Lockout Coils

[Rocky]

I've been looking at a Williams Coin Door and discovered it has lockout coils on each mech.

I guess they were designed to stop or "lock out" coins from dropping through the coin mechs. It seems like they work backwards to me.  When given low voltage, the magnetic field in the coil sucks the metal tab away from the coin mech allowing the coins to drop through normally. When not activated, the metal tab still doesn't stop a coin from dropping through.

Does anyone know how these things work?  What voltage do they take? (I've tried 12v and 6V)  If I wire them up to a JAMMA harness, do I just wire them to the lockout pin and ground?  Did many games use these things?

TIA,

Rocky

[Ken Layton]

If you have the Williams "silver" coin door as used on most Defender video games and many of their pinball machines during that era, then the lockout coils operated on 24 to 28 volts DC from the game power supply board. If you have the black COINCO coin door it may have also been outfitted with 24 volt dc lockout coils.

Lockout coils were put on pinball machines mostly starting in the early 1960's. The coils would move a linkage to reject coins when either of two things happened. One being that if the machine was turned off or it had a blown fuse for the 24 volt coils. The other being that some wise-ass kids of the day figured out that if they put coins in at the right time while the score motor was running (like during the scoring of some multiple points targets on the playfield) they could get extra FREE credits from that coin.

Over the years lockout coils have been made in several voltages: 6vdc, 12vdc, 24vdc, 24vac, 48vdc, 48vac, and 120vac. JAMMA standard lockout wiring is 5vdc (6vdc coils will work fine from 5vdc) only.

[Rocky]

Ken, thanks for the info.

I have a Williams black Coinco door.  It is in a Moon Patrol cabinet.

I have learned a few more things by checking around the internet.  Although, there is very little information on lockout coils.

Mine are missing the spring that activates the lockout. That's why I couldn't figure out how they work.  I checked Happ Controls and looked at their picture and saw the spring.

When power is off, the spring allows the metal tab to swing into the coin mech opening and it sends all coins to the coin return.

When the power is on, the coil creates a magnetic field and pulls the tab away from the coin mech and allows it to process coins normally.

Kind of a neat feature. When the machine is off, no one can lose a quarter  

Now I just have to figure out what voltage it is rated for. The only identifying mark on it (besides "May 1982") is 904218 (presumably the part number). This doesn't match any of the part numbers at Happs.  Anyone know about this? Anyone have a Moon Patrol Manual that has this information?

[Ken Layton]

It's probably 24vdc since it's on a Williams cabinet. I bet the spring was taken off the coil armature plate because the 24 volts from the power supply was not working or the cabinet now has a switching power supply in it (which doesn't have a 24 vdc output) replacing the original Williams supply.

BTW, you have a Coinco model 2802 coin door for game applications. Get the schematics for Moon Patrol and follow the coin lockout wiring back to the power supply. I'm betting you have 24 volt dc coils.

[Rocky]

Ken,

You're on the money on this one.

I got the Moon Patrol scematics and checked.  The coils were powered with 27VDC.   And yes, the current setup has a switching power supply which won't power them properly.

I'm thinking of using a computer power supply and hooking +12v and -12v  to get 24V running to them.

Thanks,

Rocky

[StephenH]

24VDC transformers are pretty common these days.  You may be able to pick one up at radio shack, or other electronics stores.

[Rocky]

I'm wondering how specific that voltage needs to be. I'm confident it will work on 24v.  What would you think about 17v?  I could run wires from  12v and -5v (instead of ground).  I think it will work, but will it get hot? will it die quickly?  anyone know?

I'll check around for 24v transformers.


Rocky

[Ken Layton]

Go to Radio Shaft and get one # 273-1366 or 273-1512 transformer and one # 276-1173 bridge rectifier to power your lockout coils. It's what I did on several Defender cabinets a few years ago.