Electricity in arcade games?

[boatofcar]

Do those of you "in the club," leave your machines plugged in all the time? What about your electric bills? Do they suck up electricity? Or is it about the same as leaving a computer on all the time?

[Sylentwulf]

I leave mine plugged in all the time, but definitely not on all the time. It's in my living room, and it's loud. I'm a big fan of loud obnoxious noises, but not when I'm trying to watch a movie :)

[xertcev]

Someone did some figures in this thread here...
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=13129;st art=msg103361#msg103361
They figured $6.40 per month, per game, left on 24/7

I wouldn't recommend leaving them on all day everyday though.
I usually switch them on only to play them and turn them off at night.

[boatofcar]

Ah, so there is an on/off switch on arcade games? Do the high scored reset when you turn the machine on and off?

[wberdan]

Ah, so there is an on/off switch on arcade games? Do the high scored reset when you turn the machine on and off?


yes there is an on/off switch on the inside of the backdoor= it works much like a light in a refridgerator. if you take the back door right off you can leave it plugged in all the time, and just tape the button down when you want it on.

i dont know about new games, but old games have to be on constantly to hold high scores.

willie

[Balloon Fight]

I leave mine plugged in all the time, but i never leave it on. It's is my bedroom, so when i sleep, ill constantly hear the Galaxians.
Unfortunately the score does reset when you turn it off, and the on/off switch is on the top back of my machine.

[QBert]

Ah, so there is an on/off switch on arcade games? Do the high scored reset when you turn the machine on and off?

With mame you can use (after downloading) a dat file that holds your high scores for most of the classic games. I found it on classicgaming.com ironically enough.
But for all arcade games that I know of, yep the high score dies when the power is pulled.
I leave both of mine on during the weekends or when people are over, just usually not overnight.



Grrrr cant get a NES to work! Keeps blinking power on....off....on....off and Ive pulled all the little connectors up to make sure there is a nice tight connection with the games,and cleaned everything. Oh well, trade in time.


Chris

[xertcev]

All cabinets I've seen have a On/Off toggle switch. On Taito cabinets
they are on the front left bottom of the cabinet by the toe kick thing.
On Williams, (I don't know about all) It is on the top near the back.
Nearly impossible to reach from the front unless you're like 7 feet tall.

wberdan was referring to the service switch that turns off the
game when servicing, for safety reasons. Usually on those you
can pull the switch mech out instead of taping it down.
(I don't mean take the switch out, but pull back on the switch plunger)

I have a friends 720 machine in my basement that retains high scores
even after the game is turned off. So some may have a battery backup.

[Flack]

I have a friends 720 machine in my basement that retains high scores even after the game is turned off. So some may have a battery backup.

If he ever wants to get rid of that thing, let me know. 720 = my holy grail.

I have six of my seven machines plugged into one power strip. I have gone back and forth, sometimes I will forget and leave them on a week at a time and sometimes I will shut them off (they are in the back workshop so I can't hear/see them from the house). I have seen no discernable difference in my electric bill either way.

And yes, 99% of video games lose their high scores when unplugged. Just ask George Costanza!

[maxlords]

Yeah, most games lose their high scores. The newer ones don't, however. They must have some sort of flash ROM or battery backup.

As for turning the machines on and off.....it's VERY hard on the machines to do that, especially the older machines. They draw double their normal power load when you first turn them on or off. You put a lot of stress through the power supply when you turn them on and off a lot. If you only use it occasionally, yeah, but if you're using it all the time, leave it on as much as possible. Just turn attract mode off if you don't want to hear the thing :D There's usually a setting to do that.

And yeah, most games have switches to turn em on and off. I can't think of any that dont. Usually they're on the top in the back, or on the back of the cab, but sometimes they're inside the coin doors as well. On pinball machines, they're on the bottom of the machine usually.

[xertcev]

@Flack, I asked that friend if he wanted to sell it to me, and he
said something like 'No way, that game is part of my childhood,
I will never sell that thing'

Him and I, and another guy used to play that game everyday back
in the late '80s at an Aladdin's Castle. Well anyway, I'm not complaining,
It's sitting in my basement and who knows if he'll ever want it back.
I just can't call myself the "owner".

[98PaceCar]

Ah, so there is an on/off switch on arcade games? Do the high scored reset when you turn the machine on and off?

If everything is still intact, most games actually have 2 or 3 switches. The main power switch is usually on top or on the bottom in the back somewhere. Not always the case, but usually. Then, there's the safety interlock on the back door. Basically a way to kill the machine if the back door is taken off. Some even have a safety interlock that's pushed in by the coin door, but most of them have been removed by ops (at least on my games).

The majority of the older games don't save high scores. However, there are several people that make kits for the more popular ones to save the scores. My Millipede and Galaga both have these and I've got one coming for Asteroids. Some games used batteries, but that was a poor design and has destroyed many boards (acid leakage). I guess the short answer is it depends on the game!

98PaceCar

[Videogamerdaryll]

No..I only turn the 3 of them on when I'm going to play them..
I do leave them running when company comes over though..

I never actually leave them plugged in when not in use.
I have them on a switch board that I always turn off when not in use.

[chadtower]

I leave mine unplugged most of the time, but I don't use them much either. I would be more afraid of burnin, either making it or making it worse from being on all of the time.