Editorial Page 3-Editorial Page 4-Quick & Simple Repairs #120 Page 5-Invitation to Attend TechFest 32 Page 10-Slot Tech Training at Pompano Park Page 11-Slot Tech Training in Trinidad Page 12-SMPS Dear Friends of, James Borg is back! Longtime readers of Slot Tech Magazine will remember our Maltese correspondent James Borg for his often hilarious descriptions of daily life working as a slot tech at a casino on the island nation of Malta. After taking a break to work on other projects, James is back in the saddle again, working as a slot tech at the Dragonara Casino. His latest contribution is way too long to print completely in this issue. You can find SMPS-part one starting on page 12. Welcome back, James. I sure missed you. Back to celebrate 10 continuous years worth of contributions to, Pat Porath presents Quick & Simple Repairs #120! One of these days, I ll have to add up all of the words he s written on the subject of slot machine repair. It has to be around 100,000 words by now, likely more. This month, Mr. Porath presents a variety of interesting repairs on Aristocrat, Bally, WMS and more. Just a reminder that TechFest 32 is in May at Mystic Lake Casino. It s a great program, lunch is included and the food is awesome. Everyone is welcome to attend. We ll have a hands-on soldering lab presented by our friends at HAKKO, including an after-hours beer bar where we get to mix ice-cold alcohol and melty-hot soldering irons. This was one of the two most popular sessions at last year s event. The other was the Ceronix hands-on repair lab for LCD monitors. The Ceronix lab returns as well to TechFest 32. See the website for enrollment form and schedule. See you at the casino. Publisher- Randy Fromm Randy Fromm's Editor Randy Fromm Technical Writers Tom Baker, James Borg, Nathan Galloway, Chuck Lentine, Pat Porath is published monthly by 401 W. Lexington #777 El Cajon, CA 92022 tel.619.838.7111 fax.619.315.0410 e-mail editor@slot-techs.com Visit the website at slot-techs.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Domestic (North America) 1 year - $80.00 2 years - $140.00 International 1 year - $160.00 2 years - $300.00 Subscribe online at slot-techs.com Copyright 2016 under the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights reserved. Registration now open for TechFest 32 May 24-26, 2016 Mystic Lake Casino See website at slottechs.com for details and registration form.
Slot Tech Feature Article Quick & Simple Repairs #120 By Pat Porath Aristocrat SETEC Power Supply After replacing a bunch of caps and testing some diodes on an Aristocrat SETEC model MK5PFC power supply, I thought I would look online to see if there was any info on repairing these units. Sure enough there was. From what I read, a common failure is the large, primary filter capacitor. It s a 470uf 450v electrolytic capacitor. Since we had some in stock, I replaced it. A co-worker asked if I tested it with our beautiful Sencore LC103 which I did not, but should have. It was definitely bad. After figuring out how to reassemble the power supply (LOL) I wasn t sure how to test it on the bench. On the remote switch 4-pin connector, the two inner pins need jumped to each other, along with the two outer pins. (Two green jumper Page 4 wires at remote socket...as pictured.) Then the unit would power ON at the bench so basic voltages may be tested. Even it a power supply tests perfectly fine on the bench, it is still tested in a game on the floor just to make sure it does work under a load BEFORE putting it on the good spare parts shelf. Editor s note: The LC103 Mr. Porath mentioned is, among other things, an ESR meter. It measures a capacitor s Equivalent Series Resistance. You must have an ESR meter of some type if you are to be successful repairing things like power supplies and monitors. ESR, more than any other measurement, is an indication of the capacitor s health. It s not at all about microfarads. It s all about ESR. These jumpers bypass the AC interlock switch so you can power the unit on the workbench for testing purposes. Sencore LC103 April 2016
Invitation to Attend TechFest 32 Attention Slot Techs and Slot Managers! TechFest returns to Mystic Lake Casino Hotel May 24-26, 2016 Schedule of Events Events subject to change For complete details & enrollment form, visit the website at slot-techs.com Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Thursday, May 26, 2016 9:00 am - 12:00pm Electronic Components and Component Testing Presented by Randy Fromm Electronics repair is actually pretty easy, once you know how to test the components. It often doesn't matter if you know anything at all about how something actually works in order to fix it. You just look for bad parts and replace them. This seminar covers all of the discrete components commonly found in electronic gaming machines. We'll look at how they work, how they fail, and how to test them as accurately, inexpensively and safely as possible. Each attendee receives a digital multimeter and sample components, theirs to keep following Tech- Fest. 1:15pm - 3:15pm JCM Bill Validators JCM is a huge player in the gaming industry. This session covers UBA troubleshooting and configuration as well as ivizion. This presentation will be given by JCM's Dan Petersen. 3:30pm - 5:30pm FutureLogic Troubleshooting FutureLogic printers have been a mainstay of the industry since TITO was born. They are easy to configure and to troubleshoot. This seminar will be presented by Dan Petersen. 9:00 am - 12:00pm LCD Monitor Repair Presented by Randy Fromm LCD monitor repair is easy. This is the first of two presentations on LCD monitor repair at TechFest. During this seminar, we will cover the theory of operation of LCD monitors and you'll see just how simple they really are. We will also cover circuit analysis of the electronics with an emphasis on what fails and how it can be repaired in any casino's tech shop. 1:15pm - 3:15pm MEI Bill Validators Now a part of Crane Payments, Inc. (CPI) MEI is the other bill validator. This seminar will present configuration and troubleshooting issues for MEI s CashFlow SC66 unit. 3:30pm - 8:00pm Component Removal and Replacement Presented by HAKKO Soldering skills are the most important skills a technician can posess. It doesn't do any good to be able to diagnose a failed component if you can't remove it and replace it properly and it's no good trying to work on modern, surface-mount components without the proper equipment. This exciting new seminar will present the latest in soldering techniques and rework equipment. A special "Hands-On After Hours" session will allow extended time for everyone to try out the gear themselves. 9:00 am - 12:00pm Ceronix LCD Monitor Repair Presented by Ceronix Although it can be argued that all LCD monitors are more-or-less the same, it's nice to get the inside track on specific monitors from the manufacturers themselves. This is a "hands-on" session where everyone will have the opportunity to teardown and rebuild an LCD panel as well as troubleshooting actual failures on LCD monitors in a "power-on" lab where you will actually make repairs. This is the most fun thing we do at TechFest. 1:15pm - 3:15pm Transact Technologies Ticket Printers Transact Technologies presents servicing and troubleshooting Transact brand, thermal ticket printers. These units are simple to understand and troubleshoot, once you know how they're put together. We have covered these printers extensively in. This is your chance to ask questions of the expert. tel.619.838.7111. TechFest@slot-techs.com April 2016 Page 5
Bally Curve SevenSegment Display Disconnected I ran across a Bally Curve that had a SevenSegment display disconnected error on it. Both connections to it looked OK, the power and the USB. I even reseated the USB connection on the brain box. Nothing looked out of the ordinary or unusual yet. A cabinet reboot then a main power cycle didn t help either; the error still remained. Next, I checked out the USB cable FROM the display TO the brain box. Maybe it got pinched somewhere and had failed? No luck there, it looked fine. Instead of replacing the display, why not try reseating the brain box (of course with main power OFF). After it was reseated and the game booted up all the way, the SevenSegment display error cleared. I ve run into unusual errors before with some Bally games where reseating the brain box fixed it. Aristocrat Helix Bill Acceptor Wasn t Working Twenty new Helix games were recently installed and I was the guy to test the last six games to make sure everything worked as it should. All went well with the exception of two of the games. One had an incorrect bill acceptor software setting, IDO 003 not USB. The other game acted in the same way. No errors Page 6 appeared on the screen along with a red colored bill acceptor bezel (Red indicates the bill acceptor will not take a bill, green means it will). Software settings were checked on this game too, along with swapping the whole bill acceptor itself and putting the original cash box back in (instead of the test box). Even the CRC was cleared. Nothing worked. There had to be a failure somewhere within the game. I called for assistance. They pretty much did what I did, with the exception of checking a bunch of connections to make sure they were snug. I was told the problem appeared to be a communication board or the bill acceptor cable was bad. Going along with the bill acceptor wire harness theory, I took a closer look. Sure enough, it had a severe pinch where damage may have happened. Once the protective sleeve was opened up on the harness, a broken wire appeared. Finally, a logical explanation as to why the bill acceptor wouldn t work properly on a new game. My next question was did anything fry when the wire got pinched? Was the power ON or OFF, will it work properly after the wire connection is repaired? Sure enough, after repair, the bill acceptor worked perfectly. It reminded me of a WMS game years back. A brand new game that had had a power failure. After hours of troubleshooting and swapping parts around, we found a wire within a Molex connector that wasn t in all the way at the main power supply. Once the wire was pushed all the way into the connector like it was supposed to be, the game worked fine. April 2016
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WMS XD No Signal on Main Screen I noticed this game was OFF upon arrival for my shift, but I had an Ainsworth game down that I was working on. That game was blowing the main power supply fuse, even with all outputs disconnected from it. After the power supply was replaced, it was fine. Back to the WMS game a co-worker had replaced the small square video card in the main CPU which didn t help. The cooling fan didn t even spin when power was applied, along with no signal still showing on the screen. Just to make sure, I installed another video card which acted the same way. Now what? A replacement CPU board was put into the game this time. Right away during boot up, text appeared on the screen indicating a failure somewhere within the original CPU. So, after a RAM clear and setting game options the game was back on line. In my opinion it was kind of weird, both video cards didn t work, neither did the video card reset button located in the main CPU box. Bally Curve Secondary Touch Screen Device Error This was a very simple repair. A slot attendant said the game had a touch screen error so I told him to do a cabinet reboot on it because I was working on a different game. Once the Page 8 other game was repaired, I did a main reboot which didn t help either. It was time to check connections. Sure enough, at the brain box, the touch screen cable was totally disconnected. It was plugged back into its socket AND the cable screws were snugged up so the cable would not come loose again. IGT Ellen Game Not Accepting Tickets Once in a while, some of the games won t accept tickets. This particular game had an error unable to redeem (ticket) at this time. First of all the Sentinel was rebooted, then the game. After that, the Sentinel was taken off line then put back online. You take the game off of the system, then enter proper information to put it back online, such as slot mast identification. Unfortunately it still would not accept a ticket. Finally what did the trick was RAM clearing the Sentinel with a USB thumb drive. An alternative way is to take the cover off of the Sentinel, remove the battery for about 15 seconds then put it back in (with power OFF). Once the mac address was entered in, the slot mast identification (along with other global card options) the game finally accepted a ticket. I think from now on I may just RAM clear the Sentinel right away instead of waiting for it to boot up a few times. - Pporath@slot-techs.com April 2016
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Slot Tech Event Slot Tech Training at Isle Pompano Park This is Hubert. You d like Hubert if you ever met him. Above: We held class in the really outstanding shop at Pompano Park. It s well-lit with lots of bench space and room for storage. This is our hands-on construction lab in progress. Best class photo ever! This was a great group of guys to train with. Some of us shared a Rock and Roll background as well (I was a soundman and a roadie at one time in my youth). Page 10 April 2016
Slot Tech Event And on to Trinidad Attending the class were Chris Ramnarine, Valentine Laurie, Marlon Moore, Kerry Balram, Augustine Caesar, Christopher Ranjitsingh, Vemal Maharaj, Adrian De Freitas, Dax Christopher Grant, Anwaz Ally, Andy Williamson, Kevin Gangan, Ishmael O. Garro,Samuel Simon, Keron Jolly and Balakrishnan Basdeo. More than a dozen slot techs from Trinidad and Tobago attended a four-day class in the city of San Fernando. This class covered component-level repair of power supplies and LCD monitors. The class was sponsored by Amera, local distributor of Pyramid brand bill acceptors. April 2016 Page 11
Slot Tech Feature Article SMPSBy James Borg Slot machines evolved a great deal over the last few years. From their original mechanical counterparts, today s machines have become a cabinet literally packed to the rim with electronics. The displays have been greatly improved upon with higher resolutions and most of today s displays have a touchscreen incorporated. Where before, a slot machine s lighting used to consist of a few flickering bulbs, this has become very complex and uses logic circuits to achieve an almost hypnotic effect. The same can be said regarding the audio circuits. These have become so fine, a machine basically knows what you re thinking, and can nearly talk back to you. On top of that, the buttons have become dynamic and change what s displayed on them according to how you re playing. A slot machine has just about become a living entity. Electronics has surely come a long way and has become smaller, better and more efficient. However, one particular component which hasn t become much smaller over the passage of time than it originally was, is the power supply unit. It has remained bulky, at times noisy, problematic, emits some undesired heat and, occasionally, even a level of interference. A good friend and work colleague, Roger, recently asked me about power supplies (precisely, about switched-mode power supplies) and how they work. It was a very good question and, since we have so many different types at our casino (the Dragonara Casino) such a question was bound to surface at one point or another. The only problem I had was that there is literally so much to say, I didn t really know where to start. With a little thought behind such a simple question, which demanded a complex answer, I decided to sit in darkness for a while, get tuned in to this wonderfully fascinating subject, and wait for words, explanations and images to flow from beyond. A Slot Machine s Complex Electronics Page 12 Dynamic buttons change what s displayed on them. April 2016
A typical Switched-Mode Power Supply I also get asked questions like: Why is a switchedmode power supply used? What exactly is a switchedmode power supply? How can you, at a glance, or a feel, distinguish them from conventional (also known as linear power supply) units? To understand how Michael Faraday switched-mode power supplies work and why they have become so popular, one has to dig deep into history itself and mention some very special people along the way. One genius (for I can only call him by such a title, bow in great respect and raise my hat to him) was a certain Mr. Michael Faraday, an English scientist, born in 1791. He contributed significantly to the almost magical phenomenon of the wonderful field of electromagnetism, which is the first stepping-stone leading to today s switchedmode power supplies, also referred to as SMPS. Granted, for the layman, power supplies light up a strip of LEDs, energize electronic equipment or perhaps charge up a mobile phone. Each of these devices actually does work with a April 2016 Page 13
power supply but there are specialized units designed to cater for different applications and types of equipment. For starters, we ll have to go to the very basics, namely with Faraday s law of induction. This states that when a magnetic field interacts with an electric circuit, it produces an electromotive force, also known as EMF, a phenomenon called electromagnetic induction. In simpler terms, what all of this boils down to is that when a magnetic field interacts with a conductor, an electric current is generated through the conductor. This also holds true the other way round, where a magnetic field is generated when an electric current flows through a conductor. The diagram shows Faraday s iron ring, or torus. When the battery circuit is made after the switch is activated, an electric current flows through the conductor. The conductor can be a length of copper wire, which in this experiment has been coiled round the torus. As current flows through this wire, it builds a magnetic field around it. The diagram shows Faraday s iron ring, or torus. be measured by means of a galvanometer or a sensitive ammeter. A galvanometer is an analogue device. It produces a rotary deflection of a pointer in response to how much electric current is flowing through its coil, which is itself in a magnetic field. Since we re dealing with alternating current, the magnetic lines of force and the direction of the current will both change direction at every cycle, determined by the frequency of operation. In the case of Malta s mains, it s 50Hz, and 60Hz in The States. This means that the direction of the lines of force and the current change direction fifty or sixty times per second. This is an important point to remember, as the frequency plays an important role in the case of SMPS. What Michael Faraday did was practically invent the first transformer, which has literally transformed electronics from the dark ages, to modern times. Somewhat on a similar par to the invention of the transistor which put the valve (vacuum tube)out to pasture. The last statement isn t entirely true, as valves are still used today, mainly where mega high power is needed, such as radio or TV transmitters. You also have a vacuum tube known as a magnetron in your microwave oven. Continued-Part 2 next month. James Borg jborg@slot-techs.com The magnetic field, which consists of magnetic flux, or magnetic lines of force, is invisible to the naked eye. This magnetic field flows through the iron ring, its lines of force interact with the conductor on the other side of the ring, and a current is generated through it as shown in the illustration below, which can
I can help you bring down the cost of casino electronics repairs Randy Fromm OK. You asked and I listened. My new tech class eliminates obsolete CRT monitor repair and the associated monitor repair lab. In just four or five days, your slot techs can learn to repair Power Supplies, LCD Monitors, Ticket Printers, Bill Validators and more. It s easy and it s fun. - Randy Fromm tel.619.838.7111 fax.619.315.0410