Greetings arcade game owners and collectors. I have a questions regarding video games and pinball machines. I have found info here on how much pins draw (on average) and am wondering about the average video game cab.

For example, let's look at an average video game cab...like your Dynamo Cab (or Neo Geo) with CRT monitor (25" to be conservative). Is that more or less than the normal pin?

From researching Pinside, most posts recommend no more than 5 on a 20 amp line. I just had two 20-amp lines run to my basement and was wondering if the vid equation would change how I set up my basement.

Sooo. Vid > Pin? Vid = Pin? Vid < Pin?

#2 8 years ago

PAB

MustangPaul

LED Leg Light-Ups

Saint Paul, MN

11y 136K 23,313 10

You need a Kill-a-Watt meter.

#3 8 years ago

JMB

Monster_Bash

Pinside member

12y 79,800 2,564 23 17

Vids in general draw less amps if we're talking 19/25" monitor games VS a standard DMD pin. At my old place I had 12 vids...a mix of 19 and 25s on one 15A circuit and never had an issue for the 4 years I lived there. They were all powered on many of times for parties and such. It wasn't the cleanest setup either with extension cords and cheap surge strips. I probably wouldn't recommended that though

Vids also don't have the spike in power consumption like pins do when being used

I kept the pins to 5ish per 15A.

I'm finishing the basement at our new place now and have ran 10 20A circuits. Depending on where the circuit is it allows for 5-6 pins per..and 8-10 arcades. These are dedicated circuits with nothing else on them

In general..you should be able to pile more arcades than pins on a circuit. Buy a meter if you want specific details

#4 8 years ago

JMB

Monster_Bash

Pinside member

12y 79,800 2,564 23 17

#5 8 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Sana'a

12y 169K 40,258 18

Using a Kill-a-watt, you will see that most solid state pins draw less than 2A, maybe even 1.5A if they are LED.

Professional arcades put 6 pins per 20A breaker as the universal rule. (The National Electric Code wants circuit breakers to see 80% of their rated load).

Classic arcade games draw between 1 and 2 amps on the Kill-a-watt (Space Duel being my highest at 2.1A)

#6 8 years ago

AND

marcand

Rock Custom Pinball

Augusta, MI

12y 77,400 814 9 20

Quoted from vid1900:
Using a Kill-a-watt, you will see that most solid state pins draw less than 2A, maybe even 1.5A if they are LED.
Professional arcades put 6 pins per 20A breaker as the universal rule. (The National Electric Code wants circuit breakers to see 80% of their rated load).

Yeah! I saw you posted that in another thread. This is why I had two 20A lines ran from my box. Thanks!

#7 8 years ago

IZY

izzy

Pinside+ Frequent

Sacramento, CA

11y 65,050 1,164 6

How about EM pins? What do they draw? Redoing the electrical in the garage and trying to determine what to put in.
thanks

#8 8 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Sana'a

12y 169K 40,258 18

EMs draw about 2.5 to 2.8 amps peak.

#9 8 years ago

???

bhwolf

Pinside member

Summerfield, NC

8y 41,650 437 5 7

A kill-a-watt is definitely a good investment -- really handy to know how much power a device uses. In my case, my ToM and TZ (both LEDs) consume about 150-200 watts, while my EM with incandescent is closer to 300 watts. Those are from memory, and only a spot check.

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