IGT S+ Dollar Bill Validator DBV-200 won't pull in bills

[zshall]

Hi all,


I've been working on repairing a Double Diamond Deluxe machine that has a dollar bill validator that won't accept bills. At first, the mechanism didn't turn on at all (no lights or gear action) and I noticed that the power pins had been bent out of shape, so the connector wouldn't actually make contact. Correcting the pins allows the validator to turn on which is a nice start 


When the validator turns on, the gears spin forward for a bit and then backward slightly, where they stop. LED 1 and LED 2 are illuminated on the unit, as well as the optics for the bill sensor on the front. I tried taking off the bezel and propping up the top of the optics to see if anything was blocking them, but there's nothing.


Next I turned to the cash box, which apparently the previous owner of the machine installed upside-down. I can see why, as all the writing on stickers was upside-down. I pulled out the cash box and the gears spun. They spun again when I put the box back in right side up. Still won't accept bills though.


I pulled out the cash box and put it back in maybe 20 times after that and one of the times I did, the rollers on the front acceptor mech rolled for a split second, then stopped. Validator still won't accept bills.


I've tried closing the cash door and the front door of the machine to no avail. On the self-test menu, I saw that option 9 was set to 1 so I think the bill validator is enabled. The previous owner didn't have a set chip and certainly didn't disable it. He claims that the validator was working fine until he took the cash box out once to empty it. Some time later he said it didn't work, though he wasn't sure whether he'd tried it since.


I tried to take the validator itself out of its housing to look at the DIP switches but the screw holding it in is stripped. I have no reason to believe the DIP switches were changed since it stopped working.


The light on the red panel on the front door that says "$5-100 FACE UP" lights up bright and pulses slightly. I think the machine is ready to accept bills. When I'm in credit mode and have credits in though the light is dimmer, though it still pulses.


When I turn on the main power right now (cash box in and red lever up), LED 1 turns on on the validator. Next, the gears that sound like there in the mech that pulls in the bill spin for about a quarter of a second, and LED 2 comes on.

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this is a video of what's going on. Power off, power on, cash box out, cash box in, and bill test in that order. Same thing happens when the door is closed.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Badbaud]

That pulsing could be your clue. It could be a weak power supply on the left of the bill validator. Replacing the main cap fixes it most of the time.

[therockinelvis]

It will not accept a bill with the door open. Your DBV is not finishing the sequence. Here is my video so you can hear what your missing. Sounds to me like the gears are not meshing correctly. Pay attention to my red lever and where it is. The door was to be closed before it will pull in a bill. Usually takes 30 seconds or so for it to light up ready. There should be 2 wires for the cashbox door switch make sure they are wired together so the machine thinks the cashbox door is always closed.

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[zshall]

Thank you both kindly!

@Badbaud to clarify, the pulsing that I'm talking about is happening on the front panel, not on the DBV itself. Here's a video of that:

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at the 12 second mark when I open the door the light goes bright. After that it stays bright for a while, pulses, and after the video was done it went back to being dim again. Is this door light wired to the box on the side of the DBV? (the one the power to the DBV is connected to)? Under normal operation should it always be solid and bright? Finally, When you're talking about the main cap, is that located on the DBV power supply or on another component?


@therockinelvis that's a helpful video! I heard my DBV sound much like that only once, and that was after randomly removing the cashbox and putting it back in. I've heard a few times a grinding noise that does suggest what you're saying about the gears not meshing properly. I noticed in your video, the cable I assume goes to the cash box optics on the left of the DBV is over the top of the DBV. Mine goes through the screw-holes at the bottom. I'll try moving mine up above it to see if it fits better. Will try reseating the whole thing.

Another question: do the LEDs on the DBV have anything to do with error conditions or do they indicate any problem? Should LED 1 and 2 be lit up when everything is working correctly?

Update: I've reseated the DBV and the cashbox and paid more attention to making sure the gears line up. With no cashbox in and triggering the optics (doesn't work as well in the video since the flash is messing with it) the gears spin freely. They still stop after 2 spins as you can hear. When I put in the cashbox they spin less freely. New video:

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Attached is the position of the cashbox when I put it in. I've pushed it as far back as it can go. Should it perhaps be further forward to allow for the 2 nubs that attach to the transport to go down further?

[off-track]

Why is that zip tie there?

[Badbaud]

To prevent the cable going to the cash box optics from getting cut.

The cap is inside the BV power supply.

[zshall]

Ah that's good. I'm not very electrically inclined, so I'm not sure I'd want to work with the capacitor directly. If I were to replace the DBV power supply entirely (with a replacement like this one: http://www.ohiogaming.com/jcmdbvpowersupply.htm) would that be a good start?

[Badbaud]

yes

[zshall]

@Badbaud Cool, I'll order one up and update when I've installed it. 

[Jim]

I doubt if the power supply is bad.  you are getting the two red LEDS, that indicates power form the supply.  the pulsing is normal, it usually will go in unison with the cash out lamp, you could see it in the denomination lamp as well.  the usual cause for the dimming is a bad ground coming from the bet max button.  you are not getting the proper purge sequence or cash can out sequence.  either the cash box is screwed up, or the wiring to the four plug connector is  bad or the plug fingers are bent and not making contact.  when you remove the cash can in a properly working machine  the unit should cycle and continue to cycle for about 30 seconds, then when it realizes the can is gone it will stop. yours isn't doing that. 


Jim

[zshall]

Thanks for the reply, Jim! That's helpful info; it does seem more and more that there could be problems between the cash box and the transport. I ordered the supply last night prior to your reply so I'll swap it out anyway (good to get the experience of replacing parts), but I'll also check all the connections and the cash box itself. When you're talking about the "purge sequence" and "cash can out sequence" are these signals from the slot machine telling the DBV what to do, or are they physical sequences of steps (like physically removing the cash box)?

The person I bought the machine from claimed that the bill validator would stop working every so often and he'd call on someone to replace the transit and the head unit and then it'd start working again. Not sure if he also replaced the cash box.

I'm not in a location which I can access the machine again until this weekend, so I'll check everything when I get back.

[Badbaud]

Another thing to try is to blow out the optics in the back of the shell the cash can fits into. I found a dust bunny in a customers game that was blocking the optics hole just enough to cause intermittent operation.

[Dpalmi]

Hello!

As I was reading this post, some old memories came back   I haven't owned a S+ in a long time.  But I remember, I had a similar issue where if you didn't get 2 pins on the back end of the transport in just right, the gears wouldn't engage the cash box.  Then, when the validator powers up, it watches for the cash box mechanism to move and it doesn't move because the gears are not engaged and it would stop.  Check out this old post of mine from the old archives to see some pictures....

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4226.msg8620#msg8620

Dan #2

[zshall]

Thanks for all the new thoughts! You all are being very helpful 

@Badbaud I'll take a look! I know when I'd put my hand over what I thought was the only sensor the gears would turn, but when I shined a light in when recording the video it messed with it. I only checked one of the optics thoroughly not the other.

@Dpalmi I actually saw that post when Googling the issue! Thinking about it again I'm starting to wonder if my cash box might be inserted too far or not far enough; I know I've witnessed one time that it started to sound like the sequence @therockinelvis posted, and that was after turning the gear manually on the cash box before putting it in. I can't remember whether I put it in with the lever up or down or how far it went in, but I know it sounded different. It could be something I just need to get right through trial and error.

I'll try everything that y'all have suggested and will update with more pictures the next time I have access to the machine, which won't be until this weekend sadly.

[Badbaud]

One other thing I tried in the past that worked...because... the transport tests for a properly inserted cash box by moving a plastic shelf inside the box away from the optics in the bottom corners then towards the optics (block then unblock?) and the mechanics (sliding, grinding) inside the box cause a incomplete block, unblock cycle.
I removed the two large springs to remove some of the mechanical pressure. This allows the shelf to move back and forth without fighting against the spring tension. Your bills get all sloppy and are not stacked but that worked on at least two occasions.

The ends of the springs slide out of their holding bracket when twisted.

[zshall]

I have progress!! Thanks everyone for so much help 

So the new power supply came in today and I got it replaced. While I was doing the replacement I held the DBV outside of the machine powered on to see if the gears would spin more freely. They churned and churned and to my surprise coughed up a $5 bill I had no idea was in there! After that, it went through the startup sequence unhindered!

So I tried putting in a new, fresh crisp $20 bill. It went in with ease and credited me for 80 quarters! Spot on. Tried a new $5 and it spit it back at me. Tried a few more ways, and the 5 won't go in.

Tried the same old battered $5 that was stuck in there before and it went in... and stayed. Oops.

I disassembled the whole setup and got the bill out of the front this time, under the optics. It was folded up there.

Took the $20 out of the cash box where it was safe and snug and fed it back in. Spat out every time. Perhaps it counts the serial numbers to make sure there's no duplicates?

Tried with an old (1999 series) ten dollar bill. It went in, stayed in, and... well, got stuck in the same place as the $5. This bill is crisp though.

Tried with the same $20, it went in and... got stuck. Now nothing seems to go in. The machine turns its gears over and over for a few seconds and gives up. Gets stuck at the entrance to the transport. The rest of the slot machine doesn't seem to notice.

Here's a new video with the new behavior:

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[therockinelvis]

I have turned the transport by hand. Sometimes it sits so long that the belts get stuck in the bends. There are a couple gears near the motor that you can turn by hand

[zshall]

@therockinelvis Thanks for the reply again! Just tried turning all the gears by hand. They're pretty stiff, but they turn. The cashbox gears turn too though in a few parts they seem stiffer than others.

I'm pretty sure something with the gears rather than the electrical system is vexing me at this point. By reseating everything and reinserting the cashbox it seems that each time I get a different result. Sometimes it allows me to pull the bills in (startup sequence is less than 10 seconds. Transport gears whirr and then the DBV head gears do) and sometimes it's pretty much exactly as before. I've been taking extra care to get everything seated properly but it's still fussing.

I was thinking of taking off the top cover of the transport to see if I can see anything wrong but the screws (like the ones holding in the DBV head) are in there so tightly my screwdriver won't do it. Is there any advantage to going under the top cover?

Still can't tell whether it's the cash box or the transport that's messing up, but I can at least rule out the DBV head I think. The only problems it has are determining which bills to accept, as it accepts the same bill 1 out of maybe 5 times I try.

Gonna try pulling the bill that gets stuck all the way through the transport by hand with no power connected. Maybe that'll whip it into shape.

[Badbaud]

The 200 head won't take the newer $5 bills. It should take the new $20 and old $100, not sure about the $10.

Try what I suggested and remove the two springs inside the cash can box.

[zshall]

@Badbaud will do! I see what you mean; the whole mechanism is very tight when trying to move the gear on the cashbox. The transport gears seem like they move freely when there's no cash box in there.

I'll be taking out the springs in the picture. Will get back to y'all tomorrow morning (getting late on the east coast) with the results!