Dotmation Winning Streak

[TPMARTIN]

Group,

I ran across this Dotmation Winning Streak a while ago in a friend of a friends garage and told the guy if he ever wanted to sell it let me know and low and behold he texted me and said he wants to sell it.

He said it complete and the "Lights come on, it is giving the code for low battery voltage and the upper display does not come on"

I know the battery shouldn't be an issue but I'm guessing that Williams display is obsolete and or expensive.

Before I get involved in another albatross boat anchor I am soliciting advice on 1) Is this worth fixing or does the game suck? 2) Do I buy and try and fix and if unsuccessful is there any parts that are worth anything? 3) Could the upper display be related to the battery issue and if not what does that Williams display cost?

Probably posted in the wrong section but I thought I would try here first.

Thanks

Tim

[rickhunter]

The dotmation is most often the power supply that goes with it.  A lot of people use an old computer power supply as it runs in only 12 volts.  The game itself plays like a regular slot with the bonus round just free spins until you don't get a winning combo.  The dotmations were ahead of their time and fun games for their era, but obviously today's game are more immersive, especially when you see things with transmissive reels.  How much is he selling it for.  If you get original parts to repair it and the dotmation issue is just the power supply, you are probably looking at around $100 to get it going.  I haven't seen dot displays lately, but Neonkiss had a bunch of them last time I saw him.  You can get kits for it from time to time, but it really is personal preference if you want to get involved in this platform.  I myself have 2 of them and I'm going to restore a 3rd one as soon as I move into my new home and things settle down.  I happen to like the WMS stuff, but everyone has their preference.  If you want to see a video of the game play  I could record some and post it.

[Tmmybahama]

Here is one of my winning streaks... Mine looks newer than yours... I love the dot mats... I have about 12 to work on and get em ready to sell....  (JACKPOT PARTY, WINNING STREAK, n X FACTOR all titles avail and parts)

[rokgpsman]

You are posting in the right section. Even if it was the wrong section the moderators here are pretty helpful and would move your post over to the right area and let you know.

I don't think the blank dotmation screen is related to the dead battery. Even with a dead battery you can clear the battery error and play the game, just would have to do that each time you power up the machine. And with a dead battery the machine would go back to factory default settings on stuff like volume, which is a loud level since they figured they'd be operating in a noisy casino environment. The dotmation display screens are still available but getting harder to find.

The Williams dotmation machines are fun to play and at the time they came out they were ahead of other machines due to improved sound and animation effects. As others have said the dark dotmation screen is likely to be caused by the upper power supply, which can be replaced with an inexpensive 12vdc power supply, even a computer power supply. So if this machine only has a bad upper power supply it is not that costly to repair.

You won't know if the dotmation screen itself is good or bad until you determine if the upper power supply is working. You can take a volt meter and see if the upper power supply is providing 12vdc, it is inside the dotmation display box along with the dotmation controller board, both are behind the dotmation screen. Just need to loosen 2 screws on the top of the dotmation box and carefully slide the dotmation screen on the front of the metal box to the side,  then lower it forward to gain access to the inside. Once this is done you will see the upper power supply board on the right side of the dotmation box, look for a power cable with red wires attached to the power supply board, those are the 12vdc power lines. These red wires go to the dotmation controller board just to the left and also to the rear of the dotmation screen. Be careful when doing this, there is 115vac going to this upper power supply. In fact, you might want to make sure the 115vac power cable that runs to the upper power supply from the main power supply in the lower part of machine is plugged in at both ends, I had one once that was disconnected. If you have a meter you can measure the 115vac where it comes to the upper power supply. If the 12vdc is bad then you need another 12vdc power supply. If it is good then the dotmation screen or dotmation controller card is likely bad, but as said the most often failure by far is the upper power supply itself.

Someone told me that the machine will play even if the upper power supply is bad (although on some games the dot display is necessary to play the bonus round) since it is only used for the dotmation display and does not affect the lower part of the machine, but I haven't verified that.

Another thing to look for is in the lower part of the machine. There is a card cage that contains 2 circuit boards. This cage is a metal box with a dropdown cover, it is in the center of the upper part of the lower area, a few inches above the coin hopper. The top board in this card cage has a row of 5 LED lights on the right side of the board. When the machine is powered up all 5 LEDs should be lit. These LEDs show the status of the 5 main voltages that the lower power supply makes. If any of these 5 LEDs is dark that is an indication of a problem.

If you can get the machine cheap enough and get it going then you can change the game to another one if the Winning Streak game doesn't appeal to you. People do this often, it is just a matter of the changing the software chips that plug into sockets on the CPU board, changing the 3 plastic symbol strips on the spinning reels, plus the game specific artwork glass if that is important to you.

[knagl]

Someone told me that the machine will play even if the upper power supply is bad (although on some games the dot display is necessary to play the bonus round) since it is only used for the dotmation display and does not affect the lower part of the machine, but I haven't verified that.

If the upper power supply is dead, the game will power up with a hard tilt and "Dot Fail" on the red LED displays on the glass.  The game will not play until the upper power supply is working.

[rokgpsman]

Thanks knagl, good to get that question cleared up.

[KirkLasVegas]

I had a bunch of these (Piggy,Stampede,Jackpot Party,Palace of Riches,Winning Streak,and a few others.
Change the battery.....
Get a clear chip, you may/will need it..
Check the XU-3 Socket, they tend to wear out.
Chances are the power supplies are shot, but easy to repair or work around.
Dotmation display...FRAGILE...i mean eggshell fragile. They develop broken traces at the edge and entire lines go away.
The display uses about 170 volts, it will bite you. Don't touch when its on.
Listen for the WMS "BONG!" when you power up
Knagle is correct, if the topbox doesnt answer you will get a "DOT FAIL"
The top supply makes 12 volts at about 8 Amps.Most any 12 volt supply will work.
Lower supply is a bit more of a challenge...

[Tmmybahama]

I had a bunch of these (Piggy,Stampede,Jackpot Party,Palace of Riches,Winning Streak,and a few others.
Change the battery.....
Get a clear chip, you may/will need it..
Check the XU-3 Socket, they tend to wear out.
Chances are the power supplies are shot, but easy to repair or work around.
Dotmation display...FRAGILE...i mean eggshell fragile. They develop broken traces at the edge and entire lines go away.
The display uses about 170 volts, it will bite you. Don't touch when its on.
Listen for the WMS "BONG!" when you power up
Knagle is correct, if the topbox doesnt answer you will get a "DOT FAIL"
The top supply makes 12 volts at about 8 Amps.Most any 12 volt supply will work.
Lower supply is a bit more of a challenge...

What is the average pricing on a new "kit" (complete incl. reel strips, eproms, and glass)  More than S+ kits I suppose.... right?