Play Meter

Issue: 1981 April 01 - Vol 7 Num 6

Topics: Technical Troubleshooting- Business Records- Computers
- Depreciation- Leagues & Tournaments -Investment- Tokens-
Jim Sneed. See sessions 104, 204,
and 304.
Seminar 405
Making the Street Arcade Profitable
for the Operator. Rich Babich,
president of Automated Amuse-
ments/ Denver, looks into the
difficulties many operators have had
in establishing a profitable street
arcade. Discussion will be given to
potential locations, equipment
needs, promotion, and the overall
stability of any given operation.
Saturday Sessions: 9-10:30 a.m .
Seminar 501
Business Forms and Record
Keeping. A panel of successful
operators will explain how they have
organized their routes to boost their
record-keeping abilities. Moderator
will be Michael A. Babich , CPA, of
Denver. Efficient use of forms will be
demonstrated along with the use and
evaluation of the information that is
gathered.
Seminar 502
Electronics - How Times Have
Changed. If you feel lost in the ins
and outs of solid state, a seminar for
you is held by Jay Hannah, service
manager for Automated Amuse-
ments/ Denver. Designed for the
owner/ operator rather than the
technician, baffled by the technology
jumble of today. Material covered
will include hiring technicians ,
reliable suppliers, how to save
money on board repair, and "what to
avo id"- for example , so-called
discount items. An overview of the
terms and uses of electronics will
also be presented in order to
acquaint the operator with what his
technician is talking about.
Seminar 503
Starting and Managing the
Arcade The arcade operation has
different aspects from other new
ventures that are also managed on
sound business practices. Steve
Isaacson, general manager of S .L.
London Music Co., will examine
topics such as determining locations,
construction, licensing, purchasing,
management, and game mix and
traffic flow .
Seminar 504:
How You Can Benefit from a Pool
League. A pool league has been
recognized as a viable means of pro-
ducing revenue and enhancing
public relations. Richard Hawkins,
president of D&R Star, will discuss
the specific benefits to the operator
and the location, as well as the best
means to take advantage of the pool
PLAY METER NEWS UPDATE
league promotion.
Seminar 505
Negotiating Commissions with
Locations. In terms of inflationary
costs, operators will be instructed by
Stephen Goat in how to explain their
situation to locations in a plain and
logical manner. The president of
Total Vending Services, Inc. will also
discuss establishing weekly
minimums and assessing service
charges.
Saturday Sessions: 4:30-6 p.m .
Seminar 601
The Hit Syndrome. How many hits
does an operator buy, past the point
of their economic justification to
him? How many sales does a
distributor lose on good game pieces
that are less than runaway hit
attractions? Ray Hibarger of Hanson
Distributing will take on the topic of
" the hit syndrome" and define it from
both the impact on route operations
and distributor sales. He will offer an
outline for coping with the hit
syndrome and discuss "Is it good or
bad?"
Seminar 602
Practical Solid State Amusement
Repair. Randy Fromm of San Diego
Arcade School will stress the
efficient use of the digital multimeter
instead of a lot of expensive equip-
ment to diagnose problems in all
types of coin-op amusement games.
Workshop highlights will include
testing diodes and transistors ,
troubleshooting power supplies,
testing integrated circuits, and
troubleshooting audio circuits .
Seminar 603
Token Operations: An Alternative
for Profit. As an itern for promotion,
cash control, and security, the
token's use in operating will be
examined by Eric !vary, Sega
Centers' director of operations .
Details will be shared on "how a
private money system can work to
generate increased revenues."
Seminar 604
Return on Investmen t and Business
Profitability. The age-old question
of when to rotate a piece of equip-
ment will be discussed in depth, as
well as when to sell equipment.
Charles Ross , a successful operator
and management consultant, has
developed a system he will explain
for how to make these vital decisions
for greater profit in an amusement
games operation. The course
material has been developed to tie
into Ross's seminar sessions 105 and
305.
Seminar 605
Computer-Assisted Management
Systems for the Mid-size Operator.
A computer management system
will be discussed that will allow
tracking of when equipment needs to
be moved, where it has been, when it
has been collected, and what is its
location-for little or no more
additional expense than an
operation's current bookkeeping
costs. Moderator Rich Babich will
lead discussion of entry forms,
hardware needed, and software and
output information during this
session. The seminar will be geared
for the 200-to-1,000 piece operation.
Seminar 606
Arcades- An Equipment Strategy
for the 80s. Opposing points of view
will be presented by Steve Isaacson
and Jon Daugherty, as to an overall
strategy for the arcade of the 1980s.
Questions dealing with equipment
location, high play pricing versus
diminishing returns, and methods of
disposing of used equipment will be
discussed at length.
All sessions will be held in the
Hyatt Regency Hotel, located at 500
Poydras Plaza , New Orleans .
Registrants for seminars will auto-
matically receive Exhibit Hall
admission badges with their tickets.
The Amusement Operators Expo
will provide a full schedule for the
attendee. But the city has much to
offer for the industry persons who
also want to enjoy local color and
flavor during those days, or in the
evenings.
"Lagniappe" is the local phrase, a
Cajun term meaning "a little some-
thing extra," like 14 oysters for the
price of a dozen , or a free play. And
lagniappe is what is offered in sights,
sounds, and tastes- a riot of
pleasures for the visitor, all within
walking distance or a short taxi ride
from the AOE Show site.
Not the least of the bonuses is the
food . New Orleans enjoys its food,
and its restaurateurs love to serve
fine dishes from excellent seafood to
the hearty Creole menus.
Then there are the sights and
activities. Here you can bring your
family, your special flame , or your
Cousin Kate and find enjoyment for
an afternoon- or as long as you
please.
Guides to the city and its sights are
included in the March 1981 issue of
PLAY METER, and the April issue
which previews the AOE.

7
DIGITAL CIRCUIT DESIGN COURSE: LESSON TWO
Semiconductor Diodes
Editor's No te : The m aterial below is a serialization of th e Kurz Kasch c orrespondence course for electronics. designed speci fica lly for the coin -
operated am usement industry. Th is course is copyrighted and owned by Kurz Kasch of Dayton. Ohio and its reprinting is being sponsored j oin tly
by Kurz Kasch and Play Me ter magazine. Th is material is authorized for publication exclusively by Play Meter magazine.
This lesson is all about diodes.
Emphasis is placed on the terms
associated with diodes and what
they mean . Particular care has
been given to keying the lesson to
manufacturers' data sheets .
,,
Vp
'"
Fi g. 2-1. T he operat ional e hatac l tf la11ca of an Idea l d iode .
Note tt\11 v , • 0, 1,. .. ,~ , to Inf i nity , t,. • 0 and v 111
e xtanda to lnrl nlly .
: Avulon h.-
F ig. 2·2. The opert tl onal charact er latlcs of a l)factlca l d iode .
Comp.-re v, , 1, , l A and VA with those of ll g. 2· 1. Also , note
the limi ts Pd 1111 .. 1 and B., .
The Ideal Diode:
To achieve an understanding of
semiconductor diode character-
isics , it is best to f irst discuss an
ideal d i ode . This i mag i nary
rectifier (which exists only in our
minds) has ideal characteristics
- in other words, it is perfect . As
shown in figure 2- 1, when forward
biased it is capable of passing an
infinite amount of current (IF] and
regardless of the forward current,
it would drop zero volts (VF]. The
zero voltage drop indicates that
the res istance of the device, when
forward biased , is zero ohms.
Therefore, the power diss ipated
by the diode, regardless of the
current through it , is zero watts.
Using the power formula for
proof:
P = FxR
(if A
TeJil'tr('UII

,.,

= 0 then
P
= 0
When th is ideal diode is reverse
biased it would be capable of not
break ing down regardless of the
reverse voltage [VA] across it.
Also, there would be no leakage
current [IR] . The lack of IR
ind icates that the resistance of
th is imaginary d iode is infinite.
Using Ohm's Law for proof:
A = E/ 1
inf inite capability and woul d,
therefore, be the sam e. In reality,
no sem i conducto r d i od e i s
perferct. These impl icat ion s are
topics of the follow ing para-
graphs .
Figure 2-2 shows the ty pica l
behav ior of a real d iode when
forward and reverse biased. It
should be noted that with th e real
d iode the re are definite operati ng
lim its, bothg in the forward and
reverse biased states. Also , the
forward and reverse resista nces
of the real device are far from
those ofthe ideal diode: note IR
and VF.
We w ill now focus our attention
to the forward biased behav ior of
the diode curve and figure 2-3.
The test circu it shown in figure 2-
3 illustrates the mean ing of VF
and IF,wh ile the load res istan ce is
varied to change the current IF. As
AL is varied from a maximu m
res istance to a lower value, the
cu rrent drawn through the d iode
increases , say, from po int A to
point B. VF also changes from
po int A ' to point B' . Notice that
the current [IF] through the diode
determines the voltage [ VF]
dropped across the diodes.
The current through the d iode
can be increased by decreasi ng
AL until the product of the cu rrent
through the d iode and the vo ltage
across the d i ode equal the
max i mum power [Pd[ max 1 ] that
the dev i ce i s capabl e of
d iss ipating .
F l • • 2-3. T he forward b l as..S charac terl alles of a typ lc t l diode.
v,. lncrtlltt as 1,. lncraa .. a to the opera llona t li mit Pd '"' •• •·
(If I = 0 then A is without limit, or
infinite value)
Based on the above, it can be
stated that an ideal diode would
switch from a zero ohm state to an
infinite resistance state when the
source voltage is reversed .
Fit . 2-4 . The reveraa biased ch ... ac tet latlc s of a diod e. 1111
v,. IMrtaaed to the limit 8 11 .
IM rtaHa ••
8
The Practical Diode
If the diode described in the
above paragraphs existed , the
c ircu it designer would be able to
pick , at random , any diode and in-
stall it into his circu it. His choice
of diodes would require no
thought since they would all have
Once the dissipation by the
d iode exceeds the manufact ur-
ers' stated limit, the diode will
then operate on the princ ipl e of
thermal runaway. Diodes o p-
erated beyond the stated Pd [max 1
w ill , under normal circumstan ces,
be destroyed.
When the real diode is reverse
biased , as in the circu it of figure
2-4, a small current will flow . This
current is typically in the ord er of
m icroamperes. As battery voltage
in the test c ircuit is adjusted , for
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