MY METER HAS GONE MAD!!

[RiseLikeRa]

Hello Group Experts:

My Fortune 1 poker has 4 meters up top just above the mother board.  All was working well the last time I played the game about 3 days ago.  I turn it on this time and I hear a loud and strange sound coming from inside the cabinet.  Upon investigation the problem was identified as the left most of 4 meters marked on the cover flap as "IN".   I can see the meter advancing.  I can feel power going through it when I touch it. 

What I did:

1.  After shutting down the game I pulled the mother board and started it back up.  No more runaway meter.  As soon as the board was seated properly again the meter started rolling upward again. 

2.  I changed the battery.  Same problem

3.  I removed the coin mech.  Same problem


Oh Wise ones, advice would be helpful.

I do not need the counter since this game is for home entertainment.  Is there a wire I can cut or something on the board I can unplug without jacking up the machine?  I really enjoy this game.

Trying to attach photos.  I can send them to someone who knows how to reduce them.  I am kind of a tech Flintstone.

Eagerly awaiting responses

Ra

[rokgpsman]

Ra,
you can send your photos to me & I'll get them posted. My email and pm address is over to the left side of this message. Hopefully someone familiar with your machine will say if the counters/meters can be easily disconnected without it causing an error. Depends on whether the mpu board looks for the meter to be installed or not. I think on some older machines the meters are not "sensed" so they can be unplugged or disconnected.

But - the meter may not be the problem, just a symptom. It sounds like this meter is the "Coin In" counter. Is there any chance something in the coin-in part of the machine is acting up? Like a switch below the coin acceptor that trips/activates when the inserted coin drops thru, to add a playing credit to the machine? Besides the meter counting continuously does the machine also add credits at the same time? Might want to take a look at the area on the inside of the door where the inserted coin gets handled. You can try inserting a coin to see if that works, also try it with the door open to see how the coin gets processed. Maybe you will see if the coin-in switch and spring are working properly when the coin goes past. You might have a broken spring or switch. But I'm not as familiar with the Fortune I machines as others here, so we'll see what they suggest.

[RiseLikeRa]

Thank you so much for the reply.  I thought the same thing about the symptom cause theory.  In my infantile attempt to trouble shoot I did open the door and removed the coin mech.  I actuated the coin switch by hand and it added 1 credit per flick of the little arm.  I even played a hand full of quarters and said some prayers trying to shake the bad mojo but the problem persisted.


It is crazy how these games work 100%  you turn them off and when you turn them back on a gremlin has taken up residence.  I sent you and email about the pictures.  PM Me with your email address and I will fire the shots off to you.  Enjoy the rest of your day.


Ra

[rokgpsman]

From what you did it would seem that the coin-in switch is working ok. If the credits on the machine are not clicking upward at the same time the coin-in meter is clicking then the coin-in stuff in the door may be ok. The problem might be with the meter control, something like a part on a circuit board (interface board or mpu board) and that's what is causing the meter to click. I think badbaud is very familiar with these machines, we'll see what he says when he checks in after Sunday services out west.

[rokgpsman]

.....Trying to attach photos.  I can send them to someone who knows how to reduce them.  I am kind of a tech Flintstone......

Ra

There are free internet sites that will easily reduce a photo for you. You upload the photo to them, then tell them how much to reduce it to (like 50% or 25%, whatever), then you download the reduced version and post it here on NLG. Easy and fairly fast to do, here's one place that makes it very easy:

https://www.reduceimages.com/

This place lets you enter the percentage to reduce the photo to and then they give you an estimate of what the reduced photo file size will be. The smaller the percentage you enter the smaller the photo file will be. So enter a percentage that will give a filesize that is somewhere around 100kb, that often works well. But after you've done it a few times you'll see what works best for you. They will also convert the photo file to a png or gif or jpg file, if you need that.

[RiseLikeRa]

Thanks a million.  I went to the site immediately after reading your post.  I will try to re size some pictures in the morning.  In the mean time I did send you my pictures as promised. 


Ra

[rokgpsman]

I think you will find that site easy to use but if you have questions about it just let me know. I went to that site and uploaded your original photo of your machine, it was about 3,600kb in size. After the upload I entered a "New Size %" of 20%, that gave a reduced photo of 125kb. You only have to enter the percentage for the "Width", the "Height" will automatically get set  You can try different percentages to see how it works. As long as the final photo size is 1,000kb or less you can upload it to NLG. But really a smaller size like 75-200kb works fine in most cases. Underneath your photos (below) it shows the size of each photo file (105k, 53k, 77k). These I did with the software that came with my camera, it does a reduction to photos similar to how that website does it.

That sure is a nice looking old Fortune I you have.

[rokgpsman]

It looks like each counter/meter just has 2 black wires going to it, but I can't see where the wires are connected in the photos. They are probably a ground wire and a control wire that sends voltage to the meter when it is supposed to click. In the manual it looks like the meter cable connects to the Interface board at connector "E" and you can disconnect the meters there by unplugging the meter cable. You can probably follow the meter wires back to the Interface board to see where they plug in to it. You will want to do this with the machine unplugged or at least turned off. Those meters use 115 volts ac to operate so that voltage is on the Interface board at various places.

But even with the meters disconnected the relay on the Interface board that switches on the coin-in meter may still be clicking because of whatever the problem is. If so hopefully that relay won't be too noisy.

[RiseLikeRa]

Thank you for the information and the diagram.  I am going to give it a shot tonight.  Funny you mentioned the 115v.  When I touched the meter and started to mess around with it while the game was powered up my spider sense started to tingle.  Something told me "hey stupid, get your hand out of there!"  Good thing I listened to it AND you. 


If I had gotten the juice the next thread might have been  Ra Rest in Peace.


I will keep you all posted

[Badbaud]

Simply disconnect the meters. There was no "meter detect" circuit in a Fortune 1.

[RiseLikeRa]

Bad and all:


Thank you so much.  It looks like the meters run in series.  Traveling for work until Thursday.  I will keep the gang posted.  Stay well all.


Ra

[RiseLikeRa]

Well....


Based on the confidence booster from Badbaud I embarked on the project today.  Power off and I noticed that there seems to be twp Phillips head screws diagonally across from each other holding the problematic meter in place.  Because of how recessed in the cabinet the meters are I had to run to the garage and get an extra long driver and remove the mother board.  Once the meter was loose there were 2 black wires coming and going to parts unknown.  I cut and taped BOTH wires since I did not want to repeat the deed. 


After making sure that all of the wires were tucked in nicely I fired her up.  NO Picture on the CRT!!   What did I do?   Well being over 50, as must of us are.  It took me a few minutes to realize that I forgot to put the mother board back in.


Sliding the MB back into place carefully and firing her up was a big relief.  I played a handful quarters and held and cashed out credits just to make sure all was well.  It was.


Thanks again guys.  NLG is the absolute best!


Ra