IGT s+ XL ?!?! 7'6" machine that's gigantic - Big Bertha is broken

[MacGUYver]

Fixed/solved


Battery replaced, belly glass light and fuses replaced (lights too GD bright though tbh, what watt bulbs to people get?), Door sensors repaired and replaced/aligned (thanks Tim for the reference pics), cash out button reseated (people smash it), and gold bullion dollar coin sized up nicely.


It's been reliable for a few hours now, everything working and tested from what I can tell. Bills, coins in, coins out, lights, pull handle, reels lined up, sounds.  It just needs a deep clean now to be a bit more presentable!


Now to see what it's worth.

[MacGUYver]

Bah, should have sold it sooner.


Reel error 42 now.  Switching the molex to have power route 2 go to wheel 3, amd vice versa, still gets me 42.  The wheel doesn't quite get spinning, and sometimes does the herky jerky, or a stagger step backwards.


Since the swap still shows 42, I'll suspect the mpu or wires and not the reel itself.  Read some people's thoughts , and it looks like I can harvest a 4th /5th reel resistor on thr board and replace it?  May give that a go.  Still need to walk through reel 2s wires and reseat things first. 


Always something...

[MacGUYver]

Okay, after messing around and switching parts around, I isolated down to my second reel board was bad.  Changed it to reel 3, get error 43.  It was super dirty, cleaned it but no difference.  I than noticed the 2 wireround long white resistors were different watt sizes than the other two boards (20w instead of 25).  I than also noticed the first one in series was very hot, while the second one was cool.  The other boards resistors were all just warm. 


I'll probably order this part, just curious if anyone had a spare board?  Unfortunately it says wheel of Fortune on the damn thing... So I doubt it?


Board 120256


Anyone have any thoughts?

[dailey]

I have a few thoughts.


You listed this machine for sale on Craigslist 15 days ago and describe it as in working order. Looks like it has unresolved issues and you're trying to pawn it off onto someone else by misrepresenting the condition. Are you aware that some of us forum members read the craigslist ads ?

[FireballJackpot]

Bigjon,


How are your soldering skills??  Meter reading skills??   If two thumbs up ( ) then I would check the SCRs on the board. Resistors create heat from Load. The Hot resistor is taking more load than the other, or maybe the load for both (and the cold resistor, none).


Looking at the board, looks like you have a Comparator driving the SCRs. I would suspect one of the SCR's and or the Gate Diode next to it, might be your problem. All the 1/4 watt and 1/2 watt resistors are probably fine. As when THEY fail, they usually turn black and burn up. Besides; to properly test a resistor to it's labeled value, most of the time you must remove it from the circuit.


Set your meter on "diode" mode or "Ohms" (some meters will have a horseshoe symbol facing down). Flip the board over and put one lead on pin 1 of a SCR and the other meter lead on pin 2. Then check from pin 2 to pin 3. Then pin 1 to pin 3. You're looking for variances, not "exact" valves. SCR's are the things with the heatsinks on them (little metal cooling fins). Do that to ALL the SCR's on the board. Without getting into how many ohms to look for (you can get incorrect readings from some when they're in-circuit), just look for the SCR that has DIFFERENT ohms reading than all the others. THAT SCR is most likey the one to change out. Same proceedure with the large gate diodes next to the SCR. You could have a "damaged" diode, as a "shorted" diode or SCR would be blowing fuses.


If the Diodes all have the same resistance and the SCR's all have similar readings from one to the next, Swap out the Comparator IC (U1 = LM3302N). It could be locked up closing latches (outputs) even when it's not being fed an input from the CPU. HINT: Always solder an IC socket to the board when replacing ICs. That way you won't damage the new IC from re-soldering heat/static and it's easy to change if it cooks again.


Hope all this tech mumbo-jumbo helps! 




PS: At least you got 2 weeks of it working. I always demand a "30/30 warranty" from any decades old items I purchase from private sellers:  30 Feet or 30 seconds, whichever comes first.

[FireballJackpot]

If you gave 2 Thumbs DOWN to my above question and can't find a replacement board from any of NLG's fine vendors, Give SPIN a call. They offer flat rate repairs (I'm waay more expensive than they are). Here's the link:




http://www.spininc.com/t/BoardRepair






 

[MacGUYver]

Fire, thanks for thr tips, I'll try that when I get some time.


Dailey, I listed it on CL weeks ago, this error 4# started days ago.  It would be pretty obvious for anyone showing up that this machine doesn't work atm, right?  I make sure anyone coming to see mys tuff gets to see all operations, from on to off to on. 


But I'm sure you knew that.  Feel free to offer advice on repairing this board.

[MacGUYver]

Solved!


Fire, you gave me the hint I needed.  On this board, the two laemrge white ceramic resistors were 20w, smaller rating than the other two boards.  One was very hot, one was cold.  It didn't occur what that meant until re - reading your post.  I checked continuity, the cold one was open!  I did all your other ohm testing too, consistent ratings.


Ordered two new 25w wireround resistors, soldered them in and Bam, I'm back in the game!


I'm pretty sure Dailey's been fake messaging my CL/offer up post. No worries, I promise to perform power cycle and soak tests prior to selling.  So far consistent play though. 


Now to get working on my Yahtzee.  Once again, great info in this forum, once your set your filter threshold to insensitive haha.

[MacGUYver]

Opened the ceramic resistors just to see it, looks broke to me.  Burnt wire on thr right

[knagl]

Good job!  Congrats on the repair.

[FireballJackpot]

Awesome!  You are now a Bertha Board “Factory Trained Technician”   


Glad to have helped!