Fruit Machine Chat

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help please ?

I have had a Club Crazy Fruits (4 reel) machine for a number of years which worked perfect last time I used it. However, I have not turned it on for a while and did so today as my wife is wanting me to sell it to free up some space so I was checking everything worked ok before listing it either here or on eBay.

Whilst it seems to all be working well, I keep getting an error message (and loud alert noise) on the display of 'Mux Err Row 31', which from the list of error codes at the back of the cabinet seems to suggest it is a 'Lamp Multiplex Fault'.

According to the same list the board is a Scorpion IV.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some help or suggest some of the things that I can try to do in order to track down and eliminate the error code please ?

Apart from this, it all seems to be working well but if I'm going to get the best price for it I obviously need to be able to stop the error code from appearing, even if it doesn't actually affect the running of the machine.

Finally, would anyone have any idea what this machine might realistically be worth or what I should sensibly start the auction at ?

Many thanks

First off you need to unplug your light circuits from the board, reboot the machine and see if it still kicks up the fault.

If it doesn`t then you have a wiring short in your lights loom and if it does then your board is faulty.

If the fault is in the loom then see if there are any wires that are getting trapped in the door etc.

My money is on a board fault. We have boards for £24.99 posted but if you are selling the machine then this won`t really be cost effective.

Cheers
Darren
Fruit Machine Sales

Hi Darren, that's really helpful, so I'll give it a go tomorrow and report back.

I've also spoken to Alex from AA Amusements who suggested I check the back-up battery to see whether it had leaked onto the board which it has although it doesn't look too extreme. Would this potentially cause the fault ? And if so, is it straightforward to clean up the leak or will it have bust the board & mean that I need to buy a new battery & board anyway ? (the battery is a green VARTA one)

Out of interest, if I do need a new board, are you saying that it's not worth buying one as whoever wanted it probably wouldn't pay the extra £25 or so to have the fault eliminated and have a fully up & running machine ?

Many thanks for the help

I am sorry I was thinking of us selling the machine.

We would sell the machine for £120 and after the VAT and tax and the purchase cost we couldn`t justify adding another £25.

As a private individual you won`t incur any of this so I suppose it would work out.

I personally wouldn`t have thought the battery itself was causing the fault and if it has leaked damaging the board then another board is probably easiest.

It is still worthwhile unpluging the lighting circuit from the MPU as it may just be a short.

I could be wrong as you never know with fruit machines.

Cheers
Darren
Fruit Machine Sales

Cool ! Thanks Darren, I'll unplug the lighting circuit first to see if it's a short and if not, I'll order a new board from you to save me spending hours and hours trying to locate a fault I have got the technical knowledge (or time !) to address.

If I do have to swap out the boards, is it a fairly straighforward process as long as I'm methodical and label up all the connection plugs so I know where they've come from to make sure I plug them back in the right places ?

Swopping the board isn`t hard as long as you take your time. Most plugs only fit one way. You do have to be careful not to bend any pins on the board when you are pushing the plugs back on.

Cheers
Darren
Fruit Machine Sales

Hi Darren, as you suggested I disconnected pin 8 (the light board) switched it all off & on again and the fault seemed to disappear and then I reconnected it and switched it off/on again and it all seemed to still be working ok – could It have been something to do with the fact that it hadn’t been used for a number of months and now that I’ve had it working the fault has somehow cleared itself, do you think ?

Rather spooky but I'll keep trying it each day i think and provided it all stays ok, I think I'm good to go to sell it, although it's a shame as now I've had it working again, it's a bit like an old friend that I've rediscovered....but we need the space as the wife doesn't want it in the house and the shed (warm, dry and cosy as it is) isn't really the best place for it.

That`s good news

Probably a dry joint on the board or the connector a bit loose.

Can`t beat a cheap fix

Cheers
Darren