How To: Get JCM WBA 11 US flashed to 22 for Canadian Poly

[shakey69]

I have a WMS 550 machine 1989 with a WBA-11-SS in it right now. It only accepts old US bills. I bought a WBA-22 acceptor and have software from JCM but know nothing beyond that. The flash units are apparently expensive? $350?? Are there people out there that do this or where do I stand? Thanks. I have only the one machine. Mississauga Ontario Canada area. Thanks.

[rokgpsman]

There are places that provide the flash programming service and they will have the latest software to load for you. Some of the NLG supporting vendors on the home page can do this. I think one in particular that I've heard people mention is Blue Ridge Slot Service, Jim is quite familiar with all things involving bill acceptors. And there are others that also do it. The process is you ship the bill acceptor head to them and tell them what currency software you want loaded, they will put the latest and greatest in it. You will need to contact them and confirm with them your WBA model number to make sure it is compatible with the desired currency software, I assume you bought the WBA made for Canadian sized bills? US bills have a different width than our northern neighbors.




 

[shakey69]

Yes the 22 should work for Canada. Is it the acceptor that gets flashed or the transporter??

[rickhunter]

For the wba you will need to send the transport at least.  I would send the whole assembly and ask for it to be calibrated at the same time.  Sometimes upgrading firmware will cause excessive bill rejections due to improper calibration.

[rokgpsman]

Rick, that's good to know about the transport, thought it was the head that needed s/w loading, thanks for the clarification. Do you know any place in particular to recommend for this?

[rickhunter]

I should point out that you also need a different harness if you are coming from a WBA 11.  The harness on the back of the validator cage is different (where the validator plugs in on the back of the cage).  I would think in his case it would be easier to just buy a WBA 13/23 transport that uses an eprom, and it would be cheaper than sending his unit to have it flash and returned to him.  You can find somebody to burn your eprom a lot easier than finding someone to flash your wba.

[rokgpsman]

From the title and wording of the original post I thought he'd already bought a WBA-22 he wanted to use and it is the flash memory style. But yes I agree that if the WBA is eprom style that is much easier for the owner to update, just a chip change.

Anyway, here is another vendor (Ohio Gaming) that is part of the NLG community and they update WBA software. I can recommend Ken from first-hand experience.  See bottom of their webpage:

http://www.ohiogaming.com/wba.htm

[rickhunter]

I was suggesting that instead of trying to flash his WBA22 transport, that he just buy a WBA 13 transport, put the head from the WBA22 and find someone to burn him the eprom.  Probably cheaper and easier than sending the validator back and forth and getting it flashed?


For informational purposes of this thread, the transports used in US and World currency are the same, the only thing that changes is software and the head.  That is why getting a WBA13 and putting the eprom with canadian software along with the wba2x head, will work.

[shakey69]

Excellent! Now i'm lost. I know nothing BTW. The machine presently has a JCM bill validator. The acceptor head is a WBA-11-SS and only accepts old US bills. I bought aBill Head, JCM, WBA, 20/21/22/23 for International Currency.


Now I don't know what to do next, where the eprom is? Whether that head will work with that validator? Do I need a new Cable? Can I send the validator and the new head to someone and just have be done? Thanks.

[rokgpsman]

Excellent! Now i'm lost. .......

Ha! I'm a little lost myself, but I'd follow Rick's advice, he has the experience to know best how to proceed.

[rickhunter]

Excellent! Now i'm lost. I know nothing BTW. The machine presently has a JCM bill validator. The acceptor head is a WBA-11-SS and only accepts old US bills. I bought aBill Head, JCM, WBA, 20/21/22/23 for International Currency.


Now I don't know what to do next, where the eprom is? Whether that head will work with that validator? Do I need a new Cable? Can I send the validator and the new head to someone and just have be done? Thanks.

Post a picture of what you purchased and I will be able to tell you exactly what your options are next.  I will also need a picture of the validator transport, upside down, so I can see the controller PCB that is in it to determine what kind of transport you have.


The other issue you may run into is that since you have US software on your machine, changing the validator to something NON-US may give you issues with incorrect country codes.  I have never tested an international validator on a US WMS550 machine.  I know in Bally Alpha, you will get the mismatch error and the game won't work.

[Los Pollos]

Check your messages, PM Sent

Excellent! Now i'm lost. I know nothing BTW. The machine presently has a JCM bill validator. The acceptor head is a WBA-11-SS and only accepts old US bills. I bought aBill Head, JCM, WBA, 20/21/22/23 for International Currency.


Now I don't know what to do next, where the eprom is? Whether that head will work with that validator? Do I need a new Cable? Can I send the validator and the new head to someone and just have be done? Thanks.

[shortrackskater]

Check your messages, PM Sent

Excellent! Now i'm lost. I know nothing BTW. The machine presently has a JCM bill validator. The acceptor head is a WBA-11-SS and only accepts old US bills. I bought aBill Head, JCM, WBA, 20/21/22/23 for International Currency.


Now I don't know what to do next, where the eprom is? Whether that head will work with that validator? Do I need a new Cable? Can I send the validator and the new head to someone and just have be done? Thanks.

Hope you can post those pictures here... a few of us are watching and I'm a little rusty on bill validators. Thanks!

[rickhunter]

I think it's time to start a new thread regarding WBA validators.  I thought there was one that explained the differences and compatibility.  I will have a look at the validator forum to see if there is one, if not I will start a "All you ever wanted to know about the WBA line of validators but were afraid to ask"

[Los Pollos]

I think it's time to start a new thread regarding WBA validators.  I thought there was one that explained the differences and compatibility.  I will have a look at the validator forum to see if there is one, if not I will start a "All you ever wanted to know about the WBA line of validators but were afraid to ask"

Here you go.........

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=23835.0;wap2

JCM Tech:
 There seem to be a lot of questions about the WBA line of validators, so let me help clear this up a bit.

The WBA was produced in 4 models using 2 different heads. Due to gaming regulations, the validator was produced in both EPROM and flash memory configurations.
Odd numbers are EPROM, 11/ 13/ 21/ 23, and even numbers are flash 10/ 12/ 20/ 22.

The first models were One Meg and handled all notes $1, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100, in all four directions. When the Feds decided to change the design of the notes, (large portrait) there was not going to be enough room in the memory if this was going to continue in the future (and it was, Next Gen colored notes) so they redesigned the CPU for a Four meg program.


So there are 4 different CPUs, 1 Meg flash, 1 Meg EPROM, 4 Meg flash and 4 Meg EPROM

                                   Flash                    EPROM         Connectors to harness       Validator to frame

One Meg program          10/20                   11/21            2 pin, 4 pin, 5 pin             12 contacts

Four Meg program          12/22                   13/23            20 pin                             20 contacts
 
The software determines which head you need.

The difference between a 10/ 11/ 12 &13 and a 20/ 21/ 22/ 23 is the head. And contrary to popular rumor, there are only two types of heads. If the first number of the model is a '1' (10/11/12/13) then the head should have 3 mag sensors and if the first number is a '2' (20/21/22/23) it will have only one mag sensor, but 2 extra optical sensors. The '1' model (3 mag sensors) is used in the US, Japan and Australia. These country's use Magnetic counterfeit protections and JCM used 3 mag heads to take advantage of the extra security feature. Most other countries use intricate designs and several colors if ink as a counterfeit deterrent so JCM chose extra optical sensors. Although the head may have a label that says WBA 10 or WBA 12, that only tells you what the head was attached to when it was produced. All heads that have 3 Mag sensors will work in a WBA 10/ 11/ 12 or 13. If it only has One Mag sensor, then it can be used in a 20/ 21/ 22 or 23.

 If you have a WBA 10, 11, 20 or 21 and want to upgrade to a 12, 13, 22 or 23 you only need to replace the CPU, the internal harness to the frame and the frame to MPU harness. JCM actually sold a kit to do this upgrade.
The advantage to a 12 or 13 is that JCM quit updating software for the 10 and 11 in 2006 so the 12/ 13 has all the next Gen notes.

The next big difference is the motors used in the transport. The original 1 Meg units had a motor with a green strip on the label. Later a more robust motor with a little more torque was used and that one has a red stripe on the label. Both will work fine, but if your unit has the green label motor, it was made prior to 2004
and the motor may be a bit week.