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**Video Poker, Keno, Slots, 21** Gaming machines => SIGMA Video Games => Topic started by: dmyoung805 on October 25, 2017, 04:57:38 PM
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Hi guys, So I just purchased a Sigma Slant Top video poker machine. All was well and the game worked fined. The bill acceptor was hit or miss, but it was taking some bills. I decided to try and cash out the 4 credits I had in it. I get a Hopper Timeout Error. I reset the machine, the hopper does a quarter turn, spits out a few quarters, then goes back to the hopper timeout. Reset again, hopper does a small turn, dumps out some quarters and times out. It will do this over and over. Now I'm wondering if I can get it back to operational (someone must have done it before). I'm in contact with who I purchased it from, but hoping I can get some help here. Thanks so much guys!
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If the coins in the hopper are not riding up on the coin wheel and moving past the coin payout counter in a reasonable amount of time then the machine will decide something is wrong and give the hopper timeout error. There are different reasons this can happen. Maybe if you post some photos of your hopper we can see something. Do you know if the machine was converted from one size of coin to another size, like from half-dollar coins to quarters for example? That sometimes causes a problem with the hopper operation.
Also, on a slant top machine the coin hopper has to move the coins upward to the coin tray and this is harder than on a standard upright machine. Are you getting any coin jamming? And you may just need to put some more quarters in it. Some machine hoppers don't work reliably with just a few coins, they can't payout every last one, they need several in there.
The bill acceptor taking some bills but not others could just be that the bill validator software is out of date and doesn't recognize some of the newer designed bills. For example, if it takes the $1 and the $20 but not the new $5. But it should always accept a $1 bill, so if you are having problems with $1 then something else is going on, not the bv software.
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Thank you for your reply. Has always been a quarter machine. I can't see anything jamming. I took the quarters out for the pics I attached. As soon as I reset the machine, the hopper does a quarter turn and it will drop 4 or 5 quarters out, the go to hopper timeout. I can reset it again immediately and it will drop another 4 or 5 quarters and then go to timeout. I only initially tried to cash out a few quarters. It drops every reset now.
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the bill acceptor is just old. It will take a dollar bill, then I'll pull it out and try again and it won't accept the same bill. Other bills it won't accept, but give it 10 minutes and it will then accept it. It took an old 20, then rejected the same old 20. Hit or miss. Not that worried about it as I wanted it to be a quarter machine. I checked the "ladder" where the quarters go up. It seems to be clear. I can slide them up and pull the lever and they will fall out. For whatever reason, the hopper just stops turning. Is there a sensor where they come out?
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It was working before I tried to cash out. Now I'm just trying to get it back to working. Bypass the hopper somehow. Not sure if there is a way to ignore the error and get the game functioning again. Hopper fix would be ideal, but either would be good for me.
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I think your issue is with the escalator on the hopper. I have seen those get crud in them (or even out of alignment). The coins should move freely up (and down). It appears in your first photo there is a space. That would tell me the coins are not moving freely.
When the escalator is full of coins you should be able to move them up and out with little resistance except for the kicker up top. So, take a look at those coins right at the bend of the escalator.
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thank you! I'll give that a shot and report back. I really appreciate it!
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Turns out the gap you saw was just crusty old quarters. I took them all out. Reset the machine and got the same error. I was thinking I would get a empty hopper error, but still the timeout error. I put all nice shiny quarters in and got the same result. The quarters all slide out easily when I push them up from the bottom.
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Also, I have about $230 worth of quarters in the hopper when testing.
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That should be plenty of quarters.
Is the machine set to pay every win from the hopper? Or does the hopper only kick out coins when you hit the "cashout" button? When the hopper starts turning to eject coins how long does it run before giving the timeout error? Does the hopper have its own circuit board mounted to it? If so, the timeout circuit may be ending too soon due to an old capacitor in the timing circuit.
Maybe there is something wrong with the coin counter, does it look ok, like every coin that passes under it is "seen"? The coin counter should be somewhere along the upper edge of the hopper, where the coins leave the spinning coin wheel and head to the coin tray. The coin counter is the sensor that the machine depends on to know if the hopper is dispensing coins. It is often a rocker-arm, the coin passing under it raises the rocker-arm and the other end of the rocker activates a switch. On some machines the coin counter is an optic sensor with 2 fingers that the coin passes between. Look carefully at your coin counter to see if it is working right.
On the bill validator, you can open the "head" (where you insert the bills) and try cleaning the sensors in there with soft damp cloth, slightly soapy/detergent. It might just be dirty, years of paper money going thru it, plus cigarette smoke, will put gunk in there.
What model bill acceptor do you have? (DBV-145, DBV-200, etc)
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I have gotten slot machines in only to find the hoppers are frozen due to lack of use.. There might be places where a drop of oil might help thing move easier. I have also seem the gearbox on the hopper frozen or turns hard due to the grease insides hardening up.. I have used a heat gun on them to loosen the old grease. Check and make sure the coin wheel turns by hand. You may have to remove to hopper to check that out. You will find a brake on the motor, that will need to be released by hand before trying to turn the coin wheel..
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machine only pays out when you hit the payout button. The hopper wheel does a 1/4 turn before it times out. a few quarters drop out of it at that time. I'm going to make a video of it tomorrow and post a link to it. thanks for all your help guys! I will report back tomorrow.
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You'll need to figure out if the hopper only makes a quarter-turn and then stops is due to it binding/getting jammed, or if it is stopping because the machine has given up on the hopper and declared the timeout error, which then shuts off the hopper motor. Turning the hopper wheel several revolutions by hand will show you if it is binding.
I'd follow Amechanic's suggestions in his post above, make sure the hopper coin wheel turns freely by hand. If you remove the hopper from the machine it makes it easier to do this and you can see if the coins properly ride up on the coin wheel and then get removed from the coin wheel as it is rotated. There may be a coin separator near the edge of the coin wheel, make sure coins don't get jammed by it. The coins should next pass by the coin counter and then be picked off the coin wheel one by one by the hopper knife and sent on their way. On a slant top machine the coin counter may be at the top of the coin escalator where they leave the escalator, I'm not sure. Have you identified where the coin counter is and made sure it is working? This is important.
Turn the coin wheel counter-clockwise (as you face it), don't forget about releasing the small hopper brake, usually located on the hopper motor shaft area. Watch for the coin counter to count each coin. When a coin payout is needed if the coins are not counted the machine declares a fault a few seconds later. If all of this seems to work ok then double-check that the coin escalator allows the coins to move upward and into the coin tray freely.
Also, what is the model name or number on your Sigma machine, we may have a manual for it?
I brightened a couple of your photos to help see details a little better.
LINKS WERE DEAD - REMOVED. This is what happens when external hosts are used. I keep sayin'...
NLG MOD
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It was working before I tried to cash out. Now I'm just trying to get it back to working. Bypass the hopper somehow. Not sure if there is a way to ignore the error and get the game functioning again. Hopper fix would be ideal, but either would be good for me.
machine only pays out when you hit the payout button. The hopper wheel does a 1/4 turn before it times out. a few quarters drop out of it at that time. I'm going to make a video of it tomorrow and post a link to it. thanks for all your help guys! I will report back tomorrow.
So as long as you don't hit the payout button you can play all you want? I don't think bypassing the hopper can be easily done, although I've seen hopper bypass plugs for some machines (Bally and WMS?). But if your machine works ok and doesn't give the timeout error except when you press the payout button would that satisfy your question? It may not be hard to fix the hopper problem once you determine why it is happening. But if you are ok with it not working you can probably disconnect the payout button so someone can't press it by mistake.
On most slot machines, as a protection for the player, once you hit the payout button the machine must payout all of the coins that are due the player before the machine will go back to normal play.
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I know you can test the hopper in the machine, there should be a black button somewhere(don't know where it located on a slant top) this will put you in the test mode, I believe each time you press that button it will advance to the next test , usually when you see the word "hopper" in the display and you turn the key underneath the arm rest, it will turn on and count out ten coins, and show that information on the display. you should be able to do this as many times as you want, this could free up any gunk or ? that could be causing your problem.
I will look this evening, I believe I have a SIGMA slant top hopper. I believe the motor is 110 vac, which means you could use a cheater cord and test in on the bench.
Jim
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The game does not work at all right now. Hopper timeout on screen and it will not play. Just as I was about to make the video, the hopper wheel decided to stop turning all together. Now when I reset it, the motor makes a buzz, but the wheel doesn't turn. Like it's jammed or something. I've taken all the quarters out and trying to find out what is causing it to bind. Not exactly sure how I'm going to take the hopper out at this point as they built the case around it with no access door. Only 1 small door at the bottom where a tray is sitting.
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Your game should have a front door. The two I own do. I can see part of the front door in your photo. You will need to look inside to find the release. When you pull the release the door will want to fall towards your shins. You will need to support it and then lift it out of the channel. If you take a look at the link below you will see the complete door in his first photo. It's laying on the floor just behind the hopper. Be advised that the doors do have a bit of weight to them and can be very unfriendly to your toes.
http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=13668.0 (http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=13668.0)
The red arrow is pointing to part of your door.
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well, I feel dumb now...got the door open and pulled the hopper out. Found the Jam! A runaway quarter made its way into the pic attached. Ok, now I'm back where I started. The wheel is doing a quarter turn again. I'll fill it back with some quarters and shoot a video. Maybe one of you can see where it's going wrong.
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Ok, I was able to make the video. I uploaded it to youtube. I did verify that the wheel spins freely. I released the brake and was able to turn it around with no problem. Here is the link to the video I shot. Thanks!
https://youtu.be/WgytIKJomW4
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To answer your question Rok, yes, if I can get the machine working again, that would be great. I worked before I pressed the payout button. The payout button was disabled (had been pulled from its slot) when I bought it. I plugged it back in, filled the hopper and now get the hopper timeout error. If I can get it back to working, my dad would be happy. He played it for a couple hours when I first brought it home, then I broke it by trying to get it to pay out. I just don't know how to get passed the timeout error to get the game going again.
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I had an issue similar to this and I found that that it was fixed by clearing out the little slot in the top cover that the quarters come out from. Quarters started to jam in there side by side repeatedly. I use a knife to push out what was stuck and then added a little grease to the slot and have had no issues since.