Coin Door Counter Questions

[Wiredworm]

I'm nearing the end of the amazing Rocky & Bullwinkle rebuild and one of the things i've noticed is that the counter on the interior of the door on my machine had been disconnected. It's not a major issue as i've no intention of siting the machine but my OCD means that i'd really really like to get everything back in place and working as it should.

Anyway, i'd previously hooked up the wires in the way I think they were meant to go but it still didn't seem to work.

Thankfully I managed to find a schematic for the coin board i've got online.



This showed that one of the wires going to the counter should be supplying 12V DC, whilst the other wire connected up to METER DRIVE. I therefore presumed that at some point the METER DRIVE would be switched to ground, thus causing the counter to increment. I'm not sure at this point what would trigger the counter to increment; is it when a coin insertion is detected or when a new game starts? Would using the credit button on the board cause the counter to increment?

The 12V supply is actually kicking out slightly more at 17V. I've verified that the counter is working by hooking up the 17V supply and then putting the other wire to earth using a length of spare wire I had. Sure enough it causes the counter to increment.

So, any tips in relation to this one please? I guess the question about what causes the counter to increment is probably the most salient; if it's only on a coin insertion or a paid game start then I probably need to focus on getting the coin mech sorted first.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Jay Walker]

Hi, Pete,

I think that a meter like that would count the number of coin units inserted, probably in increments of 10 pence, i.e. a 50 pence would put on 5 units. The button on the pcb wouldn't increment the meter.

 

[Wiredworm]

Thanks @Jay Walker.

Before I worry about it any more then i'd best get the game and coin board configured for coins. The mech hasn't been updated for a long time and because of coin updates here in the UK I suspect the only coins it's going to recognise is 20p, 50p and possibly 10p's (I have a feeling that both 5p's and 10p's got updated to versions which are ever so slightly different from the older versions).

I'll dig some change out and have a play around with it and see if I can get it working with those coins.

 

[Wiredworm]

Had a bit more of a look at this tonight.

I tested the coin mech with 2 x 10p's, 2 x 20p's and 2 x 50p's. I tested the coin mech with each of the coins and both of the 50p's went to the coin eject chute whilst all the other coins dropped out the rear of the mech at a point where i'd presume you would usually have your coin tray. Does this mean that the mech itself is detecting the coins ok?

The downside is that the machine itself doesn't register any coins.

I did a continuity check on the cable from the coin board to the mech and found there was no continuity on the pin that's marked on the mech as 'Common A'. I presume without this the mech won't work at all.

The bad news is that I think the cable might need a need end on it because it feels like a piece of the plastic has broken off and sure enough it looks like the ribbon cable at that edge is not connected.

Does anyone have a spare credit board cable that I could test it with or is anyone able to help fix the existing cable?

 

[Wiredworm]

For the sake of clarity here's a picture of the connector on the credit board and the ribbon cable itself. Note that the blanked out pin sits between the 2 pin and 10 pin connectors.
00

 

[Wiredworm]

I've made some progress on this. I picked up a new loom for the credit board from Swallow Amusements (http://www.swallowam.co.uk/) and now the machine happily accepts 10p and 20p coins. Although it still is rejecting 50p coins and i've no idea why because the mech says it's programmed for them and so far as i'm aware the coins haven't changed in recent years.

My initial thought was that maybe the credit board wasn't configured to accept 50p's but I had a look and there's a number of dip switches which specify the accepted coins. In my case they are all turned on. The fact that the coin mech is immediately rejecting the 50p makes me think there's either something about the coins i'm using of the writing on the mech is incorrect and it's not set up for 50 pence pieces.


However, i'm curious what the pricing chart actually means. If you look in the manual it says this:


Now by putting coins in and checking the audits i've determined that the coin mech is connected as the Left 1st mech. But i don't understand what the 10p, 50p, £1 and 20p under 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th means. Is that suggesting that 50p's can only be inserted into the mech connected to 2nd (Center)?

If so then what determines if the mech is 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th? Is it something to do with these connections on the credit board?

I found this schematic.



My guess is that it's one of the wires on the bottom right of the schematic which could dictate the coin mech placement. Lamp drive isn't connected but meter drive is. The meter drive is the bit which increments the coin counter when another coin is inserted. Immediately next to meter drive is a wire which has s diode on the end of it and that diode is then connected to N/Open Output. There is also a wire hooked up to Common Output. Both of these last two wires seem to go back into the machine.

Anyway, grateful for any help on this. I don't intend to site the machine but i'm just interested in having all the various bits and pieces working.

 

[Jay Walker]

If the 'Standard Pricing Table' concerns the machine rather than the credit board, then it's something like WPC games, where in some territories the door could've been an old-fashioned 'S 10' door, with up to three separate coin chutes*. The machine has four coin inputs, with '4th' only used for an electronic multi-coin acceptor (or a note acceptor). A virtual slot, if you will (steady, Dan). Without an additional credit board, the machine would take care of pricing, and tally each coin separately.

I'd suspect that the credit board was added by the kind of op who wouldn't (or couldn't) instruct their collecting staff to use the machines' own counters, and/or had to have a permanent mechanical count of coins inserted.

Since the base for the count is the 10 pence, the c/board would've been connected to whichever of the machines' coin inputs was configured as a 10 pence, in this case Left, as you've found. The appropriate wires of the switch matrix would be connected between Com and N/O, as if it was a micro-switch with diode and trip wire below a 10 pence acceptor. The machine's own pricing would only need to have 1 coin, 1 play, applying to the left chute - the other coin inputs would be irrelevant, unless a tech wanted to add a button for adding credits off-meter.

The coin acceptor pictured mentions 10 pence (new) on its channel 4. That's the current 10 pence, which was only 'new' while the previous 50 pence was still current, so it may not be programmed for the current 50 pence coin.

* In the u.k. these were usually 10/50/£1, so the placement in that chart makes sense. System 11 Williams games with electronic acceptors, e.g. RiverBoat Gambler, only had three coin inputs, so 20 pence was omitted from the coin entry label, and the factory fitted acceptors weren't even programmed for it.

 

[Wiredworm]

Thanks for that info @Jay Walker. That's really useful.

I hadn't actually realised that the 50p had been updated but sure enough it has; it looks like it was updated around 1997 and the 10p was updated around 1992.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_pence_(British_coin)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_pence_(British_coin)

So, with that in mind the answer is easy. Get my coin mech reprogrammed to accept the new 50p and £1 coins.

The coin counter is working now by the way and sure enough it counts up in 10p increments. So a 10p coin increments 1 whilst a 20p goes up 2 clicks.