I just spiked up to 5A putting the ball in my super charger (new optos) on my getaway and the machine has been turned on for less than a minute. Got LEDs installed. EHOH just under 2A starting multiball.

That’s 2 machines and I’m already halfway to 15A

Here’s some newer sterns and a drac. I started a game on all of them and plunged the balls on all and I peaked just under 8. My camera caught a little less than that. These are on 20A service.

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Magnets will make the game spike more. Conservatively you can do 4-5 games on a 20 amp. Circuit and never have issues. You can also double that and never have issues unless the games are all incandescent with lots of magnets and they are all being played at once with sound turned way up.

I know I’m running 8 on one circuit plus 2 subwoofers, and either a dehumidifier or an air conditioner. 2 of those games are not LED, at least 3 of them have magnets, and there are 4 magnets on TOM.

On another circuit I have 8 pins, plus a subwoofer or two. 2 of those games are also not LED, and 2 of those have magnets.

Definitely pushing it a little.Some of the games are Bally/Williams which can have reset issues but I’m not experiencing any of those either.

I run 8 on a circuit with some arcades as well. At the arcade we managed to melt a circuit breaker by running 13 or 14 machines on one 20amp breaker and it ran at near or at it’s max for so long it just melted, that was wild!

Unless you're opening an arcade and need to spec out size and number of circuits, I am not quite understanding the purpose of the question. Properly wired circuits can be safely loaded until the breaker trips... that's the whole point of the breaker - to ensure the load stays under the rating of the wire.

In other words, the answer to "how many machines?" is "as many as you can without tripping the breaker." Obviously, this number is going to be different for everyone... depending on each machine's load, how many machines are played simultaneously, etc.

EDIT: All of the above assumes the machines are plugged directly into wall outlets. As soon as you start making octopuses out of extension cords and power strips, all bets are off. Regular extension cords are not rated for 15 or 20 amps, and not all power strips can safely handle 15 amps.

Depends on what games are being used. Playing tz,addams,no fear and sttng on 1 circuit will cause issues. Playing all at once multiball, flippers etc.
The opposite true if you have 10 em games with leds etc.
Personally I like to have no more than 4-5 games on 20 amp circuit. Less voltage drop. Things run cooler esp. If being used for constant play.

Electricians calculate the anticipated load for 20% below the rated rated wire/breaker. A load on a circuit can creep up to just under the rated amperage of a breaker and the breaker won't trip, but it will heat up. Adding more machines over time is a good example of the slow and steady load on a circuit.
We had the problem originally of inrush current tripping breakers as the sub panel was controlled by a master switch to turn on many circuits all at once.
They make special breakers that can handle inrush current and that solved that problem.

I have one machine plugged into one circuit, because... I have one machine.

As many as possible

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Yes, they do this. But they do not do this to ensure everything runs at 80% or less. They do this so all of the circuits can handle some future additional usage - "room to grow".

Note that some amount of heat is normal/expected and figured into the design. A homeowner is not expected to know how to keep a circuit loaded below a certain percentage. That's why we have circuit breakers and properly sized wire.

That's a whole other issue. I'd lean toward upgrading the amperage of the circuit with larger wires & breaker vs. a slower breaker to solve that one.

Yes, for machines plugged directly into wall outlets. As soon as you start making complex octopuses out of extension cords and power strips, you're just asking for trouble. While the circuit can handle 15 or 20 amps, it's likely the extension cords and/or power strips cannot.

Heed this advice... he's not called Sparky for no reason .

Quite a few...

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Good point. For my setup, I usually have 1 power strip with a sub or two and about 4 pins, then on the same circuit, different outlet, another power strip with the same basic setup.

How many you are running at once is what matters.

I usually have all the games powered on at the same time. And probably about 1/2 on each power strip being played at any given time on average. Probably around 1/2 of the collection being played at the same time during peak. Home environment.

The electrician wiring outlets for our 60 machines always mentioned the 80% rule. That rule applies for any circuit continuously operating a load. So, if a group of machines exceed 16 amps (20A breaker) for more than 3 hours that is a no go. An additional circuit is needed. The reason is that in a common breaker box breakers are next to each other the heat builds up because heat is trapped.

Key word: "continuously". How many machines are actually being played at one time non-stop for hours and hours, etc. We're talking about a home, not an arcade where an electrician is going to design the power distribution for the worst case scenario.

The NEC (National Electric Code) does not expect a homeowner to know how to keep a circuit loaded below a certain percentage. My point is that it's designed to work, and designed to be safe, for this very situation... a homeowner that just plugs things in.

The 14 gauge wire will handle 15 amps all day long. So if the 80% breaker trips after 3 hours at 80% load... so what? Then the homeowner would know that too many devices were plugged in.

As opposed to what? In most scenarios, breakers are right up next to each other inside a closed box, exactly as they were designed.

I'm an electrician and this is correct. It is best to not exceed 80% of the available ampacity. A line splitter and an amp clamp will tell you at the wall socket what you are drawing, if the circuit is dedicated, or an amp clamp at the breaker box. 12A on a 15A 120V circuit or 16A for a 20A. I would estimate 2A per table, so if you don't have the tools to take actual measurements I would assume 6 tables per 15A or 8 per 20A circuit.

Longtime electrician here as well, and I agree. We are not figuring 80% circuit ampacity for future things as someone stated above. Possible continuous loads are one factor, and the fact that most molded case breakers are not 100% rated. A lot of the manufacturer's specs used to even say not to load them more than 80%. Do people do it all the time? Hell yes, but that's not the point.

I only put 4 machines on the same plugs safe that way

Yeah, the breaker tolerances (especially on the residential side) are going to have some degree of variance and each game could also have slight differences in their nominal current draw. Plus, unless the OP is running dedicated circuits there is certainly a chance other stuff is on there that they are unaware of, but hopefully not an inductive load.

I do think that, though well intentioned, a number of the members are over thinking this. Since the posted wattage on each machine's PSU is the max rating instead of the nominal, using that figure without adjustment will considerably over-rate the circuit size and be costly and needless on larger environments.

Money and time would be better spent focusing on the protection of the sensitive electronics in newer machines with localized (type 3) and whole house (type 2) surge suppression.

All I know is that in my previous home, built in 2007, the fecking breaker(s) tripped way too much. I think I may have only had 2 15amp circuits in my arcade. Hated having everyone playing games and then boom...darkness, silence, and sadness. When I moved into my current home and built my arcade I had 8 20amp circuits added for my arcade. I will never trip a breaker again!

On a 20A circuit, I have 6 modern games. (Spike 2). Plus, a claw machine and 3 slot machines. (2 LCD touch screen, 1 reels). I also have a cotton candy machine. I've not run the cotton candy machine while games were being played. But I've run it with games on.

I've never tripped the circuit.

When can we expect to see breaker fan mods in the marketplace?

Exactly. The 80% for continuous loads has more to do with commercial and industrial loads than it does residential.

Your machines being played would not be considered a continuous load as the current would be constantly changing.

If you want a continuous load, think of a circuit feeding lighting at any commercial or industrial location where the lights are on for more than 3 hours.

I've wired hundreds of homes and never once put any thought into any load being continuous.

My problem lately is because of the Voltage Reduction Program being implemented on the grid only allowing 114 volts to come in when I used to have a solid 120 volts. Now when I fire up my games, if they all are on my EMs play like dying fat slow slugs.
I have 8 games on one circuit and never had any issues until this year.
1 game on
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6 solid states
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Add 2 EMs
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Speaking of outlets, wiring etc. What is the consensus on arc fault circuit breakers? Have they gotten better? I've seen them trip just by Turning the game on. Heck I had a client with a Galaga trip the arc fault breaker via the preheat fluorescent lamp.
Just had a client with a dart. Same thing.

The consensus is that, though they are required by code, there are plenty of devices that fall outside of the tolerances that they are capable of detecting. I would think that EM tables would manifest issues more frequently than modern tables. There is a good write up on nuisance tripping here: http://structuretech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/AFCI-Tripping-NEMA-Compatibility.pdf

A number of the issues come from the incompatibility of household wiring for retrofit panel upgrades. Some previously accepted practices, such as sharing a neutral, are not compliant with AFCI breakers. There are also numerous appliances that may exhibit natural arcing and the breaker can have a hard time differentiating between a dangerous or nominal condition.

All in all, there have been minimal improvements since the initial 2011 NEC code requirements went into place. In many ways the consensus is that the requirement was executed prematurely. Not only are nuisance trips still a common occurrence, but the material costs have become prohibitive at roughly ten times the cost of a standard breaker ($80 vs $8). Remember that a breaker has a finite amount of trip conditions that it can experience before it becomes compromised, generally in the realm of 12-15. This can further compound the cost of continuous nuisance tripping.

In my 30 years as an electrician, I have never heard of intentional voltage reduction at the grid. Why would that make sense, since you are just increasing the ampacity? What are you seeing at the mains in your panel? If you see the same voltage there, you need to reach out to your utility company as there could be an issue at the transformer coming off of the primary. They should be able to check this for you at no cost in most jurisdictions.

114 at the taps
Already called, line guys came out and tested. I popped the cover off the panel also and tested while they were here. It’s intentional.
I watch it all the time now. Every once in a while I’ll get 115 in the evenings.
https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/asset/document/Volt%20Var%20and%20CVR%20EMV%20Best%20Practice%2006-01-17clean%20-%20508%20PASSED.PDF

Just checked on a circuit with absolutely nothing plugged into it.
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Fucking sucks! Keep an eye on your voltages fellas. I’m no one special, it’s just a thing that’s quietly being adopted.

And since P=I*V, voltage reduction makes no sense. As you mentioned, volts go down, amps go up but watts stays the same, and ultimately, that's what they're billing you on. I can see penalties for power factor but I don't think most homes have huge inductive or capacitive loads to worry about that.

I did find that article after responding to your initial post. Outside of inductive motor loads, I cannot see how that makes sense to do and in no way benefits the consumer. What tree hugger at the EPA did they get to green light this plan? Also, where abouts do you live?

I don't understand how this helps anyone to adopt. What is the rationale behind this? Seems almost like they are excusing the fact that they aren't able to keep up with demand and have some problem.

WTF. For years we’ve been doing more energy efficient appliances, insulations, roofing, LEDs in our homes and pins and more, yet these jerks still need to sneak in and reduce voltage on us?

I think I know who is to blame!!!
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God damn EPA, man.

Sorry to derail the thread OP with my low voltage scenario but prior to last month, this set up here that sevenrites describes is what I was getting away with except instead of an AC I have a mini fridge. Basically the same description with no issues.

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It really isn't a good idea to put an inductive load on the same circuit as sensitive electronics. I would recommend that you move that mini fridge off to its own circuit or at least not one that has your pins on it.

Freak'n Walter Peck! Every damn time...

Also, doesn’t transmission efficiency drop as voltage decreases? Seems like a lose-lose

I live near Chicago and my transformer is tapped for 250 volts at my main breaker all day long. Last Summer, we experienced our first planned brownout and saw voltages around 105 at the outlet for more than 24 hours. 120 VAC +/- 6% is supposed to be the North American standard.

"Unlike blackouts that are caused by unexpected occurrences, brownouts are done on purpose by the utility company. They are planned in advance to avoid a blackout happening in the future. Utility companies anticipate when there could be a sudden rise in demand that would overload the grid and make the electricity temporarily unavailable by mitigating power use."

Source: https://neccoopenergy.com/brownout-vs-blackout-whats-the-difference/

You're thinking about motors under certain load conditions. But that's not true for all devices. Think about Ohm's law, V = I*R, when the resistance is fixed. If volts go down, so must the current (amps). Incandescent lamps, as one example, go dim when voltage is reduced. Dim would mean less power and therefore less current. Heating elements of all kinds fall into this category of resistive loads.

Enough of the grid is comprised of loads that use less power when voltage is reduced that it makes sense for the power utility to utilize planned brownouts when supply cannot meet demand.

Only if amperage increases, which it doesn't. System-wide, reduced voltage means reduced power (and therefore reduced amperage).

I'm getting 122.5, no wonder my Disco Fever works much better here than at Allentown.

They are way better than they used to be. When they first came out there was a lot of nuisance tripping, but for the most part they've been pretty dang good.

I did have a good one the other day on a service call. Some lady said that a lot of stuff wasn't working in her house when she got up to get ready for work. It turned out to be that every arc fault breaker in her panel was tripped. A storm had rolled through early that morning and I'm guessing a power surge tripped them.

It's crazy how much a small variance in incoming line voltage can make a difference.
Had a pinbot. Game would not reset the drop targets. Incoming line voltage at 114vac. Plugged into different outlet at 120. Worked great.

Anyone with low voltage try something like this?…
https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Wallmount-Conditioner-outlets/dp/B00006B81V

True for resistive loads. But for switching power supplies (i.e. Spike 2, etc.), line current can increase since the switcher's loop adjusts to maintain a constant output (i.e. 48V, etc.) and available power. That's why switchers can have such a wide input voltage.

Here's a random SnipIt from a Meanwell switching supply.
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At lower voltages (i.e. higher currents), the resistive loss in the transmission wires become more important. That's why there's the HV transmission lines (something like 250KV?, don't know the exact number), then they step it down - eventually to residential. The crazy high voltages allow for lower currents. Hence, less loss (higher efficiency).

Also true. But in the context of the question about planned brown-outs, that one kind of load is inconsequential as compared to the overall composition of the electrical grid's load.