Fruit Machine question

[buks]

A friend of mine has just bought a bargain Popeye fruit machine but (and heres why it was a bargain) it switches itself off after 20 seconds.

It starts up and all the lights on the glass pane come on then and you can enter coins and play the game, then after about 20 seconds all the lights go out apart from the money led (credit led).

My question is - does anyone know where he should start looking ? I've suggested that he checks that all the wires etc are still connected and to look for obvious burnt chips etc.

anyone know of a forum like this one for fruit machines ? I can't seem to find any - theres loads on "how to win big money" etc.

Thanks in advance !

Buks

[Ken Layton]

Try www.pachitalk.com forums.

[grantspain]

popeye is a jpm machine,they had problems with bad fuse connectors and dry joints on the psu,ram corruption and battery leakage on the mpu(mps 2 i think)-but i would aim at the psu(and check caps as well,its an old machine)

[buks]

Cheers ! I'll pass on the info.

Unfortunately the forum link supplied by Ken is for pachinko machines not fruit machines.  grantspain is spot on saying its a jpm machine.

The machine cost

[Ken Layton]

pachitalk.com is for both Pachinko and Pachislo slot machines. You didn't scroll down their page far enough to see the Pachislo forums.

[grantspain]

ken is right you are on the wrong forum for awp's,only the british engineers would know what you are going on about.i have worked on hudreds of that technology machine-when your lights go out can you still spin the reels,accept money,hear sound and see the alpha numeric display-if yes then you are looking at a fault with the 34 volts that supplies the lamp matrix,you will find a power supply in the bottom of the cab-check it for dry joints,bad connectors and blown caps.one other question are the lamps pulsating?

[buks]

I'll check the pachisol forums later today.

The machine is "dead" apart from the "bank" display". Theres are 3 displays on this machine - credit, treasure chest and banked. When the machine "dies" everything goes off apart from the banked display. He then switches off and on at the mains at the machine starts up - normal attract mode lighting etc. The banked display still shows the same amount as when it went off (as does the credit and treaure chest).

thanks grantspain for your idea but its definately "dead" as far as spinning reels and inserting coins.

Buks

[grantspain]

your machine is going into reset,could be power supply or processor board-one thing to check  first is that it is not one of your door switches causing this,you can remove the doors and pull the switches out and it will operate as if the machine were in standard play mode

[buks]

Grant,

He says he's tried the switches on the door - theres three settings - down (door shut), middle (door open) and up (ignore door).

so it looks like its either psu or processor board - anyway of testing these ? Hes got a a multimeter which he did a quick test with and evereything SEEMED okay.

cheers fo the help so far though !

Buks

[grantspain]

there is a test switch inside the cab,you need the back door open and press test and using the start button you can scroll through each test
test 1 coin mech
2 reels
3 bulbs
4 lamps
5 switches
6 meters
but best bet is to get a manual,even something as a broken or faulty start switch will cause the machine to lock up.
the display,does it report an error message when the machine locks up.

[buks]

Grant,

He now tells me that he's done that (he could have mentioned it earlier....). The problem is he only has 20 seconds to run the tests but he says they all seem to run okay (hes very vague at this point as he says it flashes up things like "H07").

I think he needs to get a manual like you said - any ideas where he can get one from ? Is it possible to contact JPM to ask ?

PS - Just spoke to him and he will do the tests again tonight and write down what the output is. He thinks when he turns the machine on, it displays "H07" or "H08" - I suppose this could be an error message ?

Thanks again mate !

Buks

[Ken Layton]

Error codes are explained at the pachitalk.com forums.

[buks]

Ken,

apologies for appearing to ignore your posts !!!!! I asked my mate to join the patchitalk forums but I dont think he has yet ...... I think we have to be patient with him

I had a quick look and I thik to save vtime, I'll join and post on there for him. Theres a post called  LED error messages so I will start there (all posts appear locked until you join so I may be wrong). There also doesnt appear to be a search function on the forum - wil lthis appear once I'm logged in ? Strike that - just joined and there is a search !

thanks again both Ken and Grant.

Buks

[grantspain]

ho7 will be the software version,try a ram clear there is a switch on the mpu that says something like reset(about 8 years since i worked on this tech),you need a small screwdriver to throw the switch-do this with the machine powered on and leave for a few seconds then reposition the switch

[buks]

Woohoo ! He's getting somewhere now. Last night he tells me he took the back off the machine before turning it on. He looked inside to see if anything obvious was happening when the 20 second cut off happens. He said the PSU in the bottom of the cab had a wire at the back that was disconnected but there was a blue "arc" of electricity which eventually (after about 20 seconds) somehow pushes the two bits of wire apart  - at which poin the machine goes off.

He reconnected the wire and the machine fires up ! Apart from theres no sound now !!!!!!

Grant - it looks like you were spot on from the first post so many thanks. I'd let him play with it over the weeked before i post anymore as he may discover some more loose wires.

cheers again !

Buks

[grantspain]

now check the fuses,sound like this machine had data retrival system installed before your friend got it (uses -5 or -12v),maybe when they dis the data pak they broke some wires(sound uses - voltages)

[buks]

I hate to repeat myself but ... thanks again Grant. I passed on your post and I'll let you know the outcome.

Buks