(Topic ID: 202310)

Whats the most amount of pinballs you've had on a breaker?

By Robertstone0407

6 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 9 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by vid1900
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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    #1 6 years ago

    So im about to get my next pinball and that'll put 8 machines plus a multicade which is just a PC all on the same circuit

    #2 6 years ago

    Your at your limit on standard 15 amp 20 amp circuit.

    #3 6 years ago

    Plenty of threads about circuit requirements. It's not the number of pins that's key, it's the power draw.

    You don't say what your circuits are rated for, but you're pressing your luck. I designed my gameroom to have 5 pins on a 20 amp circuit. That's a bit conservative, but most of my games have non-LED lighting and draw more power than modern games. Whether the games are being played will make a difference too.

    #4 6 years ago

    I think I'm gonna run another circuit. They are all williams games, all leds

    #5 6 years ago

    Try it! If it works there is nothing lost. If it trips the breaker you will need to add another circuit. Nothing is going to burn down or anything as long as your wire is sized correctly.

    #6 6 years ago

    I read a thread on here awhile back that the general rule of thumb was 5 amps per pin and 3 amps per cab. So a 20 amp breaker could handle either 4 pins or 6 cabs safely. That's what I have been working with and so far so good :^)

    #7 6 years ago

    You can have unlimited number of pins on one breaker.....as long as you only turn on 4 of them at any one time.

    #8 6 years ago

    Yep lots of threads on this. Figure about 2.5A per pin. An 80% rated 20A breaker will handle 16A so 6.4 pins per circuit. That said, I've put 8 on one 20A circuit and after running a clamp-on ammeter it showed right at 16A. I decided to split the games up 'cause I knew there would be issues if all played at once.

    #9 6 years ago

    Good info.

    #10 6 years ago

    HOW MANY GAMES ON A SINGLE CIRCUIT BREAKER?

    ===========================================

    By now you have probably heard that commercial arcades put 6 pinball machines on each 20A circuit.

    How did they come up with that formula?

    The National Electric Code wants circuit breakers to see 80% of their rated load. So for a 20A breaker, the ideal number is 16 amps.

    Most pinball machines draw about 1.6 to 2 amps peak.

    Some pinball machines with a ton of lamps may even draw 2.4 amps.

    If you take any random 6 pinball machines at an arcade and measure their amperage draw at the breaker panel, you see that each breaker is seeing ~13 amps. Well under our 16 amp goal.

    In your home, where you don't have to worry about employees moving games around and messing up your breaker loads, if you measured a 13 amp draw on a circuit, you could safely add one additional game and still be under your 16 amp target.

    https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacing-line-cords-plugs-wall-sockets-vids-guide

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