Bally 891 Super Continental coin underpay problem [resolved]

[essmeier]

Edit:  This was a wiring issue at the hopper beau plug.  Solved.

Now that I have my months-long problem with the Credit Register solved, I now have a problem with underpays on larger payouts on my 891-20.
When I first acquired the machine and before I added the Credit Register, all payouts were working correctly.  I probably caused this problem somewhere along the line.

Results are based on testing with one coin, and results were identical in both right-to-left and left-to-right payouts.

All smaller pays (<200 coins) pay correctly.

All pays of 200 coins or more are significantly short, in some cases, by a factor of ten or more.  (example: 200 coin payout pays 20)

Based on other threads I've seen, I'm guessing that this is a hopper issue, but I don't see anything amiss at a casual glance.

I did recently have to replace the male beau plug on the hopper, but I've double-checked for:

1. Correct wires to pins
2. No broken wires
3. No pin-to-pin shorts

...and didn't seen any problems there.

So, it's likely something else on the hopper that's out of adjustment or disconnected.

Suggestions?

Attached - chart of expected and actual payouts.  Errors noted in red.

[wolftalk]

problem with the lower wipers on the payout counter carriage or the wire that connects to the upper wipers?


since you have 100 pay working ok, implies the issue is getting the wipers on the 200 and 250 traces connected to F trace.


if you want to eliminate issues with the reel wipers, check voltage between wire 70 and the 200/250 traces to make sure the circuit is completing to those points.  I think it should be 50V ... poke the trace that is paying to verify.

[essmeier]

I will check that later today.

I need to replace a couple of wires that attach to the female side of the hopper plug, so when I do that, I'll check to be sure that the 54 and 75 wires that handle the 200 and 250 payouts are properly connected.

There could be an issue there, as I'm still not seeing anything unusual about the hopper itself.

Just curious - do you own an 891?

[essmeier]

OK, this one's on hold for a little while.

While the pays were working correctly before I installed the Credit Register, I remembered that they were also working correctly right after I installed it. 

That makes this a recent event, and since I haven't recently been mucking about with the hopper, I figured it's likely a wiring problem at the hopper beau plug, where I've recently done some extensive rewiring with wire that turned out not to be particularly well-made and is prone to breaking.

I'll leave the ugly story out of it, but right now, I have a broken female beau plug in the cabinet that will have to be replaced before I can pursue this.  That's "broken", as in, "it's in a half a dozen pieces."

I've put out a shout to Alan at KLAR to see if he has one.  In the meantime, I've acquired some better-quality wire and I'll work on tidying up that mess.

[essmeier]

Update:
Alan rummaged through his shop and managed to find a single female 30 pin beau plug.  I'll have to treat this thing as if it's made from gold.
Wired it up, powered up the game and immediately blew a 110 volt fuse!
Double checked the wiring and I then put a small piece of plastic tubing over most of the pins on the plug to prevent inadvertent shorts.
I also checked continuity on all 30 pins, and also checked continuity on all of the pins on the molex plugs that connect to the game from the replay/coin mode switches.
I powered it up again and then it wouldn't pay out at all in either credit or coin mode.
At a loss as to what to check next, I cleaned the connectors on the male beau plug on the hopper and plugged it in.
It's now paying out again in both coin and credit mode, and larger payouts (>200 coins) are working again.
I have a couple of other issues with the machine, but I'll post those in another thread.
Bottom line - this was a wiring issue at the hopper beau plug.