Free vend again! sorry- newbie

My tale of woe! I have a westinghouse wc102md coke machine. I tried make a free vend switch as described in this group. I had no luck getting it to work. My coinco mech has a broken micro switch on the change motor & does not seem to work. When plugged in it does energize & the exact coin light comes on, no amount of nickels will put out the light. In one of my attempts to get the free vend switch to work I plugged in the jones plug from the coin mech with the free vend wires (at the same time) got sparks. Previously with the coin mech plugged in I coul lift up the vend selenoid pictured below & the machine would vend. But since the sparks I can only get the machine to vend if I open the door & manually push the vend motor cam off it's switch. What am I doing wrong. I seem to be going up hill here. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Steve Tevis .......also a wiring diagram can be seen at           http://home.ptd.net/~tevis/wiring2.jpg
Okay, I found a burnt trace on the mech circuit board & jumpered it. Now once again I can lift the vend selenoid & it will vend. Back where I started anyway before the sparks. Still no free vend or coin acceptance either.

[johnieG]

Ok I've looked at my machine & my free-plug is wired as shown in this attached diagram, the original would was for another machine, but would have caused no harm (it just wouldn't have vended)looks like if you fliped the connections  8 for 7 and 2 for 1 ( 4 for 3 does nothing since 4 is open @ the  jones socket anyway) which basically shorted out pin 2 to pin 8 to the N.O. contact in the empty switch which may have stuck the contacts in the "empty" postion, disallowing a vend cycle, disconnect the coin mech, & wire the free-play as shown below instead, now test the vend cycle, if it still doesn't vend then check the contacts of the empty switch with a continuity checker or ohm-meter  with the wires diconnected, & check to see if the normally open & normally closed contacts are still free ( not spot-welded together) or the open at the common terminal its the weakest link in the chain.

Okay JohnieG, I put the switch on exactly as you show. Nothing happens. I took my ohm tester & verified that my switch that I put together is working. Now did I miss something of what you told me? I am kinda slow & green. Thanks a heap, Steve

[johnieG]

the switch you need to test is the empty switch located in the machines bottle area it's in front of and just about at the bottom of the bottle rack area behind a metal plate, it has three wires going to it with quick connects on them, mark the wires, & remove the switch from the machine & test on the bench. From common to N.C. you should see a connection untill you press the lever, the you'll see that one go open & the N.O. contact & the common contact will show a connection.

[johnieG]

Here's a shot of the switches location on the machine.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. With your picture I easily found the switch you mentioned. I removed & tested it . Works fine. What's next? Thanks so much, Steve

[johnieG]

Ok at least the empty switch is good , now reattach the wires to their proper terminals, and lets check the vend relay next,label & remove wires to terminals 14 & 7, (14 is the common, 7 is normally open) check them with an ohm meter, if they are stuck closed (due to the arcing) the vend motor would  run when you nudged it off it's cam, if its the relays coil terminals 3 & 2  are open, the relay won't pull in when the coin mech switch gives a "vend" signal. ( if you think of the vend-motor/cam assy. as a single speed windshield wiper motor, it works the same way, once triggered it will run 360 degrees untill it's cam breaks the circut, when it waits for the vend relay to "bump" it off it's Parked position) hope this helps you out  '>

Okay when I tested the vend relay, 14 & 7 were open. I also tested 3 & 2 they were open also. Thanks, Steve

Now I have tried taking the 14 & 7 leads to the vend selenoid & hooking them to my free vend switch. This will spit out a coke when pushed. This works as long as the jones plug to the coin mech is plugged in. Is my Vend selenoid bad?

[johnieG]

If pins 2 & 3 are open then the it's coil is bad '> , it's time to call around  to find a replacement sorry to say. check out the parts suppliers in this site then check your local yellow pages under Vending and see if somebody local can help, most outfits that have been around have some old parts Squirreled away or forgotten.

I will get the numbers off the relay and see if anyone has one. In the meantime using the free vend push button hooked to leads 7 & 14 won't hurt anything right? It vends.

Thanks for troubleshooting this for me, you have saved me time & money. I really appreciate it. Steve '>