Today I am going to show everyone how to install & wire in a bill acceptor in Williams WPC era machines that never originally came with a bill acceptor wiring harness installed or bill acceptor coin door. Please use common sense and follow good safety procedures. Be sure the machine is unplugged from the wall outlet before attempting this procedure.

Tools needed:
7/16" wrench to remove/install coin door assembly
Common slip joint pliers (for the squeeze taps)
Molex crimping tool for .093" terminals
Common side cutters
Wire strippers
Hacksaw

Parts needed:
1 Complete WPC coin/bill acceptor style coin door (with wiring harness)
1 Mars bill acceptor AC power & credit relay output harness (Mars # 01-12-139 or Happ Controls # 42-7057-00 or Pyramid Acceptors # 05AA0012)
2 Red squeeze taps (Radio Shack # 64-3053 or Home Depot SKU # 408604 or Gardner Bender # 15-2218)
1 Molex 3 position housing # 03-09-2032
2 Molex .093" male pin # 02-09-2118
10 Wire ties, 4"
1 Memory Protect Switch Bracket # 01-11271 (Marco Specialties)

Mars_harness.JPG

The first step is getting 120 volts AC power to the bill acceptor and having a way to connect the bill acceptor's credit relay output to the pinball machine's coin switch inputs. My example machine is a Williams "Funhouse" which never had a bill acceptor door nor did it have a harness for a bill acceptor.

Unplug the machine's AC power cord from the wall before you start work on this installation for safety.

Get your Mars # 01-12-139 Power/credit relay harness and undo the twist tie it was wrapped with. Now lay out the black power cord section of it. Carefully lay the black AC power cord section along the machine's existing wiring harness from the coin door and run along by the plumb bob tilt and down along the rear of the cashbox wood over to the power transformer area. The AC power plug on the end of the Mars power cord will be chopped off and discarded. Now to locate the wires in the machine that you will be obtaining your AC power for the bill acceptor from. Over at the power transformer are a black wire and a white wire that come from the power box. These two wires are your source of SWITCH controlled 120 volts AC power. Chop off the AC power plug that came on the end of the Mars wiring harness and slit the wires apart about 4 inches. The (usually) "ribbed" wire coming from the Mars connector pin 6 is the AC power neutral wire and will tap into the white wire going to the transformer. The other black wire ("unribbed" ) coming from the Mars connector pin 4 is the AC power hot wire and will tap into the black wire going to the power transformer. Use the red squeeze taps and your slip joint pliers to make the connection. See my pictures. Wiring this way will have the bill acceptor to turn on and off with the machine's power switch.

DBA power.JPG

The AC Power portion is now finished and we can now concentrate on wiring up the coin switch circuit to the bill acceptor's connector. Your WPC coin/bill door should already have a 3 position Molex .093" connector coming off it near the main coin door connector that normally plugs into the coin door interface board. This 3 position Molex connector is factory prewired to the "center coin switch" input going to the cpu board. You will need to crimp some male Molex .093" terminals (Molex # 02-09-2118) onto the yellow credit relay wires coming from the Mars harness. Then these will be installed into Molex housing # 03-09-2032. The yellow wire (credit relay common) from Mars connector pin 8 will go to the 3 position Molex housing at pin 3 (machine wire color there is black in Funhouse). The other yellow wire (credit relay normally open) from the Mars connector pin 7 will go to the 3 position Molex housing at pin 1 (machine wire color there is orange-red in Funhouse).

Now plug the male and female 3 position connectors together. Finish routing the Mars connector end of the cable to where the bill acceptor will mount on the coin door and carefully wire tie the harness up nice and neat.

DBA_center.JPG DBA_Mars_plugs.JPG

The next step is relocating the Memory Protect switch. Your old "twin coin acceptor only" door had the Memory Protect switch mounted in the upper left hand corner of the coin door frame. It must be moved to the lower left hand corner to allow the bill acceptors to fit and be able to close the door. To move the switch, simply disconnect the two wires attached to the switch after carefully noting which wire colors went to which terminals. Now you can carefully squeeze the mounting tabs of the switch and pull it out towards you. Unplug the old coin door and undo it's wiring harness from all the cable clamps. Get your 7/16" wrench and remove the 4 nuts and bolts holding the coin door to the machine. Remove the door and trade it out with the new WPC coin/bill door. Reinstall the bolts and nuts to attach the new door. You might need someone to hold the door for you while doing this.

Once the new door is securely mounted, close and lock it (playfield up so you can work inside the machine). Now you need to get the new Memory Protect switch mounting bracket # 01-11271) and temporarily install the Memory Protect switch into the bracket. This is so you can properly locate it in the cabinet and so the switch gets properly activated when the door is closed. Use a pencil to mark the mounting hole locations in the bracket. Now get a couple of small screws (#6 by 3/8" long should do fine) and attach the bracket at the marked location. Now you can reconnect the wires to the switch.

The final step will be to hacksaw off part of the lockdown bar latch handle. Because the new coin/bill door has both coin acceptors scooted over farther to the right, you will find it difficult to close and lock the coin door. The right hand coin acceptor entry trough hits the lockdown bar handle. Hacksaw off about 3/8" of the bottom of the lockdown bar latch handle as shown in the circled area of the picture. Now you can plug the machine's power cord back in.

DBA_hacksaw.JPG

The question now is what make/model of bill acceptor to use? The top cutout in the door is intended for "stackerless" style bill acceptors such as Mars VFM stackerless. Note that the VFM series will need to have an "enable jumper plug" installed on the bill acceptor in order to work. The lower cutout in the door is intended for "stackered" style bill acceptors such as Mars AE-2411-U3. They must be the 115 volts AC versions.

Please note that if you use a "used" coin/bill door, it might be missing the Williams/Entropy # 27-4921 Step Bracket which attaches to the door with 6-32 screws and activates the Memory Protect switch. Some machines like Demo Man use a dual Memory Protect/High Power Interlock bracket # 01-12676 (a.k.a. # A-18249-1 and A-18249-3) in place of 01-11271 bracket.

Your bill acceptor should be set to "1 pulse per dollar" and "always enabled". The bill acceptor pricing in the pinball software is "center coin chute".

I've been meaning to post this information for quite a while now, but never had the time to do it. So last week I went on location to the Funhouse I converted and photographed what I needed for posting here.

By the way, the Mars bill acceptor wiring harness can also be found dirt cheap on ebay.

If you have a Mars "VFM" stackerless bill acceptor, it requires this "enable" jumper in order to work in an amusement machine instead of a vending machine.

VFM_jump.JPG

One of these days I will have to get around to doing this on a Williams System 11 machine.

For older machines like the late 1970's and early 1980's, you can buy a side mount external bill acceptor enclosure and bolt it to the side of the cabinet. Here is one example mounting box from Happ Controls:

http://na.suzohapp.com/amusement_products/coin_doors/40-0448-00

Typically you bolt it to the right side of the cabinet (no tilt mechanisms to get in the way like on the left side of the machine). Then you drill about a 1" diameter hole in the cabinet to pass the bill acceptor wiring harness through and a couple of 1/4" diameter holes for mounting bolts to attach the box to the machine.

You can pick up a source of machine power switch controlled 120 volt AC power for the bill acceptor at the input of the power transformer in the pinball machine. The Mars 9 pin 120 VAC harness has two credit relay output wires (typically yellow & orange wires or two yellow wires) which you can connect across either the center coin chute switch (which was typically for the dollar coin) or to either of the quarter coin switches. If using the center coin switch, set the bill acceptor to 1 pulse per dollar. If using the quarter coin switch, set the bill acceptor to 4 pulses per dollar.

I'm just starting to do an installation of a Mars bill acceptor on an old Data East "Simpsons" pinball. I still have to take pictures and write down the parts needed. The test mode pushbutton switch assembly and the memory protect switches have to be relocated so that a bill acceptor can be fitted. Data East machines used Coin Controls brand coin doors whereas Williams used Entropy brand. I'm debating on whether to start a new thread or just attach it to this one.

I have taken into account the diode. I will be installing a 1N4001 diode in series with the White-Green wire on The Simpsons. The white-green wire is for the center coin switch.

No, sorry I never did a system 11. However, I did do that Data East Simpsons and had to use a stackerless Mars VFM bill acceptor since there was no way to close the coin door. There's no cutout in the playfield to allow a stackered bill acceptor to clear it and still be able to close the coin door.

Oh yeah, I forgot about JP. He was here at Welby's buying a bunch of new playfield glass from Welby last week and he got to talking with me. JP told me that he was using ICT brand bill acceptors which he gets in 12 volt DC stackerless versions dirt cheap.

http://www.ict-america.com/

JP says they work very well and fit all his coin doors perfectly.

If a person needs to use a 12 volt DC bill acceptor, you can add the +12 and power ground wires to the existing bill acceptor connector in the machine. Pin 5 is +12v and pin 9 is power ground.

Part numbers for the pins and connector:

Tyco/AMP (TE Connectivity) # 770987-1 Pin, 18-22 AWG (Mouser Electronics # 571-7709871)

If a new connector housing is needed:

Tyco/AMP (TE Connectivity) # 172161-1 Connector housing, 9 Position (Mouser Electronics # 571-1721611)

BA power positions (resized).JPG

BA connector pins (resized).JPG

I'm doing a Dr. Dude (System 11) right now for a bill acceptor. I don't have a Williams WPC style coin door to use, but I do have a brand new Happ Controls bill acceptor pinball door that I'm using. I've had to order some additional parts in order to relocate the diagnostic test switch assembly, but I have to wait for the order to arrive next week because of the Labor Day holidays. So far the new door install is coming along ok. Pictures and a new thread detailing system 11 bill acceptors installation probably next week.

If the GL5 has a faceplate with the snout opening in the center, it ought to work.

That's not going to work. The snout is in the wrong position. It won't fit a door that only has a bill acceptor cutout in the top of the door.

Yeh, I agree. You need a Mars "VFM" stackerless series such as the VFM1, VFM2, VFM3, etc. Be aware that stackered versions exist, but can only use a stackerless version due to that cutout hole in your door.

Contact the folks at Wachtor Electronics. They are an authorized Mars distributor and service center. Tell them you need to buy the "Fitted Bezel" for the Mars AE series of bill acceptors. The Fitted Bezel is more compact and squared off to fit that cutout in your coin door. Just 4 screws hold the bezel on the bill acceptor and it's quick, easy swap out.

http://www.wachtor.com/home.html

On some machines you might need to use a "stackerless" bill acceptor. In those cases, you leave the lid off of the cashbox so that the bills just fall into the cashbox.

https://www.dsvendinginc.com/p-2316-d250065014-marsmei-vn2511-bezel-kit.aspx