Autostop comparisons

[autoslot]

Yes, you are correct, the number is limited........TO ONE MILLION!

To quote the Microcontroller Manufacturer:

" High Endurance FLASH/EEPROM Cell
- 100,000 write FLASH endurance
- 1,000,000 write EEPROM endurance
- FLASH/Data EEPROM Retention: > 40 years"

The FLASH is used to program the chip..it can be re-programmed 100,000 times.
The EEPROM is where the settings are stored and only written to when changes to the settings are made.

I don't think you can wear it out in your lifetime!

[delphicoder]

I had no idea it was that high. Takes care of my concern.

[Firewire]

Thanks Vince for the Pachitalk link on your site!

[cwstnsko]

I got one of each of Vince's new cable and DIY kit. I'm running away for the weekend, so I can't be verbose, but The cable now works with all of my machines :-) The DIY kit is nicely done, and it does swap directly for the other chip! So far so good, I'll report more on Sunday PM

[logicprobe]

Delphi...

When Autostop first posted that he was using a chip that would hold changed settings (non-volatile), I thought about that "limited write" thing too. Last time I checked specs on PICs, there was a limit that seemed like it might cause a problem here.

So, I went and checked out the spec sheets.

I was both shocked, and pleasantly surprised, when I found that Microchip changed that spec on maximum flash and maximum write. It opens up a whole new possibility for a lot of projects. Time to order some new samples.

Sounds like a winner.

[Czyotto]

I got AutoSlot DYI kit today and floped out the "other chip. It works great, now I don't have to reset every time I turn it off.

Great job.

I am still waiting on Spooner's mod. I hope everything is OK with his father-in-law.

[autoslot]

I'm back in town and have received my order of chips and sockets. You can order directly from my web site using Pay Pal (accepts major credit cards).

$8 Bare Bones: Programmed Chip and socket
$9 DIY Kit: Chip, socket wire and connectors
$39.95 AutoSlot Cable: Plug and Play
$5 Flat rate shipping to PachiTalk members, no matter how many items you buy.

Visit my web site for more details.

www.autoslot.info/pachitalk.htm

Vince

[cwstnsko]

Just to bring this topic up to date.

I got several of Autoslots $9 kits to play with

http://www.autoslot.info/DIY.htm

I have to tell you it's a great autostop kit at a great price. All the wire you need is included, and the taps and spade connectors make wiring the start lever and credit mod much easier than any other way I've tried.)

I'm still waiting for Vince to finish the "deluxe" version of the cable Autoslot that supports higher voltages on the coin sensors, and more than 2 coin sensors. He tells me it's in the works, but it'll cost a little extra since there's more components involved.

Pachislo.com left me a voice mail the other day saying that their new auto-stop was in the prototype stages. They're supposed to be sending me one as soon as they have it ready. There's a picture of what looks to be a new design on their web-site, but the item is not available for order yet.

http://www.pachislo.com/pachislo/autostop.html

After 8 days, I haven't recieved the "universal" auto-stop yet from slotsdirect.com. I'll have to give them a call and see what's up.

PachisloUSA.com still appears to be down.

I'm definetly getting spoiled by having credit mods on most of my machines. I no longer need mountains of Tokens to enjoy my toys. I like to have about 1000 per machine to keep the hopper well stocked, but could easily sustain play with as little as 500. I rarely open the doors on my machines these days.

[Lazarus]

Is the wire used in the kit stranded wire or solid? Will there be a better price if I buy in quantity?

[autoslot]

The wire is stranded. I'm really not offering a multiple item discount, but I do have $5 flat rate shipping, regardless of how many items you buy.
(I would consider a discount for dealers buying large quantities.)

(Thanks Chris for the nice write-up.)

Vince

[cwstnsko]

All of the wire included in the kits I recieved is from computer ribbon cable. It is about 24 gauge and stranded. I've tried several different types of wire, and this is about as easy to work with as any. The solid stuff they use telephone punch-down panels isn't bad either. Solid can be a little easier to manage for attaching the leads of the socket to the components on the board, but the stranded ribbon cable is perfect for routing around the machine and down to the front panel. It'd be nice to find something that had a little higher-temp insulation so it didn't shrink up so much when heated, but that's just getting picky

Vince will have to pipe up on the pricing. I'm just a satisfied customer.

[pachitom]

I had a problem with the chips working in my Azteca. Vince sent a replacement chip that he made a mod to which took care of the problem and now works great.
Vince is super to work with and he ships FAST.
Thanks.. Tom (PachiTom)

[cwstnsko]

No reason to pick up the phone, the Slotsdirect.com autostop was in my mailbox when I got home

Quick Preview;
It is a PCB board based auto-stop similar to the basic Autoslot Cable in that it connects between the machine and the reel stop board with no other connections required. Rather than being attached to a cable, the PCB board has a ribbon cable style plug on one side and a socket on the other. All of the components are right there in the open. It consists of a transistor, a diode, a chip and a capacitor.

This autostop has a very basic feature set. It can be turned on and off. It turns off automatically if you hit a button when the reels are spinning and it has to be turned back on before it will stop the reels again. It always stops the reels left to right, but there seems to be a little randomization of the timing of the stops. The timing is not adjustable. It seems to wait 1.5-2 seconds to stop the 1st reel, and it has about 1/3 of a second between reel stops. There is no credit add feature.

After I play with it in several of my machines, I can comment on how "universal" it is.

The only flaw I see so far is that the plug that connects it to the reel stop board is not keyed, so it could easily be installed backwards if the user were not paying attention to the orientation of things.

Bottom line. This is very basic autostop that can be installed without altering anything on the machine. It has simple controls, so it could be easily explained to customers that don't want all the fancy features.

Initially I dropped it into a Rodeo / Sammy machine, it works great. Tonight, I'll play with it a few other brands of machines and take a few pictures.

There's probably a niche for this one, but the basic cable version of the Autoslot has more features for $20 less. Autoslot also gives you the option of adding the credit add feature if you're willing to attach 2 clips to 2 wires on the coin mechanism.

[monaghj]

Personally if you want Autostops and Bandit arms to make your Pashilo over to a Vegas style you should consider just getting a vegas machine. I like my Pashilos just the way they are. Skill stops are fun. Tokens are fun. I think the machine loses something if there is no coin action.

@ http://www.slotmachines4less.com/igt.htm you canl get real vegas unit that accepts quarters and a bill validator. Shiping available to 48 states. To your door for 850. If you don't care about the Bill Validator you can get into this for 650.. and by the time you buy the mods, risk frying them or the machine + the loss of Saturday. I would just much rather having a number of the pashilos and contrast them against the vegas unit.

One of my friends once said to me "Hey you got a couple of the real ones". My response is that they are both real - just different. By the time he left he was hooked on Pashilo since he knew he was in control of winning vs blind luck.

I think it would be neat to have someone open a pachinko/pashilo parlor in vegas (with the obvious Japanese theme) and see if it would fly. I bet it would.

[cwstnsko]

Everyone develops there own likes and dislikes on these machines. I hate the idea of attaching a Bandit Arm. I love good volume control mods that allow me to play when others are watching TV. I appreciate Pachislos both with and without autostops. Autostops are nice during the long runs between chance modes. Based on my experience, I personally do not believe that I can influence the pay-out by more than a few percent by eye-shooting. I think credit add features are great, but I recognize that just like cyclic usage in Pachinkos, credit add features are not universally appreciated.

For me it was rapidly becoming a matter of econmics. For every machine I was buying, I was spending another $60 to have enough tokens to play without having to open the door all the time. With a $9 credit add mod, I can easily live with the 500 or so tokens that the machine comes with. If I do the mod on 3 or 4 machines, I've saved enough to buy another machine.

Living in AZ, I have easy access to Vegas slots for home use, but I actually find them to be quite boring. There's not really much depth to the games. This is where Pachis are different. Even the machines I've owned for months still have new tricks up their sleeves every week.

At some point, my investigation of "universal" auto-stops became less about finding good autostops for my machines, and it turned into a quest of sorts to document what was available and how they compare to each other. I feel that there are some vendors that are taking advantage of poorly informed customers and charging them excesive amounts of $$ to install inferior, machine specific autostops in their machines.

Pachis with autostops are still pachis. They'll never be a Vegas slot (thank goodness)

If you haven't tried a machine with auto-stop and credit add feature, maybe you should give one a try and see what you think. worst case scenario, you won't like it and you'll turn it off.

I have yet to show a machine with a credit add autostop to a pachi enthusiest that didn't want one added to his/her favorite machine.

[cwstnsko]

I had a problem with the chips working in my Azteca. Vince sent a replacement chip that he made a mod to which took care of the problem and now works great.
Vince is super to work with and he ships FAST.
Thanks.. Tom (PachiTom)

With the early Autoslot cable, I had to put my Outlaw into "perpetual stop signal" mode (similar to PachisloUSA w/o pin 4 wired) to get it to work. I'm glad to hear that it doesn't have that problem anymore.



The Slotsdirect autostop seems to work fine in the Azteca, 2 manufacturers down, 4 to go :-)

[Tulsa]

Like bandit arms and coin conversions, I find the auto-stop an abomination. Now I do like the idea of the credit add feature. It does not take away from the natural play of the machine and does as you pointed out reduce your overall costs.

Now if I could just get a credit add only mod..

[Jazzy Jay]

>Now if I could just get a credit add only mod..<

Now that'd be really cool !

[Lazarus]

The auto stop mod can be put on without wiring up the auto stop part and only wiring up what is needed for the credit mod to work.