Ballys 831

[dfsmith]

i have just gotten a ballys 831 3 reel machine it works fine but does not do 3 coins. It'll accept them but the payout line lights do not light up to suggest your increasing your bet. is there anything I can look at?

[Amechanic]

Sounds like the stepper unit located behind the top glass is not advancing.

[dfsmith]

Thanks i'll check it out

[dfsmith]

I found one of the stepper solenoids bad I think. I'm going to replace it see what happens.
 

[Amechanic]

Sounds like a good idea 👍

[wolftalk]

if the step-up solenoid coil on the line unit looks ok, check the switches on the line step-up relay.  Should be the bottom relay on the right bracket in the top.


the first coin deposited should release the handle, the second and third coin should power the line step-up relay and that relay stays powered until the line unit steps up.


to find the problem, you ideally want to know if the line step-up relay is powering on the second coin deposit.  Not sure if you can see around the lamp panel to tell.



the 831 had a lot of variations.  If you need more info, please post the full model number off the metal plate on the right side of the cabinet.

[rdaniel]

The lamp panel can be lowered forward by removing the 4 screws holding it in place. Once down you should be able to see the total workings of the feature unit, including the odds unit and the switches.

[RiseLikeRa]

Smith:


This is a case where a set of extension cables come in VERY handy if you have or can get them. To see how the parts up there interact in real time in invaluable. 


Many many years ago I bought an 831 to repair and re sell with the same problem.  My first thought was the coil also.  Since I did not have one handy I cleaned the wiper fingers  and wiper board with some dollar store 3M pad  [/size]in the head unit and loosened the tension on the center Phillips screw ever so slightly.  I then put some lite lubricant on a coin wrapper and passed the wrapper beneath each finger.  The game has been working for the last decade.  Seems that there was too much resistance for the coil to overcome.


This was my experience your mileage may vary.  Please keep us posted.


Ra

[DavidLee]

Clean and inspect the odds step up unit. Like Ra said, could be a bad connection or dirty contact. Not sure about your machine, but I thinking coin 1 lights come on when the machine is powered up. Take a look at the common silver wire, it might be open before the first light socket. Thus no lights at all. Try jumping 6 volts from a working light circuit to the odds lights, as a process of elimination.

[dfsmith]

After I've played around with getting to know how it all works it's definitely the reset coil so I have one ordered. Next problem is the nickel sometimes gets stuck between the coin mechanism and the switch shoot before the hopper. I disassembled it and cleaned up and deburred and filed smooth the wear it works better but still gets stuck 1 out 20 times alittle bump on the door makes it drop. Any ideas? Your guys knowledge is great. Thanks!

[DavidLee]

Switch wire might be slightly catching on the edge of the guide slot.
The coin mechanism may need to be removed and cleaned with compressed air.

[Amechanic]

Where exactly is the coin getting hung up? Take a pic if possible. I have dad the hang up on the diverted plate and coming out of the coin mech.

[wolftalk]

After I've played around with getting to know how it all works it's definitely the reset coil so I have one ordered.

while a solenoid coil wire can break off the solder lug due to vibration, that's rare and you can unwind a turn of wire and reattach it.  Otherwise, the coil typically burns up because a controlling switch is stuck closed.


if your reset coil is toasted, verify the wipers whizz back to the reset position when you push in the reset coil plunger.  If the wipers drag, you need to clean off the rivets and maybe take the unit apart to clean off the white plastic ratchet if someone has been putting lubricants on it.


in the worst case, the wipers stick when rotating back to reset.  If that happens, the "open-at-0" switches on the side  of the unit won't open, the reset coil will be held powered and it will burn up.


if you take off the wipers, note they can be mounted on the shaft two ways ... don't put them on the wrong way. 


when removing and especially installing the wipers, hold onto the ratchet so it doesn't move away from the unit frame.  If it moves far enough, the stop barb will disengage and you'll need to deal with repositioning the ratchet and retensioning the spring - 1.75 +/- 1/4 turn of tension is typical.


with the wipers off and the reset plunger held in, the ratchet should spin easily with no signs of binding.


the center screw holding on the wipers should always be tightened down.  If the wipers are applying too much pressure to the rivets, you are supposed to bend the wipers up a little to lighten the tension.  That's easiest if you take off the wipers since you ideally want all the contacts to be hanging down to the same level.


the wipers can be run dry on the rivets, but as RA said a thin film of lubricant will help.  The old timers used "bally lubricant" or mineral oil (3-in-1).  You can use anything that doesn't get sticky.

[essmeier]

I found one of the stepper solenoids bad I think.

That's easy enough to test, and I'd do that before replacing it.

Get a jumper with alligator clips.  Clip one end to any convenient 30 (yellow) wire.  There are lots of those in the feature unit near the stepper; I usually use one that's tied to a lamp socket, as they're all over the place up there.

Your coil in question will have two terminals on it.  One will have an orange wire, and the other will have a wire that is some other color.

With the machine powered on, touch the other end of the jumper to the terminal on the coil in question thathas the wire going to it that is notorange.

If the coil is good, the stepper will advance.  If nothing happens, the coil is likely bad.  If you blew a fuse, you touched one of your clips to something you shouldn't have.

[jeng212121]

After I've played around with getting to know how it all works it's definitely the reset coil so I have one ordered. Next problem is the nickel sometimes gets stuck between the coin mechanism and the switch shoot before the hopper. I disassembled it and cleaned up and deburred and filed smooth the wear it works better but still gets stuck 1 out 20 times alittle bump on the door makes it drop. Any ideas? Your guys knowledge is great. Thanks!

I was wondering where did you find a reset coil?........I think I am in need of one   


thanks

[essmeier]

You might try Pinball Resource (pbresource.com).  They've got a ton of Bally coils, and Bally tended to use parts across all of their game platforms.

If you don't see it here, send them a message.  They've probably got one that will work.

They've got good prices, too.  I recently had to rebuild 17 leaf switches for my Bally 891 and I bought all of the parts from them.

[GOS]

ebay 162785226702

[wolftalk]

I'm confused by your original symptom and which coil is bad.  The reset coil is the smaller one with the vertical plunger.  Do you mean the step-up coil is bad? 


a problem with step-up makes sense per amechanics reply in post 2, tho coil failure is rare unless a switch sticks closed and then you'd have a lump of charcoal instead of a coil.


fwiw: 

the reset coil part number is C-28-1100.  The old bally part number was 28-R-15 or CO-28R-15


the step-up coil part number is B-25-925.  Old part number was 25-GG-7.


both those coils were used for 30+ years on bally bingo and flipper pinball machines, so they are easy to find new or used.  Typical pricing is around $10 new...google for them.

[jeng212121]

After looking at a pic of the reset coil for my slot, I may have realized I may not have a 831.............reason being, I was able to obtain the p/n of the reset coil on my machine is a Bally M-37-2700.
  I proceeded to search further into buying one and nobody in the US has any and I found a used one on ebay for 9.00
   Would the reset coil part number give anyone a hint as to what machine I have?...sorry for no pics, haven't learned how to do upload pics.  It is a 25 cent machine and it just saids "quarter"with fruits.

[wolftalk]

m-37-2700 isn't a stepper solenoid coil, it's a small relay coil that is typically used behind the coin mech on the front door.


sounds like we are all talking about very different things ... oops.  May be time to start over :-)


you can find a manual for the 831 in http://bingo.cdyn.com/slots/bally_manuals/ - you want the bally 2400 manual.  It has exploded parts diagrams.  Most of the posts on this thread have been talking about page 56.


wrt the model number, it should be on a metal plate on the outside of the cabinet below the handle.

if there's no metal plate, take a look at the metal index disks attached to the reels.  Is there a P-484-xxx number stamped on the face of them (you may need to spin the reels to find the number)?  There's also numbers on the back side of the glass pieces.


if you're taking pics from your phone, you can email them to slotpics@cdyn.com and I'll post them here.   Posting pics to this forum is kinda annoying since the size limits are smaller than a typical phone pic and it won't just resize something bigger for you.