**Video Poker, Keno, Slots, 21** Gaming machines > STATUS Video Poker

Switches? Could two be bad?

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shortrackskater:
I've decided to start another subject on switches since the last (4 pages long) one was basically resolved when I got the slot to work. I left off with two issues.
First, is an occasional runaway hopper, where the on screen payout count doesn't register and the hopper just spits coins with no count, then locks up. I press the reset button and it just spits all coins out. BUT if I power off and on, then the count starts and pays out properly. Op Bell gave me information that it maybe be an issue that occurs after it's warmed up, but this happened when the machine was on for just a few minutes....then it might work for a half hour and do it again. So, I'm not sure if I should take that route now.
The other issue is an OCCASIONAL coin-in error: it sets off the alarm. I have to open the machine and press a reset button. Sometimes it won't fail for a half hour of play, then it happens once.
My question is... could both switches be failing intermittently? The one for the coin-in must be tripped fast, otherwise the alarm goes off. The hopper switch, which count the coins out, is "rapid fire." I've tested both switches and they work under manual circumstances. Should I hook a multimeter with jumpers up to the hopper switch and just monitor the open closing of the switch? Maybe I just answered my own question...  :Scratch-Head:

SolidSilver:
Hmmmm..........; let's try Sequential Logic, using the Occam's Razor approach, and assume there is some commonality.

Issues:
Hopper: occasionally ceases to register coin-out count; locks on timeout.
   Reset no help, but powerdown/reset fixes it

Coin-In error:  occasionally “sets off  alarm.” Reset button fixes it

Questions:
   1.Are both “reset buttons”  the same, or different Reset buttons?
             a. apply the answer to the appropriate section below
   
Similarities:
1.   Both are occasional, but frequent
2.   Both may involve time: warmup, physical “jiggling,” oxidation, etc
3.   Both reflect issues with coin recognition
4.   Both will involve basic electromechanical voltage (12, 24, etc),
            not logic voltage (typically 5)

Differences:
1.   One involves wiring harness in the door; the other involves the hopper harness/connector.

Amalgamation(s):
1.   Does the coin-in harness connect at all with the hopper harness (if there is one...)
a.   do they both arrive at the same logic-board edge connector?

This dumbshit sequential logic implies you should  be looking at any common electrical harnesses & connectors,
and at the logic-board connectors. Simplistic perhaps, but how many problems have been solved by spraying
the living bejabbers out of connectors & pots with Contact Cleaner, and applying the old Pink Eraser to edge connector fingers?

Therefore with all due respect, I would suggest you rigorously clean (or re-clean) all related connectors; and then
validate the crimps on all related pin-crimped-to-wire harness connectors

shortrackskater:
Where did I go???
I don't know!!!
But I'm now getting to this while I wait for "my help" on the Mills M with hopper.  :propeller:

I think I did some of your suggestions... and that was cleaning the bejabbers out of the connectors and switches.
Both problems went away for awhile, but I also left the machine off for a LONG time.
Since then I made a nice extension harness for adjusting the CRT too! But as I played it again the hopper problem came back. I KNOW I had checked the hopper coin-out count switch (as suggested by amechanic and you) and thought it was okay. But when it happened again I realized that the pin may have been adjusted too high and for whatever reason, the count stopped. When that happens once, it seems to throw the machine into a hopper runaway condition. But after adjusting that pin, it seems to have gone away completely, again - I hope! I've done probably 50 cash outs. So far, so good.
And for the coin-in error that too seems to have been the E51 cherry switch. I've been adjusting the pin so the coin hits it later in "the fall" after it passes through the coin mech. So far, I've only had two errors after probably 1000 coins in. (I play the darn thing while waiting for responses on the Mills  :Tongue_Out: )
I am 99.9 percent sure it's either lag in the switch, perhaps due to being an a smoke filled casino, or to the pin which I keep tweaking. If it occurs again - I'll try replacing the whole thing, although those damn switches are expensive.

SolidSilver:
If the wires to that switch are not soldered, then pay attention to the contact, including where it is crimped onto the wire. Crimp joints on wires, and slide-on contacts, are prime spots for intermittent action. This is especially true if the harness is likely to be disturbed, such as when removing a hopper, or pushed aside while looking at something else.

shortrackskater:
Did that! They're soldered on, both switches.
So far all is good.
And I think I forgot to mention (or did I?), I can create the coin in error (alarm goes off too...a really annoying one) with a "slow flip" of that switch. I was going to get a new switch but like I said in the last post, they're ridiculously expensive and I have no idea why? Obsolete?
Maybe I just need to fabricate or buy a new pin for it...

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