How to replace reel back light bulbs

[Keats]

12 August 2022

I just found a great deal for an IGT 2000  5 reel "Triple Lucky 7" machine. Multi line play.

I was able to change all of the florescent bulbs and I cleaned up the glass and the machine looks very good now.

However, only reel #2 and 3 have back lights that light up to indicate a winning symbol. The other three reels have burned out bulbs.

I have 20 new Xenon bulbs ordered and they are en-route as I write this. The reels take 3 bulbs each, so I'm planning to replace all of the bulbs with brand new bulbs so they all light up as bright as the other reels.

To access the bulbs, I removed one reel from the machine by sliding it out and was careful to mark the side of the actual reel so that I would replace it in the correct position and not off by 180 degrees.  I removed the horseshoe clip and washer from the side of the reel and lifted the reel off of the assembly.

That allowed access to the bulb holder and I was able to squeeze the tabs gently to release it from the reel assembly.  I then removed the wedge base bulb from the socket.
It uses a JKL XE359 bulb.

I then reassembled the reel onto the motor shaft and installed the washer and horse shoe clip and put the reel back into the machine.

This is  time consuming method of accessing the bulb(s) and I'm thinking that there is an easier way to do this. I searched the forum and could not find anything to explain or show how to get to the bulbs other than the way I did it.

A good note is to be careful reinstalling the reel because the motor shaft has a cross pin that actually turns the reel and that pin has two very small clear plastic cubes with a hole drilled thru it slid over the pin. These cubes move back and forth on the pin and unless they are in just the right place, they prevent the reel from seating flush on the motor shaft. Kinda tricky, but it can be done.

Does anyone have a simpler way to get access to these bulbs that does not require disassembling the reel.?
I can't imagine slot techs at the casino doing all of this to swap out some burned out bulbs. Time is money and this is time consuming for sure.

I'll post a few photos below.

Thanks

Keats
Arizona

[63mini]

 Could you not use a piece of tubing to remove the lamps instead of removing the sockets?  The sockets get brittle with age and removing those could damage them. Looking forward to the pics.

[Keats]

Could you not use a piece of tubing to remove the lamps instead of removing the sockets?  The sockets get brittle with age and removing those could damage them. Looking forward to the pics.

I agree with you about the sockets. My concern is getting the bulbs exposed to grab them. Reel strip is in the way.

Will try the photos again. Had to try to shrink them a bit.

Keats
Arizona

[Keats]

Saturday 13 Aug 22

O.K., the new bulbs just arrived and I was able to swap out all of the bulbs behind the reels (15 total) and everything works like new.

I had to remove all of the reels from the machine and disassemble them one at a time after marking the side of the reel and the lamp/ bulb fixture to establish a reference point for re-assembly.

I simply put a thin magic marker line on the side of the reel and the lamp housing so I could line them up again when I was done.

I removed the horseshoe clip and the flat washer from the side of the reel and lifted the reel up and off of the motor assembly. I made a mark on the two square plastic pieces on the motor cross shaft and noted their approximate placement on that pin (cross shaft).

The bulb housing was really dusty and the bulbs looked like they had not worked in a real long time. There is a dark gray cover over the bulb housing and it will come loose by gently pinching the tabs on the ends. Be very careful here. The plastic is brittle. Do not pinch too hard.

When that piece is off, you can touch each bulb and remove it from the socket. Some were in very tight. Took a lot of pulling with my fingers to get them loose. I would not use a tool here. Too easy to break a glass bulb.

I then cleaned  the dust out of the bulb housing to better reflect the light and installed the new Xenon XE349 bulbs. They will bottom out when fully inserted into the sockets.

Then I reassembled the reel in reverse order being careful not to break any of the old plastic and lining up the reference lines I made earlier. Getting the reel to seat was a trick because I needed to get the small square blocks on the cross shaft / pin in just the right position to recess into the reel. Once flush, I put the flat washer and horseshoe washer back on and wiped the outside of the reel to eliminate any accumulated dust. I did not use any water to clean the reel strips.

After each reel was completed I reinstalled the reels into the machine. Then I tried it out. Now each winning symbol lights up from left to right in sequence to indicate the winning symbols.

The machine runs like new and with all the lights working, it looks like it belongs in a major casino..

This is an involved job and it takes a bit of patience but it can be done. I'm an amateur and if I can do it, I think anyone could.

I'll try to post a few photos below.
I hope that this posting helps someone else in the future.

Keats
Arizona

[Iamwally]

I have a triple lucky 7’s also and I replaced all my bulbs with leds.  That is a great description of how it is done and I did not find any better way.  I did it the same as you and I think it is probably the only way to do it as far as I can tell! I also put colored leds in my buttons!  I need to find a new reel shelf though because the machine had wide reels and the triple lucky 7’s kit I bought is  narrow reels.  For now I just have the narrow reels running on the wide motors until I can track down the right reel shelf for a decent price.  Does your reel shelf have any numbers on it?  Half my problem in tracking down the right shelf is the narrow and wide shelf’s are hard to tell apart.  So if I had a number it would probably make it a bit easier to track down.  Oh and I also 3d printed some nice new white button caps with transparency printed legends to make the button look new because they were all yellowed from the years of heat from incandescent bulbs.  Oh and I really enjoy changing the sound simm constantly so it doesn’t get boring!  This is one of the few kits that will basically play just about any sound simm out there!!!

Thanks,

John

[Keats]

I have a triple lucky 7’s also and I replaced all my bulbs with leds.  That is a great description of how it is done and I did not find any better way.  I did it the same as you and I think it is probably the only way to do it as far as I can tell! I also put colored leds in my buttons!  I need to find a new reel shelf though because the machine had wide reels and the triple lucky 7’s kit I bought is  narrow reels.  For now I just have the narrow reels running on the wide motors until I can track down the right reel shelf for a decent price.  Does your reel shelf have any numbers on it?  Half my problem in tracking down the right shelf is the narrow and wide shelf’s are hard to tell apart.  So if I had a number it would probably make it a bit easier to track down.  Oh and I also 3d printed some nice new white button caps with transparency printed legends to make the button look new because they were all yellowed from the years of heat from incandescent bulbs.  Oh and I really enjoy changing the sound simm constantly so it doesn’t get boring!  This is one of the few kits that will basically play just about any sound simm out there!!!

Thanks,

I really like the photos. The colored buttons make it pop. Something I may want to consider down the road.
I'll look for a part number on the 5 reel shelf. If I find it, I'll post another reply.
Not sure what kit your talking about. I'd like to be able to play various tunes.

Take care,

Keats
Arizona

John

[Keats]

I have a triple lucky 7’s also and I replaced all my bulbs with leds.  That is a great description of how it is done and I did not find any better way.  I did it the same as you and I think it is probably the only way to do it as far as I can tell! I also put colored leds in my buttons!  I need to find a new reel shelf though because the machine had wide reels and the triple lucky 7’s kit I bought is  narrow reels.  For now I just have the narrow reels running on the wide motors until I can track down the right reel shelf for a decent price.  Does your reel shelf have any numbers on it?  Half my problem in tracking down the right shelf is the narrow and wide shelf’s are hard to tell apart.  So if I had a number it would probably make it a bit easier to track down.  Oh and I also 3d printed some nice new white button caps with transparency printed legends to make the button look new because they were all yellowed from the years of heat from incandescent bulbs.  Oh and I really enjoy changing the sound simm constantly so it doesn’t get boring!  This is one of the few kits that will basically play just about any sound simm out there!!!

Thanks,

I really like the photos. The colored buttons make it pop. Something I may want to consider down the road.
I'll look for a part number on the 5 reel shelf. If I find it, I'll post another reply.
Not sure what kit your talking about. I'd like to be able to play various tunes.

Take care,

Keats
Arizona

John

__________________________________
15 Aug 22

John,
I checked my machine and on the far left side of the shelf next to reel #1 at the rear is a stamped number.
It's 67001200  A

Below that was stamped
NVPP   07/04
I think this is a date..

So maybe the part # is the 67001200 A.

Good luck.

Keats
Arizona.

[Iamwally]

Thanks for the info on the shelf!  Hopefully that will help in my search!  As far as the sounds all you need is to buy various sound simms and swap them whenever you want!  Some of my favorites are Wild Thing, Richard Petty, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Munsters & Cleopatra!  I tried to post a video but it was too big!  If you want to see how the different simms sound you can check yoeddy’s YouTube page!

Thanks,

John

[Keats]

Thanks for the info on the shelf!  Hopefully that will help in my search!  As far as the sounds all you need is to buy various sound simms and swap them whenever you want!  Some of my favorites are Wild Thing, Richard Petty, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Munsters & Cleopatra!  I tried to post a video but it was too big!  If you want to see how the different simms sound you can check yoeddy’s YouTube page!

Thanks,

John

Thanks John.

I just looked at my Triple 7's and my Game King (Round Top) and most of the door button bulbs are not lighting. I had not noticed that before.
Can you tell me where you got the LED lights you used on your machine for the button lights.?
Cost? 

Thanks
Keats
Arizona

[Iamwally]

I actually bought a mixed pack of leds off of eBay.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/133719262731?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ywWRoy4zT_2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=rZ11O1LCRam&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Stayouttadabunker]

Just a warning.
If the bulbs are "too hot", they WILL melt and ruin the plastic plunger inside the button.
I know because I've ruined one of mine a long time ago when these LED bulbs came out onto the market.
You must make sure that you have the right amperage/wattage lamps that run "cool"...they are NOT all the same.

[Iamwally]

True!  I have been running these for quite a while now and they seem ok to me!  No issues thus far!

[Keats]

I actually bought a mixed pack of leds off of eBay.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/133719262731?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ywWRoy4zT_2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=rZ11O1LCRam&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

_____________________________________
16 Aug 22
Checked out the E Bay offer. Look good and the cost is very nice.
What size does the machine take ? T5 or T 10.?  It comes with 60 T5's and 10 T10's.
The wattage is 0.2 for the T5's and 0.4 for the T10's. That should be cool enough. ?
Thanks again,

Keats
Arizona

[Keats]

Just a warning.
If the bulbs are "too hot", they WILL melt and ruin the plastic plunger inside the button.
I know because I've ruined one of mine a long time ago when these LED bulbs came out onto the market.
You must make sure that you have the right amperage/wattage lamps that run "cool"...they are NOT all the same.

___________________________________
16 Aug 22
At 0.2 watts X 12VDC that = 2.4 Amps. DC
At 0.4 watts X 12VDC that = 4.8 Amps. DC

If wattage creates heat, is 0.2 and 0.4 watts too much?
I have to check out the bulbs in the buttons that came with the machine and do the math on them to see which is less wattage producing heat.
If you know the right amperage/wattage lamps to use, please let us know. I don't want to damage my machine..

Thanks
Keats
Arizona.

[Iamwally]

I believe the small buttons are T5 and the large button takes a T10.  I believe I only used the T5's from ebay and the T10's I used in my large button and reel backlights I got from amazon. They come in a bunch of different colors and they work great but are a bit more expensive but definitely better quality.

https://a.co/d/aEo5jKO

[jakah440]

On the formula would be P=I*E  or for the current value it would be I=P/E

So each LED would be .2/12=.0167 Amps ea. on the .2 Watt or .4/12=.033 amps on the .4 watt

[Keats]

16 Aug 2022

I finally got the bulb socket out of the machine. I could not pull the white socket down and loose from the black socket mount that is attached to the underside of the door button area. I actually had to remove the large 1" plastic nut from the bottom of the socket and then pull the part out thru the top of the button mount on the door.

I was then able to pry the small square plastic clear button that reads 9 Lines out of the top of the socket and that exposed the bulb.
Then I was able to grasp the bulb and it had a plastic cylinder over the actual bulb. That came right off and there was the bulb.

It looks like a wheat bulb. It's very small and is opaque. ( LED ?) I removed the  bulb from the socket and it has a wedge base with two wires exposed on either side of the base.
There is no marking on the bulb, the bulb cover, the socket, or any other part of this assembly. I suppose that would have made it too easy for me....

So, from what I've found on this forum, the bulb should be either a #658 or maybe a #73 or perhaps a T5 or a T10. The base should be a T3.25 ?

I searched on line for a replacement (I need a bunch for my 5 reel machine) and the only one I found so far that is specifically for an IGT machine is at Patriot Gaming for $1.65 each but only available in White.

E. Bay has T5 and T10 LED bulbs in various colors but I don't know if they are the right bulb to use in my machine.
So I'm going to put everything back together for now until I get more info.

I'm open to suggestions and any info you wish to pass along would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Keats
Arizona
Photos below..

[Iamwally]

Yes those are actually already leds.  Is it possible that they were not making a good connection?  Or someone put them into the sockets backwards?  They will only light one way they do have a + and - so it is possible to put them in backwards and they will not work.

[Keats]

Yes those are actually already leds.  Is it possible that they were not making a good connection?  Or someone put them into the sockets backwards?  They will only light one way they do have a + and - so it is possible to put them in backwards and they will not work.

________________________________________
Every small button is out. No marking on the bulb or socket anywhere. Is there an easier way to get the bulb out so that I could put a new bulb in ?
Any idea which bulb it actually uses?   
The large button - Spin reels etc is working.


Thanks
Keats

Arizona

[Iamwally]

The part of the button with the leads is supposed to snap out of the actual button housing.  Sometimes they are stuck in there really good because they haven’t been removed for years!