Slot Tech Magazine Editorial

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Page 4-MK7-400-1 Circuit Analysis
Page 12-Slot Tech Training at Isleta Casino
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D ear Friends of Slot Tech Magazine,

This month, I am presenting part one of a circuit

analysis of the SETEC MK7-400-1 power supply.
The last time I did this was quite a few years ago Randy Fromm
with the MK5 PFC unit so I figured it was time to
dive in again with this unit. There’s nothing like
writing a detailed circuit analysis to really learn
how something works. I hope you find it informa-
Next Training:
tive to read as well. Las Vegas, NV
September 26-29 at
How it breaks is, of course, an entirely different Tuscany Suites & Casino
matter and not so much the subject of this series.
Much has been written about the components See slot-techs.com for details
that commonly fail (both here in Slot Tech Maga-
zine and on the Slot Tech Forum) so if you’re just
Randy Fromm's
looking for a list of parts to replace and don’t care
Slot Tech Magazine
about how the thing works, you may not be inter-
ested in this month’s offering.
Editor
Also, the next Regional Slot Tech class on power Randy Fromm
supply and LCD monitor repair will be in Las Technical Writers
James Borg, Todd Brooks, Wilder
Vegas, Nevada at the Tuscany Suites Casino, Contreras, Chuck Lentine, Pat
September 26-29, 2017. A class schedule and Porath
enrollment form is available on the website.
NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE REQUIRED. Slot Tech Magazine is published monthly
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 Slot Tech Feature Article
MK7-400-1 Circuit Analysis
J
ust the mention of this
power supply often
strikes terror into the
hearts of slot techs. I’m just
kidding, of course but as is
typical for SETEC, this
power supply is far from
simple to understand
completely. In this
discussion, we’ll be looking
at the design of the power
supply and the theory of
operation to the best of my
understanding. I fully
recognize that a: I might be
somewhat (or completely)
incorrect in my
understanding of some of
the circuitry and b: I might
not understand the circuit
at all in which case, I will
admit my lack of
comprehension and, if it’s a
non-failure item, move on
in the discussion.
Corrections are appreciated
and will be published
subsequently.
It’s easy to divide just about
switching power supply into
two, cleanly separated (and
“isolated” as we’ll see later)
parts known as the
“primary” and “secondary.”
In general, the primary side
is the high-voltage side
(although there are plenty
of exceptions to this, as
you’ll see) and is the input
side of the power supply.
The secondary is the output
side of the power supply.
Standing between the two
are ferrite-core power
transformers and opto-
isolators. The schematic
Page 4
diagram(s) for the primary
and secondary are each on
their own sheet so let’s look
at the primary side first.
EMI Filters
There is a lot of EMI
filtering in this power
supply. This is a zero-
failure item so just relax as
we discuss the circuitry. It
is the nature of switching
power supplies such as this
to produce huge amounts
of “Electro-Magnetic
Interference” or “EMI.” Any
time you switch current on
and off across an inductor
(such as the primary
winding of the power
transformers we use in
switching power supplies)
you create a gigantic
voltage spike. That is
because at one point
during the operating cycle,
you have an inductor (a coil
of wire with a magnetic core
made from a ceramic-iron
mixture called “ferrite”) that
is surrounded by a
magnetic field. The
strength of this magnetic
field is controlled by the
switching transistor(s). This
is typically an N-channel
MOSFET but may be a
conventional BJT or IGBJT
as well. If you’re unfamiliar
with those terms, don’t
sweat it. Suffice it to say
that they’re just different
types of semiconductor
switches.
When the transistor is
Slot Tech Magazine
turned off, the magnetic
field collapses and the
magnetic energy is
converted into electrical
energy by the coils of
copper wire. In the process,
all switched-mode power
supplies produce a crap-
load of high-frequency EMI.
If radical steps weren’t
taken to prevent it from
getting out of the power
supply, the EMI would
wreak havoc on the rest of
the system with spurious
voltage spikes and other,
often unpredictable
weirdness such as systems
resetting by themselves or
“freezing up” or displaying
strange graphics anomalies.
This power supply has a lot
of very aggressive line
filtering. As we’ll see
momentarily in this
discussion, the first
“switchy” thing we’re going
to look at is the Power-
Factor Correction (PFC)
circuit. PFC creates high-
frequency EMI up the ying-
yang so we need a robust
line filter here. Please
remember that none of this
fails.
There are a couple of stages
of line filtering (by “line” we
are referring to the “AC
power line.” This is known
as “The Mains” in many
parts of the world. It’s the
120 VAC here in USA). In
general, a typical AC Line
Filter consists of capacitors
(not electrolytic capacitors-
August 2017
August 2017 Slot Tech Magazine Page 5
not wet inside-not a failure
item) and inductors (also
known as “chokes” as they
will “choke off” or “block”
any undesirable, high-
frequency EMI but pass the
low-frequency, 50-60Hz AC
we need to power the unit).
In this power supply, the
line filters are L2, L3 and
L6 and their associated
capacitors. This is a
standard design. AC power
comes in to the filter and
the same AC power comes
out. The only thing it does
is remove EMI.
Power Factor Correction
Power Factor Correction
(PFC) is an active circuit
that controls the way the
primary filter capacitor(s)
are charged. Rather than
being charged by the 120
Hz peaks of the full-wave
rectified AC power line, the
PFC circuit sort of “chops”
the primary current flowing
into the filter capacitor,
allowing for a smoother
charging without obnoxious
peaks in charging current.
Uncorrected, these peaks in
current cause a crazy issue
called “third harmonics.”
Third harmonics are
essentially a wasteful loss
of energy in an AC
distribution system caused
by thousands of switching
power supplies (as in a
casino) all drawing a peak
of current at precisely the
same time. It’s sort of like
ringing a bell and it creates
AC currents that run
through the power system
but don’t do any actual
work.
Does your casino have
problems such as buzzing
Page 6
or humming on P.A. or
sound systems, monitors
that look like they wave or
computers halting for no
apparent reason? These
could be signs of Harmonic
Distortion in the casino
power distribution system.
The switched-mode power
supplies slot machines may
be the direct cause of the
harmonic distortion.
Harmonic Distortion is
distortion of the 60 Hz 120-
volt sine wave that provides
power throughout the
casino. In the ideal world of
AC power, the power
company will provide a
perfect sinusoidal waveform
at 60 Hertz. With typical
linear loads such as
resistive heating and
incandescent lights,
current is in phase with the
voltage of the AC sine wave.
However, electronics is
anything but perfect. Inside
slot machines, we operate
one or more (likely WAY
more) of the worst causes of
harmonic distortion,
switched-mode power
supplies. The switching
power supplies that run the
electronics in our slot
machines cause harmonic
distortion in the 60 Hz, 120
VAC power throughout the
casino.
The cause of harmonic
distortion is a load that
draws a non-sinusoidal
current. The non-sinusoidal
current causes a non-linear
relationship between the
voltage and current thus
giving the harmonic
distortion usually in the
180-hertz or third
harmonics of the AC
voltage. The use of diodes
Slot Tech Magazine
and filtering capacitors
cause current to spike near
the peak voltages, both
positive and negative.
In this power supply, the
PFC circuit surrounds
MOSFET Q2. Integrated
circuit U1 (UCC28513)
provides the gate drive to
Q2. U1 is a dual-function
device that handles both
the PFC function and, as
we’ll see later in the
discussion, the familiar
PWM (Pulse-Width
Modulation) function that
we find in virtually all
modern power supplies.
This IC is sort of the “heart”
of the power supply and
much of the rest of the
circuitry is meant to
support the conditions it
requires for proper
operation and protection
circuitry should the power
supply encounter some sort
of problem such as an
external short circuit. You’d
hate to see all those lovely
MOSFETs go up in a cloud
of smoke because someone
pinched a wire in a slot
door.
Look at the circuit made
from MOSFET Q2 and its
associated controller, U1. It
kind of looks like it is its
own SMPS, doesn’t it?
However, the drain of the
MOSFET is connected to an
inductor (a coil), L4. What’s
this all about?
This, my friends, is a tricky
little circuit called a “boost “
power supply. In this case,
it’s more specifically called
a “follower boost.” We are
using the coil’s ability to
store energy, not as a
charge (as we do with a
August 2017
August 2017 Slot Tech Magazine Page 7
capacitor) but in the form of
a magnetic field.
Our goal here is to change
the way the monitor’s filter
capacitor draws current
from the bridge rectifier
and, subsequently, the AC
(mains). We’re looking for a
way to boost the pulsating
DC output of the bridge
rectifier so that instead of
charging the filter capacitor
with narrow, harmonic-
producing spikes of
current, we have a steady
flow of current flowing from
the bridge rectifier into the
filter capacitor.
We accomplish this feat by
pulsing MOSFET Q2. When
Q2 is turned on, current
will flow from the positive
output of the bridge
rectifier, through L4 and
through Q2 to ground. The
coil is our load and it builds
up a nice big magnetic
field. When Q2 is turned
off, the magnetic field
collapses. This rapidly
collapsing magnetic field
slices across the coils of
copper wire and turns the
coil into an electric
generator in a process
called “induction.” This
newly generated voltage
(you can kind of think of
the coil as a battery for this
moment in time) is now IN
SERIES with the output of
the bridge rectifier and,
just like two or more dry
cell batteries in series in a
flashlight, the voltages are
added together. It’s called a
“follower boost” circuit
because this newly
generated voltage is added
to the incoming voltage. If
the incoming AC rises, the
boost follows along, rising
as well. We don’t care about
Page 8
regulating the voltage at
this point because we’re
going to do that next with
the PWM part of the power
supply.
There is a notable
difference between the way
this circuit operates and
the way the PWM controller
works. PWM is just what it
says; it is pulse-width
modulation. The operating
frequency remains constant
while the duty-cycle of the
pulse is shortened or
lengthened in order to
maintain a regulated
output voltage.
In the boost circuit, the
pulses (the “on” time of the
MOSFET) are of a fixed
width but they come more
rapidly when a large boost
is needed and not at all
when the AC sine wave is at
its peak.
The result is that we are
taking a sine wave in and
producing a constant
voltage out and the upshot
of this whole thing is that
instead of charging the
filter capacitor only during
the brief peak period of the
AC sine wave, we can keep
a constant charge on it and
substantially reduce (or
eliminate altogether) the
third-harmonic content of
the system. This is known
as “active power factor
correction” or PFC.
Since this is a “boost”
circuit, the output voltage
can be set by the designer.
In this case, it’s +400 VDC.
That’s really dangerously
high and caution is
required for any “power-on”
testing in this area. Under
normal operating
Slot Tech Magazine
conditions, this voltage
remains at +400, regardless
of the AC input voltage
(120VAC or 240VAC). This
gives 15% headroom over
the 340VDC you would
expect at the primary of a
power supply without PFC,
connected to 240VAC
“mains.” Regulation is not
important at this time. That
comes later during the
PWM stages that follow.
Other Things of Interest
Notice that U1 gets its
power (Vcc) at pin 9 from
the little power supply
directly above it on the
schematic diagram.
Integrated circuit U2
(ICE2B265) is in charge
here. It is using +400VDC
to create a low-voltage
power supply (+18VDC)
called PVcc. U2 is a cool
little device called an “Off-
Line SMPS Current Mode
Controller.” Basically, this
is a little controller that is
used to create a little power
supply that is only used
internally, inside the power
supply unit itself. It is only
used to power the devices
inside the power supply. Its
output never actually exits
the power supply.
You won’t get the +400VDC
if this section isn’t working.
The sequence of events is
that U2 fires up first, using
just the “unboosted” DC
from the bridge rectifier,
D1. It does this through a
series-string of 100K
resistors, R47-50 plus R170
(get the feeling there’s an
“oops” in there,
somewhere?) connected
between the +400VDC
primary DC and pin 7 of
U2. The device works on a
August 2017
 Figure 11

August 2017 Slot Tech Magazine Page 9

wide range of power supply
voltages, between 8.5VDC
and 21 VDC so as soon as
the primary DC begins to
come up, U2 kicks in,
providing the Vcc for U1
which, in turn, kicks the
PFC circuit into action,
boosting the primary
voltage from approximately
+165VDC (approximately
330VDC where AC power is
220VAC) to the “boosted”
primary voltage of
+400VDC. Existence of the
+400VDC primary is one of
the first things you should
check (after a “power-off”
test of all electrolytic
capacitors and likely
semiconductor failures, of
course. It’s best to never
work on this power supply
“power on” if you can help
it. The same holds true for
all gear, as far as I’m
concerned. Test the “usual
suspects” (electrolytic
capacitors and power
semiconductors mounted
on heat sinks) first. If you
can’t get it working that
way, it’s time to resort to
“real” troubleshooting.
There are +400VDC test
points noted on the layout
diagram. For goodness
sake, be careful here.
By the way, U2 has a
feedback input at pin 2. It
is always “looking” at the
5VSB output of this same
little supply (derived from
an additional secondary
winding on transformer T3.
We’ll look at this schematic
in a future article). This
supply has to be working as
well or the whole thing goes
wonky. If C227 is bad, the
whole shooting match goes
bad along with it.
Page 10
Other Stuff
U3 and U4 form
the “Power Fail”
signaling
circuit. In a slot
machine, we
have to know
when the AC
power has failed
so we can
quickly put everything to
bed in an orderly fashion.
We have to store conditions
such as the credits and the
operating mode of the
game. When power is
restored, the game come up
precisely as it was before
the power failure.
“How do it know?” Simple.
Do you see the string(s) of
resistors (R52-R59)
connected to pin 9 of U3?
These resistors form a
100:1 voltage divider and
allow the LM393 comparitor
to look at the +400VDC
power supply (now just
4VDC at pin 9) and
compare it to the 7.5VDC
reference voltage that is
generated by U1 at pin 20.
If the 4VDC is missing, the
LED in U4 lights up. On
the other end of the opto-
isolator U4, the
phototransistor turns on,
sending current to the base
of Q205, dragging the
PF_SIGNAL line low. This
“active-low” connection goes
to the game’s CPU to signal
a power loss.
Note: One of the commonly
repeated designs in this
power supply involves the
use of a series (or series-
parallel) string of resistors
on both the primary and
secondary sides of the
power supply. They are
used in “start-up” circuits
Slot Tech Magazine
where the only power that
exists when first energized
comes from the primary.
They are used (as you see
here) to monitor the
+400VDC supply as well. In
both of these situations, we
are depending on these
resistors to divide high
voltage down to low voltage.
This can be a bugaboo.
These resistors are always
drawing current as part of a
voltage divider and, as
such, are subject to failure.
In general, bad resistors
will open circuit. If the
bottom end of the voltage
divider open-circuits, the
low-voltage input (of an IC,
for example) can get
slammed with high voltage
and be destroyed. It’s not
unusual to see massive
destruction when that
happens.
Any time I see these things
I (almost) always throw an
ohmmeter on them to see if
they’re good or if they’re
open. It’s a safe, power-off
test that just takes a few
seconds. You don’t have to
check each resistor. Just
just the whole string from
end to end. If there’s an
open resistor, you’ll see the
increase in resistance, then
you can narrow it down to a
single component. -STM
Part 2 next month
August 2017
August 2017 Slot Tech Magazine Page 11
 Slot Tech Event
Slot Tech Training at Isleta Casino
F
or some reason, we had
just six people sign up
for the Regional Slot
Tech Training in Albuquer-
que, New Mexico in July. No
Page 12
matter, we had a blast any-
way.
Attending the class were
Justin Latoma and Chrishell
Chavez from nearby San
Slot Tech Magazine
Felipe Casino, Gina
Frothingham and Henry Han
Pam from Grand Victoria
Casino in Elgin, Illinois and
Jeremy Yara and John
Sanchez from Isleta Casino.
August 2017
 Henry Han Pam Grand Victoria
Justin Latoma (San Felipe Casino) John Sanchez Isleta Casino
Casino

Jeremy Yara Isleta Casino

August 2017 Slot Tech Magazine Page 13

Subscriptions & Back Issues
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Additionally, current and future articles more-or-less assume that readers are already familiar
with what has been covered in past issues. This editorial policy assures that Slot Tech
Magazine's contributing writers are not limited to "writing down" to the level of a novice
technician but are free to continue to produce the most comprehensive technical articles in
the gaming industry.

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 Regional Slot Tech Training
Attend or Sponsor a Class Near You!
Las Vegas, NV-September 26-29, 2017
at Tuscany Suites Casino
Chicago, IL-November 6-9, 2017
New Orleans, LA-December 6-8, 2017
This is a “fast-track” class for slot
techs who want to learn the
quick and easy way to fix moni-
tors and power supplies without
having to learn a lot of electronic
theory or mathematics.
If you are interested in sponsor-
ing a regional class at your
property, please contact Randy
Fromm for details. There is no
actual cost involved.
Class Schedule 9:00am-4pm Daily
Day 1-Beginning Electronics for
Slot Machine Technicians
This segment assumes that you have
no previous electronics training and
takes you through a simple, NO MATH
look at electronic components, elec-
tronic circuits, schematic diagrams and
more!
Using a Digital Multimeter
The DMM is the single most important
piece of test equipment you can use.
Electronic Components
All of the individual components used
in gaming machines are introduced.
Students learn how to test them for
proper operation.
Day 2-Diodes, Transistors & Other
Semiconductors
Hands-on Transistor Testing Lab
This part of the school takes a look at
all of the different types of semiconduc-
tors commonly seen in gaming ma-
chines. We'll take a look at the opera-
tion of each component, along with test-
ing procedures to determine if the part
is good or bad.
NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF
ELECTRONICS IS REQUIRED
2017 Class Schedule
Locations TBA and subject to change
If you are interested in sponsoring one of these regional
classes at your property, please contact Randy Fromm
S
ince 2001, Slot Tech Magazine has been holding slot tech
training classes at casinos across the USA. These classes
have mostly been held at larger properties with a dozen or
more slot techs from their own slot department attending the class.
In order to serve our smaller cainos (with, perhaps, just a few
techs) we are now holding regional classes that are open to all slot
techs that wish to attend.
This is the full, four-day class that covers power supply repair and
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To Enroll: Download the enrollment form at slot-techs.com
Day 3-Soldering Includes free component tester!
Good soldering technique takes
practice but there are some tricks Cost of the Program
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along. During this segment, each Includes:
student will be provided with their Digital Multimeter
own soldering supplies and some fun Soldering iron, tools and soldering
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rent kits include a versitile compo- Sample components
nent tester that can be used along- Soldering Instruction Kit
side the DMM to test electrolytic Component Tester Kit
capacitors, semiconductors, resis- Textbook
tors and other components. This
equipment will be theirs to keep. This Students are responsible for their own
is a VALUABLE shop tool. meals and lodging.
Day 4-Morning Session-Power If you’re interested, please contact Randy
Supplies Fromm right away. It’s first-come, first-
This module covers all types of power served and there is a limited number of
supplies, including linear power sup- places available in each class.
plies and the Switched-Mode Power
Supply (SMPS) found in virtually ev- Randy Fromm
erything in a modern casino. Slot Tech Magazine
401 W. Lexington Ave. #777
Day 4-Afternoon Session-LCD El Cajon, CA 92022
Monitor Repair 619.838.7111
LCD Monitor repair is generally pretty
easy thanks to their modular design. You can fax a PO to 619.315.0410 and we’ll
This segment covers the theory of invoice you. Be sure to include the student’s
operation of LCD monitors. There will name.
be a presentation on component-
level repair techniques, CCFL test-
ing and replacement and using LED
strips as backlights.