New Slot Owner with IGT+ Where to get what I need?

[GadgetBob]

       I have been reading a bit through this forum and being a slot newbie myself (dabbled in the Pachislo machines but this is my first IGT Slot) this seemed like a thread that could hopefully help me and allow me to stay on topic.

       I recently purchased an IGT Triple Diamond Slot (I have been told it is an S+ model). The machine came without a bill validator or coin mech. I am looking to either 1. convert it in some way to just play with tokens or something else. or 2. acquire a bill validator and coin mech so I can play with it the way it was intended to be played. I have yet to graduate it from the garage to the game room where it will take residence where my latest Pachislo slot machine is because I can't really get it to do anything with it at the moment. I'm happy to spend some money on it to make it right but want to make sure I get the right parts and of course are buying stuff at the right prices. Hoping someone can give me a little guidance. I'm comfortable with a wrench, a voltmeter, PIC programmer, compilers etc.

[rokgpsman]

You made it over here, faster than I did!

Does your IGT machine currently have any type of coin acceptor or bill validator in it? Does your machine have a coin hopper?

Often it save time if you can post a picture or two of the machine, saves time asking some basic questions and the folks here better know what you are dealing with. At the bottom of any post you make there is a link called "Attachments and other options". You can click on that and then attach some photos.

People generally like to see a photo of the outside of the machine, then other photos of the areas in question, like inside of door for coin acceptor questions, photo of bill validator for those.

[GadgetBob]

Here are some pictures I have at the moment. No bill validator, no coin mech just the slot at the top.

[GadgetBob]

And two other photos

[rokgpsman]

Can you post photo of inside of door where coin acceptor or coin comparator would be located so we can see if cables and mounting hardware are there?

I'll let the other more experienced IGT experts take it from here. But generally it is easier & lower cost to just add a coin acceptor or coin comparator than to add a bill validator. The coin comparator or coin acceptor will work with either real coins or with tokens, your choice. It detects the coin or token you drop into the coin slot and puts a credit on the machine. A coin comparator uses electric power from the machine and does a better job of screening out invalid coins or tokens, which may not be a problem for the home user. I'm pretty sure both kinds are available for not too much.

[GadgetBob]

I will get my toy car out of the garage tomorrow (when it stops raining) and post some pictures of it. Thanks for the help.

[CVslots]

Someone has robbed the machine of the bill validator! And perhaps the coin Comparitor as well (we will see on that one). Bill validator, easy enough to find, you want a WBA-12-SS or WBA-13-SS, but it must be ID023/024 (the ID is the language it speaks, if you buy the wrong ID it will not work). Coin Comparitor, even easier.

I'm guessing you bought this as a "it used to work perfectly, we just havent played it in xxx years" , "I dont know anything about i, it was my xxxxxxxx's" or "I know nothing about it and just want to sell it". Not a problem, we can help you out!

[rokgpsman]

I have a couple of IGT S+ manuals to get you started.
The one attached below looks like the 99th photocopy but has good info.
The other manual I will attach on another post, or email if too large.

[GadgetBob]

I bought it at an auction. It came from a casino in Mississippi, and they probably kept those parts for one reason or another. Ended up also buying a silver strike bowling game, classic multi-game stand up as well. Needless to say the wife was not thrilled. Me and the guys... yep we are happy. If you know of someone to acquire these parts through, I am open to that. I could also do eBay since there seems to be a ton of things out there as well. I appreciate the input.

[rokgpsman]

.....I'm guessing you bought this as a "it used to work perfectly, we just havent played it in xxx years"...

Don't forget  "it's heavy, that means it's probably full of quarters!"

[GadgetBob]

Full of Steel and power Supplies

[GadgetBob]

So something like this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IGT-JCM-WBA-12SS-Bill-Acceptor-/171734953832?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fc336f68

BTW CV Slots I see that you sell some of this stuff. I completely appreciate the help and if these are parts you can furnish I'm good with dealing with you, up until just now eBay was my only place to find this stuff. However one person selling on eBay was nice enough to tell me about this website.

[rokgpsman]

GadgetBob, the 2nd manual I wanted to send you is the better one and it is a little too large to attach here to a post, I'm getting an error. If you can send me your email address I'll send it to you that way.

One thing to be aware of on bill validators is they all contain software to recognize the US paper money that gets inserted into them. Some of the older BV will have older software that only works with the old style bills that had the small head pictures of our leader. As you know the Treasury is taking all of those old bills out of circulation. So, if you buy a used BV you need to know if the software in it has been updated to take the newer bills with the big head pictures, and if not, is there new software available for it.

Some older models of BV only got software updates released up to a certain year, then no further because the company released newer BV models and didn't want to support the old models. You could buy a BV and find out it only takes the old bills, or only a few of the new bills, and then find out you can't get a newer software update for it to work with all the new bills. Something to ask about before buying. Not to scare you off this idea, just info.

Another thing to be aware of was already mentioned. The BV communicates with the slot machine cpu by using a proprietary comm protocol. Each slot manufacturer uses a different protocol (of course). This comm protocol is built-in to the software release in the BV that also does the bill recognition. So a software release might have the name like this: "ver 3.54-04-12  ID-022/023", meaning version 3.54 released April 2012 for machines using protocol ID-022/023. There will be a spec sheet on that software saying what bills it recognizes. Each new release works with whatever new bills the release is for, as well as all preceding bills.

These comm protocols are named similar to this: ID-003, ID-044, ID-023, etc. I think for an IGT S+ you can use the protocol called ID-022/023. It is BV software that contains two similar comm methods, there is a dipswitch on the BV to select the protocol you want to use. Someone will correct me if this is wrong, so stay tuned.

A BV used in older machines like yours was often one called a JCM DBV-200, but there are other models and brands also. The DBV-200 is still around but newer BV models came along afterwards that offer recognition of all current bills. As cvslots said, a popular one is the WBA series. At some point JCM stopped releasing software updates for the DBV-200 in the ID-022/023 protocol, but the last release may work with some denominations of new style bills that are popular, like $10 and $20 bills, and that would be fine for most home users. Also, since the $1 bill hasn't changed all BV will work with it.

[rokgpsman]

GadgetBob, the 2nd manual I wanted to send you is the better one and it is a little too large to attach here to a post, I'm getting an error. If you can send me your email address I'll send it to you that way. ...

Bigger manual is on the way, let me know if it doesn't arrive and I'll try again.

[rokgpsman]

.....BTW CV Slots I see that you sell some of this stuff. I completely appreciate the help and if these are parts you can furnish I'm good with dealing with you, up until just now eBay was my only place to find this stuff.....

The word is out, be sure she says  "Yes, Master"  at least once!          
 
http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=6010.msg32489#msg32489

[rokgpsman]

Here are some pictures I have at the moment. No bill validator, no coin mech just the slot at the top.

At least it looks like the bill validator cables are still there. Maybe someone can id them and know what BV was in there before. Might make for an easier install to get the same model, provided the replacement BV has updated software for newer bills.

The casinos sometimes keep those parts since they frequently are needed on other slots due to maintenance.

I reposted your picture below to catch someone's attention about the BV cables. Not sure but you might need to get other cables if you install a different model BV than what was in there previously.


Another thing, I noticed that your reels have some odd numbering with the orange stickers (see below). I'm not very familiar with IGT but I'd think the reels would be numbered 1,2,3 from left to right. This is done so slot techs will get the reels back in the correct location, as the strips can have different symbols. Yours are numbered 3,2,2.   

[therockinelvis]

The word is out, be sure she says to you  "Yes, Master"  at least once!     
 

[Shaggy]

I'm certainly not an expert on this but doesn't look like a WBA acceptor cage. A dbv maybe? The screws on front and the harness on the side are different than my wba's. Welcome to NLG! Also I have an S+ triple diamond and the reels are numbered 1-2-3.

[rokgpsman]

I'm certainly not an expert on this but doesn't look like a WBA acceptor cage. A dbv maybe? The screws on front and the harness on the side are different than my wba's. Welcome to NLG! Also I have an S+ triple diamond and the reels are numbered 1-2-3.

I'm wondering if a casino slot tech (or someone else) swapped some reels between other machines and this one. That would explain the odd reel numbering. They could have done that just to get a machine working. Or it could have been done just to complete the machine when it was ready for sale. Hopefully all the reels work ok.

[GadgetBob]

I did notice the reel numbers and thought that was a bit odd, figured one or two failed over the years of service. I guess once I get it running I will know the condition of the reels.

Also here is the picture of the door (where the con acceptor would normally be.