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Wade:
Paige,

   Your apartment must have some unusually killer electrical service to run all those games!  I only have a few games and I have problems sometimes.  I wouldn't even consider turning all of them on at once.

   My house is relatively newer (35 yrs) and has 12 gauge wire in most places.  But most circuits only have 15 amp breakers (*IF* I can verify ALL the wiring is 12 ga then I can go up to a 20 amp breaker on these circuits).  I already added several circuits to my basement (gameroom is in the basement) and I still have electrical problems.  

   My VR Twin has a 10 amp fuse in it, and somewhere in the manual I read that it typically drains about 7 amps.  Maybe more (closer to 10) on startup.  I only have 2 other games on that circuit (a pinball and a 27" mame cabinet) and it will trip on me occasionally when powering something up.

   Relatively soon, I'm going to have to add 2 or 3 more circuits (definitely will be all 12-gauge, 20 amp breaker) in the same room.  I'd like to add some wall sconces and a pool table light as well as couple more game circuits.

   I'm really surprised I don't see more talk on the game groups and forums about upgrading electrical service.  I'm just thankful I have drop ceilings in the basement and plenty of room in my panel box (200 amp).

Wade

Stingray:

--- Quote from: SpamMe on March 03, 2004, 11:32:11 pm ---Not as fancy (but for $240 less...), but why not have a small bay of toggle switches for the components?

--- End quote ---

I gotta agree here. $250 or a row of toggle switches. No brainer to me.

-S

paigeoliver:

--- Quote from: Wade on March 04, 2004, 10:11:24 am ---Paige,

   Your apartment must have some unusually killer electrical service to run all those games!  I only have a few games and I have problems sometimes.  I wouldn't even consider turning all of them on at once.

--- End quote ---

Hee hee. I am actually truly surprised the gameroom can handle 10 or 11 games on a single circuit, but it does. Then there are several more plugged into the living room circuit.

I think my friend's problem is that his "gameroom" is the smaller bedroom in his place, which probably doesn't have nearly as much juice to it as the larger bedroom. I use the larger bedroom in my place as my gameroom. Also, several of my games are 13" games, and my pin is an older one (less power), while all his games are 19" ones (one dual screen), his pin is newer (more power), and he has a super strike, which also has a ball feed mechanism which probably eats power too.

Wade:
Yeah 10 or 11 average games is too many for a 20 amp circuit for sure.  Some of your games must have very low power requirements or possibly your apartment was designed for more than 20 amps?  You could check your panel box and see what size the breakers are.  Maybe they are setting up some apartments with 30 amps or something?

Regardless, you are really lucky about that!  Like I said, I feel pretty lucky that I am able to upgrade mine relatively easily (drop ceiling), some people would have major problems with this.

Wade

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