Slot Tech Magazine

Page 3-Editorial
Page 4-Death by Dust
Page 14-Quick & Simple Repairs #105
Page 20-Innovolt’s Power Manager
Page 22-Subscriptions

D ear Friends of Slot Tech Magazine,

As technicians, we fix broken stuff (duh!). But we should also be

considering what is, perhaps, the bigger picture. We ought to con-
sider what causes stuff to fail and if there might be some way to
prevent it in the future. Randy Fromm
We’ve been covering the subject of destructive dust lately. Dust
Randy Fromm's
destroys fans and fan destruction leads to all kinds of other failures.
We know the importance of installing air filters to prevent future fan Slot Tech Magazine
failures. This month, our International Correspondent, James Borg
(Malta) gives us another glimpse into the dusty, dirty world inside a
Editor
slot machine. Turn to page four.
Randy Fromm
Technical Writers
“Dirty” power is a preventable problem as well. Preventing future James Borg, Jason Czito,
failures due to problems with the 120 VAC power is what Innovolt’s Vic Fortenbach, Diana
new “Power Protector” and “Power Manager” are all about. If your Gruber, Henry Kollar, Chuck
casino is plagued with machine failures caused by power “issues” Lentine, Craig Nelson,
you’ll be interested in this. If you lose machines every time you run Kevin Noble, Pat Porath
a generator test, you’ll be interested in this. If you lose machines
every time you move from shore power to ship power (and vice versa) Slot Tech Magazine is published
you’ll be interested in this. If you lose machines due to electrical monthly by
Slot Tech Magazine
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 Slot Tech Feature Article

Death by Dust By James Borg

have stood up nicely to the

vicious punishment im-
posed upon them on a daily
basis by unhappy custom-
ers, and even with the
passage of time, e-motions
can still make their pres-
ence known.

Was it turned off on pur- A sick machine is an eye-sore.

T
here’s nothing worse pose or did the mains plug gives errors mostly when
than admiring a neat come undone after the the machine is starting up.
row of flashing, active machine had been recently This eventually leads to the
slot machines, resembling relocated following some total refusal of reading the
proud soldiers standing to structural work? On open- media. Should one decide
attention in their ‘first best’ ing up the cabinet, another to change the DVD ROM
uniform, when one of the possibility came to mind. Drive, make sure that the
brave souls suddenly drive is just a player and
passes out. No sign of The neon switch inside was not a recorder as otherwise,
movement is evident and glowing bright red (which it won’t work in this slot
things don’t look so bril- meant that there was juice machine. Another fault,
liant. Medics are called on entering the machine) but secondary as it might seem,
the scene and the lifeless not a lot else seemed to be is the electronic ballast’s
person is taken away to be happening. failure, a Teknoware
made to feel better again. TM80041 unit. If you are a
However, in the case of slot As sturdy as these ma- bit finicky about the ap-
machines, a medic usually chines are, they do suffer pearance of your machines,
has to assess the situation, from illnesses. Luckily
perform first-aid, diagnosis enough, they
and most probably emer- don’t suffer
gency surgery on top of many casual-
everything else, on the very ties and their
spot where the machine weak points
has fallen. A sick machine are minor
is a cause for concern, for faults which
when such a catastrophe tend to crop
occurs, apart from the up once in a
machine losing revenue, it while.
is also a great eye-sore to
behold. One known
problem is
The unfortunate slot ma- the DVD The neon switch inside was glowing bright red,
chine was an Atronic e- ROM drive which meant that there was juice entering the
motion. For their age, they itself, whichmachine.

Page 4 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 5
a dead ballast will be seen from miles
away. The only drawback with replacing it
is that it can set you back a little as these
units aren’t exactly on the cheap side. The
last common fault I know these machines
tend to suffer from is failure of the Power
Supply Unit and my patient had all the
symptoms.

The PSU for these machines isn’t a stan-

dard off-the-shelf type of unit, as it has a
24V supply rail, rated at 4.5 Amps. Techni-
cally speaking, the machine will work
nicely without this 24V, as it’s only used
for the hopper and to operate the motor to
raise and lower the “playfield” (two screens
at the front of the cabinet). Since we
stopped using coins a while back, the
hopper is an option we have done without.

As luck would have it, the PSU seemed to

have indeed died a death, and a quick look
at the cooler fan is a good indication of the
situation. Buried deep underneath the
settled layers of dust, the 12v fan was
completely stationary. There wasn’t even
an initial kick, as if it was trying to rotate,
but didn’t. At this point in time, you have
three options, as follows:

A) Either the supply itself is the problem.

(Replace the supply)
B) The cooler fan stopped rotating. (Re-
place the fan)
C) No juice is entering the PSU. (Locate
where the juice circuit is broken)

Had the supply’s fan jerked and stopped,

it would lead to the conclusion that there
could be a fault in the cabinet’s electron-
ics, causing an overload, which would stop
the supply working in its tracks. A good
way of locating the source of the overload,
if any, would be to touch one of the multi-
meter’s probes to Earth, namely on the
chassis, and with the other probe, prod
the individual supply rails one at a time to
see if there’s a lower resistance than ac-
ceptable (power OFF, of course). It’s easy to
compare resistance readings from a work-
ing machine. This I did, but there were no

Page 6 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 7
major differences.
A quick check with a multimeter showed
Another visual aid is to study the the supplies were all present, and correct.
backplane. On this board, there are three At this point in time, it was a relief, as I
surface mount LEDs. These should be don’t like leaving machines down if I can
glowing RED, indicating voltages are help it, especially over something as daft
present. One indicates 5V, one 12V, and as a PSU.
the other one is for the 24V. There are two
fuse holders: one is for the 12V and the The second phase of the operation was to
other for the 24V. In my case, none of the modify the ATX 4 pin MOLEX 12V P4
LEDs were on. I have had cases of a fuse connector. The one on the left comes from
being loose in its housing (which would a standard PC PSU, while the one on the
break the voltage on that supply rail) but it right belongs to the e-motion’s supply.
wasn’t the case this time. There are a few differences, as is obvious.
For all intents and purposes, the brown
Unfortunately, after examining all the wire, 24V, is not one of Earth shattering
evidence, I was looking at a replacement importance and life can go on as usual
power supply. As luck would have it, yet without it.
again, I didn’t have a replacement avail-
able-cue for shock and horror! I had to Once all the plugs were inserted into their
improvise, once more. It’s amazing what a destination, there’s nothing better than
slot tech can do when faced with desperate hitting the power-on switch, and taking
situations. However, on a positive note,
one gets to become quite an expert at
repairing equipment, just by the use of a
magic wand.

The next best thing to the original part is a

standard ATX PSU, like the ones used in
computers.

The one I had available was pulled out

from a clapped-out P4 computer, which
had a FUBAR motherboard. There is one
slight snag with using a standard ATX PSU
with the E-motion machines, and that is
that one plug needs to have its wiring
modified slightly.

Before wasting time messing about with

the plugs, I wanted to make sure that the
supply was fine. A good and easy way of
doing this is to jump start it by shorting
out the ‘PS-ON’ green wire to ground. In
normal working conditions, this is usually
connected to the Power-On switch on the
computer. All the switch is doing, is short-
ing the 5 volts on the green line, to
ground, which activates the supply. Once
the ‘PS-ON’ line was pulled to ground, the
cooler fan started working.

Page 8 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

 TechFest 29
May 13-15, 2014
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Technical presentations from: form is now available on the web-
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March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 9

one step, or two, backwards, whilst admir-
ing the whole machine as it comes to life.
Erm . . . of course, that only holds true in
an ideal world. Along the passage of time, I
sadly discovered that mine certainly isn’t.

The little neon in the mains switch did

come on and so did the two LEDs on the
backplane. The 24V didn’t, which was a
good job, otherwise I would have had to try
and explain to the world of science, how a
voltage materialized out of thin air.

So, it was just a question of waiting and

holding my breadth, eagerly expecting the
screens to come on with graphic informa- This is the place where the DVD ROM
tion, flashing lights, and other wonderful Drive hides. Once the logic box’s door
things which make Atronic, great ma- comes down, right at the bottom, under-
chines. Another success, another occasion neath the DVD ROM Drive, there is a
to etch another notch on my rifle butt. label, in red, which says: “Release and
However, it is true what they say, that closing lever for multimediaboard - cover.”
when you don’t want to wait for something This lever has to be pushed towards the
to happen, time seems to come to a halt. I left, which releases the locking mechanism
know these machines take their time to of the multimedia board’s metal cover. At
start up, but I think growing a beard dur- first glance, it is a daunting sight to behold
ing this period of waiting sort of led me to but the second time round, your eyes get
believe that something was not quite right. adjusted to it, and after breaking it down
to different areas, it’s pretty reasonable.
I turned OFF, and back ON, the machine a
number of times, without any form of A couple of items which stuck out like a
success. Alas, I had no option but to do the sore thumb, were the cooler fans. These
dastardly deed and take a peek at the were too dirty for comfort, and they didn’t
electronics. Reaching the
motherboard on these e-
motion machines can be a
bit tricky and if you don’t
know the magic password
(and no, it’s not Open
Sesame) you can have a
whale of a time to figure it
out.

As everything else in life,

once you know how to do
something, it becomes
easy. The way to access the
main board is to go through
the logic box, which is top-
right as you look at the
inside of the cabinet.

Page 10 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

like it one little bit. jackpot. It is therefore highly recom-
mended that cooler fans are kept clean
The one on the metal frame was totally and regularly serviced. In the eventuality
dead, and the one on the CPU, was noisy, of a suspicious or noisy fan, it’s always
and just waiting for the final blow before it best to just replace it. Cooler fans aren’t
stopped rotating completely. The fine dust exactly expensive and this exercise will, in
accumulated inside the unit didn’t help
matters a great deal and it signaled the ADVERTISEMENT - Power Supply Repair
doom of these two vital parts. The impor-
tance of having the cooling system opera-
tional, is high. Without adequate ventila-
tion, components in the equipment will
overheat dramatically, causing irreparable
damage. This might not seem evident
initially, but in the long run, the effects
will gradually surface with disastrous
repercussions.

The fan on the metal frame, as important

as it is for dissipating the flow of air in this
confined space, isn’t as important as the
one actually seated on the CPU’s heatsink.
A CPU doesn’t like working at elevated
temperatures as its operation could be-
come erratic. It could easily cause a game
to freeze mid-way in its tracks or do some
other horrible thing it’s not supposed to
do. Having said that, it would not be the
easiest thing in the world to explain about
CPU cooler fans and the effect dust has on
them, to a client who’s foaming at the
mouth, thinking the machine’s struck a

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 11

the long run, save you a great deal of time
and hassle. With all the technicalities said and done,
flicking the power switch produced the
I pulled both the FUBAR cooler fans out desired results, this time without my grow-
and installed a couple of working ones. ing a beard. It’s always nice to step back,
Things were expected to look up but they and look at your work with a certain
didn’t. Even though both fans were now amount of pride, and satisfaction, at hav-
rotating properly, there was still no image ing given life back to a machine which had
on either of the e-motion’s screens. Could been certified clinically dead, and would
the CPU cooler fan’s lack of fanning have have remained clinically dead, had it not
damaged the CPU? Was the motherboard been for your intervention.
damaged? Was a memory module on the
blink or could the video card have blown It’s always best, when possible, to try and
both its outputs? So many questions and trace the steps which led to a machine
so few answers. either dying or not doing as its told. In this
case, the culprit was, without a shadow of
Following a logical approach, the compo- a dust (I mean doubt) the debris that had
nent which would have suffered the most settled in on the fans, which caused their
during this disaster would have been the destruction, which in turn caused the
CPU. I can’t imagine what temperature the destruction of the CPU.
device’s core has had to endure and al-
though these components should have The moral of the story is that slot ma-
some sort of thermal cutout, I still wasn’t chines DO NOT like being in a dusty envi-
too convinced. What if the thermal cutout ronment, no matter how much you cover
circuit failed? What if the CPU started them up, no matter if you think they are
melting before the thermal cutout came safe and no matter the many times you
into operation? More questions, and no clean them (or think you have). The fine
answers to offer back. dust that settles in makes its way to places
you’ve never even dreamed of and if your
Still following the same logical approach, luck runs out, this dust might even start
the next best thing which came to mind corroding your printed circuit boards. So
was to actually replace the CPU, despite beware . . . You have been warned!
remarks from my mate that they don’t go
wrong. Experience has thought me to - James Borg
doubt anything and everything. Nothing is [email protected]
etched out in rock and anything is pos-
sible in this wonderful and mysterious
world of electronics, where expecting the
unexpected has to be adopted as a way of
life.

Luckily enough, I had a working Celeron

566/128 available. After gently lifting the
metal lever on the side, the CPU can be
released safely out of its socket. I inserted
a replacement CPU, and applied some
thermal paste on it. This is also recom-
mended, as it greatly helps to transfer the
heat from the device, onto the heatsink,
which in turn will be blown away by the
cooler fan anchored on the top.

Page 12 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

 Adding a Second +12 VDC Power Supply to
Recover Your +24 VDC in Atronic e-motion

The outputs of two power supplies can be connected in series. The output connections
for each power supply should have a reverse biased diode wired across them. This is
important because one supply will come up to voltage before the other. Depending on
the sequence of events, this could apply a momentary, reverse polarity to the output of
the slow-rising unit. Each diode’s voltage and current rating should exceed that of the
entire series string. Note that when remote sensing is being used (not common in
gaming), the voltage drop in the output wire connecting the supplies is compensated
by extending one supply’s sense lead to the output terminal of the other supply.

Since the supplies are in series, the current rating of each power supply must equal
or exceed the maximum current rating required by the load.

Attention
Slot Manager!
Four-Day Classes With
Randy Fromm
-Power Supply Repair
-LCD Monitor Repair
(including player track-
ing displays)

Call Randy at
619.838.7111 to dis-
cuss your needs.
[email protected]

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 13

 Slot Tech Feature Article

Quick & Simple Repairs #105

By Pat Porath

Since I had to go to the shop III or N-Compass a red or

anyway to grab a replace- yellow ring will be in a outer
ment LCD, I brought the CPU edge of the display, to show a
along in order to blow the communication loss. At the
piles of dust out of it. In the game on the Sentinel, there
past I’ve seen machines act is a three-pin connector, and
weird because of piles of also a three-pin connector
dust in the CPU area. Pro- with one wire on the SMI
cessor boards overheat, board. This is the game
causing games to reboot interface cable that goes
WMS Bluebird Upright themselves, games “freeze” FROM the Sentinel TO the
Reel Tilt Wouldn’t Clear when a game won’t work at game. As I looked closer, a
all even though there are white wire was partially out

A
n upright WMS Blue credits on it. Anyway...after of the connector. Could this
bird was shut off be blowing out the CPU with cause the failure? It was
cause a Reel 3 tilt compressed air and grabbing pushed tightly into its con-
wouldn’t clear. A co-worker a replacement LCD, it was nector and just for the heck
and I were discussing that time to fire up the game. of it, I opened and closed the
maybe the reel basket film Bingo! The LCD worked and main door of the game. Now
that passes through the reel after boot up, there weren’t the display corresponded
optic encoder could be dusty any reel tilts. Just to make with the door. OPEN and
or it was possible the reel sure the game was ready for CLOSED which means game
may be rubbing on something play and we wouldn’t receive TO Sentinel communication
such as a cable located a call to it, promo cash was had been re-established
behind the reel or something downloaded to test the reels. without even rebooting the
on the main slot door. I I played the game as a cus- game or Sentinel.
brought some Q-tips with me tomer would for a few min-
on my way to check the utes and everything looked IGT AVP “Sumatran
game out so I could clean the good. No tilts at all. An easy Storm” Win Meter Issue
reel film. Sure enough they cleaning of the reel basket
had some dust on them. If film, cleaning the CPU, and If you’ve had a “Sumatran
one reel film was dusty it replacing the bad LCD got Storm” game in which the
would only make sense to the game running again. mini progressive was won
clean all five of them. After- IGT S2000 Lost COM Be- during a free spin bonus, the
ward, when turning the tween Game and Sentinel win meter could show an
game back on, the small LCD inaccurate amount for bonus
in the door died. Sometimes While working on replacing game wins. There is a pro-
they will come back to life top boxes on IGT upright gram upgrade to fix the
when rebooting the game a G20s from a plain type to a problem. The old program
few times or reseating the top box that has “halo light- numbers are (depending on
power connector on it. No ing,” a co-worker asked me if jurisdiction) Game014-
such luck this time. Why not I could look at a game that 001PF2-J04, GI014-001PF2-
try reseating the CPU? When would only show a “door J004V02, or Game014-
I opened the cover to the open” status on the Sentinel 001PF2-J05. Refer to IGT CN
CPU, there was a ton of dust display. When the slot door 5016 Rev A for more informa-
caked on the board. The is physically opened and tion.
board was reseated but I still closed and the display only
didn’t have any life on the reads open (or a steady
LCD. closed) game to Sentinel
communication has been lost
on a Sentinel II. On Sentinel

Page 14 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

Aristocrat Verve Button puter box) where a simple motherboard and no power at
Panel reboot might fix the problem. all was at either the upper or
The controller was rebooted lower LCD. Re-seating the
While checking out toppers a couple of times and a game DC power supply didn’t help
on a bank of Aristocrat Verve was rebooted without suc- at all, neither did reseating
“Buffalo” games, I rebooted cess. Our Aristocrat field the motherboard.
one of the games and the tech stated there was a very
button panel didn’t come good chance the controller I love swaptronics, therefore
back to life; it was totally needed to be reconfigured. It the power supplies were
black. Usually when the reminds me of when an older swapped with a working
game is booting up, the panel progressive sign (now used game next door. When the
will display the Aristocrat for advertising) froze up. In working game was turned on
logo. Not this time. Instead of other words the graphics on with unknown power supply
turning the game off or the display board froze in it booted up properly. So did
putting it in “out of service” place and didn’t scroll. I the game that had the fail-
mode, it was left ON. I rebooted it, unfortunately it ure! Both games booted up so
grabbed a cup of coffee and died. Don’t blame it much I left both power supplies
grabbed a spare panel from though, it has been in the where they were. This was
our shop. Once back at the top part of the sign for years. done in the morning and
game, somehow, the button An attempt was made to didn’t have any problems for
panel came back to life. If I repair the controller, re- the remainder of my shift, I
run into another one that placement of caps and such, will have to keep an eye on it
isn’t working I’m going to but it was unsuccessful. though. On the game side,
wait around 10 minutes where the power supply
before replacing it just to see IGT Upright AVP G20 plugs in, one of the pins was
what happens. Unfortunately Power Supply Swaptronics black, probably causing a
I didn’t have any luck getting poor connection. Maybe the
the toppers working. They I was told that an IGT AVP other power supply pin was
only stayed in a “blue G20 may have a bad power in better condition which
screen” (basically a Windows supply. First it had a ticket would make a better connec-
XP start screen). All of the printer error, the game was tion causing the game to
toppers in the bank are rebooted, then it wouldn’t work. Replacements have
connected to a controller boot back up. When I arrived been ordered, just in case.
(similar to a desk top com- only a few lights lit up on the

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 15

WMS OLED Button Panel Quick Repair of Tranquility.” WMS reports that it has
modified the operation of newer stand along
One of our advanced slot attendants (who progressive themes to address the difficulty
has been in the department for about six of recovering from a RAM clear and transfer-
years) periodically goes through a bank of ring progressive increment to the games. An
machines and tests all of the buttons while example would be, if the progressive meter is
the game is in diagnostic test mode. I re- at $75.00 prior to the fault and the strike
ceived a note that a Bluebird XD game had a price is at $95.00, after the RAM clear the
repeat bet button that didn’t work. Instead of tech applies the $75 back to the progressive
grabbing a replacement panel, I thought I meter. The strike price resets to a minimum
would check it out. When pressing it, the of $75.01 to limit the chances of winning the
button didn’t quite feel like it should so with progressive during a test spin. Progressive
my small pocket screwdriver, I carefully and
gently pried upward on the side of the clear
button cover, on all four sides. Once in
diagnostic mode to test the button, it worked
perfectly. Possibly something to try if one
tests bad.

WMS “Cheers” Power Cycle

If a “Cheers” theme game top box LCD dis-

plays the wheel bonus animation at a very
slow speed, a power cycle may be needed.
This is due to a memory issue (Some of us
techs may call it “lagging.” I’ve seen it on a
few Bally Cinevisions before). According to
WMS, a solution to the memory issue has
been identified and game software engineers
are preparing corrective software replace-
ments to be submitted to GLI. Power cycling
the game addresses the issue and must be
done every two weeks for installed games
until new software is available (I personally
haven’t seen the lagging on our “Cheers”
games yet). More information available from
WMS document number 1426740.

WMS Blade Stand Alone Progressive

Info

The WMS Blade has games

that may be configured as
stand alone progressives.
These operate with a “must
hit by” feature which limits
the top of the progressive
jackpot. Each time a progres-
sive is reset (by a customer
winning it or a RAM clear) the
strike price cannot be guaran-
teed to be higher than the
combined amount (reset
amount plus the increment).
Affected themes are as fol-
lows: “Great Zeus Fortune
Palace, Lady Godiva, Lantern
Festival Spirit of Dragon and
Horse, Raging Rhino and Sea

Page 16 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

increment added to the game during con-
figuration before the game theme is fully
loaded is not included in the strike price
calculation. This allows the progressive
increment to be added to a stand alone
progressive game without the “must hit by”
feature causing the next spin to generate a
win. The funds transfer must be completed
immediately after configuring the game
before closing the main door (when the game
loads). If the funds transfer is done after the
game loads , after closing the main game
door and before the first game play, the
transferred funds will be included in the
strike price. More information can be found
on WMS document number 1437402.

IGT “Lobster Mania 2” Display Issues

On an IGT AVP “Lobster Mania 2” or “Lucky

Larry’s Lobster Mania 2 Multiway,” the game
may falsely display a banner that a customer
was eligible for the progressive. A power hit
of the take-or-risk section of the “Pelican
Bonus” caused the screen to stop displaying
Pelican’s fish along with the fish value,
which forced the player to make a take or
risk decision without knowing the other
potential win amounts. When 1024 ways
with a multiplier was wagered but the pro-
gressive bonus bet was not wagered, the
game falsely displayed a banner that showed
the player was in fact eligible for the pro-
gressive. Possible affected software are
Game014-005QH5-E01 media GI014-
005QH5-E001 and GI014-005QH5-E001V02.
For SBX Tier One properties, when approvals
are received, new programs are included in
the next scheduled library release. Please
refer to IGT CN number 5027 for more infor-
mation.

IGT “All For One Free Spin Bonus Win

error”

On an IGT SAVP “All For One Free Spin

Bonus” after a large number of games were
played, the program may have paid an
amount based on the number of lines played
RATHER than paying the amount won in the
base game. The possible affected software is:
GAME014-002MN2-D03, GI014-002MN2-
D003V02, or GAME014-002MN2-D04. Refer
to IGT CN 5005 for more info. (IGT CN =
International Game Technology Customer
Notification number.)

- Pat Porath
[email protected]

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 17

 Slot Tech New Product

The Fast Monkey

T
here is a solution to I had big questions when I specifically designed for
all of the casino ripped open my sample sophisticated electronics,
world’s weird AC unit, about five minutes the technology avoids nui-
power issues. We put a after I received it. It was sance trips while ensuring
monkey inside each slot small. It was lightweight. the long-term performance
machine, trained to watch What the heck is it? of equipment.”
for power fluctuations.
When the voltage fluctu- Nope, it’s not a UPS so So, if there are no power
ates, they quickly adjust it there’s no heavy battery semiconductors to some-
to compensate or, in really (and none to replace). how modify the current,
bad cases, pull the plug to There’s no Super Capacitor what the heck is this thing
prevent damage to the either. There are no power doing and how does it func-
machine. semiconductors either, tion? How could this thing
other than a pair of ultra- have any “muscle” if it is so
That’s the idea (sort of) reliable, 7805 voltage regu- small and lightweight?
behind Innovolt’s PM15/ lators running so cool, the
PM20 “Power Protector” and attached heatsink is no It’s like the difference be-
“Power Manager” units. I’m larger than the TO-220 tween wrestling and judo
always on the lookout for package itself. They’re just (or u-jitsu or tae kwan do-
things like this, that might in there as part of a pair of whatever). You can use
help casinos run more little linear power supplies brute force or you can use a
efficiently from a technical for the microcontroller (a gentle flick in just the
standpoint. However, when PIC) and a few other cir- correct direction and with
I first came across the unit, cuits. perfect (read “quick”) timing
I wasn’t really sure what to effect the result you’re
the thing actually does or Innovolt points to the PIC looking for. Innovolt’s pat-
how it works. The promo- and the firmware that is ented technologies use
tional material is pretty programmed into the device extremely fast algorithms to
vague, speaking only of as what sets their solution watch the AC power in real
protection from sags and apart from all others, with, time and, if things get a
surges and other transient according to the company little weird (or a lot weird) it
AC power “issues” without can (and will) react in a
“remediation algorithms
getting into too much de- variety of ways in order to
and protection protocols
tail. protect the load (meaning,

Page 18 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 19
in this case, your slot ma- need. Some are fairly nor- when you first apply power
chine). mal, “passive” circuits for them.” Inrush current is
doing things like suppress- often the culprit when the
This is an entirely new ing EMI-Electromagnetic complaint reads something
concept in “active” control Interference (with some like “Funny, it was working
of and/or protection from truly impressive, HUGE yesterday when I turned it
things like inrush current, torroids wrapped in #12 off. When I turned it on
voltage and current surges wire) and limiting inrush today, nothing!”
and spikes, voltage sag and current through the use of
other power-related “issues” NTC thermistors. The Nega- However, although NTC
that plague the slot floor, tive Temperature Coeffi- thermistors work perfectly
particularly during electri- cient thermistor has a well to limit inrush current
cal storms or following a higher resistance when it’s when you first turn some-
generator test. cold (typically around six thing on, they are useless
Ohms or so) and drops to one second later after they
What it is-How it Works zero Ohms when it is have heated during normal
warmed, typically by the operation. In the 24/7
The unit does quite a few current flowing through it working environment of a
different things. It’s almost to the load. This provides a casino, that thermistor
better to think of it as a “soft start” so the load isn’t might not come into play
“toolbox” of circuits and slammed with “inrush for years! Subsequent volt-
systems each reacting current” which is the major age surges and spikes
differently, according to killer of “things that fail cannot be mitigated by the

Page 20 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014

NTC thermistor once it’s conditions as well such as duty, high-current contacts
heated. It only works from a voltage sag. Notice I said are in series with the AC
“cold start.” “de-energized” and not power), cutting off power to
“energized.” This was not a the load.
One of the features of this misprint and it speaks to
unit is that, when it senses the cleverness of this de- The unit also protects the
a transient or over-voltage sign. load during normal startup.
condition, it quickly will There is a small “load simu-
drop out a relay. The con- This device sort of takes a lator” circuit in the unit
tacts on this relay are nor- page from George that samples the incoming
mally open and are con- Westinghouse. Mr. AC power. AC power is first
nected directly across an Westinghouse’s “big idea” applied to the load through
NTC thermistor which is in was to make the brakes on an NTC thermistor in a
series with the load. As a train “fail safe.” The sys- normal “soft start” mode.
long as the AC power is tem is always monitoring After a short delay and only
within normal operating the pressure in the brake after all nominal power
limits, this relay is ener- lines. As long as everything requirements are met, the
gized, effectively shorting is normal, the brakes can relay that shorts across the
across the NTC and apply- be engaged or disengaged NTC is energized and power
ing AC power directly to the at will. However, if a hose is applied directly to the
load. If an over-voltage breaks (a brake hose, that load. Simultaneously, the
transient is detected (and is) the brakes on that car NTC begins to cool. Cool!
this happens blazingly fast, will engage automatically,
in 5 milliseconds-just ONE rather than being useless Reporting
cycle of 60Hz AC power due to a loss of pressure. In
takes 16.66 milliseconds) other words, failure of the In addition to performing
the relay drops out and the system will cause the pro- the actual protection, the
NTC is magically connected tection to be automatically unit can also store and
in series with the load. engaged, rather than dis- report on any events that
Since the NTC is cold at abled. In much the same have occurred. These are
this point (it had been way, this system uses a usually highly transient
shorted, remember?) it retriggerable monostable events so having dozens or
works perfectly, throwing multivibrator circuit that hundreds of “eyes on” can
its resistance, gently, in must be retriggered peri- really help you to identify
series with the load to act odically or it will “time-out” and isolate power problems
as a current limiter. The and the power to the load across the floor. The “Power
effect is instantaneous, will be interrupted. Manager” units have a
protecting the load from a small LCD display indicat-
potentially destructive What re-triggers the circuit ing any faults. The unit can
surge in less than a half- is NORMALCY. As long as also be interrogated with a
cycle. things are within the load handheld unit or a smart
profile determined by the phone with an IR reader.
If that isn’t enough protec- unit’s microcontroller, the
tion (if the duration or control circuit says “it’s all Innovolt has offered a “No-
voltage of the surge exceeds good” and retriggers the risk” trial to casinos that
the parameters deduced by multivibrator so it won’t want to give it a test. I hope
the algorithm) the unit time-out. Anything outside to have a detailed report
drops out another relay of “normal” (over-voltage, from a test installation at a
that removes the power under-voltage, current particularly plagued opera-
from the load instantly and surge, etc.) is detected by tion in a future issue of Slot
completely. the system, the micropro- Tech Magazine.
cessor withholds from re-
This same relay can be de- triggering the multivibrator For further information,
energized by other, “poten- and it times-out. This drops visit innovolt.com -STM
tially catastrophic” power out the relay (its heavy-
March 2014 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue Page 21
Subscriptions & Back Issues
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 “I can help you bring down the
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Randy Fromm

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Page 24 Slot Tech Magazine-13th Anniversary Issue April 2014