831 making a buzzing sound

[brettno1]

I have an 831 that occasionally makes a buzzing sound until I drop a coin in.  As soon as that first coin goes in, it stops.  The buzzing also seems to coincide with the Insert Coin light not coming on, but I can't swear that that's the case every time.    Any ideas on what causing this?  Thanks!

[RiseLikeRa]

I am no expert by far but I would try to locate the sound with the door open.  Most times it is the coin lockout coin behind the coin mech, the stack of contacts above the handle box or one of the coils in the head unit.  That has been my experience.

Ra

[OldReno]

If you jiggle the handle forward and release it and the sound goes away, it's your lockout coil.
Sometimes the armature gets a ridge of metal built up behind it (from hitting on the coil), and you can remove it and file the ridges down.  That should help.
If the sound is coming from your top unit, you may have a reset solenoid that is not de-energising.  This happens especially on machines that are cold and have not warmed up to room temperature yet.  You will lose the solenoid if it stays on too long.  You can tell by the smoke coming out of the top unit..........

[brettno1]

You're right, it is the coin lockout coil.  I'll try your fix for it, thanks.  By the way, I sprayed all the contacts with contact cleaner and the Insert Coin light comes on every time now.  Looks like I'll start doing that as routine maintenance 

One other question, the bell had been disconnected by having the wires cut.  I reconnected the wires but can't get it to ring.  I tried setting the reels manually for the top payout and still no ring.  Obviously I had the door open at the time.  Does the door need to be closed in order for the bell to ring?  Is there something else I should check?

[OldReno]

The door open shouldn't matter.  While the largest pay is up, reach in and feel the bell to see if there is any vibration.  Sometimes mechanics would push the clapper behind the bell to make it stop ringing when checking high pays.  And, they sometimes forgot to free the clapper.
If you feel any vibration during a pay, then you know you got 6V going there.
Check your bell wires with your vom during a pay.  Since your insert coin light is working, we know you got 6V to the machine.  Check your payout relay switches to see if an open one doesn't close when coil is activated.  I think the bell circuit goes through payout relay assembly.  On some machines it probably goes elsewhere, like the JP lockup relay up top, too.

[brettno1]

Wow you're good!  The Clapper was pushed to the inside of the bell just like you said.  It rings like crazy now.  Thanks so much.

[OldReno]

I may have been responsible for bending that clapper.  Who knows,
Anyway, glad it's working. 

[brettno1]

Reno:
i have question regarding the bell.  In order to get it to stop ringing after a payout, I have to coin the machine and pull the handle - is that normal operation?  What's interesting is that after I reconnected the bell, if I just let it ring , after a couple of minutes it would stop ringing on its own.  This happened for at least a couple of pays.  However, now it doesn't seem to do that anymore.  It just keeps ringing until I pull the handle.  When these machines were in a casino, if a player left the machine on a winning pay,  did the bell just keep ringing until another person played it?  Seemes like that would be very annoying for anyone nearby.     Any ideas??

[OldReno]

Usually the bell only would keep ringing if it was a jackpot or handpay situation.  Otherwise, they normally only ring while it is paying out.
You may have a switch somewhere staying closed, or some mechanism that is gummy and needs oil???

[brettno1]

Since it was taking a minute or more to stop ringing after the payout finished, it makes sense that something might be sticking.  Thanks for confirming what the normal operation is.  I'll check out the swiches. (I'm just glad that i have a "problem" that is this minor)