Bally 831-ZZM Award Card Correct ?

[brazoot]

Hello,  I am not sure I have the correct Payout / Award Card in this machine. One Cherry pays two coins and so on, as shown on my card in the attached photo.    But the machine seems to payout on reel matches not shown on this award card.   The reel strips / reel bundles appear original and unmolested.       Is it the wrong card ?   Marked Bally 831-ZZM on the cabinet and also on the mech.  And the Award Card just doesn't seem to fit. The Belly glass is plain ( says SAHARA ) .  Thanks in advance  for your expert help.......Tom

[CVslots]

The award cads looks pretty new to me, and very well could be the incorrect one
 Old Reno could verify this for sure. He'll see the post hopefully. Theres a way to check the payouts, but I can't remember exactly how to do it.

[David B Fowler]

The amounts of your payouts match the amounts of my 831. You can open the door and hit the coin switch 1 time for single center line pay only, pull the handle and stop the blades of the clock with a finger or screw driver. Place the first reel symbol (cherry) in a pay position on the center line and release the fan until it locks the first reel. Set up the second reel to match the payout symbol on the first reel. It doesnt matter for the 3rd wheel with the cherry symbol. It should payout 5 coins for this combination. You can do this for all possible payout symbols to see if it pays out correctly. There is a chance that you have a wiper arm slightly out of position. If you get a payout without a proper combination, determine what amount was paid out and check the symbols position. Usually the symbol that is not matching the other 2 is the wiper arm that is hitting the wrong buttons on the wiper board. If you are only having a coin extra dropping out on a pay, then your problem is probably on the hopper reset stop switch adjustment.
Thats all I got but OldReno is the one who can tell you exactly and very possibly a quicker and easier way.
Good luck..... dont feel it is a major issue.
Dave

[brazoot]

Thanks Dave,   I want to be sure that it is the correct award card for this model machine (831-ZZM).   It does sometime deliver more coins than it should on certain payouts.  I'll try what you suggested and see if it helps.  I don't care for the look of the award card.  It's too big and too white.   Maybe a new award card or  reel glass with the award card in place and a thorough going thru is in order.   I'll add oldreno's suggestion to the mix if he adds any additional info.   Thank you, Tom 

[OldReno]

Get a piece of scratch paper, and write down the mis-pays as they happen.  Note how many coins played, and try the same pay with less or more coins.
If it mispays, then open the door and push back on your variator bar (the one above the clock fan), and that will reset the hopper and allow it to repay.  Push variator back several times.  See if it is consistently overpaying, and on the same symbols...
Once you get some data, that will be helpful for us all to figure out what's what.
You might want to remove your award card and soak it in some weak coffee to give it an aged look?
Nice machine...

[brazoot]

OK and thanks,  I'll try the recommendations offered by all and report back.    Thanks again...Tom   

[David B Fowler]

Brazoot ..... just want to let you know that almost all of my knowledge on the Bally EM machines have come from this site and OldReno  and previous EM pinball experience..... My hat is always off to him.
Dave

[brazoot]

Thanks Dave, you are  OldReno's  protege lol,  ......So, I put three coins in, pulled the handle, got a single cherry on the bottom line (three line machine),  out comes three coins, (should pay two), opened the door and cycled the Variator bar several times,  pays three coins this time, did it again out comes four coins, next,... two coins, next,... two coins, next,... three coins, etc, etc.  not consistant.      This is all I have so far.       BTW, The award card is Mylar, won't take a stain.     

[David B Fowler]

I am off work in the AM and will try to take some pics that will help you in the area I feel you need to look at. The zero switch ... the gear and mech behind the payout disk ... ect ... ect

Dave

[OldReno]

In the event of a mispay, always check your payboard, to see just where the wiper fingers are.
It sounds like either your payboard is misadjusted, or your zero stop switch adjustment is faulty, or perhaps the zero stop bumper is sticky and keeping the wipers from moving?  Perhaps you have a worn tooth on your 100 tooth gear behind the payboard.  It sounds like a physical problem. 
Maybe your torsion spring is too tight?  To check that, try moving your spiral cam up 100 steps, and then 200 steps to see if it binds.
Is this an electrical step payboard, or physical?  I'm guessing physical, so you may try pushing a coin past the roller on the hopper, and watching what the linkage does to the payboard fingers.  If it don't unlatch the fingers on first step, then you may need to lower your coin out  roller perhaps.  If the payboard wiper fingers are slow to unlatch, that can certainly lead to overpays.  Anyway, look for some physical problem.
Whatever, though, certainly sounds payboard related rather than any kind of reel problems.

[brazoot]

Thank You O.R.... I have some work to do. I will follow your advice. Makes sense to me. I will check all that you mentioned carefully.  I appreciate your time and effort helping me. Thank you...Tom

[OldReno]

My pleasure...

[brazoot]

Update on the Bally 831,    I took out the Reel mech and hopper and cleaned everything (contacts, dust, etc ) very carefully.  I did not "re adjust" (bend) anything as I know how that goes sometimes (bad).
I lubricated metal to metal bushings and linkages sparingly. The contacts from the coin out roller linkage looked a little dirty and cleaned (burnished) them as well.  All in all, I see a great improvement. The machine runs smoother and more importantly pays out as the Award Card indicates. By the way, I scanned the award card and printed it out at 90% of it's original size. It fits much better in the window opening. The coffee soaking did give it an aged look.   All I can do is say Thank You Both ,  very, very much ,  Is there such a thing as a virtual handshake ?  Consider my expression of thanks as being accompanied by a warm handshake......Thank you...Tom       

[David B Fowler]

Its always a great thing when a problem gets fixed. Glad to hear you got it running so well. 
dave