Super continental 891-1 credit mode not working

[Thephoneman]

Greetings again! Just picked up a 1974 super continental (I'll post pics later) and things seem to be working as they should, except I can't get it to add credits to the "analog" meter. When I flip the key to "credit mode" the light on the face comes on but I push the white button i get nothing. Any ideas on where to check? I'm in the process of collecting whatever data I can on this unit (surprised that there isn't a dedicated manual for it) so I can do some light cleaning without screwing anything up, as well as figure out what all the buttons on the inside do.  Also does anyone know if there is a way to light up all the light bulbs so i can see if any need attention? Once again thanks for all of the knowledge and sharing it with us inexperienced guys.

[Thephoneman]

Well i started playing around with it and the credit mode DOES WORK. I guess I confused credit with free play.

[wolftalk]

if you want free play, you can put the machine in credit mode then all you need to do it convince the game you always have credits - even when the register is 0000.

assuming you have a model 891, if you look at the register there should be a double pole zero detect switch with a white/brown wire on the middle/long blade that connects to:
- a blade with a black/red wire when credits > 0
- the other blade with a brown/red wire when credits = 0

misadjust the switch so it's always connecting white/brown to black/red and you have free play.  You can test by jumpering white/brown to black red with an alligator clip jumper and you could leave it that way if you wanted.  If you never connect to the brown/red wire tho the coin lockout coil is never powered so the game won't accept coins and the lockout mechanism will never buzz.

the nice thing about replay mode is you can hold the button down and the motor does the work oof quickly coining up the game to 5 coins played.

the exploded parts diagram and some info is in the bally 1100 manual and 2400 manual.  Schematics are specific to the model of the machine ... which may or may not be what's actually on the plate on the cabinet below the handle.  Generally tho, if you have selectable coin/credit play, you game will be probably be very close to an 891-1.  What's you model/serial plate say?

schems/manuals are on https://bingo.cdyn.com/slots/ - look in /bally_manuals/ for the manual pdfs.

there's no way to turn on all the lights since many are controlled by the odds stepper unit.  You can manually step the odds unit or use a jumper wire with one end on yellow wire (30 on the schem) and other end on the lamp socket wire that is NOT the blue (20) wire. 

practically speaking tho, on that game the lights are mostly general illumination (always on), controlled by the odds unit wiper position (so you can play X number of coins to turn them on, where X = [1-5]) or the lamps are the insert coin, coin accepted and winner paid lights which you'll see normally.

[Thephoneman]

I don't know if I'm every going to need the credit mode,  a I have plenty of coins for it,  just wanted to have all the options of they were available.  And yes,  it is a 891-1. I saw on another thread on here about "plugging a reel" to increase payout odds,  but I dint want to screw anything up on this. Everything seems to work right and I'm just figuring out the quirks to these older machines. I'll see if I can post a Pic.

[wolftalk]

the slots in the metal reel index discs determine the position of the wipers on the reel arms when the reel is indexed (stopped). 

slot depth = reel wiper position = symbol on tape (at least on single payline machines).

you can change the slot depth by cutting it deeper or filling it in/plugging and then change the reel tape.  How that effects payout depends on what you change the symbols to.

you can also change the amount of the pay by changing wires or the disc on the payout counter, but then your payouts on the glass are wrong so nobody does that unless they can make or modify the class.

the 891-1 came in different varieties with different payback percentages, but generally the hit frequency (how many spins are wins) doesn't change a lot.    What codes are on your index discs?  Could be something like p-684-30 on reel 1 or just some alphanumeric code.

annoyingly, my docs are missing the page for the reel tape definitions, so if you can video your reel spin and email it to slotpics@cdyn.com I can watch and write down the symbols.  If you're bored, feel free to just write down the 22 symbols in order from the top of the tape all the way around for each tape.   To be honest, I can figure it out from the reel wiper wiring and index discs docs I have, but it'd be nice to verify with actual tapes.

it you want to increase your hit frequency, it may be possible to physically swap reels.  e.g. looks like there's more cherries on reel 2, so if you swapped reel 1 and reel 2 (keeping the index disc and tin assembly with the reel tape together as a unit), you'd get more single cherry pays.  We'd have to run the math to see how that affects overall payback, and to do that need to know exactly what machine you have (reel tapes and index discs) and what the paytable is on the top glass.
 

[Thephoneman]

I'll see what I can find for you on that.  Thank you