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Thread: Ball Counter

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    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Ball Counter

    Now that I finally have my Julie The Pinball Pachinko machine, I'm interested in learning more about ball counters so I'm having an idea what I'm winning vs what I'm spending. I see there are battle counters and then there is also Dave's card reader emulator. Am I correct to understand that you can set this Dave's dongle in such a way that it can simply count the balls spent vs won (instead of showing credits spent) or do you need a battle counter for that? Also, given my location, where is the best place to buy one or the other?

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    Pachi Puro Moparformances's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    dongle works the ball loan system.. it has nothing to so with winning or counting winnings...\

    a daveRob dongle is a must have... buy one direct.. he ships fast and is super easy to deal with.. i have bought a few.. nothing better
    Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, .......... /........ If your not going to stand behind our troops
    ...committed people can change the world. ............. /.................Please, Please stand in front of them
    .....Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has............./
    .........................................Margaret Mead

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    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Quote Originally Posted by Moparformances View Post
    dongle works the ball loan system.. it has nothing to so with winning or counting winnings...\

    a daveRob dongle is a must have... buy one direct.. he ships fast and is super easy to deal with.. i have bought a few.. nothing better
    Ok so should I just buy the dongle without the card reader or does that not make much sense?

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    I was thrown out of Top Gear Drunkenclam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    The card reader is good if you have people round as the the dongle can be set so the shooter will not work unless a card is present. If you preload cards with credit and have multiple machines. Your guests can swap from one machine to another and take their credit with them. You don't need the cards other wise. You can add credit to a machines dongle either using the buttons on the front of the machine or adding a separate push button/keyswitch/coin or token acceptor. But if you turn a machine off and back on again. You lose the credits.
    Ian #UKPachinko

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    Pachi Puro Moparformances's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    for me the dongle is a must have... makes game play so much better not having to get balls all the time.. there a push button away..
    Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, .......... /........ If your not going to stand behind our troops
    ...committed people can change the world. ............. /.................Please, Please stand in front of them
    .....Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has............./
    .........................................Margaret Mead

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    Yob

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    Chicken Fried Steak takethecastle57's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Well it all comes down to how many times you have to refill the top ball tray in back of the machine .
    When things don't go right the 1st time , Step back ,Take a break and come back renewed. RGS

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    Yob

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    I was thrown out of Top Gear Drunkenclam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    The data counter is not an acurate way of measuring payouts. As it counts reel spins not start pocket hits. ie if you have the maximum amount of banked spins and you get the start pocket again. You will get the ball payout but the data counter will not get the impulse. Also there are no connections from the side pockets to the data counter.
    Ian #UKPachinko

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    Sandwich Shooter samslack's Avatar
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    Default

    I bought the dave rob emulator and card reader it will allow the lcd to work and you can press the button to eject balls into the tray and it just works out of the box the battle counter is what tracks fevers and balls pocketed in the start pocket.

    Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Quote Originally Posted by Yob View Post
    Ok so should I just buy the dongle without the card reader or does that not make much sense?
    I have the dongle without the card reader. I think it is a version 2, because it has a spot to plug something else into it. I only have 2 moderns...and I prefer vintage machines, so I don't feel like I ammissing anything. Read up on it at pinballdave (?), and see if you think it will be a benefit to you.

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    Sandwich Shooter samslack's Avatar
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    Default

    I have 4 cr machines that supported the readers i wanted a parlor feel for my guest for me it was more for the convenience i press a button and it spits balls out for me. I purchased the emulator and a card reader. Its really not much more to add but is a nice feature

    http://www.pinballdave.com/store/index.html

    Card reader




    Credits on the card and buttons that function as they did at the parlor


    The dongle may allow play it really depends what your looking to do.

    Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

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    Sandwich Shooter samslack's Avatar
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    Default



    Card out of reader

    smart cards the value stays on the card even when removed

    Different machine same card



    = awesome

    Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

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    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    LOL after seeing all the pics, I'm moving forward and ordering the card reader and dongle directly from Dave. I know it's a bit cheaper to buy it through Akimono at the moment but with Dave being such an active member always willing to help others, it just seems to make sense. Thank you everybody for all the pics, info, and PMs!

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    Master Inventor daverob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Thanks to everyone for all your kind words, and thanks to Yob for ordering a dongle

    I'm happy either way, if you order direct from me, or from Akimono. Frank and the guys at Akimono are good to deal with, and it can be more convenient to order from somewhere on the same continent.

    The price gap has narrowed a bit in the last few months, our currency on this side of the pond is attempting to become worthless and the change in the exchange rate covers the extra cost of international shipping (the post office will do it's best to remedy this discrepancy in due course!). I am worrying a little bit though, as I'm getting low in stock of the smartcard readers, and the prices of most of the components are linked to the Euro or Dollar. So with the combination of the exchange rates and ordering for smaller batch sizes some costs have doubled since the last batch was built two years ago.

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    Sandwich Shooter samslack's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    I never knew Akimono sold the readers good to know for future. I have bought a few machines from him and so far they are my favorite ones. They were in pretty good shape too.

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    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    I guess that means it is time to raise your prices!

    Quote Originally Posted by daverob View Post
    I am worrying a little bit though, as I'm getting low in stock of the smartcard readers, and the prices of most of the components are linked to the Euro or Dollar. So with the combination of the exchange rates and ordering for smaller batch sizes some costs have doubled since the last batch was built two years ago.

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    Master Inventor daverob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Quote Originally Posted by Yob View Post
    I guess that means it is time to raise your prices!
    I'm hoping it won't come to that. While it's true that it'll add a few dollars to the parts cost, the main costs are in assembly and testing, and all the fixtures and tooling have already been bought and paid for out of the margins on the dongles that have been built before. So I can probably afford to absorb the extra costs and keep the retail price the same.

    It might affect the price I sell to my overseas distributors, as there's less margin for me to play with. But the increase will be on the 'Pounds Sterling' price, and the fall in the exchange rate will mean that they will end up paying around the same price in Dollars or Euros as they did before, so they should be able to keep their local prices unchanged.

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  31. #17
    I was thrown out of Top Gear Drunkenclam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Ian #UKPachinko

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  33. #18
    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Quote Originally Posted by daverob View Post
    I'm hoping it won't come to that
    You can always move overseas to protect your pricing because after all, what can be more important than your Dongles, right?

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    Blind Shooter Yob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ball Counter

    Quote Originally Posted by Drunkenclam View Post
    Same comment as for Dave ... time to move

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