Hamilton ACW validator conversion

[Whale of a Wash]

Jim at Etowah Valley Was telling me about the mars conv, he has for ACW -- at the show. Of course i bragged my Validator (Iowa type) Hadn't been touched in 10yrs. It died on Sunday. Today I put his validator in my ACW. It was kind of fun to put it in Knowing i would have a stacker again. The hamilton one died years ago(twice replaced). Took a couple of hours in the 80+ degree sun, but was not too difficult.... Also Dixmor has a new plug and play display for ACW,
to make it bright Red. Mine was a new display or i would have bought one as the etowah kit has you remote the display from the controller. Those are the two things I learned at the ICA.

 

[Jim L.]

Whale

Does this new Dixmor display replace the blue/green Hamilton one mounted to the controller or does in mount outside the ACW? I looked on the Dixmor site and didn't find any info.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Whale

Does this new Dixmor display replace the blue/green Hamilton one mounted to the controller or does in mount outside the ACW? I looked on the Dixmor site and didn't find any info.

Yes it does replace the factory one. There is a small mod that has to be done to the controller involving soldering. The Dixmor folks said it was an easy mod and anyone with a soldering iron could do it. They also said they would do it if you send in the controller. Of course this would involve needing a loaner or an exchange program. They seemed to be on board with doing something like that, but didn't have anything in place yet. I have a spare controller and will send it to them to get it done, after which I will decide if I want to attempt the others myself. I also talked with the Hamilton folks about modding the controller and future service from them. They were very interested (in a positive way) and seemed on board. On a later visit to the Hamilton booth the Dixmor folks were there chatting with them. IMO, it was positive and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Hamilton offers this upgrade in the future as well.

 

[Randy]

Yes the Dixmor Display replaces the blue VFD display on the door of the ACW 4/5’s. I’ve got 2 displays coming to field test. To make it work you’re going to have to do a small modification to the controller board and solder in a jumper. It’s really bright red scrolling display. The display costs around $350.00.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

The small mod bypasses some voltage regulator.It will run cooler-- It needs so little they were running it handheld on a 9v. If you see it you'll smash your old display. It has to be easy to hook up as there are only like 3 wires to display on my etowah retrofit kit, as you remote the display. It was like $350--Worth it though. The etowah to mars was $549. Etowah only needs a hopper and computer and they could sell their own ACW.

 

[Jim L.]

Thanks for the info. guys. I'll have to put a couple on my wish list right below hitting the lottery next Saturday night.

 

[Jeff_L]

Can you post some pics of it? Or how about a video of it up on YouTube and provide the link here for it? I have two Hamilton ACWs which face due West. You can only imagine how tough it is to read them on a sunny day.

 

[Mr. Clean]

I have an 18 yr. old ACW 4 that would benefit immensely from this if it creates a brighter, easier to read display. There's a spare controller on hand here that was purchased a couple of years ago so that we could accept/dispense dollar coins as change. Never installed so wondering if that display is any different than the original? If not, this would be a good time to modify and install. Pictures anywhere??

MC

 

[soapy]

I hope to have a test unit installed by this week. I will get some pictures ASAP after the install.

 

[kempape]

now if we could add acw TOKEN dispensing !

sounds like a nice upgrade to acw autocahier. i suppose their isnt an easy way to enable the acw to dispense tokens?i called hamilton about a year ago about this and dont think anything was available,,, tia ,,, kemp c