Breakers

AAirhart

Well-known member

Donor 2011-2012
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
1,932
Reaction score
17
Location
Crafton, Pennsylvania
What type of breaker/total load am i looking at if I'm attempting to run 15 games? I have an opportunity to have a separate circuit for the games done on Monday..but don't know what to ask for.
 
you're looking at running 2 or 3 20-amp circuits to be honest with you. it all depends on what your games are drawing though. your electrician should be able to take load ratings on your games and advise you a little bit better.
 
Find out the current (Amperage) Draw of each machine. Say that you have 15 machines drawing 7 amps of power each 7x15=105 Amps. And your installing 20 amp circuits so you can safely run 2 games per 20 amp circuit with out overloading the circuit 7x2=14 amps, putting 3 games on that 20 amp circuit would draw 21 amps which is 1 amp over the circuit breakers safety rating.

The Amp rating of a circuit breaker is determined by the wire size of the circuit being run. This rating for house wiring is determined by the NEC. the following table demonstrates legal wire gauge for ampacity.


Normal COPPER House Wiring Gauge
Consult your building inspector
because your location
will have a specific building code!
Circuit
Maximum
Amperage Minimum COPPER
wire gage
15A 14AWG
20A 12AWG
30A 10AWG
40A (45A*) 8AWG
55A (60*) 6AWG
70A (80*) 4AWG
95A (100*) 2AWG
Alternate marked * is NOT to NEC code
for 60 degree wiring (inside romex).

If you are running more than 100A
you probably will run Aluminum and
need a different table.

Do not use copper ratings
for aluminum!


For that number of games I would consult your electrician and ask about adding a "Subpanel" to the location around the area which will house your games, subpaneling will give you the ability to have more circuits available at a given time, reduce the ammount of wiring needing to be ran to the main panel/meter panel and provide for future expandability. Mind you the option for a subpanel may not be available or may not be cost effective if you have an older house.


Adding a subpanel is something you can generally do yourself if cost is an issue, you may just have the electrician come out and pull the home run from a sub panel to the main panel leaving it disconnected till you have installed the sub panel your self and made all of the circuit runs to recepticals and lights then have the electrician come out and inspect your work, make correction recomendations if there are any and then have him make the connection at the main panel energizing the sub panel.
 
Last edited:
Most classic titles draw close to 1 amp. Vectors are more like 2 and a half. You would be really hard pressed to find anything outside of a motion simulator that drew 7 amps.

In my old apartment I had 16 games on a 15 amp circuit with no issues at all.
 
Most classic titles draw close to 1 amp. Vectors are more like 2 and a half. You would be really hard pressed to find anything outside of a motion simulator that drew 7 amps.

In my old apartment I had 16 games on a 15 amp circuit with no issues at all.

Im sure, was just using 7 amps as an example so he could figure out what he needed, sorry for the confusion!!
 
I think 2 circuits should do it. Just be careful not to put all of the heavy drawing games on the same circuit, for instance if you have a lot of pins don't put them all on the 1 breaker. Pins draw a lot, anything with a motor (like a sitdown driving game) draws more, 25" monitors draw more than 19", anything with lots of extra light bulbs (Tron) draws slightly more, etc. Your old school stuff like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man will draw less than 1 amp each.

Better to have more than you need, though, so you might want to consider even 3 circuits, then you'll never have any issues no matter what the hell you put on them. Easier and cheaper to do it now than later.
 
putting 3 games on that 20 amp circuit would draw 21 amps which is 1 amp over the circuit breakers safety rating.

You missed the 80% rule. Under the NEC you are only allowed to load a breaker to 80% capacity for continuous load. Most breakers will only handle 80% of the nameplate rating under continious duty.

So given that, your 20A breaker only has a continuous load rating of 16A.
 
bitd i had almost 20 games in the" garagcade of death " on one circuit/one breaker. Powerline mustve been exposed somewhere underground because when it would rain alot the breaker would pop randomly until the ground dried up again.. Ahh the good old days of renting in the chi suburbs....

Ideally split the load between two 20 amp breakers and dont go cheap on the wiring. GO with a thicker gauge like 10 or 12 that way in the future if you add more games and outlets to what youve already done you can hook into what youve already done and swap breakers.
 
Ideally split the load between two 20 amp breakers and dont go cheap on the wiring. GO with a thicker gauge like 10 or 12 that way in the future if you add more games and outlets to what youve already done you can hook into what youve already done and swap breakers.

2 questions for you. what size wire would you use to feed a 20 amp circuit with? and what is the maximum allowable circuit ampacity rating for a general lighting/utilization circuit (hint-nec 210.23(A))?
 
2 questions for you. what size wire would you use to feed a 20 amp circuit with? and what is the maximum allowable circuit ampacity rating for a general lighting/utilization circuit (hint-nec 210.23(A))?

Use 12 gauge wire for 20A breakers. I was planning to use 4 20A breakers for my garage, but went with 5 15A instead. The difference in price of the wire and receptacles was too big to justify the 20A. I only have 4 games on each breaker, so I should be safe no matter what games I get.
 
Use 12 gauge wire for 20A breakers.

Correct. The questions were more to point out that cadillacman man probably shouldn't be giving electrical advice based on his post. what i was getting at with my second question is that you are only allowed to run either a 15 or 20 amp breaker for a general use residential circuit. so running a 10 awg wire and then maybe down the line swapping in a 30 amp breaker is absolutely out of the question.
 
The largest breaker you could have according to the NEC on a GP branch circuit is 20A and you would need to use outlets rated for that along with 12ga wire.
 
The nec can lick my balls. Why would using larger than needed wiring hurt anything?

When you go skimpy on the wire gauge+breakers rated with too high of an amperage rating is how fires happen. Not the other way around.


If you are going to do some wiring with the possibility of adding-on later, its pretty stupid to wire it all in with 12 or 14 gauge wire only to have to rip it all out later and rewire with larger gauge wire like 8 or 10.


If theres no possibility of add-ons later then by all means follow the bullshit electrical codes. Id rather have fatter gauge then specd by code versus the minum specd by code. Having fatter wire may allow me to do modifications in the future without rewiring an entire branch for example.

OF if you just plan on adding another 20 amp breaker and another "branch" of a couple outlets with 12 gauge then youre good. All depends on how the op is setting this up and how much room is left in hos box, and if its already pushing being overloaded or not.
 
Last edited:
The nec can lick my balls. Why would using larger than needed wiring hurt anything?

When you go skimpy on the wire gauge+breakers rated with too high of an amperage rating is how fires happen. Not the other way around.


If you are going to do some wiring with the possibility of adding-on later, its pretty stupid to wire it all in with 12 or 14 gauge wire only to have to rip it all out later and rewire with larger gauge wire like 8 or 10.


If theres no possibility of add-ons later then by all means follow the bullshit electrical codes.

You can't get a regular parallel blade outlet in larger than 20A. The requirement, and common sense, is that all the devices and wire have to be to the nameplate rating. You can't use a 30A breaker with outlets only rated for 20A. Then you also have the issue of the 'appliances' being connected to the outlets. With a 30A breaker you have an increased issue with a fault happening at the end of an extension cord that is made from 14 or 16ga wire which creates a fire hazard when your circuit protection is at 30A.
 
I agree but you arent getting the point.

I guess I'm not. I understand what you are saying, but you were suggesting putting in a larger gauge wire so that later you could increase the breaker size. Something you CAN'T do above 20A.

Going much above 12ga makes no sense and provides no benefit. If you had an incredibly long run going to 10ga would help with voltage drop, but that is an unlikely issue in most houses and beyond that provides no benefit whatsoever.
 
Back
Top Bottom