Instruction manual
Mutha Goose and Gaggle Reliability Tips
or, How to Make Your Network Live Through a Thunderstorm
You can commit a lot of sins putting a game together, and get away with it, when the game is going to be
operated as a stand-alone machine, but when you start running wires between them you have to pay careful
attention to things you may not have even known about in the past. This guide is designed to give you a check
list of items you should go through every time you build a machine, add a machine to an existing network, or
service a location that has suffered damage from lightening. We are going to break this down into four parts,
what tools and materials you should have on hand, what you should do with your base unit (Mutha), how the
individual machines should be wired, and what to look for at the location.
Tools and Materials:
The following should always be with you, no exceptions.
1) An electronic digital multi-meter
Even the cheap $15.00 units are better than an analog meter. The big advantage is the reading
on the LCD isn’t subject to misreading.
2) A wall outlet tester
Just because the wall outlet has a 3-prong plug, there is no guarantee that the 3 prong is hooked
rd
to anything. The Earth ground is where ALL stray currents should be shunted to, not the network
board or your game board.
3) A CAT5, or better, network cable tester
You can’t tell if that wire in the ceiling or through that wall is any good if you don’t have one.
The best one to have, and it is reasonably priced, is made by Punktal, Part Number TCT-141.
It has a remote terminator that you can put on the far end of the cable so you don’t need to have
access to both ends of the cable to test it. It will spot miswires, opens, and shorts.
4) A selection of .093 pins and a real crimp tool
The best way to make a good power supply connection is in the output plug on the power supply
and you will need some male pins to do that.
5) Some butt connectors and an insulated connector crimp tool
I know we aren’t suppose to strip wires, twist them, and then tape them off, but we do it anyway,
and that piece of tape that was really sticky 4-5 years ago has since fallen off and we now have a
bunch of bare (and loose) connections in the machines. It is really easy to just slip one end of a
butt connector over the twisted wires and give them a crimp.
6) Your manuals for the machines and the Mutha Goose
We print these things by the hundreds and give them out with every system. There is no reason
for every service person and/or location to not have a manual. We will gladly supply a few
extras in an order if you just ask.
The Base (Mutha) Unit :
The base unit is pretty straight forward and not a lot can go wrong with it, but there are a few things that can
be done to improve performance and reliability.
1) Make sure the wall outlet is properly grounded/wired using your wall outlet tester
2) Use a surge protector and plug the base unit’s power supply and the printer(s) into it
For the ultimate in protection and reliability, you can buy a small 600VA UPS/backup power
supply and use it in place of the surge protector. Do NOT use both. A surge protector on the
UPS’s input can alter how it protects the network, and one on the output can actually damage the
UPS.
3) Make sure you have the latest firmware in the unit
You can get the revision number by cycling the power. We only charge for the cost of the blank
IC, and it keeps the system up to the latest compliance regulations.
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