Gameroom electricity needs

prefarrably 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker( dedicated to games)

(ideally, 15a breaker and dedicated circuit for each 5 games or so, but like i said originally you can kind of stratch it if you use 10 or 12 gauge wire)

i hav emy whole gameroom runnning on two 20amp breakers. and 12 gauge wire for the games, 14 gauge for lighting only.
 
Amp and a 1/2 avg per 19" raster game. 10 games that's 15 amps. To be safe I would say 20Amp breaker on 12 Ga wire with 20Amp rated recepticals. Some will be more, some less. Pins more I bet, Vectors more definitly. If you fire them up all at once you will get a decent inrush as well so make sure you have some overhead.

Then again, I have seen guys run 10 games and a microwave on a lamp cord and get away with it...

...and I hedge with ask electrician. I am not one. Heck, I don't even play one on TV!!
 
Just because it isn't tripping does not mean it's ok. You are most likely overheating the wires and headed for a meltdown sooner or later. Your circuit is overloaded.

If his wire is in any danger of melting, the breaker is too big. If his house actually meets US standard electrical code, the breaker would trip long before the wires even get warm. Generally, as long as your house's wiring is newer than ~50 years, you can just plug games into the wall as-is.

Also he didn't say what games. Some newer EMs (think redemption) don't take much at all, 500mA or so. At one point, we had 20 of those bastards on a single 15A and it didn't complain at all.

As long as your house is up to code, and you don't have breakers tripping, you're golden*. If the breakers trip once when turning it on, but you can reset it without it tripping again, you can probably get away with doing just that, but be aware that you're operating uncomfortably close to the limit (see below).

* Safety-wise. If you're operating close to the limit, you can run into reliability issues where the breaker trips intermittently. This isn't unsafe, but can be hard on the games, and will cause you MAJOR headaches if you're open to the public. Usually, this circuit will display the "trip once, reset and go" behavior exhibited above, but not always, especially if you have mostly EMs or pinballs on it. DON'T try to fix this by simply swapping in a bigger breaker; then you ARE in real danger of melting wires. Instead, shuffle your gameroom around a bit to even out the load on each circuit, and try not to have too many EMs/pinballs on the same circuit.
 
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You say it's "golden", I call it natural selection. If he has that many games on 15 amps he is not only overloading the circuit, but almost certainly overloading each outlet.
 
You say it's "golden", I call it natural selection. If he has that many games on 15 amps he is not only overloading the circuit, but almost certainly overloading each outlet.

You say it's natural selection; I call it paranoia.

Electrical code generally requires that every component of the circuit either a) be rated for the maximum load of the entire circuit or b) have a protection device (fuse or breaker) to prevent that component from failing due to overload. NEMA 5-15R sockets (which your average game plugs into) are rated for 15A through a single socket by standard and must be wired with 14 gauge wire minimum, which can take 15A@120V without even getting warm; anything short of that is illegal. Unless some dinglehead that doesn't know or care about safety wired your house DIY-style, you have nothing to worry about.

-E- That said, NEVER put more than 15A through a 5-15R, even if the breaker is 20A or more. Distribute your load as evenly across the sockets as you can.
 
I ran 12 games on a 15a circuit...breaker never blew, however I checked the wiring and sure enough while the wire wasn't warm, the outlet running it all was, as well as one extension cord apparently had a replacement plug that wasn't done well, and that was getting warm as well. Once I corrected those things I just monitored it carefully whenever I had all the games on (rare). I use a Kill-a-watt meter to monitor load.
 
I ran 12 games on a 15a circuit...breaker never blew, however I checked the wiring and sure enough while the wire wasn't warm, the outlet running it all was, as well as one extension cord apparently had a replacement plug that wasn't done well, and that was getting warm as well. Once I corrected those things I just monitored it carefully whenever I had all the games on (rare). I use a Kill-a-watt meter to monitor load.

You were running everything through one outlet? That's asking for trouble... While the outlet should be able to take it, once you're leaving the wall, there's all sorts of dumb gotchas:
  • Most extension cords are rated for 10-13A, and they'll start to melt if you put 15A through them. (Your outlet being warm was likely an overheating extension cord sinking out through the outlet.) You can get away with these if you have only one or two games plugged into them, but if you're going four or more on one cord (three is pushing it), get the more expensive 15A rated cords.
  • A good rule of thumb is get as much plugged directly into the wall as you possibly can, even if it means moving half the games to a different wall, and put the low current machines (small monitor video, microcontroller-based EM) on the extension cord/powerstrip if you absolutely must resort to one.
  • Don't use any powerstrip or receptacle multiplier rated less than 15A unless it has a fuse or breaker built in. Even if it only has two games plugged into it. Trust me on this one, it will save your bacon.
 
If you could wire the whole game room from scratch, would you use 20amps circuits instead of 15amps? I know the 20amps would cost a little more. Just asking.
 
When we had our basement wired, the electrician installed a sub panel for just the basement. We have 16 outlets in the basement, wired between 4 20 amp breakers. He even ran a seperate circuit for the future bar area.

Overkill, maybe. Safe, definately. Oh, and he mounted the outlets 3' high on the wall in case of water issues (which was a GREAT idea in my opinion). Also wired outlets high in the bar area to hang neon signs and stuff. Wish I had done that in the rest of the basement too.


To answer your question, I'd go with 20 amp breakers if your wiring can support them.

Chris
 
Use whatever you like, the only difference you should see is the 20 amp line can support more machines.... For the price difference I feel the best route is a 20amp breaker and 12 gauge romex with 15 amp outlets. Its unlikely you'd need 20 amps from a single outlet.... But in this case i think you should add a few more outlets.
 
If you could wire the whole game room from scratch, would you use 20amps circuits instead of 15amps? I know the 20amps would cost a little more. Just asking.

Sure, definitely, but also, splurge for the 5-20R sockets for the extra flexibility. You'll be able to use commercial receptacle multipliers and get more machines per socket safely, and some vending machines actually need the larger socket.
 
10 games on one 20 amp circuit is a mistake. If you are going to do it, do it right and put in 2 circuits with plenty of outlets.

Yes... always plan on adding -more- games in the future.
And this also depends on what types of games. When you cross over to the darkside (pinball) -- they tend to draw more current.

Ed
 
I recently wired my basement.. went with 5x 20 amp circuits. I planned on
8 games max per circuit so thats 3 circuits, 1 for lighting, and one for general use. Its overkill but snaking 2 or 3 circuits through the house from the panel in the garage to the basement is no harder then snaking 5 circuits.

Malice95
 
Use whatever you like, the only difference you should see is the 20 amp line can support more machines.... Its unlikely you'd need 20 amps from a single outlet.... But in this case i think you should add a few more outlets.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the amps are for the circuit not the outlets.

If all loads are equal then:
1 receptacle with 2 outlets: 10amps max each
2 receptacles with 2 outlets each: 5amps max each
etc.

I know this is maxing out the circuit, but used only as a simple math example.



My gameroom project is getting all electric per US Code plus 4 additional circuits.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but the amps are for the circuit not the outlets.

If all loads are equal then:
1 receptacle with 2 outlets: 10amps max each
2 receptacles with 2 outlets each: 5amps max each
etc.

I know this is maxing out the circuit, but used only as a simple math example.



My gameroom project is getting all electric per US Code plus 4 additional circuits.

You are right... but there are 15amp outlets and 20amp outlets. The 20amp outlets have an extra little nub on one of the 2 "holes"...not sure if it's the hot side or the neutral side... It will still accept standard plugs, but it will also accept a dedicated 20a plug.

EX:

5_20r.gif
 
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