bally 1081 medalist doesnt pay out

[puckhead]

77 bally medalist. 1081 5 reel. appears to work perfectly, but doesnt pay out. coin multiplier works, takes 3 coins and lights all 3 payout tables on the glass. coin diverter pulls in, coin lock out relay works. releases handle. on 3 coins, if i line up any kind of payout at all, nothing happens. if i actuate the low jackpot or high jackpot relays manualally, it spits out coins like a fiend.  note though, it does not ring the bell.  a first, the hopper appeared to be stuck, maybe the brake wasnt pulling in. when that happened, the bell dinged , and the high jackpot relay was arcing and struggling, and the hopper made a noise you would expect a jammed hopper to make.  you could see on the contacts the high jackpot relay   had some excessive current draw. it did pull in though.  i cleaned and adjusted it, as i did all the relays on the reels unit, and the handle switches. now it does everything it should except operate the hopper. all fuses good. there was even a fuse on the reel unit, near the 1st reel. it good.

the relays in the top of the unit by the coin multiplier are as follow, left to right in front
x1- empty. then x2, x3, low payout, high payout.  on the other side of the wood, left to right
coin unit reset, coin unit step up, super J.P. lockup, reg J.P. lockup

x2 and x3 never do anything. i would think they pull in on 2 and 3rd coin?

all the relays are getting power from the buss.

im stuck

thanks

[DavidLee]

Check the wipers first to see if they align properly to the corresponding wiper board rivet buttons.

Set up a winning combination and check for continuity from the far right board
to the first board on the left.

[puckhead]

the rivets line up nicely.  not clear on the continuity. each wiper has about 10 fingers. what is the loop from one end to the other? which fingers do i test ? i tried nearly every combo, not a one wins.  i did notice, when i manually activate the high jackpot relay, the bell dings as it spits out coins. the low jackpot relay, it doesnt.  the unit is very clean, but i did clean the jones plugs. i didnt touch the female ones, dont want to stick something in there and distort anything. what to use to clean them? i did hit it with de-oxit and insert and pull the units multiple times.

thanks
thanks

[puckhead]

i thought i had it, but alas , no.  the spring on the hopper stepper was sprung, see pic.   i rewound the spring, and it works. steps up nicely,  switch closes( and cleaned) and when you pull the handle it resets, and the switch opens.  notice the red disc has a broken part. but it take a while to reach that, so i think on small payouts it never gets there.

still, doesnt pay out. on a winning combo, nothing happens. not even a click or a clack, nothing.  i though for sure i had it

video of the hopper here https://youtu.be/IKjL79vlAJs

[Pinballwizard55]

          Make sure you are starting on the 2 pay segment on your hopper. if it resets back too far you will get no initial signal to start a payout. the wizard.

[puckhead]

it does reset to 2 pay.the points on the cam yhat hits the rubber bumper are open at 2 pay.  also  depressing the relay next to the hopper hanlde does nothing   depressing low or high payout relays behing the upper glass does run the hopper .thanks.

new info: the g-40 12000 coil on the hopper relay was open. i tried like hell to reconnect the tiny wires to the lugs, but no good. i usually can. i ordered a new one, but not sure it that will be the end of it. depressing the coil manually did nothing.  hard to believe a machine that supposedly used to work has a bad coil, and a sprung spring on the payout wheel.

thanks again

[puckhead]

another thing i noticed.  not a single meter in the game ever changes. there are 3 on the back wall by the handle,  one at the bottom where overflow coins drop out the bottom, and one meter on the reel mechanism.  they never change, is that a clue?
thanks

[Pinballwizard55]

Is it possible that you have an open ground ? For example double yellow or double orange or double blue wire going to a switch or a meter and only one lead still soldered. also check your door molex plugs and the beau plugs behind the hopper and reel mech. Good luck, the wizard.

[puckhead]

the coil voltages are AC , correct? not a ground per se, but by ground you mean the common from the transformer? i checked the beau plugs closely, door molexes i havent touched. i am going to check the meters for a fault in common to all, maybe that will lead me somewhere.

thanks

[wolftalk]

if your game is like a 1081-1 (fruit machine with lots of pays), then there's diodes in the reel wiper circuits and payout relays, jackpot relays and the X2/X3 relays are all running on DC.

the + DC voltage on on the 80-10 wire on the coils and circuits are connecting the -/gnd output of the bridge rectifier to the other side of the coils.

because of the diodes in the circuits, you have to be careful when doing continuity testing or the diodes will block the meter current and the meter will falsely show open circuits.

due to the use of DC and diodes, much of what you read about troubleshooting the payout circuits doesn't apply to the machine.

the meters are all disabled by a door hinge switch with orange wire 70 and black/white wire 85-3 on it.  If you want to see the meters do something when the door is open, you need to manually close/jumper that switch closed.

not sure what your "hopper relay" is.  Some games had a hopper cutoff relay which would kill all payouts ... the 1080-1 did not per the schem.
 
when a coil wire breaks off the lug, you can unwrap a turn of wire on ones side to give you more to work with.  The other end of the wire on the other lug dives into the inside of the spool and you normally can't unwrap a turn of that.  If you had a lot of patience (or rig a drill to spin the spool), you could unwind the entire coil and rewind it.  Since the wire has insulating varnish on it, you need to scrape that off to expose bare/bright copper to solder to.  I use a razor blade to gently scrape off the varnish ... roll the wire on a tabletop and not too much pressure or you'll cut the wire.

when the bell rings is one of the common differences between models.  Typically the bell will ring if a jackpot lockup relay is powered.  It may or may not ring for other pays.