Bally (E873-4) restored

[Spitto]

I recently picked up a 3-reel, 5-line pay Bally slot machine nearby from a craigslist ad.
I've been an avid reader on this site but am now happy to contribute a success story.
This EM has a Bally badge that says 873 that may not be exact. September 1981.
It pays from the left or right and has a 2000 coin jackpot, so I think it's an early E1212 in a 873  cabinet.

It's 16" across the window frame like my 742A, not 19" like the later E machines.
Maybe someone can enlighten me but I think it's an E873-4.
I've been a mechanical slot mechanic for 20 years so some of this is familiar.

The machine took coins but tilted out and all reels spun freely.
Error 41.

After getting some manuals on the K-lar site and other manuals and help from the folks at coinslots.com,
I learned that the E series machines have an MPU. I love the built-in tests!
I cleaned and lubed the linkage and that made a difference but still 41.
Running test #5, the display and symbol positions were not lining up.
All 3 readers behaved slightly-off and didn’t line up so I didn't suspect one was bad, yet.
I checked voltages and continuity and ran the tests.
A couple of slightly low voltages but over all, OK.

Eproms can fade over a few decades so I bought new M chips from coinslots.com. No luck.
Then I popped off the socket when removing an M chip. Duh. Error 7, eprom.

I shipped my boards and readers to K-Lar.
They replaced my reader decoder board, my power supply was updated, game and M chips replaced (again),
the main capacitor was replaced in my I/O board, he fixed the eprom socket I accidentally tore off, and everything else tested fine.

After re-installing, I put in a coin and pulled the handle.
The machine tilted out then the reels free spun and the display had just slashes.
Test 5 didn't see the symbols. I quickly learned how to replace Molex pins. (get a good crimper and extractor)
Still no cigar.

Back to the coinslot.com dudes.
We decided to try a different M chip set.
After trying a couple of sets, they remembered a similar E machine
that they had the same problem with until they put early M chips into it.
They sent me 2 new sets.
The first set took a coin, the reels stopped and the display read 0_000.
Then the insert coin (insert 5 coins) light didn't come on. (not the bulb w/ test 2)
Nothing but zeros on test #5.

The other EARLY set was very promising.
The first 2 reels stopped and an error message of 43 was on the display as the machine tilted and the 3rd reel free spun.
BUT... test 5 worked.

I moved the reader from 3rd to the 2nd position and got an error 42. Then an error 41 when in the first reel position.
Bad reader.
The bad reader passed test 5 but tilted the machine. It also passed the bench test at K-lar.

I ordered a 50V reader from coinslots.

I installed it and......

I GOT LIFT-OFF!!!

I replaced the original cooling fan too with a quiet (28db) but efficient computer fan.
It fit perfectly and the included screws just fit.

There were moments that I thought I might have bought a beautiful boat anchor but I think the hunt is better than the kill sometimes.
I felt confident that I'd have a positive outcome after reading stories here on NLG and because of the folks at coinslots.com and K-Lar.

[pearson28]

Thanks for posting this. Us newbies appreciate learning from your experience and effort. I know I'm going to be running into some of those same problems at some point. I also learned about coinslots.com!