Quick question about marquee lights

cbass

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So down here at the arcade we are running about 25+ games and we only have 3 lines of power....left, right and middle....

the right side always seem to "overload" and all the games on that line shut off, then we have to go manual switch the breaker off so we can get the games up and running again, this happen at least twice last week....

we added another game to that line and thats when the problem occurred so we turned the game off and problem solved...

I was wondering if turning off/disconnecting the power line to each cabinets marquee light will help with this problem a little, almost all the games have there marquee lights on...i hope im not confusing anyone.
 
If I were you I'd get a cheap kill-o-watt meter (<$20) and measure how many amps you're pulling from those machines, then compare it to what your circuit breaker is rated at.

Sounds like you're playing with fire here, literally.

You shouldn't be pulling current even close to what the breaker is rated at if you want to be safe.

With that same kill-o-watt meter you can do the same with the games in your other lines and do some load balancing to smooth this out.

With the kill-o-watt you can also see how much current having the marquees out would buy you but IMO that's the wrong way to solve this problem.
 
hmm wow did not think it was that bad, well its been standing 20+ years and no fire LOL but all the lines were fine until we added the game (crazy taxi)....i was just asking about the light because the old owner from the mall arcade said without light on the marquee it would save him alot...but ill try and invest on a meter and see how the lines are doing...thanks
 
I was wondering if turning off/disconnecting the power line to each cabinets marquee light will help with this problem a little, almost all the games have there marquee lights on...

It'll help... a little. An average flourescent marquee light probably pulls about 1/4 A. If any have an incandescent bulb or two, then it might be a full amp.
 
I think the electricians say not to run circuits up to more than about 2/3 or 3/4 of their rating. Sounds like you're at and exceeding the rating, whatever that is.

I think I saw that meter at Meritline in the last few days for around $16-$17 but if it has to come from a China warehouse you'll need to be really patient.

It's available elsewhere for a buck or two more.

I'd still load balance your power so no one line is pushing the limit. You don't want to be relying on your circuit breaker to save you all the time.
 
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