how power hungry can a game room be?

[cptnwhlz]

There are a few decently priced old cabs out on craigslist and ebay and I always thought of putting together a game room.  However, while the games themselves are not expensive, how much power do they draw?  Like lets say i had a couple of older games, would I notice on my power bill if I run them alot?

[TOK]

They draw a little bit more than a TV, so just a couple bucks a month.
Not like running an air conditioner or something. 

[DJ_Izumi]

I'd be more worried about tripping a breaker if your collection reached about 8-10 or more and they were all on the same circut.

A 15a fuse or breaker will trip at 1800w load and a 20a fuse or breaker will trip at 2400w.

I dunno about arcade cabs, but your average CRT screen in the 27" range can go from maybe 120w-240w each depending on make and model.

[cptnwhlz]

thats good to hear

[rusolinio]

Also, some old monitors will be much less efficient than when they were new. It can take just one monitor like this to trip your fuses.

I know this because i have bought several machines in the past that have done just that. Is usually fixed by either replacing the LOPT, or the whole monitor.

[FrizzleFried]

This is a general guide... there are obviously exceptions...

19" Standard Res Raster cab - .9 to 1.2 amps
25" Standard Res Raster cab - 1.2 to 1.8 amps
19" Medium Res Raster cab - 2.0 to 2.2 amps
19" B&W Vector cab - 1.8 amps to 2.1 amps
19" Color Vector cab - 2.0 amps to 2.2 amps
25" Color Vector cab - 2.2 amps to 2.4 amps

...or thereabouts.   Keep in mind that games that have force feedback will draw more.   Games with more than one monitor will draw more,  etc.

Pinball machines take from 1.1 amps up to over 3 amps or more depending on the toys and the amount of "action" going on.

A standard 27" TV uses about 1 amp...

[FrizzleFried]

I'd be more worried about tripping a breaker if your collection reached about 8-10 or more and they were all on the same circut.

A 15a fuse or breaker will trip at 1800w load and a 20a fuse or breaker will trip at 2400w.

I dunno about arcade cabs, but your average CRT screen in the 27" range can go from maybe 120w-240w each depending on make and model.

27" TV's run around 1 amp... (100w-120w)... CRT that is...

Also,   you should plan your electrical circuits so as to not draw more than 80% of the circuits capacity.  A 15 amp circuit shouldn't have a constant draw of more than 12 amps (approx 1,200 watts) and a 20 amp circuit shouldn't have a constant draw of more than 16 amps (approx 1,600 watts).    You should always leave a little head-room for start-up draw which can double the normal draw.   Also,  if possible,  you should have your gameroom set up so you can turn on each cabinet individually... that prevents over-powering a circuit with the initial start-up of a bunch of cabs at one time.

I had 12 cabs running off a single 20amp circuit... it worked but was putting me well in to the 20% buffer... so I added a 2nd circuit and I have no issues at all now with two 20 amp circuits.

Also keep in mind the single most power hungry item you may have in your gameroom... portable heater.

A portable heater will draw 600 watts on low,  900 watts on medium,   and 1200 watts on high.  That's right... a single space heater will max out  your circuit all by itself...(and you wondered why the lights in your room dim when the heater cycles on,  eh?).   Even a portable AC can't match the power sucking potential of a heater.   A portable AC ususually runs between 7.5 amps and 9 amps...

[sherbert]

Using a watt meter, my whole machine comes in at just over 200 watts during normal game play. That includes a 27 inch tv, dell pc with ati, 2 hard disks,  fluorescent light for marquee, wireless,  and logitech z 2300 sound.  It all raises to about 230 watts if I jam the sound. 

[daywane]

I got lucky. Brothers Father inlaw was a electrician.
He ran 3 circuts to my room. all for just the cost of parts. took us all weekend. about $200.00
we only put 3 outlets per breaker (20 amp)

[FrizzleFried]

A friend asked what his Centipede would cost to run 24/7 for a month in San Diego.   I looked up the current KW/h rate SDG&E is charging and was astonished to find they're 3x what my rate is and 2x the national average.  SO,   that said,  running his Centipede 24/7 for a month would come to about $16.00 for the month... so at the average KW/h cost the same cab would cost about $8.00 a month to run 24/7....here in Idaho it would be about $5.00 a month...

[ViciousXUSMC]

Just plug your stuff into one of these: http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html

They cost like $15 or so.

Read the ratting, compare it to your power bill and you will know how much it will cost.

If your looking to save power dont leave it on 24/7 only use it when you need it, get a plug timer and have it shut off in the middle of the night when you know it wont be in use.

[MonMotha]

Any game room with more than about 5-10 cabinets, especially dedicated ones with lots of extra gee-gaws such as lights, force feedback, huge monitors, mega audio, etc. will probably need at least 2 15A circuits.  If you're installing stuff special, go with 3x 20A.  My basement gameroom has 3x 20A + 2x 15A (the 15A are both shared with some lights), and I've got the materials to install a 20A 240V circuit in case I ever need it e.g. for a giant air compressor for a deluxe driving game or foreign games w/o transformers, but haven't had the need yet.

For just a couple plain-jane video cabinets or pinballs, a standard household 15A circuit with some lights and other minimal loading will probably be fine.

The Kill-A-Watt people have mentioned can be handy, but be aware that it tends to read improperly on non-linear loads like switch mode power supplies commonly found in modern arcade games (late 80s and beyond), PCs, and monitors (including those without a SMPS as they still have the input rectifier).  SMPSs with PFC (power factor correction) may read a little more accurately, but the load is still usually non-linear, which is what really messes the thing up.  It's meant for measuring appliances like refrigerators with motors.

[THE POKER BRAT]

what i would do is the following,.....cram as many machines as you can into one room,
turn on all the lights in the house,
then turn up the microwave at full blast along with the air conditioners, fans, radios, stereos, computers, then,....wrap the whole house with christmas lightsthen invite this guy to come over ~~> then,.....plug up all those things all together into ONE power strip,....and plug the power strip into a wall socket,....and then...."FLIP THE SWITCH"