WMS 40X Power supply conversion..

[eng50]

I apologize in advance, I am a new member and have tried searching for the conversion process but can't find it.  When I googled it this forum came up as listing a sticky for the ATX power supply conversion.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. 


I have a Big Bang Piggy Banking machine with a dimming dotmation and have been told to solve the power supply issues by installing an ATX.  If this is not good information please advise what would be better..


Thank you!


Bill

[knagl]

I could swear that the WMS Dotmation power supply conversions were posted here -- I wonder what happened to them.

No matter, you can find them in the WMS Reel section of the archive site at http://www.newlifegames.net/ .

As far as your dimming screen, however, some dimming is natural over time and is a symptom of a failing dot matrix display ("DMD") panel, not a failure of the power supply.  Typically when a Dotmation power supply goes bad, it just dies completely.

[eng50]

I know this will sound stupid but the old site no longer has any pictures and I am a visual learner and like to make very sure I am doing the steps correctly.  Would anyone in here who has done the conversion be willing to help me through it?  I would be glad to donate to the site for any such help! 

Thank you

Bill

[Mk1Mod0]

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?PHPSESSID=ac79c55df15e77806fe8bb0dfce5736f&topic=346.0

I just did a simpler version of this last week and my machine is humming right along nicely. Happy to answer any questions you might have.
Shawn

[eng50]

Ok read it all several times, seems very do able…


Two Questions:


This only replaces the lower power supply?  Is there a way to have it power both upper and lower?


And a little confused on the testing phase if I don't have a bad I/O board to use..any thoughts or clarifications would be great. 


Thank you so much!!


Bill

[rokgpsman]

The upper power supply board that's inside the dotmation enclosure is only a 12vdc supply. So you can add a cheap pc computer power supply up there behind the dot matrix enclosure and connect its 12vdc output in place of the original upper power supply board. OR you can run 2 wires from the lower power supply to bring 12vdc up to the dotmation enclosure, but your lower power supply will need to be hoss enough to run all that is connected to its 12vdc output.

Depending on where you live you can get a pc computer power supply for pretty cheap, often under $20, so I'd just put a second power supply in the upper area. But one of the writeups on the old NLG website showed how to run the whole thing off one pc power supply located in the bottom part of the machine.

[Mk1Mod0]

You should have a few extra 12v and ground wires on an ATX supply after supplying the bottom half. With a couple feet of spare wire you can power the upper portion of the machine as well.

[rokgpsman]

Ok read it all several times, seems very do able…


Two Questions:

This only replaces the lower power supply?  Is there a way to have it power both upper and lower?

And a little confused on the testing phase if I don't have a bad I/O board to use..any thoughts or clarifications would be great. 

Thank you so much!!

Bill

It's been a while since I read the how-to on the old NLG site. They were probably referring to using a bad I/O board for testing your power supply mod so you wouldn't fry a good I/O board. The writeup may have said to remove the CPU and I/O boards while doing the mod and test it before reinstalling the boards.

If you don't have a bad I/O board you can double-check everything and make sure you got the wires connected properly. If you have a meter you can measure the voltages to see if they are correct. Then you can put your good I/O board in the machine and turn on power. All 5 lights on the I/O board front right corner should come on. Each one of them represents a different voltage, written on the board next to the light is the voltage the light monitors. So if one of the lights is off then power down and see which voltage is bad.

[rokgpsman]

Here is a different but informative thread on the old site that covers the same topic. Both threads you've been given links to have pictures and text. This one shows how to run the lower and upper area from just one pc computer power supply. It is fairly detailed, be sure to read all the way thru, you'll see how the dotmation box in upper area is connected to the lower power supply replacement. You wouldn't have to do the connections exactly as outlined as long as the wires are connected correctly. He used modified connectors rather than splices or wire nuts so he could easily disconnect stuff at a later time if needed.

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=90.0


Also, I agree with Kevin above, if your dot matrix display is getting dim then that may not be the upper power supply. If you have a meter you can measure the upper power supply output, see if it is 12vdc. If it does measure 12vdc then your dot matrix screen may be going bad.

[eng50]

Ok, I have ordered the Molex parts and am curious, since you have to disconnect the power supply in the main box by disconnecting the harness to it, it makes sense to me to use that harness that you are disconnecting as your "add in" harness if that makes sense.  Did any of you do this?  I am never going to put an original power supply back in and all the wire colors are there and the correct number of wires are there just have to cut off the two original connectors and add the molex and solder the other side.  I can take pictures if that helps the explanation…


Side note I hope the I/O board isn't fried, when I turn the machine on with the original supply I get the outer most 2 LEDs lit on the I/O board and one of the middle ones kind of flickers.  I will report back with what happens after the power supply conversion..


Thank you!



Bill

[Mk1Mod0]

On mine I just cut off the wires that were going to the ATX supply and soldered them directly leaving the remainder of the wires in the plug and plugged in to the PDU. You still need the bottom part of the lower section of the PDU to distribute the 115 from the transformer.

[eng50]

Please help!!


I have completed the power supply "upgrade" and followed the directions for the upper and lower on one power supply as linked.  (Using a 500 watt ATX power supply since I was powering both)


Heres what I have now:


4 lights on the I/O board lit (of the five on the front right)  The 12 v+ is the one that is not lit.  When I meter my wiring specifically the yellow wire from factory supply to back board I have a solid 12v+ so Im not seeing an issue there, and while testing voltages all the rest prove out at the harness as appropriate as well.  The only other LED on the I/O board on the very left front is also lit and it has error printed on board below it.


The machine turns on, the DMD goes through its prom loading sequence and I get no 'bong' (or any sound for that matter, and yes the parts are all installed and were working last it functioned)  the machine lights all come on, the bill validator cycles as normal, but then there is no movement of the reels at all, and no LEDs lit on the front of the cabinet where you would read any fault codes. 


I have a replacement coin comparator coming as that seemed to be the start of the issues as it had a whisp of smoke come from it when the machine quit..Ill plug that up but don't think thats the main issue here, but Ill try it.


Please help I am at a complete loss here…Any thoughts tests, help gladly accepted..


Thank you!


Bill

[Mk1Mod0]

Double check with this picture that you powered all the nesc wires. One of the -12vdc is not yellow.  (Blue wire.)

[eng50]

So here is what I think happened..in trying to solve my power supply issues, prior to doing the conversion, I swapped around multiple different spare ones I had..well I believe I put an upper PS into the main PS..and fried the IO Board!..


Lesson well learned. I will be able to verify that this is the problem when I plug in a new IO board I ordered today.  All the appropriate voltages are now where they need to be (since I have completed the PS upgrade)  Fingers crossed this was the only damage…


See below for pics of my IO Board…

[rickhunter]

Oh yes, Jay's old escaped gas theory...
 

[eng50]

Thats one way to describe it!

[rokgpsman]

So here is what I think happened..in trying to solve my power supply issues, prior to doing the conversion, I swapped around multiple different spare ones I had..well I believe I put an upper PS into the main PS..and fried the IO Board!..


Lesson well learned. I will be able to verify that this is the problem when I plug in a new IO board I ordered today.  All the appropriate voltages are now where they need to be (since I have completed the PS upgrade)  Fingers crossed this was the only damage…


See below for pics of my IO Board…

What's your plan for your old I/O board? I'm wondering if it's repairable?