here's a look from a different angle -- same wire names:


Really, "A" and "B" are the same wire -- they're connected together by that plastic splice thing.

Taking a look inside the machine at the other half of the harness (where the DBV black box harness plugs in), I noticed a chopped off gray wire hanging right by the harness.  I think it's safe to say that wire "B" was connected to that at some point, although I don't know why (any ideas?).



Take a look with the harness plugged back in.  You can see wire "B", and also you can clearly see the gray wire with the chopped off end just hanging down in the middle of the picture.



If this is helpful, here's video (turn up the volume to hear the DBV) of what happens when I turn the machine on.  It's from my cell phone so the quality is crap -- if you make the window size smaller it's tolerable to watch, although the sound is probably the most important part:
<a href="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5067467445538471361" target="_blank">http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5067467445538471361</a>

...and finally, if it means anything, here's the current dip switch settings on the MPU board:



Jay, thanks for the tips on the player tracking bar.  I'd eventually like to add in a progressive -- I've seen some of the restoration/mod pictures in some other threads already.  Short term I'm planning to do the black plexiglass thing -- that's obviously a lower priority for me right now than the DBV, though.  It's going to stay lonely for some time -- I've only had it for one day -- I don't plan to buy it a mate anytime soon, but eventually I might.

Thanks for all of your help -- hopefully I can get the darn validator up and running!

EDITED TO ADD:
I can't keep my hands off of this thing, so I did some more digging around.

First, I figured out (with the help of r273's sheets, otherwise I wouldn't have had the slightest clue) how to run the bill validator light check.  Nothing.  Other tests in that menu worked as expected, but no lights on the bezel when I would press the "spin" button.  While that's not great, either, I know the problem isn't just a burnt out bezel light -- I've tried feeding bills in and it doesn't even attempt to take them.  I also visually inspected the bezel bulbs -- both appeared to be in good condition.

Second, I'm more convinced than ever that the orange wire "A" needs to be attached to that hanging gray wire I found in the machine.  Looking at the harness, the orange wire would have normally connected to the orange/green-stripe wire on the other side of the harness.  That orange/green-stripe wire has also been cut off of the other end of the harness (the end that stays in the machine).  The mystery gray wire is attached to the orange/green-stripe wire (in fact, you can even see that in the pictures.  Can anyone verify for me that the orange wire coming from the bill validator black interface box is indeed supposed to be connected to the orange/green-stripe wire that is in the harness in the machine?  Does anyone know, by chance, if that would in fact prevent the validator from working correctly and/or prevent the bezel lights from working?  (I would assume the former, but I'm unsure about the latter.)


Reply by rickhunter

4240 is a Coral Reef 2 coin only.  Paytable ID 185B.  4th of July 2CM's paytable id is 176D, so they are two totally different games, even though they both have the same featues.  There are games that are "clones" of each other, that is the share the same paytable, and you can see that clearly when you look at the bible.   The important identifier on all these games is the Paytable ID as the SS eproms are identified by that number, not the theme name.  So for example look at all the 10x pay clones and you'll see the common paytable (10x pay, perfect 10, top ten, diamond 10's)

whoever printed the label then messed up as the award tables are totally different.


The hacked up orange wire appears to have originally been part of that white wire harness/connector, and then for whatever reason was snipped off of the connector and hard-wired directly to the orange/green-stripe wire on the other side of the connector.

Here's what the connector looks like -- first the side coming from the DBV:



Next, the side it connects into inside the machine:



Here's what I'm asking:  Do these wires match up to what's in your S-Plus game?

Looking at the first picture, holding it the same way, do you have, top to bottom, left to right (as pictured):

Orange, Red, Brown
(blank), Yellow, (blank)
White, (blank), Black

...and looking at the second picture, do you have (as pictured):

Brown/Purple-Stripe, Green, Green/Orange-Stripe
(blank), Yellow/Brown-Stripe, (blank)
Black, (blank), Red

...which would mean (looking at the top row of three wires only, DBV to machine) that:

Orange connects to Green/Orange-Stripe
Red connects to Green
Brown connects to Brown/Purple-Stripe

Is that correct?  If so, my missing link is that the orange wire and the green/orange-stripe wires are not connected.

FWIW, I checked the micro switch on the stacker door -- I had continuity when the switch was closed (door closed), and no continuity when the switch was open (door open).

Also, I verified that the bill validator is active:



Thanks everyone for your continued help.

I think he stated the orange wire was cut and "doesn't connect to anything".  I think someone added something in between the orange wire and then cut it out.

Please confirm for him that the orange wire passes continually through the P/S harness from end to end with no cuts in it (just like all the other wires in the PS harness).

Exactly, thank you.  Now I'm wondering what would have been put between there...

EDITED TO ADD:
Cactusjack, you are a genius.  K+.

It all clicked in my head about five minutes after I read your post.

As I've stated earlier in the thread, the machine came from Missouri.

Missouri has strange gaming laws.  One of them is that you can only lose $x (I think it's $300?) in a certain time period.  As such, every player must have a slot club card, and you must insert your slot club card TO ACTIVATE THE BILL ACCEPTOR!

Without the card (and without the card being under your limit), the acceptor won't be active.  There had to have been a device in place (that tied into the bill acceptor) to enable/disable the acceptor as a valid slot club card was inserted or removed.  I'm now 99.9% sure that all I have to do is connect those wires and I'll be in business!


A picture is worth 1,000 words, or in this case it's 1. the second-highest award on the machine, and 2. ......



...a working bill acceptor!  The light is on in that picture, and it works!  Huzzah!   

I jumpered my mystery wires together and at first didn't get anything, but after power cycling the machine again (and slightly moving where the DBV was seated), it came to life!  It takes "new style" bills including the new colorful $20 (it doesn't take the colorful $10).  Great!

New question, although this is more minor in the grand scheme of things.  Does the DBV assembly have anything to hold it in place, or is it supposed to just float in the area where it belongs?  The reason why I ask is that it's still a little flaky.  If I remove the cash can and then replace it, the DBV tries to cycle and just winds up making some clicking noises -- when it makes those noises then it won't work until it's been disconnected from power and then turned back on.  Additionally, I've found that if I jiggle the entire DBV while it's doing its start up cycle, then it works properly and will continue to work properly until I remove the cash can again.  It's almost like the assembly isn't matching up with the gears on the cash can once I replace the can, until I jiggle the assembly.  Additionally, there's really nothing holding the DBV assembly in place -- yes, it's easier to pull out if I move the lever, but the entire thing is really just kind of sitting in there, and can move around too easily.  Am I missing some kind of thumbscrews (as Jay mentioned early in this thread), or is this just how it is?  The whole power cycling thing is just an annoyance -- I can work around it, so it's not the end of the world, but it'd be nice to fix.

Thanks to all who have helped -- I'm nearly 100% with the game, and I've only had it a couple of days!