Seeking advice: Want to add bill validator to S+ double Diamond 5-coin machine

[MCQaz]

I have an IGT S+ Double Diamond 5-coin machine which currently works fine with no known issues.
I am a noob but have gained quite a bit of knowledge with your help. My machine currently takes quarters only. I would like to add the option of using bills to this machine.


1:  Can someone please tell me what I will have to add or change in order to do this? Also which chips I  will need to acquire?


2: I would like to use this machine as a "piggy bank" and would like to have a display that shows the     dollar value of the credits in the machine. I'm thinking the progressive option would do this for me. Is this correct? If so, can anyone tell me what I would need to make this happen?


3:  I would also like to know if it is possible to add the haywire option to this machine and what is involved to do so.


Thanks for all your help and effort in this great site.

[slots4home]

Please take some pictures of the machine
If it is a Splus it could have had a bill acceptor before

[jay]

Haywire is a theme. There are about 120 different themes and then there are 1, 2, 3, 5 coin games within the theme and even one 9 coin theme.
You change out the reelstrips, glass, and the two chips. This is called a game kit.

If the paytable between the two games match you can just change the chips.
I will refer you to the S+ Game bible - Go to the NLG Home page, find RICKS FAQs and the game bible is there.
It will tell you the information you will want to know (ie chip numbers, reel strip numbers etc).

You can change from a 5 coin to a 3 coin just by changing these two chips... but of course you need the glass and reel strips to match. Sometimes the reel strips are the same, sometimes not.



A bit about the chips there is a SP (Game Chip) and a SS (Reel chip).
Game chips are Type 0,1,3,5.... etc If your game is a type 0 (no special features and the most common) - Ie Double Diamond is a Type 0, you can go to another Type 0 game (like Cats and Dogs) without changing the game chip. Double Diamond Deluxe on the other hand nudges up and down if the diamond lands above or below the payline, with balloon bars it nudges up if the balloon is below the payline and slamdunk nudges down if above. These all share the same "Type" of chip. Haywire is another "Type" of game chip but I think there are only two official themes that it works in but there are several others that have the same paytable that you can use the Haywire chip with. Theoretically you could use the chip with anytheme you want but when it pays out you won't know why as nothing will have lined up or make sense. There are generally two series of chips the 700 series of game chips and the 1200 series of game chips. For instance a 731 and a 1271 are both type 0 game chips, the 1271 is much newer and keeps many more statics on game play than its predessor. The older 731 chip had the option of about 9 songs such as "we are in the money" when a win was hit for some themes. This was not available in the 1271 as they got rid of that to make room for the other accounting stuff.


There are lots of options that you can set such as hopper limits, reel sounds etc and this is contained in a document called a PSR (Program Summary Report). If you post asking for the PSR for your chips some kind member might forward this along to you. You can also download Rons Simplified Option Sheets. This download area is open to all contributing members. If you don't know what chips you have you can again look at Ricks FAQs and there are instructions there of how to get this information to display on your Winner Paid and Credit Meter.


The SS chip is the Reel and Paytable Chip. This is theme specific but there are variations in terms of payout. Ie some chips have a 86% payout while others have 98% pay out with a number of varients inbetween. The document that describes this is called a PAR sheet (Paytable and Reel) - it has interesting things such as hit frequency, the previously described percentages, reel orders etc.


If you are changing themes - then I strongly recommend you get a Clear Chip. If the machine errors out - common issue is the 61 loop (many posts about that) - Also See Ricks FAQ on a game change.
The Clear Chip puts the machine back to new (out of the factory) settings. I would also suggest getting a SET chip at the same time. The set chip is used for activating your bill validator. This is needed anytime you do a game change, clear etc.



Now to your question about a progressive. A progressive Jackpot is a %% of the coin in. Typically 0.125% So for every dollar in the progressive would go up by 1.25cents. I usually set mine at 4% that way for each coin I put in it goes up by 1cent. Basically I don't trust my wiring and this gives me the re-assurance everything is working (ha ha). I actually just like to see the numbers increasing. In a real world Casino progressives are a marketing tool and the progressive contribution does not impact the payout frequency or %% by any factor. Now the only win that triggers the progressive payout is the max coin top award. When someone wins the top award with only 1 coin played (on a two or three coin machine) they don't get the progressive. None of the minor wins detract (deduct) from the progressive amount.
SOOO..... While I am very bullish on Progressives (think they are fun etc) I not too sure how that works for your Piggy Bank Concept. In fact if you have several machines and a linked progressive you have no idea how much came from each machine.


Another thing to note - If you insert a bill in the machine this is NOT counted in the progressive until you actually play the credits.


If your trying to keep track of what has gone into your machine and what has come out (Piggy bank).
1. There is a set of physical meters inside your machine. You would have both Coin-in and Coin-out. You simply record what the Coin-in and Coin-out is reading, and consider this a 0.
Next you can count your float (coins in the hopper).
So assuming the numbers are 70982 and 68351 and you have 300 coins in the hopper. Then your starting point is 300.
After a week of play - if you read your meters as 71533 and 68662 - You will know that you had a drop (coins played) of 551 and Coin-Out of 311. This means HOLD (coin in - coin out) a net gain of 240.
If you do an audit of your hopper you should have 540 coins less any credits still on the machine.
In this case if you put in a bill and got 100 credits - this is counted on the Coin-IN which is different than how the progressive works.


2. This same information is available in the accounting statistics - you turn your reset key with the door closed and then step through this using the buttons on the front panel. The details of this is contained in the PSR.


The only place where this math might get screwed up (physical coins being different) is when you have a hand pay amount that exceeds the hopper limit.


With regards to a bill validator  - please post pictures outside and inside.
Given the cost of a complete S+ or S2000 machine these days it might actually be cheaper to buy a complete machine vs adding parts.
This then takes you down the slippery road of adding in a linked progressive between machines etc......

[MCQaz]

Please take some pictures of the machine
If it is a Splus it could have had a bill acceptor before

[MCQaz]

Please take some pictures of the machine
If it is a Splus it could have had a bill acceptor before

Thanks for the quick response.
Here are the pic you requested. let me know if you need anything else.

[MCQaz]

Please take some pictures of the machine
If it is a Splus it could have had a bill acceptor before

[MCQaz]

Please take some pictures of the machine
If it is a Splus it could have had a bill acceptor before

Last one. Sorry, I guess my pics were too big to get them all in one shot.

[slots4home]

You will not be able to convert it to accept bills.
It is a early model machine
They did make some Bill Acceptors that mounted on the outside of the machine but it would be more trouble than it would be worth
Try finding a Splus with a Bill Acceptor and you can always update it to accept some of the new currency

[MCQaz]

You will not be able to convert it to accept bills.
It is a early model machine
They did make some Bill Acceptors that mounted on the outside of the machine but it would be more trouble than it would be worth
Try finding a Splus with a Bill Acceptor and you can always update it to accept some of the new currency

are you saying it is not possible to make it accept bills? Or just that it is a lot of work and/or money to do so?
I am not opposed to having the bill acceptor on the side or even in a separate cabinet as I plan to make a custom stand for it in the future anyway. 

[jay]

The machine is capable of accepting bills.
The cabinet will not support the integrated bill validator that cleanly installs into the front of the cabinet.
There is what is known as a side car that bolts to the side of the cabinet (ugly as hell). Think Rocket Launcher on the side of R2D2.
Beyond drilling a few holes to run the wiring harness through all the plugs are there for it.
I personally would never put one of those on mine.
You would be better off getting a S+ with a bill validator and selling this one off.


The validator is made up of the Bill Head, Transport, Cash Can
Wiring would be power - basically a power brick that molexs on to the internal power.
The internal transports have optics that sense the present of the cash can and door closed of the cash can. Not sure about the side car.
There would be a molex to connect the data portion of the validator to the motherboard (small board MPU plugs into).


Rick hunter put up a post offering S2000 for $70. Hard to go wrong there.

[slots4home]

It would be a lot of work and money and would never take all the new currency. I also do not know if the wiring is there
Since you are In Arizona I would get a s 2000. They sound better take all the new currency

[MCQaz]

Jay
Thanks for the detailed info. especially pertaining to the progressive display. I guess this is not what I was looing for. I am aware of the tally meters inside the cabinet but mine are sporadic at best. They don't always count accurately. (will probably be replacing them soon.) I was hoping the Progressive display would do the math for me and display the actual dollar value inside the machine including any from a future bill changer.
I have been able to accomplish this using a couple of relays tapped into the meter counter signals which is fed through an Arduino and displayed on a small LCD screen. Though this worked very well, I do not like the way it looks. Thought it would be easier to use OEM options instead. Maybe I can just use an OEM display and use it to display Arduino values if I can find one.
Thanks again.

[jay]

Or rely on the built in statistics accessed by the jackpot reset key when the door is closed.

[jay]

One other point - Your method is correct for measuring coin in but it doesn’t measure coin out.

[MCQaz]

It does actually keep track of coins in and coins out using inputs for coin in and out meters respectively. I have also assigned a value to each input pulse. +.25 for coin in -.25 for coin out. This keeps a running tally of the dollar amount inside the hopper at all times. So far it has been quite accurate. I am not doing anything for the overflow bin yet but this would be simple to implement if I decide to use it later.
Now if I could only figure out a way to make it look good!

[Jim]

Your machine could have a dollar bill unit added to it. you would have to mount it in the cabinet you are going to build. a harness would have to be installed ,as well as the bill unit. the bill unit would consist of  (what would have been the door bezel and lamp assembly bezel) the shelf assembly, the transport  and head unit , a cash can and a power supply.  the software in the  transport unit would allow you accept all the new money except the most recent 100.00 bill.  the cost would be around 175.00. I have all the parts you would need.

If you decide to purchase a newer machine with a bill unit installed, try and get one with a WBA bill unit, if you get one with a 145 or 200 installed you will have bill acceptance limitations. 

Jim