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Page 1: Page 2 Slot Tech Magazineslot-tech.com/members/magazine/lores/june06.pdfPage 6 Slot Tech Magazine June 2006 Slot Tech Feature Article By Ted Befus “I t’s a dark time for Casino
Page 2: Page 2 Slot Tech Magazineslot-tech.com/members/magazine/lores/june06.pdfPage 6 Slot Tech Magazine June 2006 Slot Tech Feature Article By Ted Befus “I t’s a dark time for Casino

June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 2

Page 3: Page 2 Slot Tech Magazineslot-tech.com/members/magazine/lores/june06.pdfPage 6 Slot Tech Magazine June 2006 Slot Tech Feature Article By Ted Befus “I t’s a dark time for Casino

Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 3

Inside Slot Tech Magazine

Page 4 - EditorialPage 6 - Unlocking the Mysteries of the Mastercom 250Page 14 - Quick Simple Repairs #14Page 16 - Five Elements for the Implementation of a Successful Slot Technical DepartmentPage 19 - Using Optoisolators for Control Panel IsolationPage 26 - Get To Know An Atronic Technician - Part II: Gulf CoastPage 32 - TechFest 13 Review - Record-Setting Event Draws 88 to Mystic Lake CasinoPage 34 - Casinos in the Comfort Zone with Gary Platt SeatingPage 36 - Coin Mechanisms Inc. Releases the Model MK 2 Universal Topper SignPage 38 - Subscriptions and Order Form

June 2006

On the cover:Seating by Gary Platt ManufacturingModel: Sierra Royale seriesLocation is the Atlantis Casino in Reno, Nevada

Slot Tech Magazine is anofficial publication of the

Global Gaming Expo

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 4

Slot Tech Editorial

Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine

EditorRandy Fromm

Technical WritersTed Befus

Michael BrennanHerschel W. Peeler

Pat PorathJohn Wilson

International ContributorMartin Dempsey

Advertising ManagerDennis Sable

Slot Tech Magazine ispublished monthly bySlot Tech Magazine1944 Falmouth Dr.El Cajon, CA 92020-2827tel.619.593.6131fax.619.593.6132e-mail

[email protected] the website at

slot-techs.comSUBSCRIPTIONS

Domestic (USA) 1 year - $60.00 2 years - $120.00International 1 year - $120.00 2 years - $240.00

Copyright 2006 under the Uni-versal Copyright Convention. Allrights reserved.

Slot Tech Editorial

Randy Fromm

Slot Tech contributing writerTed Befus receives his first pay-check (paycheque) from SlotTech Magazine publisher RandyFromm at TechFest 13. We wel-come all submissions. See thewebsite at slot-techs.com forwriter’s guidelines.

TechFest 13 has justconcluded and I really

think it was our bestgathering ever, not just forthe record-setting attendanceof 88 slot techs from 27different properties but alsofor the tremendous amountof technical information thatattendees were able to gatherat the event and take homewith them. Everyone wasreally loaded up withcatalogs, service manuals,schematic diagrams, CD-ROMS, hats, T-shirts, pocketscrewdrivers, flashlights andpocket protectors than ever.I suspect some folks were abit overweight on their

luggage going home. Theremust have been twentypounds of stuff!

One of the highlights of thisTechFest was Sencore’spresentation on LCD repair.Sencore’s Don Multererpresented a hands-on “minischool” within TechFest.With four full sets of Sencoretest equipment, 12 luckyattendees each day spent anentire afternoon with Don,learning how to repair LCDmonitors and work with thegear. It was SRO, so weeventually had to install arow of chairs in the back ofthe room in order toaccommodate the overflow.

Another highlight worthnoting is that I was able tovideotape the Ceronixpresentation given by PaulAlexander. This has nowbeen ripped to a podcast andis available, along with thehandout, schematicdiagrams and servicemanual, on the website. Visitthe Slot Technical

Department at slot-tech.comto view the presentation. Thisis a free service. Nomembership is required.

It was a real pleasure to hookup with Slot Tech Magazinecontributing writer PatPorath at TechFest 13. Thiswas Pat’s first TechFest,although I had met himpreviously at his own casino(well, where he works,anyway). Likewise, I had achance to meet Ted Befusand hand him his firstpaycheck for his recentcontributions to themagazine. Thanks Ted.

You know, I’m always lookingfor new contributors and Ihave one this month in PaulCornish with his missive,“Five Elements for theImplementation of a SuccessfulSlot Technical Department.” Ifyou have an idea for anarticle you’d like to write forthe magazine (or see writtenby someone that actuallyknows what they’re talkingabout) drop me a line or giveme a call. It’s always nice tohear from our readers.

See you at the Casino.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 5

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 6

Slot Tech Feature Article

By Ted Befus

“It’s a dark time for CasinoRegina; the Bally Mastercom 250 is run-

ning amok. Chaos is the or-der of the day.”

Alright, it’s not chaos. I’mjust trying to establish mood,kinda like the prologue inStar Wars. Did it work? Ididn’t think so either.

“Unlocking the Mysteries ofthe Mastercom 250.” You’vegot to be kidding right? Ok,how about this for an alter-nate title: Getting to KnowYour Mastercom 250 ormaybe The secrets of theMastercom 250 Revealed.

There are no real secrets ormysteries but if you don’tknow how to utilize the de-bug features of yourMastercom GMU, there mayas well be. I haven’t beenworking with SDS for too longbut since we’ve had our Ballyfloor audit I’ve certainly be-come more proficient and I’dlike to share my notes withyou.

It sure is nice to have thedebug features available onthe GMU at your disposal.There are several meters toread and each meter has acorresponding type of prob-lem to look for.

You might be asking "Whendo we know when to use thedebug meters?" There are afew times when these meterswill be helpful.

We were having a problemwhere machines were behav-ing strangely. We were hav-ing problems with games notaccepting player's club cards.We’d come along with ourtech cards and the gameswould be fine; no problemswere found. Customers keptcomplaining so we checkedthe debug meters and foundthat the games they werecomplaining about were be-having quite badly (for thesolution you’ll have to wait forpart #2 of this article).

The other time is when werun our morning reports andfind specific problems. Themost useful report we runevery morning has to be theGMU exception code count

report. It gives us a break-down of each hour’s activitybased on exception codes,periodic reports and dupli-cate exception codes. Payparticular attention to theduplicate exception codecount (I’ll be speaking a littlemore on our results in part#2.)

For those of you who are un-aware of what a duplicatecode is, I’ll elaborate. TheGMU holds an exception codein its Tx/Rx Buffer until SDSpolls the game for informa-tion. The GMU then sends upthe code out of the buffer andwaits for an acknowledgement.If SDS does not send anacknowledgement or theGMU does not receive it, theGMU will not clear this mes-sage out of its buffer. Thenext time the GMU is polled,it sends this message again.SDS recognizes the code andtime stamp as the same asthe previous code and logs itas a duplicate.

We’re going to read these de-bug meters daily for the nextthree days to try to determinewhere our problem gamesare. Figure 1 is an example

Unlocking the Mysteries ofthe Mastercom 250

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 7

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 8

of the sheets we’re going touse to do our audit. It con-tains all pertinent data re-garding the game. It’s theprofile in our slot file.

There are also spots for otherinformation regardingwhether the game is a ticket-ing game, if the game has acard reader bezel and if theEPI is grounded. I had won-dered about the significanceof the card reader bezel. Itwas pointed out to me thatthe bezel is actually an anti-static bezel which will dis-charge static from cards, pos-sibly saving damage to thereader. The EPI ground isimportant to make certainthat the entire EPI panel isgrounded against static.

Now back to the debugmeters, since there is morethan one type of code chipthat the GMU can make useof, I’ll cover the two mostcommon: SAS and SimpleSerial.

For SAS we run ECO1905(soon to be replaced withECO1953) and ECO 1882(Simple Serial). There aresome differences on whatmodes you use to gather yourdebug information, so we’llstart with the ECO1905.

With ECO1905, the debugmeters can be found in Mode55. Before you can do any-thing with those metersthough, they have to becleared. To do this, you’regoing to insert your card andenter mode 55. At the mode55 screen, you will beprompted with lots of other

options. You should chooseoption 10 to reset the meters.From there it will prompt foryou to choose which metersto reset. If you choose option10, the GMU will reset alldebug meters. When com-plete, the EPI display shouldread “all 0’d” (all zeroed). Youcan reset just the debugmeters if you choose option2 instead of option 10.

To get started, we’re going togo into Mode 1 and record thedenom, address and GMUcode information and confirmit either as correct or incor-rect as compared to our pa-perwork. There is a section

on the audit form for notesin case something doesn’tjive. The data you enter inmode 1 only needs to be re-corded on day #1.

You may be wondering whywe’re doing this. It isn’t de-bugging is it? Yes it is. If youhave deficiencies betweenwhat is in your GMU andwhat’s in the database, yourgames aren’t going to reportproperly. It’s very importantthat things are set up prop-erly.

As an example, we recentlyconverted several games toan IGT MD3 protocol. The

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 10

games now had the ability toreport a multi-denom gamein a denomination other thanpennies (the older versionscouldn’t). When setting upthe game, the accountingdenom was set to 25 cents(the game’s lowest denomenabled) but the GMU wasn’tchanged from one cent. As aresult, the game was actuallyreporting 1/25th of its actualturnover to the system. Thisalso meant that player cardswere receiving 1/25th of theincrement they should havereceived on those particulargames.

Next, we’re going to read allthe meters that we find on theaudit sheet. To access thesemeters, we are going to entermode 55. From the mode 55screen, we are going to selectoption 2 for debug meters.The debug meter screen willlet you enter a specific meterfor you to start with. Sincemeter 1 is our first meter, wewill start there. To scrollthrough the meters, press the“ENT” key on the EPI, record-ing all the meters on thesheet as you go (meters 1-8).After meter 8 you can eithercontinue to scroll until youarrive at meter 30 (if you werepaying attention to the sheetyou may have noticed that itshows meter 29, not meter30) or you can press the“CLR” key to return to theprevious screen and then se-lect meter 30 from there. Thereason that the sheet showsmeter 29 is that the sheet isgeneric for the Simple SerialEPROM; the correspondingSAS meter is number 30.

There are a few differencesbetween reading the meterson ECO1905 and ECO1882(aside from meters 29 and30). The biggest difference isthat the 1882 does not usemode 55 for debug meters.For this we will use mode 58.

Again, the first thing we needto do is clear the debugmeters again. This time,we’re going to insert our cardand enter Mode 58. Fromhere we’ll enter option num-ber 91 to clear all our debugmeters. When cleared, thedisplay should read “Debugs0’d”

On day 1 we’re going to dothe same things we did withthe ECO1905. Mode 1 willstill give us all the info weneed to compare against.From there, we’ll enter mode58. The GMU will prompt usto select a meter. Again, wewill start at meter 1, readingall the way to number 8.Remember, instead of num-ber 30 we will read meter 29just like the sheet says.

Now, you’re probably won-dering what all these metersmean, I did too until it wasexplained to me. Here’swhere we get to “unlock themysteries of the Mastercom250.”

The Debug Meter Data is bro-ken into three separate sec-tions. Meters 1-3 deal withGame to GMU errors, meters4-8 deal with SDS to GMUerrors and meter 29/30 dealswith SDS/GMU Comm er-rors.

Meter #1 – Game Comm Lost(GmCMDn) Counts the num-ber of times that the GMUhas lost communication withthe Game. This meter incre-ments regardless of all otherinput to the GMU. For ex-ample, if the game is powereddown and enters a “Blackout”condition, this meter is stillincremented.

Meter #2 – Game Serial Se-quence (GMSeq) Counts spe-cific comm errors betweenthe game and GMU. Thisoccurs when the GMU mustask the game to repeat a mes-sage or when SDS receives amessage out of sequence.Messages out of sequencecan be found on the MLISTfar right hand column head-ing “MSG SQ.” This shouldincrement sequentially from1 to 15.

Meter #3 – Game SerialChecksum (GmCksm)Counts specific comm errorsbetween the game and GMUwhere the system has re-ceived an incorrectly format-ted message from the GMU.That basically means that thechecksum sent up by thegame does not match thechecksum calculated by theGMU.

Meter #4 – Line Downs(LnDwns) Counts the num-ber of times that the GMUhas lost communication withSDS.

Meter #5 – Net ChecksumErrors (NtCksm) Counts thenumber of times messagesare sent to SDS in an incor-rect format. The checksum

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 11

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 12

sent by the GMU to SDS doesnot match with thechecksum calculated bySDS. This is usually associ-ated with line noise.

Meter #6 – Net Repolls(NtRpol) Counts the numberof times the GMU has re-transmitted information toobtain a system response.

Meter #7 – Net Max Repolls(NtMxRp) Counts the numberof Max Repolls that the GMUsends to SDS for the appro-priate response. After 5 NetRepolls (NtRpol) this meter isincremented by one. All in-formation in the repoll is DIS-CARDED.

Meter #8 – Net Tx ComQOverrun (NtTQOv) Countsthe number of times that theGMU message memory isoverrun. Every time thememory is overrun, the meterincrements by one. Thisnumber directly relates tomessages that are LOST bythe GMU.

Meter 29/30 – DUART A er-rors (DrtAEr) Counts thenumber of errors encoun-tered by the GMU DUART indata coming from SDS. Thiserror is usually indicative ofnoisy or damaged slot lines.

Problems in meter #1 can beattributed to poor or looseconnections between theGMU and EGM or incorrectmachine setup.

Problems in meter #2 cansometimes be attributed topoor power from the GMUsupply. Poor power or loss of

power will cause the GMUmessage sequence to be re-set.

Problems with meter #3 canusually be attributed to themachine sending “garbage”to the GMU. That usuallymeans that the message re-ceived by the GMU was miss-ing information or had toomany or too few bytes of datathan the GMU was expecting.The game sends a checksumup to the GMU but the GMUeither cannot verify thechecksum or the checksumis incorrect.

A lot of problems on meters5 through 8 can be attributedto line noise.

Excessive problems on meter#30 can usually be attributedto defective GMUs.

That’s it for this month. Staytuned for my compelling,Earth-shattering conclusionin the July 2006 issue of SlotTech Magazine.

- Ted [email protected]

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 13

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 14

Quick Simple Repairs #14By Pat Porath

Slot Tech Feature Article

Aristocrat MKVI

What an amazing slot ma-chine this is. It has a JCMUBA bill accepter and an LCDscreen just for starters. Nomore large monitors to mon-key with on them. It has verycrisp, clear graphics too. Oneof the things that I noticed onthe Mark 6 is that Aristocrathas implemented a separatecommunication board. Thefirst problem that I ran intowas indeed communicationbetween the game and theCDS Sentinal. Game com-munication basically comesfrom the processor, to theCOM board, then to theSentinal. In this case, theproblem was between thegame and the Sentinal. Iknew this simply becausewith my slot floor card in-serted, the display didn’tshow an open AND closeddoor; it only showed closed.I could have also tested a billand the meters wouldn’t haveincremented, which wouldalso indicate a loss of com-munication.

On the COM board, it had anLED that would flash threetimes, stop and flash threetimes again. What was upwith this? Is this some kindof “flash code?” It ended up Iwas correct. I had tried the

usual things such as check-ing connections, reseatingconnections, rebooting themachine and rebooting theSentinal board but nothingworked. The LED on theCOM board would still flashthree times and stop. I un-plugged it and plugged itback in hot, and that more-or-less killed it completely.DO NOT mess with theseboards while they are live. Ilearned the hard way.

Aristocrat COM board flashcodes:Flicker—10pps (pulses persecond) = memory clearedFlicker——5pps = normaloperationFlashes 1 then pause = noCOM on J2 (EGM)Flashes 2 then pause = noCOM on J3 (AUX, Lottery,EZ-Pay, etc)Flashes 3 then pause = noCOM on J4 (system)Flashes 4 then pause = RAMerror

Flashes 5 then pause = in-valid EGM SAS poll address

The pin out connectors:J2, J3, and J4, pin 2 is TXD(transmit) pin 3 is RXD (re-ceived) and pin 5 is GND(ground)Connector J8, pin 1 is +5vdc,pin 2 is GND,Connector J4, pin 1 n/c, pin2 is TXD, pin 3 is RXD, pin 4is n/c, pin 5 is GND

To clear a RAM error on theCOM board:1. Remove power2. Jumper J2 pins 11 & 133. Apply power4. Wait for LED to flicker fast(10pps)5. Remove power6. Remove jumper7. Apply power8. When complete, the nor-mal LED flicker will be at5pps.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 15

At the point of “no LCD flashcode” at all, it had to be re-placed. The COM board wasreplaced and machine com-munication was establishedonce again. When my slotfloor card was inserted intothe CDS card reader, itshowed the main door“opened” and “closed” like itis supposed to. This is onequick way to see if there iscommunication between thegame and the Sentinal. Onequick and simple way tocheck for communication isto insert a “slot tech card” orsome call it a “mechanic”card. Insert the card andpress the “enter” buttontwice. The checksum will bedisplayed if there is commu-nication from the Sentinal tothe CDS system. A variety ofletters and numbers will ap-pear on the display. If thereis no communication, it willdisplay “com down” (no, notcalm down) or “no COM”which indicates, of course, nocommunication between theSentinal and the CDS sys-tem.

The Aristocrat MKVI uses anLCD monitor, which has thecapability of displaying morethan 16.7 million colors. Thiscreates great looking graph-ics. The main processor has24 times MORE programmemory than the oldergames too. Since we installedthe games, they have beenrunning very well. To the bestof my knowledge there havebeen only a few minor com-munication problems and acouple of bill acceptor prob-lems. Our customers love thegames and they run great.

- Pat [email protected]

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 16

Slot Tech Feature Article

One of the most oftenoverlooked depart-ments in many casino

operations is the Slot Tech-nical Department. To maxi-mize revenue and ensurecompliance, the Slot Techni-cal Department must be or-ganized and efficient in allaspects of the slot floor op-eration. To accomplish this,there are five elements whichmust be addressed duringthe setup of any Slot Techni-cal Department. This is es-pecially true for those open-ing a new facility, or those innew or relatively new juris-dictions.

The First Element: People

In new and emerging marketsor anywhere there is a lim-ited pool of qualified slottechnicians, selecting indi-viduals with an electronic ormechanical aptitude will helpto ensure that the best can-didates are chosen for thejob. Additionally, when intro-ducing new, untested tech-nology to the slot floor, it isimperative that a significantnumber of technicians be

available to troubleshoot theissues that might arise fromthe implementation of thistechnology.

The Second Element:Training

Even with a large number ofqualified technicians on staff,if those technicians are un-familiar with the technologyon the slot floor, they won’tbe prepared to ensure ma-chine performance and com-pliance. Traditionally, slotmanufacturers and second-ary suppliers will work withan operation to facilitate vari-ous types of training. Thistraining may be incorporatedwith machine purchases orset up for an additional cost.Often these costs may be de-ferred.

It is important to note thattraining must be provided onan ongoing basis. This is par-ticularly critical in new andemerging jurisdictions. Thereare few things worse thanhaving a broken machine onthe floor with no one at thefacility with the knowledge torepair it. As new technologiescome to the market, compa-nies must ensure that theirSlot Technicians have thetraining to do their jobs prop-erly and efficiently.

The Third Element: Infra-structure

In some casinos, the slotshop is the equivalent of alarge closet, indicating thatslots are not a priority. Theproperty is relying on theother amenities offered, asopposed to maximizing slotfloor revenue. A sizable slotshop is essential for the suc-cess of any organization try-ing to optimize efficiency andrevenue. With a proper slotshop, technicians may prepand repair games off the gam-ing floor so as not to disturbguests.

Another integral part of theSlot Technical infrastructurewhich is often overlooked bycasino designers is on-sitestorage for slot machines andrelated equipment. With rev-enue per square foot the pri-mary consideration, slot stor-age is often relegated to theform of a semi truck traileror an off-site warehouse. Anysuccessful Slot Technical op-eration relies on adequatestorage for bases, signs, ma-chines and other associatedequipment.

The Fourth Element: Parts

To open a facility without asufficient supply of fre-quently used parts is a recipefor disaster, resulting indown games and lost rev-enue. Slot manufacturerstypically provide a frequentlyused parts list for any ma-chine purchased, along with

Five Elements for the Implementation ofa Successful Slot Technical Department

By Paul Cornish

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 17

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 18

suggested order quantitiesfor those parts, if requested.When setting up a new shop,it is also important to haveproper cabinetry and workbenches to increase the SlotTechnician’s efficiency. Partof this setup can also includea parts supply and trackingprogram. In the case ofhigher volume slot floors, adesignated Parts Manager tooversee this program is rec-ommended.

It is always challenging tohave games down due to adelayed parts delivery or be-cause parts have been sentout for repair. Any facilitysending a substantial num-ber of parts out for repair orwaiting for delivery of elec-tronic parts, may want toconsider a dedicated elec-tronic repair lab with a fulltime Electronic Technician.In order to assess this need,an objective analysis of theamount paid for electronicrepairs and the amount oflost slot revenue versus the

salary of the technician andthe purchase price of theelectronic test equipment isnecessary. In most cases, anew or emerging jurisdictionis better off having an elec-tronic technician on staff.

The Fifth Element: Organi-zation

Organization is key for thesuccess of any Slot Techni-cal Department. Parts mustbe clean, organized, and easyto find. An accurate inventoryof EPROMs, conversions,signage and locks, as well asa dedicated area to storethese supplies, is a must.Order should carry over to allaspects of the Slot TechnicalDepartment, including em-ployee files, day-to-day plan-ning of projects, and follow-through of technician-gener-ated paperwork.

In this day of the ever-chang-ing gaming market in themany different and variedjurisdictions, the role of the

Slot Technician is, and al-ways will be, one of the mostimportant roles for a success-ful casino operation. As newtechnologies continue to beintroduced, the role of theSlot Technician will grow andchange. However, what won’tchange is the ability of aproperly trained andequipped technician to in-crease revenue and maximizeperformance for any casinooperation.

Paul CornishDirector of Slot Operations/

Technical

Paul Cornish has been in theCasino Industry for over 17years and has held variouspositions from hard count, tocage cashier to slot techni-cian. During his tenure as aslot technician he has beenpart of several casino open-ings and renovations whichinclude Mandalay Bay in LasVegas and Motor City Casinoin Detroit.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 19

Slot Tech Feature Article

In the world of slot ma-chines, there is alwaysthe danger of an electro-

static discharge through thecontrol panel. Here we havea place that is highly vulner-able to having a player walkacross a dry carpeted floor ona winter's day, building up ahigh static charge, reachingover and touching a button,discharging himself/herselfinto the game circuitry. Thecircuitry of the CPU can beeasily damaged by such anevent. To protect the game weneed to isolate the CPU'smore sensitive circuits fromthe dirty world of the controlpanel. This is an excellent ap-plication for optoisolators. When we press the switch weturn on the LED in ISO1. Thesignal is transferred from theLED to the Phototransistor,turning on thephototransistor, resulting ina High on the input of theBuffer U1. We would haveseven other such circuitsfeeding into U1's other Ax in-puts. A static discharge

through the switch cannotpass through theoptoisolator. At worst all wecould do is make the lightbrighter, but thephototransistor will not putany higher input voltage toU1 than VCC. DiodesD1 and D2 protect ISO1. Ifthe input goes any higherthan VI, D1 forward biasesand locks the voltage to VI. Ifthe input goes lower thanground, D2 forward biasesand locks the voltage toGround. D1 and D2, in thisapplication, are calledClamping Diodes. They

Clamp the voltage on the lineto the limits at VI andGround. When the CPUwants to know the conditionof the control Panel Switches,it reads Buffer U1 by refer-encing an I/O address thatselects the READ PP* pulse.READ PP* puts the condi-tions of the switches on theData Bus. The CPU READpulse brings the Data Businto the CPU. Where the dataends up in the CPU dependson the instruction being ex-ecuted. It could go into a reg-ister inside the CPU and latertransferred to a place in RAM

Using Optoisolators forControl Panel Isolation

By Herschel Peeler

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 20

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 21

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 22

or it could go straight to anaddress in RAM. The CPUthen compares this RAM con-tacts with a mask to tellwhich bits are set. If theCPU does not read the playerpanel switches, it cannotknow that a button has beenpressed. During POST (PowerOn Self Test) it usually doesno good to press player panelbuttons. The CPU is not read-ing them and pressing themhas no effect. The op-posite process is used whenturning on Control PanelLamps. Somewhere in RAMwe have an address whosecontents represent the stateof these lamps. The CPUreads this address of RAMand sends it out to the 8-bitlatch U2. A Low going outturns on the LED insideISO2, which turns on thephototransistor, feeding aHigh into the ULN2803. Thisgives a Low output capableof driving up to 28 Volts at500 mA, and our lamp turnson. The writing process re-quires the CPU to referencean I/O Address that gener-ates the WRITE PP* signalwhile placing the data on theData Bus. At the end of theWRITE PP* pulse, it goesHigh. This Low to High edgelatches the data into U2,where it stays latched untilchanged.

Many circuits include aWarm-Up resistor such asshown as R6. Turning on alamp when it is cold resultsin a high surge currentthrough the lamp. If we pulla small current through thelamp to keep the filamentwarm but below the stage of

emitting visible light, we giveout lamps a longer life withless stress on them.

Here the optoisolator plays aslightly different role. Yes, weare protected from the staticdischarge but more likely, weprotect the expensive andsensitive CPU circuitry fromother damage. Lamps canshort out. Wire harnessescan be connected wrong. Oneside of the lamp goes to apositive voltage capable ofhigh current. One side ofeach of the Control Panelswitches is connected toground. If wires are incor-rectly connected, it is pos-sible to connect a straightshort between power andground resulting in a meltedControl Panel harness.Among other possibilities, wecould damage the circuitry of

the board that drives thelamps, U3 in this case. As U3shorts out it, could also dam-age the circuitry that is con-nected to it. In this case, thedamage cannot go back anyfurther than ISO2. We canpull all the current we wantthrough ISO 2. It cannot feedback into the more sensitiveand expensive circuitry of theCPU itself. Damage is limitedto parts that have low costand are easy to troubleshoot. The circuit shown repre-sents no specific game butincludes features found inmany different games. This issimilar to what you wouldfind in many games.

The data sheet is on page 24.

- Herschel [email protected]

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 23

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 24

December 2005

H11A

A814 S

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617 Series, H

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hototransistor Optocouplers

H11AA814 Series, H11A617 Series, H11A817 Series4-Pin Phototransistor Optocouplers

Features■ AC input response (H11AA814 only)■ Compatible to Pb-free IR reflow soldering■ Compact 4-pin dual in-line package■ Current transfer ratio in selected groups:

H11AA814: 20-300% H11A817: 50-600%H11AA814A: 50-150% H11A817A: 80-160%H11A617A: 40%-80% H11A817B: 130-260%H11A617B: 63%-125% H11A817C: 200-400%H11A617C: 100%-200% H11A817D: 300-600%H11A617D: 160%-320%

■ C-UL, UL and VDE approved■ High input-output isolation voltage of 5000Vrms■ Minimum BVCEO of 70V guaranteed

Applications H11AA814 Series■ AC line monitor■ Unknown polarity DC sensor■ Telephone line interface

H11A617 and H11A817 Series■ Power supply regulators■ Digital logic inputs■ Microprocessor inputs

DescriptionThe H11AA814 consists of two gallium arsenide infraredemitting diodes, connected in inverse parallel, driving asilicon phototransistor output in a 4-pin dual in-linepackage. The H11A617/817 Series consists of a galliumarsenide infrared emitting diode driving a siliconphototransistor in a 4-pin dual in-line package.

Package Schematics

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 25

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 26

Slot Tech Feature Article

By Michael Brennan

Hurricane Katrina wasat the forefront of ourconsciousness for

many months after the trag-edy and will be revisited inthe media soon as the one-year anniversary approachesin August. In the meantime,during this "coverage lull,"the people and businesses onthe Gulf Coast have had tomove on.

Of course this is true with thegaming industry. You'veprobably seen the pictures ofobliterated casino barges.The entire industry was shutdown for a while. But thingsare coming back around, and

Get To Know An Atronic TechnicianPart II: Gulf Coast

individuals tied to the industry have man-aged and coped.

The following story is from the perspec-tive of one such industry employee, ChrisCormier, an Atronic technician for thepast three and a half years. Chris wasone of three Atronic technicians workingout of the Gulf Coast when Katrina hit.These technicians worked out of an of-fice in Gulfport, Mississippi, completewith a real nice showroom, trucks, thewhole lot. It's all gone now.

What follows is an in-the-trenches ac-count of what it was like as a slot techni-

cian during and after Katrina. These are some of the memo-ries and thoughts Chris related to me during a recent inter-view.

Photo Illustration © Slot Tech Magazine

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 27

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 28

The Office

Standing at 421 16th Street,our office housed five Atronicemployees, contained twothousand square feet of officespace, and had a warehouseof eight thousand square feet.The building contained 46total Atronic slot machines.

When we heard about theimpending hurricane, weprepped the building, board-ing windows and securingitems. We really batteneddown the hatches. We wereplanning on staying in thearea and riding out thestorm. We changed ourminds when we heard thestorm was a category fivehurricane. In hindsight, weshouldn't have left our per-sonal and company vehicles.

Get Smashed

When we returned, every-thing was gone. Entire treeswere scattered likematchsticks and there wasdebris everywhere. Wallswere completely ripped off.Our office looked like a shell,resting on a pile of cinderblocks.

Anything that could possiblyfloat away did just that. Wehad stacks and stacks of slotmachine glass on shelves,and every trace of it was com-pletely gone. We couldn't findany furniture-- I somehowfound one credenza a waysaway, but we lost every singleimportant document and pa-per.

The storm trashed our com-pany trucks. Some floated

away and others were tossedabout. And what mother na-tured didn't do to our trucks,looters did. Looters siphonedall the gas and busted openthe back doors and grabbedwhatever tools and suppliesthey could.

While nature took certainthings, it also deposited oth-ers. A silver Mercedes cameout of nowhere and ended upmangled at our doorstep,wedged between one of our

moving trucks and the sideof our office. We never foundout where it came from.

What did "survive" the stormthough, were our games. Welocated all 46 of our on-siteslot machines. We foundthem smashed betweenbuildings, in fields, inditches. One machine waseven under a neighboringhouse. Others were over fiftyyards away. A contractorwas removing debris nearby

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 29

with a front-end loader. Hewas digging up our slot ma-chines left and right.

When all the games were re-trieved, we had the pleasureof destroying them somemore. The gaming regulatoryboard mandated that all ma-chines had to be destroyed,so we obliged. It was reallythe best time I ever had. Weremoved the serial platesfrom the machines andtrashed the rest. We got toslam and pummel the cabi-nets. This demolition wasvery therapeutic.

The Surreal Life

Life after Katrina was surreal.One person shot another overice. Twenty-four-hour mega-stores like Wall-Mart closeddown at 6pm. Where else inthe country is McDonald'sclosed all the time? Plus,some people who were with-out shelter lived in our shellof an office for a while afterthe storm. They simply setup camp and stayed there.

Gas was the commodity inthe highest demand, more sothan food and water. It was,by far, the most sought-afterproduct on the coast. Notonly was the price of gas sky-high, you were limited to 20gallons each visit. And gasstations were closed on Sun-days. Lines were around theblock at some stations, whileothers had run dry of sup-ply.

On one memorable evening,I had a police officer pull agun on me at a gas station.

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 30

As I walked up to the build-ing, he thought I was thereto steal gas, when I was onlygetting close to read the signto see what time it was open.

Other businesses were justas under-supplied, sur-rounded by the same tenseatmosphere. There were lit-erally three-hour lines ofpeople waiting to eat. Everybusiness was understaffed.

Something like this reallybreaks things down to themost basic level. It forcespeople to think about thingsthey usually wouldn't. Youhad thoughts like, "When'smy next bath going to be?"Making a phone call washopeless. It was almost im-possible to communicate. Infact, the phone system overhere is still messed up. Mymobile voice mail still doesn'twork.

Keep Working

After we dealt with the messat our office, we entered themess in nearby casinos. ThePalace Casino was literallyleaning thirty degrees. It feltlike you were a character ina Dr. Seuss book-- everythingwas at an angle, slanted. Af-ter walking around for a littlebit my legs were killing mefrom trudging up a constantincline. Stairways were hori-zontal. You couldn't help butlaugh.

We agreed to strip down ourgames in this leaning casino,taking playfields, billvalidators, and printers sothey could use them as spare

parts. The games actuallylooked pristine, but wecouldn't salvage them be-cause the demolition com-pany wanted the metal forscrap.

In another barge casino, wewere checking on the statusof a rented slot machine. Halfof the casino was floating/leaking, with water allaround. Over in a corner sit-ting by itself in a good spotwas the rental game, a Titancabinet. So there was thismachine, standing not too farfrom a ruined casino floor,but in perfect condition. Icleaned all the stainless steelparts and it powered right up.

The Dust Settles

I have lived here most of mylife and this hurricane wasand is the worst. The bench-mark for natural disastersused to be hurricane Camillein 1969, but Katrina is thenew measuring stick. I wasone of the few people I knowwhose house was livable.Most homes were destroyedin some way. I sold my houseas soon as I could, but stilllive in the area. I was lucky.Others were left with rubble.

A lot of history was obliter-ated, too, like Tullis Manor.It was a celebrated exampleof period architecture thatwas flattened by the GrandBiloxi Casino barge when thecasino was pushed on shore.Things are messed up whena floating casino destroyshundreds of years of history.

Katrina destroyed relics of

the past, but it also ruinedsome future projects, as well.It literally imploded the ex-pensive, soon-to-be-openedHard Rock Casino.

After the storm, it seemedlike casino employees wereall shook around like a holi-day snow globe. When every-thing settled down, employ-ees rejoined the workforce,but they were with differentcompanies. You walked intoa casino and recognizedsomeone, but you recognizedhim from a different casino.Like musical chairs, peoplescrambled to get whatever jobwas available.

As a vendor, we stayed em-ployed the whole time. Infact, Atronic helped us outimmensely, way more thanany insurance did. Atronicmatched money raisedthrough employee donations,resulting in a good chunk ofchange. The moment mydepartment's directorhanded me the envelope withthe check, well, it still givesme the warm and fuzziesthinking about it. And if Isaid I didn't shed a tear, Iwould be lying. It made mebelieve that I work for thebest company around. Truly.

Help was really appreciatedafter the disaster. My dadbrought almost one hundredgallons of gas from Texas,and I sent my two kids to livewith him in the LonestarState for a couple weeks rightafter the chaos. Later, Texasgot hit by hurricane Rita, andmy dad came here and stayedwith us. Go figure.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 31

Recovery

Everyone is punch-drunkfrom the looting. The men-tality is "what's mine is stay-ing mine," like the wild west.An insurance adjuster wasshot by an angry homeowner.Other homeowners are inlimbo regarding insurance.There are mass lawsuits cir-culating over policies, floodinsurance, controversies over"wind-driven" clauses andclaims. It's a mess. Rightnow there is still no suchthing as "normal."

Yet, with all the looting and"bad" that came out of this,I've also seen a lot of good.My brother had his landcleared for free. Church or-ganizations have been re-building houses for nocharge. Charities havestepped up and other peoplehave really shown their ca-

pacity for kindness.

Casinos are playing an im-portant role in the recovery,too. Because people are look-ing for places to eat andplaces to go have a drink,they turn to casinos as one-stop shops. The only busi-nesses in Biloxi going strongnow are essentially the threecasinos. I heard Harrah's inNew Orleans had their high-est coin-in ever during its re-opening.

People are looking for nor-malcy, looking for somethingto do-- so they go to the casi-nos. There is a lack of enter-tainment, and casinos arefilling that void. I don't usu-ally head out to them, but Ihave visited the casinosmany times since Katrina,just to have something to dowith friends and family.

As for work, we installedsixty-plus games at the startof the Coast rebuilding pro-cess. It felt nice to havesomething to do, to be backat work. Cabin fever was set-ting in-- it was good to dosomething other than clean-ing and sorting. But the fu-ture is so unknown. I'velearned to never underesti-mate mother nature. And I'velearned a lot about being pre-pared.

As for the future of Gulf ca-sinos, there is much rebuild-ing to be done and many pre-dict that the business willbecome more centered ontourists. The industry haschanged forever. Obviously,life has as well.

- Michael [email protected]

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 32

Slot Tech Event - TechFest 13 - TechFest 13 - TechFest 13 - TechF

(Upper-left) Sencore's Don Multerer presenteda hands-on "mini school" within TechFest. Withfour full sets of Sencore test equipment, 12 luckyattendees each day spent an entire afternoonwith Don, learning how to repair LCD monitorsand work with the gear. It was SRO, so we even-tually had to install a row of chairs in the back ofthe room in order to accommodate the overflow.

(Above) TechFest 13 anchor presentation be-longed to Jack Geller of JCM. As usual, this dy-namic presentation discussed cleaning and cali-bration procedures for WBA bill validators as wellas repair issues. Jack also took us on a muchmore detailed tour of their latest bill validator,the UBA and its multi-spectral optical recogni-tion, automatic bill centering, advanced diagnos-tics and plastic cashbox.

(Left) David Oldham of Advanced Electronic Sys-tems, Inc. addressed the group as the first guestpresenter at TechFest 13, held at the Mystic LakeCasino and Hotel in Minnesota. David presenteda technical look at MEI's Cashflow SC66 bill vali-dator and the FutureLogic printer.

Coin Mechanisms' Mike Harris discussed cali-bration of Coin Mech products. He also pre-sented a look at Coin Mechanism's line of coldcathode lighting products.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 33

Fest 13 - TechFest 13 - TechFest 13 - TechFest 13 - TechFest 13

Paul Hatin, Applications Engineer for 3MTouchsystems, Inc., presented a look attouchscreen technology. Troubleshooting and re-pair issues were discussed. He also presenteda look at some new products such as “wireless”sensors and a sneak-preview of a new productthat all slot techs will absolutely love but can’t(for the moment) be revealed. Look for a SlotTech Magazine exclusive report soon! Everyonereceived a free, slot tech T shirt and an aerosolcan of touchscreen cleaning spray.

Tommy Talbot of AstroSystems, Inc. discussedtheir MicroCoin unit. He discussed the opera-tion of the unit and calibration (none required)as well as programming. Giveaway Bonus: Areally nice telescoping, magnetic retrieval tool. Isaw a number of swordfights taking place in thehallway during breaktime following their dis-bursement but I was unable to take a photograph.

(Above) Ceronix's Paul Alexander discussed theoperation and repair of their unique monitors. Afull-color troubleshooting guide, complete withstep-by-step repair flowcharts was given to ev-ery TechFest participant, along with a completeservice manual for all Ceronix CRT monitors.

(Left) Atlantic City’s most famous Cuban-Ameri-can slot tech, Agustine "Lefty" Gomez, examniesan LCD inverter board at the Sencore class. Al-ways looking for ways to to hone his repair skills,Lefty also attended TechFest 7 in Atlantic City.

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 34

Slot Tech Company Spotlight

In the nearly 10 years thecompany has been in busi-ness, the name Gary Platt

has become synonymous withcomfort. Providing seating to thecasino industry both domesti-cally and abroad, Gary PlattManufacturing has built a busi-ness on the equations “GreaterComfort Equals Longer Play”and “Ergonomics Equals Eco-nomics.”

Ergonomics is the science ofrefining the design of productsto optimize them for humanuse. In the case of casino seat-ing, it quickly became apparentthat when ergonomic principleswere applied to the chair design,casinos reported longer time ondevice.

In 2000, Gary Platt introducedits “X-Tended Play” line of seat-ing. Designed for optimum com-fort and time on device, thechairs can be seen at some ofthe top properties in the coun-try, including the Atlantis Ca-sino Resort in Reno. TheAtlantis recently made the de-cision to install Gary Plattchairs throughout the casino,placing 1300 newly designedslot seats and 183 table gameseats. (The Atlantis is alwaysdoing something nice to spruce

Casinos in the Comfort Zonewith Gary Platt Seating

up the casino. See “The LostCarpet of Atlantis, Slot TechMagazine, March 2003. Pagenine – ed.)

“The Gary Platt seats have re-ceived an overwhelmingly posi-tive response from our custom-ers,” noted Bob Wilber, directorof corporate purchasing. “Theytruly enjoy the lumbar backsupport and the seat cushioncomfort."

Casino seating design hasevolved into part science andpart art. Of course, casinoswant seats that are comfortableand durable but they also de-mand that casino seating inte-grate into and even complimentthe casino’s interior design.Gary Platt provides a wide vari-ety of fabric choices includingcustom designs and logos, andall seats are beautifully finishedwith double stitching.

“Players come in all shapes andsizes so we have to design forultimate comfort regardless ofa player’s size,” said BobYabroff, president of Gary PlattManufacturing as he discussedwith Slot Tech Magazine thechallenges of casino seating de-sign and manufacturing intoday’s evolving casino market.“Add to that the demand for at-tractive seating that can alsowithstand the often harsh ca-sino environment and wear andtear, and it presents even moreof a challenge. We are con-stantly innovating, but remaincommitted to maintaining themost comfortable seats on the

market.”

Some of the performance fea-tures of Gary Platt X-TendedPlay seats include molded highdensity foam that provides bet-ter support for players of allsizes, ergonomic lumbar sup-port that eases back fatigue andpromotes longer play, a water-fall seat design that is taperedfor comfort and improved circu-lation, a contoured wood saddlethat serves as the foundation ofcomfort, and a welded footrestthat stands up to even thetoughest customers.

You can find comfortable cus-tomers seated on Gary Plattchairs at casinos such asBarona Valley Ranch Resortand Casino, Harrah’s Rincon,Foxwoods, and the CommerceCasino – “Poker Capital of theWorld.” And, Gary Platt is theexclusive provider of slot seat-ing for IGT, the worlds largestslot manufacturer.

The list of satisfied customerscontinues to grow as casinosrealize that seating can be morethan just a commodity – it canactually be a means to in-creased revenue through longertime on device. As the casinomarket heats up and casinos in-creasingly look for ways to dif-ferentiate and offer new ameni-ties to players, they are catch-ing on to the benefits of beingin the comfort zone with GaryPlatt chairs.

For more information, visit thewebsite at garyplatt.com

Slot Tech Magazine file photo

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 35

“On behalf of Table Mountain Casino I just wanted to express ourthanks to you and your team. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 36

Slot Tech New Product

Coin Mechanisms Inc. Releases the ModelMK 2 Universal Topper Sign

MK 2 Topper operational features include:- Easy adaptive mounting to accommodate most slot machines- Includes a provision for mounting of tower light- All operational components are easily accessible from the front. Hinged front

panel lifts to allow unrestricted access to remove and/or replace artwork- Electrically safe double insulation and low voltage – 12 or 24 VDC- Low power consumption, <12 watts with less generated heat- Reduced maintenance with extended operating cycle ~ 20,000 hours 24/7- Injection molded from lightweight high impact polymers- Incorporates fully solid state, highly efficient CCFL and LED lighting- Wide angle view of LED and illuminated artwork

For more information on this and all of Coin Mechanisms’ latest products, visitour website www.coinmech.com , or call us toll free 800-323-6498

Contact:Michael K. MeisingerCoin Mechanisms, Inc.400 Regency DriveGlendale Heights, IL 60139Toll Free 800-323-6498Tel. 630-924-7070Fax 630-924-7088Email: [email protected]

NEW PRODUCT RELEASE

Coin Mechanisms Inc. hasannounced the release of itsModel MK 2 Universal TopperSign, an innovative newapproach to the gamingindustry’s sign topper. Theadaptive design of our ModelMK 2 Topper allows for a widerange of customer choice ofcosmetic and operating designfor different applications, suchas in-venue promotionalactivities. The MK 2 alsoprovides multi-enhanced visualimpact with additional signageanimation that highlights andadds excitement, drawingattention and players to yourmachine.

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Slot Tech MagazineJune 2006 Page 37

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June 2006Slot Tech MagazinePage 40