slot tech magazine editorialslot-tech.com/members/magazine/lores/may15.pdf · slot tech magazine...

Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine

EditorRandy Fromm

Technical WritersJason Czito, VicFortenbach, Henry Kollar,Chuck Lentine, KevinNoble, Pat Porath

Slot Tech Magazine is publishedmonthly bySlot Tech Magazine401 W. Lexington #777El Cajon, CA 92022tel.619.838.7111 fax.619.315.0410e-mail [email protected] the website at slot-techs.com

SUBSCRIPTIONSDomestic (North America)1 year - $80.002 years - $140.00International1 year - $160.002 years - $300.00

Subscribe online atslot-techs.com

Copyright 2015 under the UniversalCopyright Convention. All rights re-served.

Slot Tech Magazine Editorial

-EditorialPage 4-Tales From The Bench #2Page 7-Invitation to Attend TechFest 30Page 10-Slot Tech Training at Potawatomi CasinoPage 12-Quick & Simple Repairs #114Page 16-Preventive Maintenance For a New Generationof Slot MachinesPage 18-Subscription Information

Randy Fromm

Publisher-Slot Tech Magazine

For schematic diagrams, manuals, servicenotes and more, visit the 100% free SlotTechnical Department at slot-tech.com

Dear Friends of Slot Tech Magazine,

It’s always nice to have a contribution from ChuckLentine. This month, Chuck covers a couple of“issues.” One is a Bally Alpha 2 Curve monitor witha simple problem that produces a rather surprisingsymptom. The other is a look at a connector prob-lem with the IGT Prism unit. “Tales From TheBench #2” starts on page 4.

Pat Porath presents us with a few repair items withhis “Quick & Simple Repairs” starting on page 12and occasional contributor Vic Fortenbach gives ussome ideas for preventative Maintenance as well.

There are still openings for TechFest 30 at MysticLake, May 27-29. Maybe I’ll see you there.

May 2015Slot Tech Magazine

Slot Tech Feature Article

Bally Alpha 2 Curve MonitorBally Alpha 2 Curve MonitorBally Alpha 2 Curve MonitorBally Alpha 2 Curve MonitorBally Alpha 2 Curve MonitorNo Picture, Game StuckNo Picture, Game StuckNo Picture, Game StuckNo Picture, Game StuckNo Picture, Game StuckLoadingLoadingLoadingLoadingLoading

The top monitor on thisgame is stuck in boot upwith “loading video drivers”

on the bottom progress bar. Nopicture is on the curve monitor.

Tovis L2045S31BY Curvedmonitor

While booting one of these

Tales from the Bench #2By Chuck Lentine

games up you should seesomething like NO SIGNAL orNO VIDEO on the monitors for afew seconds after power on. Thiscurve monitor was not displayinganything but the power LED onthe back was blinking. It wasn’ta regular blink pattern though,leading me to believe the powergoing to it was not happy. Allinput voltages were OK. I bet theA/D board is having a fit andrebooting every two seconds.

Be careful taking out the A/Dboards on these things. There isa small blob of glue on theconnectors. Be very carefulremoving the LCD data ribboncable also. I was able to pull theA/D board from the monitor stillmounted in the game for a trip tothe shop.

Immediately it was obvious thatbad caps had a say in why thisboard was dead. CP2 and CP6 hadblown their lids. CP12 and CP14were also showing a small

discoloration around theirmounting pads. Our SencoreLC103 cap tester was having ahard time getting a fix on theother caps, so I used the“shotgun” approach and replacedevery capacitor in the powersupply section. I know wherethis problem ended, but notwhere it started so everything inthe middle has to go.

Inventory list:

CP 2 330uf@25vCP 3 47uf@16vCX 5 10uf@16v (Yes..it’s labeled“CX”)CP 6 330uf@25vCP12 220uf@10vCP14 220uf@10vCP23 47uf@16vCP26 47uf@16v

I installed the A/D board back inthe game and powered it up fromcold. The CPU needs to see themonitors installed so it can load

Slot Tech MagazineMay 2015


the correct drivers. It came up with “no video” andthe LED was on steady. After a few minutes,BALLYBALLYBALLYBALLYBALLY came up on it and loaded all the way.Machine up for play!

IGT PRISM Power Supply NonsenseIGT PRISM Power Supply NonsenseIGT PRISM Power Supply NonsenseIGT PRISM Power Supply NonsenseIGT PRISM Power Supply Nonsense

This is for the technicians that have the IGTPRISM player tracking displays in their machines.For those of you who don’t, now is the time to goget your favorite beverage. Hurry back, as this willamuse you.

IGT Switching Power Supply # 408020190Wa.k.a. EurAsia Model # STD-0505P / CP-8034(5vdc / 5amp)

This little power supply powers the PRISM displayin every machine. The 3,000 we have are going onthree years old. When we first installed these, Inoticed the wires going into the little powerconnector were not seating correctly and it lookedlike they were just jammed in there. Over time,the wires are starting to pull out or break wherethey go into the connector. The locking clips werestarting to break off also. Bad units were startingto pile up in the shop so I decided to come up witha permanent fix. It’s just a little stinker powersupply right?

Connector plug:Molex 8-pin connector receptacle 3mm verticaldual row.Molex # 0430250800Digikey # WM1786-ND

Connector pins:Molex Connector terminal female 20-24AWG Tin


Invitation to Attend TechFest 30

TechFest returns to Mystic Lake Casino HotelMay 27-29, 2015

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

9:00 am - 12:00pmElectronic Components andComponent TestingPresented by Randy Fromm

Electronics repair is actually prettyeasy, once you know how to test thecomponents. It often doesn't matter ifyou know anything at all about howsomething actually works in order tofix it. You just look for bad parts andreplace them. This seminar covers allof the discrete components commonlyfound in electronic gaming machines.We'll look at how they work, how theyfail, and how to test them as accu-rately, inexpensively and safely aspossible. Each attendee receives adigital multimeter and sample compo-nents, theirs to keep following Tech-Fest.

1:15pm - 3:15pmJCM Bill Validators

JCM is a huge player in the gamingindustry. This session covers UBAtroubleshooting and configuration aswell as iVIZION. This presentation willbe given by JCM's Dan Petersen.

3:30pm - 5:30pmFutureLogic Troubleshooting

FutureLogic printers have been amainstay of the industry since TITOwas born. They are easy to configureand to troubleshoot. This seminar willbe presented by Dan Petersen.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

9:00 am - 12:00pmLCD Monitor RepairPresented by Randy Fromm

LCD monitor repair is easy. This isthe first of two presentations on LCDmonitor repair at TechFest. Duringthis seminar, we will cover the theoryof operation of LCD monitors andyou'll see just how simple they reallyare. We will also cover circuitanalysis of the electronics with anemphasis on what fails and how itcan be repaired in any casino's techshop.

1:15pm - 3:15pmTouchscreensPresented by 3M Touch Systems

Touchscreens rule the casino world.This presentation will introduce youto touch technologies and how theywork. Troubleshooting and repairtechniques will be presented.Everyone will receive diagnosticprograms as well.

3:30pm - 8:00pm*NEW!-Component Removal andReplacementPresented by HAKKO

Soldering skills are the mostimportant skills a technician canposess. It doesn't do any good to beable to diagnose a failed componentif you can't remove it and replace itproperly and it's no good trying towork on modern, surface-mountcomponents without the properequipment. This exciting newseminar will present the latest insoldering techniques and reworkequipment. A special "Hands-OnAfter Hours" session will allowextended time for everyone to try outthe gear themselves.

Friday, May 29, 2015

9:00 am - 12:00pmCeronix LCD Monitor RepairPresented by Ceronix

Although it can be argued that all LCDmonitors are more-or-less the same, it'snice to get the inside track on specificmonitors from the manufacturers them-selves.

This is a "hands-on" session whereeveryone will have the opportunity to tear-down and rebuild an LCD panel as well astroubleshooting actual failures on LCDmonitors in a "power-on" lab where youwill actually make repairs. This is themost fun thing we do at TechFest.

1:15pm - 3:15pmTransact Technologies Ticket Printers

Transact Technologies presents servicingand troubleshooting Transact brand,thermal ticket printers. These units aresimple to understand and troubleshoot,once you know how they're put together.We have covered these printers exten-sively in Slot Tech Magazine. This is yourchance to ask questions of the expert.

3:30pm - 5:30pmMEI Bill ValidatorsNow a part of Crane Payments, Inc. (CPI)MEI is the “other” bill validator. Thisseminar will present configuration andtroubleshooting “issues” for MEI’sCashFlow 66 unit.

[email protected]

Schedule of EventsEvents subject to change

For complete details & enrollment form, visit the website at slot-techs.com

Plan now to attend.

Visit the website at slot-techs.com for “Early Bird”discount of $100/person.

Attention Slot Techs and Slot Managers!


Molex# 0430300007Digikey # WM1837-ND

After investigating this issue fora few days, we came up with twodistinct reasons why theseconnectors are breaking off:

1 )1 )1 )1 )1 ) The power cable is threefeet long. In most of ourgames, this is just notlong enough. Our techshave had to be creative infinding a way to installthese without putting toomuch tension on theconnector but it doeshappen. Themanufacturer has comeout with a 2ft extensioncable (33812900W) but itshowed up after ourinstallation wascompleted. Thanks a lot,that was really helpful!

2 )2 )2 )2 )2 ) According to the Molexspecification on the pins,it calls for a 20AWG wireor higher gauge. Guesswhat wire size we weresent and have jammedinto all of our powerconnectors that arebreaking? 18AWG!18AWG!18AWG!18AWG!18AWG!

When one of these wires goesintermittent, the PRISM panelhas a fit. Here are some of thesymptoms:

*Constant rebooting*Windows white screen of death*Windows blue screen of death*Corrupted CF card*Windows debug screen (myfavorite, scrolling with errors butyou need magnifying glass toread it)*Touch screen works when itwants to*Frozen display

I contemplated removing theentire power cable from the DCside but that involved too manycomponents to stock. Afterplaying with a few experimentalprototypes and getting feedbackfrom my techs, we settled on asmaller fix that addresses all ofthe issues mentioned above.

1) Hack off the old plug. The

locking pin is usually gone andthe internal pins are twistedaround so they are not comingout willingly. It is notsalvageable.

2) Strip back and solder about afoot of 20AWG wire to the oldpower cable. Normally, the colorsshould be red and black. I usedred on both sides because weliterally have miles of this wireand I need to use it up. Payabsolutely NO attention to thepolarity marked on the originalwire, It has a (——) on one side.At least 50% of our powersupplies have this polaritymarking incorrect.

3) Add new connector pins toyour new 20AWG wire. Molexmakes a nice crimping tool(Part# 638190000) for this job.Not cheap, but it makes therebuild process go a lot fasterthan those of us who use needle

nose pliers to crimp on pins.

4) Add a small drop of solder tothe rear of each newly installedpin for extra strength. Do not putany on the front part as it willnot fit into the receptacle.

5) Before powering this up, youneed to get out your multimeterand set it to DC volts. Plug inyour power supply and touch


+5 output, change the capacitorat C102. It is a 68uf @ 400V.This cap runs very hot when theoutput is shorted due to a badconnector. We use a table vice tocrack open the black plastichousing. Line up the jaws of thevice along the outside seam ofthe power supply and *gently*tighten the vice. You should heara cracking noise and then beable to insert a flat bladescrewdriver in one end and pry itopen. When you are finished,use some heavy duty tape tokeep the outer shells secured.Sometimes this cap has a slowtime charging if it is replaced.Leave the power on at least aminute for this cap to charge upand stabilize the +5VDC output.

- Chuck Lentine - Chuck Lentine - Chuck Lentine - Chuck Lentine - Chuck [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

each probe to your newlyinstalled pins. One way you willget at -5.44 and reverse them toget a +5.44. When you have the(+) symbol on the meter, makenote of the wire that is touchingyour positive (red) lead. This wire

you will need to insert it into pin1 in the receptacle. The othernegative (-) wire goes into pin 6.

If you should encounter no or low


Slot Tech Event

Slot Tech Training atPotawatomi Casino

For some weird reason, I sort ofzoned-out and forgot to take a lot ofphotos of these two, back-to-back

classes at Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Casino.I forgot to photograph any of our many“hands-on” labs and, especially lame, Iforgot to take a class picture at “gradua-tion” following the first week of class(hence the “mug shots”). I was there fortwo consecutive weeks of training as theyhave such a large property.

This is a really awesome property. If youever have a chance to visit, I highly recom-mend it. Now under the management ofindustry veteren Paul Cornish (connectwith him on LinkedIn) the floor has some3000 or so machines. When I was there, Isaw just a couple that were down and theywere back up in less than 24 hours. I wasthere to take some of the load off theirbench tech by training their slot tech staffin the easy and fun art of power supplyrepair and LCD monitor repair.

I really enjoyed my time with the slottechs. They really have a great time work-ing together and, best of all, have a goodsense of humor. It’s really a great crew.Thanks, everyone. - rfrfrfrfrf

Anasha McSwain and Michael Svec

Julie Hartmann and Demetrice Sam


ENROLLTODAY!

New Seminarfrom HAKKO

Attending the classes: Tony Xiong,Clement Avilla, David Medina, BrettBrzezinski, Anasha McSwain,Dorothy Turcsanyi, David Kohanski,Michael Schertz, Michael Svec Jr.,Sidney Aldridge, Neil Pech, BunsiengSar, Michael Wesloski, KimberlyMurray, Gary Gruenweller, JamesFlynn, John Tucker, Andrew Ramos,Kenneth Kearney, D’Mario Alexander,Julie Hartmann, Justin Brady,Demetrice Sam, Gabriel Gonzalez,Jerry Kanhalykham, and EmmanuelRoldan.

TechFest 30 Returnsto Mystic Lake Casino

May 27-29 2015

Kenneth KearneyGary Gruenweller

John Tucker

Michael Wesloski Cortney Washington

David Medina



Quick & Simple Repairs #114By Pat Porath

IGT Game KingIGT Game KingIGT Game KingIGT Game KingIGT Game King8.2 Install8.2 Install8.2 Install8.2 Install8.2 Install

We recently received12 Game Kingswith programs

that allow numerous gamesand denominations to beenabled on a single cabi-net. On a single game,there are 30 differentgames (or themes), mostlyvideo poker such as Bonus,Double Bonus Poker, Jacksor Better, Spin Poker, Cave-man Keno and so on. Thesoftware was per-installedon the hard drives and thetheme software thumbdrives were shipped sepa-rately. Also with the gameswas a first that I have heardof called “IGT EZ Setup.” Ablank thumb drive was tobe put into the first gamehaving the software periph-erals set up on it, itemssuch as taxable jack potlimits, ticket limits, AFT orEFT enabled, and so on.Once complete, the “gamespecific options” could bedownloaded to the thumbdrive, inserted in the nextgame to be set up, DOWN-

LOAD the info then presto!The game is optioned. Andso on down the line ofgames to the next one.

I was told the “EZ Setup”worked on the majority ofcabinets which was prettydarn cool. Unfortunately,we did have some bumpsand hiccups along the waywith other issues. Duringthe installation and setupof the bank, each gameneeded a “data I.O.” cardinstalled (the small boardthat has the ribbon cablethat comes FROM the brainbox TO the motherboard)and a BIOS chip put into it.One co-worker grabbed twosets, I grabbed and in-stalled three. Well, guesswhat? His two worked.None of my three gameswould even boot up all theway!

What in the heck did I dowrong this time? Did I bendpins on the “I.O.” board? Aswe later found out, therewere four different BIOSchips. The two a co-workergrabbed were compatiblewith his games and thethree I grabbed out of thebox were not. It took a littletime but we figured outwhich chips went withwhich cabinet. Another

speed bump we had wasone of them had a “SASCOM 1 validation error”which did not want to clear.Numerous software andhardware items werechecked and rechecked.Some of them include: thecorrect slot mast identifica-tion number, SAS channel1, address 1, communica-tion protocol was set toENABLE, the Oasis Senti-nel III interface cable wasreplaced just in case, the“office side” (the accountingdepartment and I.T. depart-ment) had confirmed thegame info was entered intothe system correctly.

There wasn’t a whole lotleft. So, even though on aslant top Game King 8.2which has a single COMconnection for the interfacecable directly on themotherboard, there arethree other COM connec-tions (ports or channels)that are available with theinstallation of a small COMboard into one of the con-nections (small green boardthat has a red and greenLED on it to verify commu-nication when they flash,common on Trimlinegames). Once the board wasput in, the option set forCOM 2 address 1, protocol


Or contact our exclusive distributor


disabled for a moment thenre-enabled, the game fi-nally talked to the Oasissystem and the com errorcleared.

WMS Bluebird SlantWMS Bluebird SlantWMS Bluebird SlantWMS Bluebird SlantWMS Bluebird SlantTop, Game Would FreezeTop, Game Would FreezeTop, Game Would FreezeTop, Game Would FreezeTop, Game Would FreezeUpUpUpUpUp

Sometimes on a WMS Blue-bird or Bluebird 2, if agame “freezes up” where acustomer is playing andcannot do a darned thing(spin, cash out, bet) andthe game is totally unre-sponsive, a simple reboot oras some say, “power cycle”and the problem may clear.Other times, a RAM clearmay be needed. If a gamefreezes up, is rebooted thenfreezes up again during thesame shift, then therecould be a cooling fan fail-ure. That is what I foundwith this one. It was powercycled and the next day itwas frozen again. I hadalready checked both fansin the CPU area, the onenext to the frame didn’tappear really bad. Same asthe fan located directlyabove the processor chip.Knowing something some-where was failing, I neededto check both fans moreclosely. With the CPU door(a.k.a. logic door) taken off Ihad a clear view of bothfans after a power cycle. Asstated above, one was bor-derline and after a fewminutes or so, the CPU fandied. It wasn’t noticed thefirst time because whenpower was turned on, bothfans appeared to spin OKbut the sneaky thing would

die. Both fans were re-placed which resulted nomore freezing up of thegame.

Aristocrat Mark IV NoAristocrat Mark IV NoAristocrat Mark IV NoAristocrat Mark IV NoAristocrat Mark IV NoCOMCOMCOMCOMCOM

I received a complaint thatan older Aristocrat gamewas locking up for handpays instead of printingtickets. One of the firstthings I check for is a red oryellow border on the Oasisdisplay and or the SPC comboard. Upon arrival, a yel-low border was presentwhich means no COM fromthe game TO the Sentinel.Usually a SPC memoryclear fixes it, then the redlight on the board will flashrapidly. A slow flash stateindicates an error. I triedthree board clears alongwith rebooting the gametwice, neither helped. In-stead of walking to theother end of the casino tograb a replacement SPCboard I thought I would tryreseating the I.O. and mainboards of the game. Sureenough it worked. Theyellow border was off thedisplay, I had a fast flash onthe LED on the SPC board,also verified communicationby opening and closing themain slot door which corre-sponds with the Oasis dis-play OPEN/CLOSED. Sim-ply reseating the boards didthe trick.

Multi Media TournamentMulti Media TournamentMulti Media TournamentMulti Media TournamentMulti Media TournamentSlot Machine, TouchSlot Machine, TouchSlot Machine, TouchSlot Machine, TouchSlot Machine, TouchScreen CalibrationScreen CalibrationScreen CalibrationScreen CalibrationScreen Calibration

First of all, I could not find

out how and where to cali-brate the touch screen on aMulti Media video slotmachine.(commonly usedas Slot Tournament games).I looked and looked, triedall sorts of things andcouldn’t find the optionanywhere. I have beenworking on slot machines,a couple of vending ma-chines, a hand full of an-tique slot machines, and soon for the past 20 years.Why am I unable to findthis usually common diag-nostic software option? Ihad to ask a co-worker ifthey knew how or where Icould find it. They couldn’tfind the software optioneither. Now I didn’t feel sobad. As the individualfound out later in the shift,I was told the LCD auto-matically calibrates itselfand it is not necessary tobe calibrated; only on rareoccasion it is needed. Iguess there is supposed tobe specific “Microsoft Win-dows” software that is usedfor calibration but I haven’tseen it yet. It is supposedto be available from theMultimedia slot machinecompany but I have notseen or confirmed it yet.When I do I will pass theinfo along. As a note, wehave not had a major touchscreen failure yet, whenthere is a minor issue,simply reseat the USBtouch screen controllerconnection.

- Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat Porath - Pat [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]


Slot Tech Suppliers (Stuff We Need)!



When I started as a slottechnician (over twelveyears ago) one of my first

tasks was to clean the slotmachines on the casino floor. Ihad no idea how to do it, not tomention all of the details thatwent into the process. Butthanks to my fellow techs, thelearning process was a no-brainier.

We had a schedule and eachtechnician in the slot repairdepartment was assigned areasor banks to clean. Having aschedule made it easier for eachtechnician, no double cleaning ofthe same machine. The casino Iworked at had one thousandmachines. There were twelveslot technicians in thedepartment total, four on each ofthe three shifts. That works outto about eighty-four slotmachines per technician. Ofcourse, we had all year tocomplete the preventivemaintenance cleanings andonce finished, we started theprocess all over again. We triedto clean about five machines ona shift but because of the guestlevels on Fridays, Saturdays andholidays, we chose not to cleanon those days.

My first thoughts of performingpreventive maintenance on aslot machine just meantcleaning the glass, wiping downthe inside, top and sides of theslot machine and checking forburned-out light bulbs. That wasit and it was a good start but itwas only a small fraction of whatpreventive maintenance reallywas. Fast forward to present day,preventive maintenance nowrequires more steps and moretime to get the job done right.The end result is a slot machinethat is clean and works properlyand minimizes any guestcomplaints.

Preventive Maintenance For a NewGeneration of Slot Machines

Before you can dig right in andstart cleaning, you need to makesure you have all the equipment.First on the list is a PreventiveMaintenance cart. The moreequipment, parts and chemicalsavailable on the cart, the fasterand easier preventivemaintenance procedures are.The PM cart can be a simple fourwheel cart or it can be a glorifiedcart on steroids with small binsfor all the needed light bulbs andother parts. The top shelf of thecart is the best place for all thechemicals and towels needed. Anair compressor and a vacuumare the two most used items. Iknow what you’re thinking, anair compressor? With the price ofcanned air and using it forpreventive maintenance on aregular schedule, canned airdoes get expensive. A small lightweight air compressor has betterair power for cleaning anddepending on the model, can bevery quiet to operate. We havefound the Tomas model T-617HDN available from Grainger isthe best air compressor for thistask (Grainger part number

5Z683). This air compressor issmall, lightweight and is veryquiet, so it will not disturbplaying guests. It has a tank, sothe motor will not runcontinuously. It draws less thantwo amps when operating, whichmeans this air compressor canbe plugged into the service outletof the slot machine and will notblow the slot machine’s powerfuse. Plugging the aircompressor in to the serviceoutlet saves time and the hassleof not having to plug it into anoutlet inside of the slot machinebase. The vacuum is the also animportant preventivemaintenance tool. One of therequirements for using avacuum on the casino floor is tobe sure the vacuum has a HEPAfilter. This will keep dirt anddust that has been vacuumed upfrom going in to the air andcausing problems and allergieswith casino guests. Glasscleaner, specifically the GlassCleaner from Suzo-Happ worksthe best for cleaning the glassand the metal insides andoutsides of the slot machines.

By Vic Fortenbach


For stubborn sticky dirt, ScotsCitrus cleaner works great.Scots citrus cleaner is powerfulstuff, sometimes it can do moredamage and good, so you have tobe careful where you use it.Some places where you shouldnot use this citrus cleaner is onreel strips, since it will removethe silk screened painted detailson the strip. The Glass Cleaner Imentioned previously cleans upreel strips nicely. But to be surereel strips will not be damaged,dampen a towel with the glasscleaner and clean a small area ofthe reel strip to be sure no paintis removed.

Once you have all the basicitems on the PM cart, you willneed to get some specific parts.It helps to survey the bank of slotmachines you are going to clean,taking note of the items that willneed replacing including lightbulbs. The manufacturer ofmachine usually indicates whatadditional parts you will need. Inthe case of a bank WMS bluebirdmachines, you are likely to needone spare bill acceptor andprinter as well as some F15T8florescent lamps. Depending onthe player panel type installed inthe machines, a spare OLEDpanel or some #86 lamps toreplace burned-out bulbs on thebutton panel will be needed.

Before you start cleaning,placing the machines out ofservice prevents guests fromgetting upset and makes your jobeasier. You can even go as far asto barricade the area you’regoing to work on to prevent nosyguests from getting in your way.

The best place to startperforming preventivemaintenance on a slot machineis the top. Push the servicebutton. Does the upper level ofthe candle light illuminate? If itdoesn’t, it needs to be replaced.In the case of an Aristocrat MK6machine, a candle light that willnot light might not be the lightbulb but rather the drivercircuity on the I/O board. Ithelps to have some paper to noteitems that require moretroubleshooting later. You do notwant to spend a lot of time tryingto get a light bulb to light. Note itand move on to the nextmachine and come back to itlater. The bottom level of thecandle should light when youopen the main door.

Next, remove the top glass andcheck the light bulbs, are they

lit? Vacuum the inside of the topbox. There is normally nothingthat requires the use of the aircompressor in the top box area.Wipe down the inside of the topbox. If there are any fans, cleanand check them to be sure thefan is moving air. If the fan isfrozen and not rotating, it needsreplacement. If there is a topmonitor, check the powerconnections to be sure noburning has occurred.

The next area to work on is thecenter section or main body areaof the slot machine. If themachine you are working on hasreels, before you remove them,check to see that each reelmechanism is numbered. If not,use a sharpie or create somelabels and mark each reelassembly in a left to rightnumeric order, 1,2,3,4,5. Thiswill simplify the correct order ofthe reels when you replacethem. Mixing the order of thereel mechanisms is not a goodthing. The reels will still turn,but may cause false jackpotsand/or other confusion. Powerdown the machine and removeeach reel to clean the reel opticswith a short burst of compressedair. Also, clean inside this areaof the cabinet. Sometimes thereis a fan behind the reels. Makesure that fan is moving air. Ifthere is a monitor instead ofreels, disconnect the cables andremove it, clean inside thecabinet and inspect this area.On the WMS bluebird machinesthere is a secondary 24volt powersupply mounted on the back wall.It may not look like a powersupply but it is and it has a fan.When this fan seizes up, it

increases the heat inside andwill cause the power supply tofail. You can tell if the fan isworking by placing your handover the power supplies grill andfeeling for some kind of airmovement.

Some monitors, especially theIGT G20 cabinet multilayerdisplay, has fans on the monitorassembly. Eight fans to be exact.Four of the fans are visible; theother four are inside the monitorassembly. If all of these fans arenot moving air, the monitor willheat up and black out. Overtime, if the fans are notreplaced, the monitor will fail,replacing two or three five-dollarfans every year beats buying a$1900.00 MLD monitor.Replacement fans are availablefrom Suzo-Happ. The sameapplies to the IGT G23 cabinetmonitors but they have only fourfans.

The bill acceptor is next item tobe cleaned and inspected.Remove and open the billacceptor and clean inside the billpath. Dampen a towel with GlassCleaner to clean the bill path.The Suzo-Happ Glass Cleanerworks great for this task since itdoes not contain any alcohol thatcould damage the rubber belts orfog the sensor lenses inside thebill acceptor. If you are workingon a JCM UBA, check the beltsfor wear and cracks. If a MEICashflow or SC advanced billacceptor is installed in themachine, check the front rollerand inspect the rear foam rollersfor wear. Re-install the billacceptor. It should cycle properlyand reset after it has been

replaced.

One area that often getsoverlooked is the bill acceptorstacker door. Make sure thisdoor lock is tight. A loose doorwill cause intermittent door openerrors, stopping the guest play.

The printer is the next point ofcleaning and inspection. Paperfibers accumulate on all of theprinter optic sensors. The opticsensors are cleaned by usingshort bursts of air from the aircompressor. Pay attention to thesnout area of the printer. A dirtyor blocked senor will cause the“please remove voucher” errormessages. On the Epic 950series of printers, the snoutsensor is particularly hard toclean as it requires severalbursts of air to get it clean. Printa test ticket to be sure the ticketis readable and the bar code isnot too light or dark in certainplaces. Obviously, if the barcodeis not readable, chances are theticket will be rejected when it’sredeemed at a machine or at thecage.

The logic board area is anotherplace that requires additionalattention. Like the MLD monitor,inside the logic assembly arefans. Each logic assembly isdifferent from manufacturer tomanufacturer but there aresome similarities. Most logicassemblies have a CPU fan. Thislittle fan is critical to keepingthe slot machine running. Thistype of fan has a built intachometer to relay fan speedback to the logic. If this fan isturning too slow or not at all, youmay see a “board monitor tilt” or“cabinet fans locked” messageson the slot machine’s screen. Inaddition to the small CPU fan,there is also logic box fan. Thislarger fan keeps the air movinginside the logic box and keepsthe rest of the logic board cool.The logic board fan usually doesnot have a tachometer, so whenthis fan seizes up and stopsturning, there is no errormessage. The result from thisfan not turning includes failureof the video card if it’s a WMSbluebird machine and if themachine has one, the harddrive. On WMS machines onetelltale sign the video card hasfailed due to heat is the constantpulsing at half second intervalsof the CPU fan and the LEDindicators inside the logic box onthe logic board.

Older IGT AVP machines have afan on the removable video card.

This fan does not have atachometer and when it falls,rebooting of the machine andsometimes failure of the videocard is the result. The aircompressor comes in handy forcleaning the fans inside thelogic box. IGT machines alsohave a filter. In the olderTrimline series machines, thefilter is located on the bottom ofthe brain box and can be slid outto clean. The IGT G20 bar topmachines also have a filter. IGTrecommends checking andcleaning these filters every 90days. We modified our PMschedule to include therecommended 90 day cleaning ofall our IGT machines withfilters. Depending on how manymachines the casino has, thisextra filter cleaning can becompleted on one shift, in just afew hours.

The player tracking assembly isanother area that requiresadditional attention. Dependingon the player trackingconfiguration, the keypadpushbuttons and/or thetouchscreen need to be tested forproper operation and re-calibrated if required. Insert atest card into the card reader.The card should be correctly readon the first try. If it is not,replacement is in order. Most ofthe time using a “card readercleaning card” will not fix a cardreader that is not reading cards.The optic sensors inside the cardreader are blocked with dirt andlint preventing the reader fromproperly reading the card. Themagnet head that actually readsthe card does fail but it’s thedirty optic sensors that causethe problems. The magnet head

is wiped clean every time a newplayer card is inserted. In fact,we do not even purchase anytype of card reader cleaning card,it’s just not needed. The cleanercards do nothing to clean theoptic sensors. Its easier to justreplace the card reader with thesymptoms of not reading the cardthan to disassemble and attemptcleaning it while on the casinofloor. The player tracking display,whether it is a VFD or a LCDscreen should be readable withno stray graphics visible.

Inside the bottom of the machineis where a majority of the “dirt”accumulates, use a vacuum withan edge tool to get into the areasdeep inside the machine andvacuum it out. Modern machinesdon’t have a coin tray, but thosethat do find it’s a great collectorof trash. This area should bewiped down and cleaned out. Thebelly door area of the slotmachine usually has noconcerns other than the lightbulb working properly. The lastplace that needs cleaning is theslot machine base. This is whereall the drink spills end up. Overtime these sticky drinks cancause problems with playertracking wiring and power to theslot machine if not cleaned up.

Performing preventivemaintenance does not have to bea chore, it can be very rewardingto see a clean and properlyoperation slot machine after ithas been PMed.

- Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic Fortenbach - Vic [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

“OK. You asked and I listened. My new tech class eliminates obsolete CRTmonitor repair and the associated monitor repair lab. In just four or five days,your slot techs can learn to repair Power Supplies, LCD Monitors, TicketPrinters, Bill Validators and more. It’s easy and it’s fun.“- Randy Fromm

“I can help you bring down thecost of casino electronics repairs”

tel.619.838.7111 fax.619.315.0410

Randy Fromm

slot tech magazine editorialslot-tech.com/members/magazine/lores/may15.pdf · slot tech magazine...

Documents