Coastal Amusements Candy Shoppe Crane Question

hotrod797

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Looking for someone with more knowledge on this crane than myself...

Basically this is your typical candy crane, it is currently set for .25 per play and is also set for play till you win.

Here is the issue when you plug it in it runs threw self test just fine, then starts into attract mode with no issues, you can coin it up and play just fine, and I will go ahead and mention at this point the prize detection sensor works perfectly, the problem comes when it sits in attract mode for about 5 minutes...

The machine will stop playing music and start with a siren type sound (kind of like a tilt sensor) and displays the letter E with a backwards 9, in order to get it working again you have to unplug it, let it sit for a few minutes and plug it back in, I will also mention at this point that attempting to hand trip the tilt sensor it does not work...

Now threw my process of elimination I have found that if I turn off the play till you win feature the claw will function perfectly indefinitely...

So the question is how/why is the play till you win function causing this error when all the equipment seems to function fine for the first 5 minutes?

Idea's??

Also the claw has a built in rope light, I assume the control box has burnt up because the rope is no longer working, the bulbs are LED so I highly doubt it's a problem with that, any idea where to find a new control box? It's generic so there is no name on it...
 
The prize sensor more than likely has gone bad or is slightly out of alignment.

I had a similar experience with a Stacker Machine. Machine would function correctly and after sitting for several min the machine would error out. One of the receiving eye circuits were bad on the pcb.

I do not remember which type of sensor set-up the coastal uses but look to see if there are indicator leds on either the transmit / receive board when movement is detected and watch for some ghosting on the indicators (very faint flickering).
 
The prize sensor more than likely has gone bad or is slightly out of alignment.

I had a similar experience with a Stacker Machine. Machine would function correctly and after sitting for several min the machine would error out. One of the receiving eye circuits were bad on the pcb.

I do not remember which type of sensor set-up the coastal uses but look to see if there are indicator leds on either the transmit / receive board when movement is detected and watch for some ghosting on the indicators (very faint flickering).

I gave coastal a call today and they also agree that it is the optics, so I guess I'm going to order them, I just wish I could find somewhere cheaper than coastal to order them from...

Another question, the crane is pre wired for a DBV, but does not say anywhere in the manual what type to use, does anyone know what type will work for it and just be plug and play?
 
On another note, I don't know what the optic board looks like on the crane. I know that on other Coastal amusement games (Ghost Catcher) and older smart cranes (Clean sweep) There was a price sensor board with what looks like to the untrained eye good old LED's they are IR sensors. If the price sensor boards on the crane is the same as Ghost catcher, and sound like what I am describing, you can save some money and replace the IR sensors. You can get them from Radio Shack. Strange but true.
 
On another note, I don't know what the optic board looks like on the crane. I know that on other Coastal amusement games (Ghost Catcher) and older smart cranes (Clean sweep) There was a price sensor board with what looks like to the untrained eye good old LED's they are IR sensors. If the price sensor boards on the crane is the same as Ghost catcher, and sound like what I am describing, you can save some money and replace the IR sensors. You can get them from Radio Shack. Strange but true.

Yeah, that's what they are, there are 8 on each wand and there are two wands. I had honestly thought about doing that, but I truly suck at soldering...

On another note I am also looking for a bill acceptor for this machine, needs the 9 pin connector with a 200-300 bill downstacker
 
Thought so, I'm not saying it is the sensors, but for the majority of the sensor boards I have worked on it has always been the IR sensors. Now, go to Good will or similar store, purchase some older electronics, destroy it, and practice those soldering skills! :)
 
Thought so, I'm not saying it is the sensors, but for the majority of the sensor boards I have worked on it has always been the IR sensors. Now, go to Good will or similar store, purchase some older electronics, destroy it, and practice those soldering skills! :)

lol! I actually pulled both bars out last night and hooked them up on my bench and viewed the IR with my CC camera, all the IR's worked fine, I then tested the receivers and they were all good as well...
So that leads me to believe the IR's must be like LED's and just weaken over their life span, and since they are not as strong the receiver is having a harder time seeing them. But I cleaned everything and put it back 100% perfectly aligned and I'm happy to report the machine has been on for 12+ hours without an alarm!!

So, now I just have to get a controller for the rope light and I'm also ordering a DBV to put in it, I found one on ebay out of an old cherry master machine, I think it will work!!

Thanks a lot for all the help and advice!!
 
I had someone ask me to post a picture of the inside of the coin door, so here it is!
 

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Glad I could help! A little...Now on to the rope lights... Do you know for a fact that there is NO voltage at the rope lights? Just because they are not "on" does not mean there is no voltage. This is not a silly question I am an electrican by trade and have to ask if things are even turned "on" to fellow co-workers from time to time. I am going to go out to Coastal some time today and get the print for this machine. I'd like to verify if the Light rope is 24V or 120V
 
Glad I could help! A little...Now on to the rope lights... Do you know for a fact that there is NO voltage at the rope lights? Just because they are not "on" does not mean there is no voltage. This is not a silly question I am an electrican by trade and have to ask if things are even turned "on" to fellow co-workers from time to time. I am going to go out to Coastal some time today and get the print for this machine. I'd like to verify if the Light rope is 24V or 120V

Yea, that was the first thing I checked and it's getting 110v at the plug. I'm assuming it's the controller because I have seen them go bad before, but NEVER an LED rope light...

I went ahead and ordered a new controller from coastal today, so hopefully that fixes the problem.
I would have tried to fix the current control myself before ordering the new one, but it's one of those units that's put together in china with glue and in order to get it apart you pretty much have to break it...
 
I hope it fixes the problem as well however, I have seen the ropes go bad. I have 3 Challenger candy cranes all three came in with the rope lites out. Fixed them with a few molex connectors and 3 sets of rope lights from Menards for 4.99 a piece. Good luck let us know if the controller fixed it.
 
anyone know of any good suppliers online for replacement stickers for machines? the two big ones I'm looking for now are:

.50 per play (the big one to stick on the glass)

and play till you win (typically seen on candy cranes)
 
Well, got the first rope light in from coastal amusements Monday, half of it was out as soon as I pulled it from the box, so they sent me a new one it came today, pulled it out and hooked it up and it's all good! (well it has one bad bulb but I'm not complaining)

Also got the new DBV installed and it works perfectly, all in all it came out pretty good, and I get to cross another project off the list!!

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice!!
Dave
 
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