coin door wiring

[pmc]

I've been having trouble, but have been able to fake around it for a while with temporary wiring and leaving the coin door open so I have access to it. Now I really want to solve this but am stuck....

I have a two-coin-slot Williams style door and an IPAC. Each mech has a switch with three contacts. The rear contacts on the coin switches are commons, so I wired them together and then ran them to one of the IPAC grounds.

Now I previously had COIN1 and COIN2 buttons on my CP right next to START1 and START2. So I wired a short lead from the IPAC COIN1 terminal and connected it together on a female spade connector to the "NO" contact on one coin door switch. I then ran the CP COIN1 button to the male spade connector. This way I can disconnect the CP buttons but leave the coin door switches active by simply pulling the spade connectors apart.

Of course I did the same thing for the second mech and COIN2.

The problem? When the coin door "NO" is simultaneously connected to the COIN1 button, the button does not work. Disconnect the door, and the button works. Reconnect the door, and the button ceases to work. This is the case with both COIN1 and COIN2. Why?

I've also noticed that sometimes the coin switches act a little flaky. They commonly ignore a coin, but if I flip the switch manually, it registers. Sometimes they count 2 or more coins. (Robotron likes to see 4-coins for each one inserted). Seems like some games act differently than others.

Any ideas how to remedy this? A better way to wire?

TIA.

[Witchboard]

Check out this FAQ.  There's a whole section on coin doors.  Hope it helps.

[Brad Lee]

About registering multiple or no coins, that sounds like a bad bend on the coin switch. Dropping a coin might not be tripping the wire enough for it to register, or its holding it open too long(for 2x or more "coins")

When youve got both connected, does the wire go from Ipac->coin1->other coin1? Try pushing both at once, see if that works ...

Stuff 2 wires into the Ipac terminal, and run one to each of the coin1's, that SHOULD fix ya up

[alphasqorner]

I'm sure you may know of this, but i'll double check anyway....

The micro switches used on the coin doors have their NO and NC prongs switched as compared to a regular pushbutton microswitch.  So, what is NO on a pushbutton microswitch is NC on an old coin door microswitch.  

[pmc]

Check out this FAQ.  There's a whole section on coin doors.  Hope it helps.

Most of it didn't. But then I hit this gem:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=325

It's possible that I've got NC and NO mixed up but I swear that I checked it few times. Then again, I recall COIN1 working well when wired backwards. I left it that way for a while but recently corrected it while re-wiring permanent-like.

I also think that the coin is passing by too fast to register correctly because I can trip it with a finger press easily.

I'll try both angles....

Thanks...

[pmc]

About registering multiple or no coins, that sounds like a bad bend on the coin switch. Dropping a coin might not be tripping the wire enough for it to register, or its holding it open too long(for 2x or more "coins")

Yeah. I'm going to try that. I bet you are right.

When youve got both connected, does the wire go from Ipac->coin1->other coin1? Try pushing both at once, see if that works ...

It's a three way thing:

IPAC -> junction <- COIN1 button
                 ^
                 |
            COIN1 (door)

Interestingly, the door always works. It's just that the button does not work if the door is connected, but it does work if the door is not connected. I'm left to choose which of the two I want to work because I can't get them both working at the same time. This is true for COIN2 as well so it's likely to be a the same problem there too.

Stuff 2 wires into the Ipac terminal, and run one to each of the coin1's, that SHOULD fix ya up

I'll test that to troubleshoot, but electrically, I'm already doing that. Thanks for the leads. This has me really frustrated....

[pmc]

OK. most of the problem was obvious and I'm a little embarrased. Both doors were on "NC" and not "NO". It's a ---smurfette--- trying to read those little embossed letters. They couldn't make 'em smaller if they tried!

I now have both coin slots working and the COIN2 button. COIN1 does not work and I don't know why (it's wired correctly and works when the door switch does not share the IPAC input).

I'll test for the multiple-coin-drop thing varying by game and bend the trip wire to tune it.

I'm 75% of the way there anyway....

[Brad Lee]

Maybe dumb, but did you try a different physical button for coin1?

I hate intermittent crap like this

[alphasqorner]

OK. most of the problem was obvious and I'm a little embarrased. Both doors were on "NC" and not "NO". It's a <auto-censored> trying to read those little embossed letters. They couldn't make 'em smaller if they tried!

Hehe, told ya.  I had this problem initially also and when I found out about the old NC/NO switcharoo, I came home with some spackle for the hole in the wall and a big bag of ice for my head  

[pmc]

OK. most of the problem was obvious and I'm a little embarrased. Both doors were on "NC" and not "NO". It's a <auto-censored> trying to read those little embossed letters. They couldn't make 'em smaller if they tried!

Hehe, told ya.  I had this problem initially also and when I found out about the old NC/NO switcharoo, I came home with some spackle for the hole in the wall and a big bag of ice for my head  

Oh, its gets better! The reason that that COIN1 button didn't work after I switched NC/NO was a highly complex technical issue: the freaking wire was diconnected! Yeeesh. I suck. I must have disconnected it during testing and then didn't realize it was still disconnected. It helps to actually connect the component you're trying to troubleshoot.

So I didn't smash anything in frustration, but I'm pretty embarrased. The intermittent component turns out to be me!

It's nice to be able to play ePSXe and not have to put a coin in the door to hit the SELECT or START button.  

Thanks for all the help. I hope this thread helps someone else out. Now I'm on to the bulbs...