Any way to make the coin counter advance?

[paigeoliver]

I am about to wire up my coin door, and I was wondering if there was anyway to make the coin counter advance when you dropped in quarters.

I KNOW I could do it by making the quarter trigger two switches (one wired up to the ipac, and the other wired up to feed 12V to the counter). But is there any other way? The coin door doesn't really have a way to add a second switch easily.

No big deal if there is not an easy way to do it, but if there was I thought I would go ahead and set it up.

[grafixmonkey]

How does the coin counter work?  because if all you need to do is feed it some 12v current and it counts one, then you can do it with a transistor or a relay.

if you have to be careful of the timing, then what I'm thinking might not work (like if you have to feed it 12v for exactly 1/8 second or something)

[paigeoliver]

They only advance one number at a time, the power moves a magnet (or something) into position (which advances it), when the power is removed the thingy drops back down. So it isn't precise timing or anything.

[AlanS17]

I think it's as simple as appling a current and having it just tick up a notch. If it's part of the JAMMA standard then I bet it would work automatically with a JPAC (assuming). Otherwise I think a relay would work just fine. The counter in mine has gone up so far, though, that it's probably ready to cycle back around to 0. I never checked it when I had my JPAC installed so I can't tell you if it was working, The thought crossed my mind, but I never got around to it.

[paigeoliver]

I don't think the j-pac supports it. It is ultimately the PCB that feeds the power to the counter in most games, and J-Pac doesn't even use a power supply, hence no power to feed the counter.

Also, my cabinet isn't Jamma anyway. Jamma wasn't even a gleam in the developers eyes back when this cabinet was built. Heck, color games weren't even around back then. This baby was built in 1976 and was wired for the Midway 8080 standard. I have since rewired it (I-Pac).

[AlanS17]

I thought the counter was run through the JAMMA harness. If it's run through the PCB then I'm way off base and nothing I said is right.

[paigeoliver]

Oh, it does go through the Jamma harness, but the power it gets comes off the PCB.

Power supply feeds PCB power, game gets coin, game board pulses power over the coin counter line, coin counter advances.

Some older games had different setups, including power supplies that did the coin advance on their own, while others had dedicated coin processor boards (Taito games).

[AlanS17]

Well the JPac does get power for the PS2 or USB port, but I don't know what voltage it requires to advance the counter. That would be the deciding factor, I suppose. Plus it would still be dependant on the PCB supplying a pulse to advance. I was thinking about that. I don't even think MAME outputs the proper signal and I'm just as certain that a JPac wouldn't incorporate it.

That really leaves the only option to be a relay. That should be simple enough. At least I would hope so.

[Xphile]

better check your counter carefully, I have two in front of me (from two different games) that are labelled 4.5 volts dc... they may take 5 or 6 volts, but would 12 volts cause a meltdown or would the split-second 12v charge be fine?

 

[paigeoliver]

The 12V was actually a guess. I recall different games use different voltages for the counters. Not sure what the Midway 8080 games used, but I was going to look it up before I attempted anything with it (I have a few extras if need be).

[aj6500]

Sounds like a simple dc relay and maybe a resistor would have you up and running.

[grafixmonkey]

If there's a double throw coin switch on the door (guessing if it's that old it's leaf switches and there wouldn't be) then you can use a relay.  If all you have to work with is the line going to the Ipac coin pin, you'll have to use a transistor and a resistor.  It works nearly the same as a relay anyway, for DC signals at least - just doesn't draw hardly any power.

I couldn't venture a guess at the value of the resistor though, you'd have to try with a pot and turn it until it works.  I'm willing to help  Promise I'll keep it simple this time!    

[kspiff]

Leaf switches on a coin door?  Madness.. does such a thing even exist?  I think you're just thinking of the old 'lockout coils'..

[paigeoliver]

Leaf switches on a coin door?  Madness.. does such a thing even exist?  I think you're just thinking of the old 'lockout coils'..

Lots of coin doors have leaf switches on them, but only on the slam switch assembly.

Oh, and for everyone who didn't know. Microswitches are not newer than leaf switches in arcade stuff. They were both being used from the very start. I have seen plenty of pre 80 stuff that had microswitchs in it. Leaf switches were more popular because they were better.

[grafixmonkey]

Leaf switches on a coin door?  Madness.. does such a thing even exist?  I think you're just thinking of the old 'lockout coils'..

I have 3 pinball games in my basement (in need of repair too) with leaf switch coin triggers.  They're old, very old, and extremely old (respectively) so I figured leaf switches might have been more common in older games.  Guess not!  

PaigeOliver, wanna measure the current through your coin counter when you make it count up a notch?  Given that info, I might be able to find you a transistor at radio shack that'd have it counting quarters in no time.

[kspiff]

Well, I'll run across something like that eventually, I just can't picture how it would be arranged on the door.  Guess I just don't have anything *quite* that old..

[grafixmonkey]

Here ya go, this is approximately what's at the bottoms of the coin mechs in the machines.  I can see them not being very popular, because the leaves would frequently get stuck on the wrong side of one of the plastic posts and disable a coin slot.  Also kinda made them prone to getting stuck or bent or broken when 10-year-old kids reached in to give themselves credits with the trip wire.  

I'll take an actual pic of the unit tomorrow and if there's interest I'll post it here.