Esprit Sound Board Question

[wutsit4]

Greetings,

Working on an IGT/Aristocrat Esprit.  Have the machine up and running, other than a handle release solenoid that is held open
with a bent paper clip for now.

Been looking on-line for info on this board.  As I can't find documentation, it's tough to guess if this is a complete board or not.
I have some open sockets, but maybe they are supposed to be empty.  The big processor chip, NEC D8039HLC, quickly heats
in the center, as soon as I power up the board.  I think the amp is working, as I had to replace a damaged volume control, and
currently have an external volume control jumpered in.  When I touch the volume control, I hear the radio, and the volume
control adjusts the volume... Now if I could just get it to change channels.  No sounds are generating from this board when
installed and connected.

Thinking that I should replace the NEC chip, and that I may need 2 more of the AY-3-8912 sound chips for the empty sockets.
Wondering if I am supposed to have something plugged into where it says "bus socket".  There is a large edge connector on
the board that is unused is this machine.  The board connects to the wiring harness with what I think is connector S-19, a six
pin flat plastic connector.  It also has a 16 pin ribbon connector that comes from the small board up in the top of the machine
next to the mechanical coin and play counters.  The board mounts horizontally above the hopper when installed.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.  Hate to just start trying parts, as I don't want to make things worse.
Thanks,
   Keith

[wutsit4]

Maybe this is an odd board.  Just the same... it's not working now so I guess I don't have much to lose.  The overall board appears to be in good shape.
Just wondering if anyone that has a clue as to how these work could review my next set of steps with me.

The two empty sockets have circuitry that looks similar to the sockets that hold the AY-3-8912 sound chips.  Maybe someone borrowed the chips for
another machine in the past.  I think that I am going to order a couple of these chips, as they seem to be available, and pop them into the sockets.
Should work twice as well with twice as many chips.  (2 x 0 = 0, 4 x 0 = 0)  Could still have twice as much of nothing.

The large NEC chip, D8039HLC, heats up quickly, but maybe it's supposed to.  It seems to be the main processor for this board.  I would like to replace
this chip also, but am having trouble locating one.

The manual shows a small board mounted on the door for sound.  My second machine has this board, but my wiring harness is set up for my larger
sound board.  The "trigger" wires in the ribbon connector come from a small board mounted next to the mechanical coin and play counters.  The small
board does not have a socket for this connector.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.  Trial and error adjustments with mechanical assemblies seem straight forward.  The electronic equivalent
seems to let old smoke out of old parts, and new smoke out of new parts.  Time to see what kind of smoke comes from recycled parts.  Need to order
more "new" old chips.  Please let me know if this seems like a reasonable approach, or if there may be a better method to try and get sound to come
out of this slot machine.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and thanks for the help that got me this far.  It's fun having a slot machine in the basement.

Thanks again,
   Keith

[wutsit4]

Feel like I'm talking to myself.  Can't seem to find the parts I want to try and fix the "deluxe sound board" that was part of my machine.  Disconnected the power connector and ribbon connector from this board.  Salvaged the basic sound board from my "parts" machine.  Managed to get it mounted after moving some of the wires for a florescent ballast.  Found the wiring harness still provided an unused connector for this board, and plugged it in.

Machine makes a tone when coins are deposited, or credits are played.  Makes a short tone when additional coins are deposited for credit.  Makes a ramping up and down "tune" when a winning combo hits and credits are accumulated.  Don't know if it should do anything else, but for now I have started to clean up my work space.

Need to look at the gear train that drives the reel mechanism as it tends to run with a lot of mechanical noise, but at least it works.  If anyone has any ideas for my larger sound board, I am open to suggestion.  It must play better "tunes" and is supposed to have an attract mode, coin in, coin out, and one other noise.

Thanks again for all the help I received during this resurrection.
   Keith

[Op-Bell]

Not talking to yourself. I have such a sound board in my Esprit, but it doesn't work. Since I hate slot machines that have loud artificial sound, I never bothered even to look at it. When I have time I'll haul it out and compare it to yours, but that machine is well buried under higher priority stuff. There's nothing in any of the manuals I have that refers to any sound board so it must be an afterthought, but I did identify parts of the code that appear to set off some undocumented output in a way that makes me think it's sound related.

[bob in phx]

I too just finished up an esprit. its a fun machine and the owner is totally happy with her 25 dollar garage sale find!!! I didnt have any issues with the sound board, so I cant help there.... I did do a lot of work to get the gear train to be fairly quiet!!!! The secret is to make sure that the is no up and down play on the gears. I ended up putting shim stock in between the gears and the retainers to eliminate almost all the up and down movement. I also greased up the gears with a moly type grease. 1000 pulls latter and its still quiet!!!

I dont know what board is in the esprit that I worked on, but I can tell you this much

coin in sound
reel spin sound
coins won sound
attract sounds (three diff tunes and they can be set for 3 different timings. (ie 65 seconds, 95 seconds etc.)

hope all of this helps!!!!!!!!

[wutsit4]

Sounds like you have the same board that I do.  The small sound board mounts to the door.  The big board mounts flat to the bottom of the shelf above the hopper.  The sticker in my machine says that I should have the sounds you described, but I could not get the board to "go".  The basic board has no attract, and no reel spin noise, although the gear train makes enough noise already.  Do you remember if the board had any empty sockets?
Thanks again, and congrats on your resurrection.
   Keith

[bob in phx]

The machine is actually owned by a neighbor friend of mine. I will try to get over there and snap a pic or two for you. The board is indeed attached under the shelf that holds the reels. The board is right above the hopper, with the volume control just peaking out the front of the shelf. its might be a few days, I dont know what my friends schedule is this week.

bob

[wutsit4]

A bit off topic, but I just disassembled the gear train that drives the reel stopping mechanism and added shims to take up the space between the plastic gears and the retaining rings on the shafts.  This is the sideways movement, or play, that allows the gear to turn freely on the shaft, but does not effect the diameter of the shaft or the hole size in the gear.  There is still a bit of "wobble" between the gear and the shaft, but very little side play now.  I can't believe how much quieter the system runs now.  Probably sounded like this when it was relatively new.  Now it would be nice to get the big sound board working, as I think I could hear the "reel spin sound" over the gear noise.  Just wanted to note a different approach to quieting the gear train.
Happy New Year to all, and may your Bars all stop on the correct pay line.
   Keith