Basement Arcades & Radiation Levels - *UPDATE*

Alan173

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Strange topic I know! I was recently doing some research on radiation levels in the home environment and was actually kind of surprised this really existed. This research actually proved to me that beyond electromagnetic field radiation (EMFR) levels like the endless concerns over cell phones, microwaves, etc. there is an actual concern with radiation emission from vintage electronics especially where CRT tubes are involved. I talked to a few doctor friends of mine who specialize in EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity) and they all confirmed the concern is real and experienced by a wide variety of people who become more sensitive as they age. The ranges of symptoms were all over the map but they did provide me two contacts of companies who specialize in actually measuring the levels in your home environment. One company was located fairly close to me so I had them come out for an evaluation of my house and specifically my basement where Tranquility Base Arcade resides. In summary - pretty interesting stuff. They had a fairly straight forward system that puts a sensor in each room with wireless transmission to a central meter that indicates the level of exposure. Instructions were pretty easy to understand. 1. If the meter starts to glow red actual trace elements of radiation are being detected and 2. The meter 'maximum' tells you the safe level of exposure with the high end of the scale being a serious cause for concern. This company told me the installed system has to 'acclimate' for a week before accurate levels can be detected. So, I waited a week (ok - 6 days) and fired this system up. Interesting enough turning on the system for a few hours I got ZERO readings. So even though arcade components can leak they are relatively inert when not powered up. I turned on a few arcade games and got nothing as well. Here is where it gets weird. With about 6 arcade games on I actually started to get a faint glow of red?! WTF? When I turned on 10 or more games the meter glowed BRIGHT RED and actually has a reading. Should I be concerned with this? Can I seriously be waiting from this company to return my call to tell me I can't actually play 'That Many' arcade games at one time?

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0.6 Rem/Hr is 600 millirem per hour.

2,500 millirem is the NRC exposure limit.

I would turn games on and off until you find the problem child. Thats more dose than you want.

Before you do that, see if any sensor is near ceramic tile. Some ceramics use a radioactive glaze, and can cause exposure.

We had a guy who worked in the admin building who had his dosimeter read a large dose. Rad Protection performed an investigation (since he should have zero) and tracked it down to where he hung his badge when he got home from work. It was being closed by the ceramic tile.
 
ArcadeTech brings up a good point. You should do one game at a time just to make certain it isn't a rogue game. Otherwise, this is reeeally interesting. How many games do you have in the room?
 
With about 6 arcade games on I actually started to get a faint glow of red?! WTF? When I turned on 10 or more games the meter glowed BRIGHT RED and actually has a reading. Should I be concerned with this? Can I seriously be waiting from this company to return my call to tell me I can't actually play 'That Many' arcade games at one time?
Good thing none of us spent hours upon hours in arcades with 100+ games when we were kids.
 
very interesting, would love more detailed findings if you are able to try each game independently

edit: you got me, damn it
 
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The company finally called me back and said because of today's date.....the radiation is harmless and probably just some nutjob who has a NASA Phone where you can talk to the astronauts and has converted half of his machine shop to an engraving center just so he can make cool looking old school tags.

Arcade PEEPS - I LOVE YOU GUYS! After almost 40 years as a dead serious engineer.....I just couldn't resist! April 1st and I'm still a fool!

You will be happy to know: I sent the exact same message to some of my very close local arcade friends and within seconds I received a return text of Homer Simpson running out the door from his work with nuclear waste in his pockets.....I guess some people know me too well. It also makes me appreciate the depth of this community I have been a part of SOOOOO long with the many experts within our midst. ArcadeTechGW is literally an expert in the field of radiation and his response was pure knowledge from years of experience. Made me feel like I did a fine job with the wording of my post and building my meter from scratch which is hard wired it into my arcade LED lights (but only goes RED!).

The good and bad of pulling an April Fools Joke:

The Good: I told my family the exact same thing. So, when they come downstairs to bother me while I'm working in the basement I tell them "Hey - go check the RADIATION METER and let me know what it says". When they say it is glowing RED and reads 0.6 I scream "RUN - RUN....get out of here before you get exposed"....and they seem to now leave quickly and I can get back to work. Hmmmmm....maybe I can start selling these 'Radiation Systems' to fellow arcade enthusiasts as many more arcade games could now be brought back to life.

The Bad: Based on all the responses quite possibly we are all going to die soon. Until then....I'm running 20+ games at a time and taking the risk!

HAPPY APRIL 1 EVERYONE!!!
 
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