Hopper Issues on Coral Reef

[sgolembiewski0903]

Little bit of background: The machine need a new battery and hasn't been installed yet.


When I flip on the machine SOMETIMES the hopper motor will turn on, at which point it starts to hum, get real hot, and then I turn it off. Other times when I turn the machine on the motor doesn't do anything. There is without a doubt nothing jammed in the wheel, under the knife, etc, I took out the little plate in front of the wheel (top side) just to make sure! When I release the brake I can turn the wheel by hand, granted there is some resistance, it's not like I can just give it a little push and it spins multiple revolutions. Rokgpsman mentioned that sometimes the grease in the gearbox gets old and basically becomes ineffective, and that Amechanic mentioned before you could potentially drill a hole in the top of the gearbox and add lube.


I'm just wondering what troubleshooting to do from here on the hopper? Also, is there any way to get the hopper motor to turn on every time I power on the machine?

[rokgpsman]

I don't think there is a way to get the hopper motor to turn on automatically every time you power up the machine. It's not designed that way, it only runs when the mpu tells it to. And that only happens when a payout is commanded, or during the hopper test.

Your S+ machine has some built-in tests. One of them is the hopper test. When you run the hopper test the hopper will turn on and payout 10 coins. You can press a button on front of machine and repeat the hopper test as much as you want. To get to the hopper test you have to enter the Test and Diagnostic routines. I think this is done by pressing the white TEST button inside the machine. (not the test credit button on the coin optic board).

Maybe Amechanic can give more info about the situation where the hopper motor gearbox grease gets thick and dried out, how to tell when that is a problem.

[sgolembiewski0903]

The little white switch/pushbutton right next to the power switch?

[rokgpsman]

Yes, that's the TEST button switch. On some S+ machines it is located elsewhere, but on your S+ that's it by the power switch.

The built-in test routines are part of the SP chip software. Below is the document for your SP chip but it may not give all the details about how to run the various tests. See the flip-cards document or ask for help if needed to do the tests.

In your other discussion thread I thought you mentioned that the hopper coin wheel would not budge, it was definitely jammed. But now it does turn ok?

Also, IGT made these handy troubleshooting info flip cards, there are 2 cards per page of the pdf document below, they cover the various tests you can do, along with a bunch of other things:
http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=18866.msg99570#msg99570

[sgolembiewski0903]

The hopper wheel does turn when I release the brake and use my finger (granted there is some resistance, but I think it's the normal amoount of resistance). However, last I saw, when plugged into the machine the little piece that the brake normally stops moves very slow, the motor hums, and gets hot. I'm going to test it when I get some time, I work two long days the next two days. Thanks for the document! I'm a little (not a lot) unclear on the instructions, but I want to run a hopper test to see what it does...


I'm not sure if there's any "tricky" spots to check for jams, but I don't think there are any jams, especially considering I can move it with my finger. This makes me think that the problem could be internal... perhaps something like Amechanic was talking about in the gearbox?

[rokgpsman]

Someone that knows more about hoppers will have to say. Sometimes a small screw or washer gets into the hopper and rattles around, may even get behind the coin wheel. When it catches it will jam it abruptly. The clearances in there are narrow in some places. Also, people sometimes take part of the hopper apart and when they put it back together they put long screws where short screws should go. The long screw can go too far inside and cause problems. With rotating machinery it's important that the right parts be in the right place.

I thought it could be caused by old dried grease in the gearbox back when you originally said the hopper wouldn't turn at all, or was very hard to turn. But if it sometimes turns normally by hand then I'm not so sure.

Amechanic's post about the dried grease was some time ago, I'll see if I can find it, or maybe he will refresh our memory by telling us about it again. As I recall it wasn't too hard to fix, he carefully drilled a small hole in a top corner of the gearbox and inserted some oil that mixed with the grease to loosen it up.

To do the hopper test I think this is how it's done, hopefully someone will correct me if this is wrong:

Press the white TEST button until you see a "3" on the Coins Played display. This is the hopper test. Then press the SPIN button and the hopper should dispense 10 coins. You can repeat this test as much as you want. To exit the test menu just shut the door and the machine will go back into "Play" mode.

[jay]

The hopper doesn't normally run when the machine is first turned on otherwise it will start spitting out coins.
It could have been in the middle of a payout when someone turned it off and the slot will pickup exactly where it left off when turned back on.

On a pay out If its buzzing and getting hot then my WAG would be that the solenoid that releases the hopper brake is shot.
If the solenoid doesn't extend then the brake is ON and the motor won't turn - buzzing coming from the solenoid, with the heat coming from the motor (brake preventing the motor from moving).

Interim I would remove the brake spring, tape/wedge/mcgyver the brake so it is not stuck on. Put some coins in the hopper and let it finish its payout cycle. This will at least prove that the motor works.

You can then look to begin trouble shooting the hopper.