Help needed from any "S" machine guru.

[lmgSr]

I have a 1989 IGT S  Wild Cherry Machine. This morning for no reason it started spitting out coins while no one was in the room with it. The only way that I could stop it was to turn it off.  Any Ideas?

[shortrackskater]

When the machine was last played, where there credits remaining? Were they there when you powered up the machine?
Did the hopper "runaway" and just spit out its contents or was it a certain amount?
Did you try putting the coins back in to see what happens?

[bevoh]

try to find out what was the behaviour of the machine from the previous night.but fro your statement its like the machine had credits which were cashed out,thought you didnt ssay how many coins were spitted out?try to give us finer details we will help

[lmgSr]

There were 100 credits on the machine. So far it has spit out 600 coins. The hopper is a" runaway".

[shortrackskater]

If you power off the machine and refill the hopper with coins, does the number reset to zero and start counting again?
It sounds like a bad hopper relay if this is the case, from what I know about these.

[lmgSr]

No, it just keeps counting. It's up to 3300 now and it still has 100 credits on it.

[shortrackskater]

Was there a jackpot won by someone earlier??? I was assuming that it just had a small "win" and the hopper started to runaway.
Right now, fill the hopper back up and let it pay out those hundred credits...then post back and let us (although it seems to be just me!) know what happens.

[jay]

3300 in the winnder paid area.....is a hopper error....

You should be able to clear it by opening the machine, putting coins in the hopper, and fully shutting the door. It will recycle and should be back in business. Just know that it won't complete empty the hopper before giving you the hopper empty error.

[shortrackskater]

That's exactly what I was thinking...thus my post telling him to fill it back up and see if it completes a payout... His original post made it sound like the machine just started paying out, like maybe the hopper relay was bad or stuck but now it sounds like it's just paying out a "win" ???

[jay]

If its not a hopper empty....
Most commonly this could be an issue with the hopper brake.
If the spring on the back of the hopper disappears then you might pay out an extra coin or two.
You can create a cheap replacement at the expense of a bic pen.

It could also be an issue with the hopper knife. I had one slightly bent and after 30 coins or so it would error as the coins got stuck behind it.

Then I also had one hopper that by all appearances was fine but continued to give me a hopper error. Having several machines the problem followed the hopper.
When I dumped its contents on a towel (easier to collect the coins and they don't roll away like when they hit a hard surface) I found all sorts of extra bits in my hopper that were not coins. Parts of old hopper knives and other gross gunk I could not identify.  I then removed the pin wheel and there was a ton of paper from old coin wrappers, etc. Some of it had created its own ring around the shaft that almost looked like it belonged as the paper discinegrated and was building up. After cleaning all of this out I never had a problem with this hopper again.

[shortrackskater]

That's good to know! Well I hope he comes back on soon. I'm curious to find out when he reports back.
Glad you posted...      seems like the s plus section isn't getting the attention it used to get. I try and help but I still consider myself somewhat of a beginner.

[jay]

I have been being badgered by my buddies to pick up a S2000 era machine but have been a bit reluctant to do so.
I use a older CON1 for a linked progressive - I have 3 S+ and a PE+ connected together along with two signs.
One is 12.5' sign over my bar which is huge, and I don't think the CON1 is compatible with the S2000
I have also hacked up my player tracking bar for a 12cell in-machine progressive display.

I get more fun tinkering with the progressives and game kits than I do out of actually playing.
I have my own Eprom burner, for backup and recover purposes, 60 game kits to swap out.
If I went down the road of the S2000 I am going to want a Simm burner, which are real $$
I will want fancier game kits, with better sound etc,

The S2000 usually sport TITO which while convienient I prefer the coin and have a coin roller with branded tubes pre-printed.

I think I would be more interested in a Game King which support video slots

[shortrackskater]

You're way ahead of me on the knowledge end of how you have your s plus's! I'm hopefully going to get around to just installing a scrolling display in my old Double Diamond Deluxe, in the empty hole where the player tracking stuff was.
I did recently get an s2000. It was bill in / ticket out. Now it has a nice dollar hopper and takes in and spits out the big Eisenhower dollars. It was a very easy conversion and fun to program the payout parameters too. If its larger than 140 coins, it pays the difference on the ticket. I LOVE s2000 sounds especially with the multimedia board options.

[lmgSr]

OK, I emptied the hopper and checked for debris, didn't find any, Put the hopper back in and closed the door. At first I got a 3376 code, then it went to empty hopper code 3300.  Still have 100 credits on the machine. If I fill the hopper again I get the same results, non stop coins spitting out.

[jay]

Refill - let it run - Repeat
At some point it will stop.

[lmgSr]

OK, I'll give that a try

[Buzz]

Is the machine actually counting the coins as they come out ??

[lmgSr]

Yes it is Buzz. The highest jack pot should be 10,000 coins, I have ran 11,200 coins through it so far.

[Buzz]

If it's paying out a Jack Pot, the jack Pot should be showing on the reels.

[lmgSr]

The last spin was Bar-Blank-Blank. No jack pot

[shortrackskater]

Could it be the hopper relay? I found this earlier post:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=6087.0

[lmgSr]

Would that procedure work for a " S " machine? The guy was talking about his "S Plus" Machine

[bevoh]

imgsr you seem to be having a hopper runaway.this seems that your hopper may be bad,try swapping it with a known good one and see if ther is any change.if no change then your mpu is faulty and needs to be repaired.hope that was helpful buddy!

[shortrackskater]

We know he has a hopper runaway. I don't believe he has a stock of parts to swap with either. If he did, he probably would have done that already.

[lmgSr]

I just tried swapping hoppers with my S plus machine( I didn't realize that they were the same hoppers). Anyway, I got the same results , a runaway hopper.