Given the Government mandate to close all pubs, clubs and casinos we thought it’d be useful to give you some tips on maintaining the health of your gaming machines. That way you can protect your investment and power up with fewer problems when you come back online again.
When gaming machines (EGMs) are powered down for an extended period it can affect the rechargeable battery used for the machine’s back-up memory.
Gaming products (EGMs, MTGMs & CRT’s) have a backup memory to ensure the machine retains specific legislative & meter information to comply with regionally specific regulatory requirements. All EGMs & MTGM’s powered down for an extended period will be reliant on the rechargeable battery used for the machine’s back-up memory.
OLGR advises that EGMs are designed to be powered on and if you turn them off, there is a risk of inadvertent failures to parts or the system of the machine – this increases the longer they are shutdown. While this may not be significant, each gaming machine may be affected differently.
After consulting with your LMO, if you choose to power off EGMs, you will be responsible for resolving any failures that may occur when the EGMs are brought back online.
Please read each individual manufacturers advice to help maintain the health of your machines.
IGT
Due to the nature of capacitors and NiMH type batteries used in an EGM’s major components, IGT recommends powering on all EGMs for a minimum of 4 hours every three days to allow batteries and capacitors to maintain charge.
This avoids memory backup corruption and component failures, which may lead to unexpected EGM down time when clubs, pubs and casinos come back online after this pandemic is over.
For any IGT EGMs 15 years or older - i.e. Game King, GU4 and bluechip (AU1) - IGT recommends avoiding powering down these EGMs where possible.
Why? The backup batteries in these older products may no longer function at a good capacity and replacement parts may be limited.
IGT also recommends that progressive controllers and IGT player tracking systems hardware are not powered down where possible.
ARISTOCRAT
EGMs should be powered on/off individually via their main power switch. Multiple EGMs should not be simultaneously powered on/off via the switchboard circuit breaker, as this can cause temporary loading issues to the EGM supply circuits.
Due to the nature of capacitors and NiMH type batteries used in an EGM’s major components, Aristocrat recommends powering on all EGMs for a minimum of 4 hours every three days to allow batteries and capacitors to maintain charge.
This should reduce the instances of memory backup corruption and component failure, which may lead to unexpected EGM down time when venues reopen. The backup batteries in older products may no longer function at optimum capacity or hold enough charge and replacement parts may be limited.
Third party, System or regulatory/monitoring devices e.g Link controllers, Graphic Servers, Monitoring Server & Equipment Racks, SMIBs and Venue specific PMM hardware should continue to be left powered on where possible.
If you are an Aristocrat VMS Systems customer can we ask that you, please keep your servers powered on and operational. This will ensure the integrity of the hardware is maintained.
KONAMI
On all Konami EGM main processor units/Mainboards there are two CR2032 3V batteries. These batteries are used for NV Rams and power down door detect circuit. To ensure these batteries are always kept in optimal condition, when the machine is powered on the batteries will receive a constant charge. If the machine is powered off, these batteries will keep all data in NV Ram minimum one month. If they have lost their charge, the data in NVRAMs on the board will be lost, the machine will have issues operating and the batteries will need to be replaced.
It is recommended if the machines are required to be powered off for long periods of time that the operator should have the machine powered up for 24 hours every three weeks. If this time frame is not possible, then alternatively having the machine powered on for 2-3 hours a day will suffice.
AINSWORTH
For the duration of the shutdown it is highly recommended that all machines are powered on once a week for a minimum of 8 hours or twice a week for 4 hours. This will greatly assist in ensuring longevity for continued operation when required to come back online.
An alternate option would be to place the EGM into sleep mode (where available). This allows only the machine’s processor to continue operating, keeping the batteries on the mainboard charging to hold machine configuration including meters and data.
ARUZE
Aruze recommends that you do not power machines down in accordance with OLGR’s and LMO’s advice.
SCIENTIFIC GAMING
During the Mandatory Shutdown Period, SG Gaming recommends the following for both our Electronic Gaming Machines (EGM) and Multi-Terminal Gaming Machines (MTGM):
- Machines can be turned off for extended period of time when not in use.
- Machines should preferably be turned ON/OFF individually using the main power switch inside each cabinet.
- As a precaution, machines should be powered up at least once every two weeks for an hour to ensure batteries recharge and critical data memory is retained in the machine logic
- Prior to resumption of normal trading, gaming machines should be powered up for at least 24 hours to ensure they are fully operational.
- At all times, should any error messages persists on gaming machine, please contact your Service Provider.
