3300 Error on IGT Slot

[bobbdenver]

I have an IGT slot machine... red white and blue 7's.  I'm not sure if it's an S or S+ or what.
It's a quarter machine, but I use nickels in it, because it is cheaper to fill up.
I have a 3300 error that I can't clear.  The hopper isn't empty.  I've emptied it and refilled it.
I've tried the reset button, and just about everything else I've seen on this site so far.
I'll reset it, close the door, then it starts to pay out.  It will dump about 10 coins, then lock up and flash 3300, and the light on top of the machine will start blinking.

Are the nickels causing a problem possibly?  It worked fine with nickels in small amounts several times before I filled it completely.

When I filled the hopper with nickels, I dumped all of the quarters out, and I bumped the unit on the ground accidentally.  Could I have thrown something out of alignment?  Is the hopper assembly that sensitive?

Any help would be appreciated.  I was excited to finally have my new machine filled up and ready to play with, until this happened.

[knagl]

Welcome to the site, bobbdenver.

 

You need to use a nickel hopper (or replace the parts on your hopper to convert it to nickels) to use nickels in your quarter hopper.  The parts in your current hopper are designed for quarters, which is why it's constantly getting jammed.  Once the hopper jams, the machine notices that coins are no longer flowing out of it and throws a "hopper empty" (3300) error since it thinks the hopper is out of coins.

You can post a "WTB" (Want To Buy") message over in the classifieds section of the site stating that you want to buy the parts needed to convert your IGT S+ quarter hopper to nickels.  You may also want to buy a replacement knife at the same time since I'm sure your current knife is getting pretty chewed up with all of the coin jams.

Additionally, you may want to buy a nickel coin entry plate which will prevent people from dropping in quarters to your machine (and potentially jamming the coin-in area).  You may also want to buy a nickel encoder for your coin-in optics to ensure you get credit for each nickel you drop in (and also to ensure you don't get any coin-in errors since nickels are smaller than quarters).

[cp]

Since the machine was  "originally"  a quarter machine... you may have a quarter hopper.  The nickels are spitting  out but are not "breaking"   the  optic on the coin hopper while cashing out... thus it basically is going to a  "time out"  (hopper empty)   The  "optic"  I'm referring to is the black U shaped  "bracket"  mounted on the top / (front)  of the hopper.  
Since the hopper is in cash out mode... while the door is closed... note if the  Credit meter is  counting down the credits while cashing out... My guess is NO.  If you still have a quarter setup in  your  hopper ...which is basically a "coin shelf"  ( the chrome / shiny disc ) in the hopper needs to be changed to a nickel shelf.  ...and  the black plastic  "knife"  adjusted  also to allow nickels to pass thru the  coin / payout optic.  

To test this "theory"  ...  dump all your nickels  and put some quarters in the hopper... close the door and note if the  Credit meter "counts down"  while the quarters are spitting out to the tray...    Good Luck.   

[knagl]

Oh, good catch, CP -- I read it as him saying that his hopper was jamming up, not that the machine was spitting out coins and then it would stop even though the hopper wasn't jammed.  If that's the case, as CP mentioned, the hopper coin-out optic would need to be adjusted so that nickels break the beam in the optic.

Still, it would be a good idea to get nickel hopper parts if you plan to run nickels in it.

[bobbdenver]

The coins have not jammed.

Yes the credits count down.  At least they did before it started in this loop.  I used nickels in this several times before this started happening.  They never jammed.  They always registered on the counter as they were dropped.

There is a unit in the machine that holds whatever type of coin is to be received.  I'm guessing this is standard, but I am brand new to all of this.
I wasn't aware that there was anything special about the hopper for quarters vs. nickels, but I'll look into that if I end up keeping the nickels.

Currently no credits are shown.  The machine boots up.  Reels return to position (blank, blank, blank).  Coins spit out (with no number in the credit window).  Then 3300.  I counted the coins the last several times, and it actually spits out between 44 and 49 coins every time.

I have refilled it with quarters, and it makes no difference. I haven't disassembled any part of the hopper yet, but I have looked it over closely, and there are no coins stuck anywhere that is readily visible.

Any other thoughts?

[bobbdenver]

... and thanks for the welcome to the site.  I'm excited about getting into this as a hobby.

[cp]

When you close the front door...  (machine is ON)  There are NO credits on the machine ? ?  But the  hopper starts kicking out coins ? ?  And then goes into a  3300  (that's hopper empty code)....   Never seen that  one before. ... 

I would guess you don't have a  "clear"  chip....

 That would be the next step I would take...  Clear chip the board and  "start"  over.

[bobbdenver]

Yep.  When I close the door, the "Credits" window is blank and the "Winner Paid" window is blank, "Coins In" window is a blinking "1".
Then reels spin to blank, blank, blank, coins kick out.  Then 3300 and flashing top lights.

What does clearing the chip constitute?  Are we talking about some sort of sequence of key turns and buttons... or reprogramming the whole thing?

[cp]

You might get some detailed info here:

 http://rudysdeals.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=888

and even reasonably priced Key / Ram Clear  eproms.  Rudy Deals is a member of this site too.   Or  just do a search on this site NLG to get more info on Ram Clear for  S+