How many games can you connect to one circuit?

[ManNamedJed]

Lately I've had a few game issues - and the problems have all started when I had all the games on at once - 9 games and 3 pins, plus a TV and neon sign. Could this many games on at once be causing a voltage drop that can damage games? I've heard of pins having resetting issues from low voltage, but nothing regarding vids. I haven't thrown any breakers, and I haven't checked to see if the whole room is connected to one breaker, but I may look into it tonight.

How do I test something like this? Turn on everything and check a plug with my DMM? What is the safest low point for the voltage?

 

[packer69]

i'm building an arcade room addition onto my rec room and i am having the electrician split all the outlets among the circuits in the house to prevent blowing fuses and other power problems. i don't know anything about electricity per se, but i'd imagine too many pins/vids at one time can cause low voltage problems- maybe not though.

the electrician (family friend) said it was a good idea for me to go that route but i never asked him to elaborate why.

i think i heard one time that a vid pulls like 3-4 amps? i dunno. to be safe, i'm just splitting everything out.

 

[erdna77]

An arcade game consumes approximatly the same power as a TV (~200 Watts worst case).

Since P=VI and you are running 120V (USA and Canada)
I=200W/120V = 1.6 Amps.

You will be able to barely run 9 machines off one 15A breaker (assuming nothing else is connected).

This is why I also installed a parallel circuit to run my game room.

 

[erdna77]

I also wanted to add, if your wall voltage is dropping below 120V, you have bigger problems than video games. This can not happen if the house is wired correctly.

 

[Mongo]

Although the games may only pull 1.6 amps when running, they may have a start-up "draw" of 3-5 amps. Turn the games on one-at-a-time to "soften" the affect...

 

[tbbk]

For a long time I had 9 games and 2 pins running off a single 10 AMP circuit with no issues at all.

 

[erdna77]

Agreed. I think switching 7-8 games on at one time should be no problem.

I added some saftey factor in my calculation. A typical arcade machine with a 19" screen will actually only use ~75W, and a 25" will use ~150W.

 

[basemntrcade]

You are way over loading the circuit!!!!!!!!!! Most games can use as much as 2 to 4 amps per game when playing and neon signs use 2 to 6 amps per sign depending on how big the sign is and how many transformers are on the sign. If you look on the back of the game or on the inside you should find a tag with how many amps each game uses. The same will go for the neon sign, it should also state what the amp usage for the sign is.

If you have all of you games plugged into a 15 amp circuit and all on at the same time, you could cause damage to your games or even worse, start a electrical fire in that circuit. You may also be able to replace the 15 amp breaker in the box to a 20 amp circuit breaker, but only if the wiring is 12-2 and not 14-2.

For any curcuit you should never go over the rated limit, so try to find out what the amps usage is for each item and try to figure out just what items can be on at once with out going over the circuits limit. Use power strips to plug everything into so certain games can be turned on at one time and can all be shut down before turning on other items that will be using the same curcuit as not to over load it.

 

[erdna77]

You are not correct. What data or calculations have lead to the 2 to 4 amps per game that you mention?

 

[basemntrcade]

I added some saftey factor in my calculation. A typical arcade machine with a 19" screen will actually only use ~75W, and a 25" will use ~150W.

The wattage is not the problem, it is the amps!!! By exceeding the amp rating of the circuit, it will cause some serious damage to the wiring in that field or even weakening the breaker to where it will eventually be prone for failure or cause a fire. Sure plug in as many games or pins that you want on one under rated circuit, but be prepared for the worst. It is like one of those things you know you shouldn't do, but it seems to work so you just go ahead and do it anyway until you have a problem and learn your lesson the hard way.

Before I built my basement arcade, I had a electrician from work come over and we went over my layout of what I was going to have where and what all was going to be plugged in and on at the same time. He also went over the do's and don'ts of how the basement should be wired as not to cause a fire and too pass electrical code.

 

[basemntrcade]

Older games use less amps, but for some of the newer games such as a four player Blitz, it uses 2.8 amps.

 

[CitznFish]

is there a good site on teh web that shows how to add breakers to your circuit breaker box? I probably need to up mine. =/

I assume it's not too hard, but an electrician would charge a bundle..

 

[DogP]

There's no problem as long as you use the correct rated breaker, outlet, and wiring. If you have 14-2 wiring, then you can only run 15A, so you must use a 15A breaker, and there'll be no problem with fire since the 14-2 wire can handle 15A with no problems. Your outlets should be rated at whatever the breaker is, so if you're running 15A breaker, then you can get away with the cheap-o 15A outlets. Of course you'll know that you're overloading the circuit when the breaker pops, otherwise, you're good.

If you have 12-2 wiring, you can run a 20A breaker, but then you also need to use 20A outlets, since something plugged in to any outlet drawing more than 15A will be a hazard with a 15A outlet since the breaker won't pop.

In my game area, I have 12-2 running off it's own 20A breaker... I've never had any problems, but I don't usually run more than a few games at a time (but one is an EM shuffle alley, which I'd guess is a pretty big power hog). It would be interesting to check the draw with an ammeter though.

DogP

 

[ManNamedJed]

Hmm, if I remember correctly all the breakers labeled 'lights and outlets' in my box are 20amp breakers. I'll have to experiment and see if the whole game room is tied to one breaker. If so, It wouldn't be hard to hook some games up to another circuit.

 

[xxxchrisxxx]

The games pull about 3 amps witch is like a 40 watt light. You can run like 50.... 40 watt lights off a 20 amp breaker. Now for the power-up the games will pull up to 5 to 10 amps. So on start up use the power strips to only start only a few games at a time. this way you will not blow the breakers. I had a problem with power up and it was a bad breaker now all start up fine. LOOK at your panel to see if all the breakers are working fine OR have someone look at for you that who knows what's up. Fire will kill your collection.

 

[WadeLanham]

That's not true, a 3 amp game (typical) is not the same as a 40 watt bulb, it is more like 6 times that!! A 40 watt bulb only draws 1/3 amp at 120 volts!!!

It is best not to push the limits of your circuits unless you installed them yourself and KNOW that they are adequate. It is real common for 15 amp circuits to have been "upgraded" unsafely by someone adding a 20 amp breaker.

Wade

 

[erdna77]

You can easily calculate the current draw by using the peak power of the machine, so please stop saying "it is not the power it is the amps!!!". They both measurables of load on your circuit since the voltage is constant (120V).

I stand by my previous comments. I don't care what some electricians told you guys, I am an engineer and I know what I am talking about.

 

[Mongo]

Yeah.. but aren't you using Canadian Volts?

 

[ManNamedJed]

Well I checked it out and my game room runs off two different circuits. 3 vids and 2 pins run on one, 6 vids and 1 pin run off the other. Both circuits have 20 amp breakers. So I should be more than okay, right?

 

[DogP]

That should be okay as long as you're running 12-2 wiring... you should have 20A outlets (they have the horizontal slit on the left prong), but really, since your whole collection is plugged into several outlets, that's probably not a problem either. You should only worry about that if you're running all the games off one surge protector or something, but then you have to make sure the surge protector wiring is also 12AWG (although if you go to sell the house and an inspector comes through, they will probably check to make sure the outlets all match the breaker ratings).

And yeah, it is the amps, not the watts, but since the voltage is constant, either can be referred to, because like erdna said, it's just a simple linear equation (P=IV).

DogP