Num of games on a 15/20 amp circuit?

[FrizzleFried]

How much juice do those old Marquee Lights Pull?
I usually leave mine off to save electricity.

Especially my old CD juke. I suspect that those lights were wasting mad electricity.

Depends... florescent lights pull low wattage... incandescent lamps like what was used in Pac Man use much more... usually 50w just between the two lamps (if they used two 25w lamps... though often times you'd find some moron had put two 60w lamps in which case that's 120w in just the freakin' marquee lamp alone! I use two 3W "25w replacement" CFL's in mine...)

 

[keithsarcade]

Nowadays, you'd be stupid not to put CFL's in your Pac-Man machines anyway.

So theres no way at all to measure how many Amps a game is drawing using a standard multimeter?

Glad theres opinions on number of games per surge protector. I've been using 2 of my surge protectors with 6 games to each one, never knew it could have any harmful effects. FWIW, I've yet to run into any issues, but this thread has got me thinking about adding another surge protector or 2, and try to find out how many amps I'm drawing on each circuit.

 

[jawhn]

I'm going to buy a Kill-a-Watt tonight. I am super-curious as to what my 8-game setup, all using the same outlet, is drawing. Especially since my house is so old!

(Built in 1951)

Depending on how scary the results are, might have to have the outlet re-wired from the box properly. Almost all of the outlets in my house were / are the 2-connector style. I have added a proper ground to the one my computer uses, and the one for the arcade games. But I have no idea how many amps they're rated for...

 

[Riptor]

Do a quick search and you should find a dozen of these threads out there.

 

[jawhn]

Just for shits n' giggles, here's my findings tonight with my new Kill-a-Watt toy:

All games on at once, on the same outlet: 9.52A, 954W. Not as scary as I thought it was gonna be, actually...

Per game:

Donkey Kong: 1.11A, 110W (Average, ranged from 107 ~ 112)
Space Invaders: 1.12A, 121W
Tron: 2.44A, 234W (Dayum! The winner by a long shot.)
Nintendo Vs Excitebike: 0.94A, 93W
Rampage: 1.06A, 97W (Marquee light not currently working)
Joust: 1.70A, 188W (Fluctuated between 163 and 212)
Championship Sprint: 2.09A, 205W
Space War: 1.4A, 139W (All by itself in the living room, still...)

 

[keithsarcade]

Where can I find such a "toy", and what would it cost me?

 

[jawhn]

Where can I find such a "toy", and what would it cost me?

Newegg has them for just under $20, but I called my local Frys Electronics and got one tonight for $19.99 without the wait, or shipping charge!

And Frys sells them online as well. (frys.com)

Always wanted it, glad I finally got my grubby mitts on one!

 

[channelmanic]

Must be a electrician as well. Those are bad news they lost there UL listing due to the fact that they didn't trip period. The newly made replacements are ok.

Nope... My house was built in '73 and had one of those panels. The dryer breaker failed, but LUCKILY it failed early and not late. It was a 30A breaker that would open at 19A.

We had the house upgraded from a 100A FP panel to a new 200A panel with a 70A sub panel added to the shop in the back yard. That was some money well spent to get that grenade out of the house. (Yes, FP breaker boxes are that bad!)

 

[scaboo4u]

Where can I find such a "toy", and what would it cost me?

I say them in lowes today. Not sure about price. Saw them today and now a thread about it.

I think it is a sign to go get one.
allen

 

[jay]

Your not going to get an accurate reading with a standard multimeter.

Get an "amp clamp". Expensive, but worth it's weight in gold.