New Life Games LLC
General NLG Chat => General Chat, Slot Shop **Tech Talk** Welcome wagon and other stuff. (Off-Topic Post Welcome) => Topic started by: rickhunter on December 10, 2014, 11:20:14 AM
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Ok, here are some logs of a few machines I ran last night with my meter. Your machine may vary +/- 10% based on accessories and whatnots (Topper, eye candy attachments, etc). These results are based on the configuration as posted. The energy cost is based on 12.2 cents per kWh (national average), your cost will vary based on the area you live. All the machines have a TITO board installed, though the draw on this accessory is negligible. All machines except the S+ have ticket printers.
Bally:
Alpha V20/20 - Dual 20 inch LCD monitors with standard oval Bally topper and 14 button led deck. Average 270 watts draw consuming .27 kWh. About 80 cents a day, or $293 a year.
Alpha S9000 Elite - 20inch top lcd 5 reel mechanical configuration with topper and 14 button led deck. Average 265 watts draw consuming .26 kWh. About 77 cents a day, or $281 a year.
Notes: Both of these machines varied between idle and during game play about 5% draw. Mainly because during the spin the lights on most of the player panel switches go off and then come back on after the play is over, just the player panel lights on a 14 button deck draw an additional 8 watts using LED type buttons. On machines with a winning combination, the draw was a bit higher because of the backlight on the reels, these tended to add about 4 to 6 watts of power. So if you are going to leave it idle, leave it on a non-winning combination.
IGT
iGame+ 17" with LCD and a dual row player button panel with leds on the buttons. A Hex topper with the RGB lights, dual fluorescent lights for glass backlighting. Average draw 145 watts using .15 kWh. About 44 cents a day or $160 a year.
S2000 5 reel LED backlit reels 14 button player panel with led bulbs and 3 fluorescent bulbs for the glass and reel window. No topper on this machine. Average draw was 128 watts using .13 kWh. About 38 cents a day or $139 a year.
S+ 3 reel with standard 5 button player panel with LED bulbs and 3 fluorescent bulbs for the glass and reel window. To topper. Average draw as 110 watts using about .11 kWh. About 32 cents a day or $118 a year.
Notes. Same behavior with the player panel lights and backlit reels in the S2000 as the alpha's. The current draw was about 8 watts higher after pays. Interestingly enough during spins, the current draw was lower. I thought the stepper motors would use about the same amount of power as the lights, but they use about 2 watts in total. In the Igame, the idle mode used 6 watts of power more due to the leds in the player panel than during spins, when the lights are all off. The difference between the S+ and S2000 is remarkable considering how much more the S2000 does. Keep in mind the S2000 has 2 case fans plus the MPU tray fan.
WMS
Converted BB1 cabinet to BB2 - Dual 22 inch monitors (Both LED backlit) and OLED player panel. No Topper. In this game, the draw was pretty much static throughout since the player panel was oled, it is constantly lit, there was a 1 to 2 watt variance during "Big Wins" probably due to the amp drawing more current for the louder celebration noises. I was shocked that this machine had the lowest current draw of all the video platforms I have. The average draw was 120 watts using .12 kWh. About 35 cents a day or $128 per year.
BB1 Mech Reel - 5 reel Hot Hot Re-spin title with SPN hardware, Topper. The average draw was 210 watts using .21 kWh. About 61 cents a day or $224 per year.
Converted WMS 550 cabinet to CPUNXT - Coming Soon.
WMS Dotmation - Coming Soon.
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:thank_you: :thank_you: Great job Rick. K+
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Wow! Good job Rick! Very interesting.
(I just looked at our energy statement. My baseline rate here in wonderful CA is $0.153/kwh, and based on a tiered pricing structure, goes up to $0.324/kwh.)
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I shop for price. $0.08590
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I decided, after reading this, (AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR TIME AND EFFORT DOING THIS FOR THE BENEFIT OF EVERYONE ON HERE), my machines will now be turned off, instead of 24/7/365..... Im throwing away around 300 bucks a year doing that... Screw that!!!!
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turning the game on and off everyday may be more expensive in repairs unless you are a slot tech.
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Here is my two cents.
If any of the home owns are like me, I turn them off because it is usually a few days or up to a week or so before
I get to play them again. If you play them everyday I would keep them on.
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One more point, If you have ChamII stand alone progressives on your machine the memory battery in them will only hold their data about a week or two without power. If the memory in the chamII+ goes dead you will have to reload the data through the PSP and you will not be able to play them until you do (progressive link down). Not a big deal just information. As long as you fire the machine up for a few hours each week this is not a problem.
I have been cycling 5 IGT machines for about 3 years, That is, if I turn a machine on I will leave it on for the rest of the day and turn it off when I retire for the night. The machines have been turned on about twice a week this way and I have not had any real maintenance issues with them.
Rick good analysis were you using a kilowatt unit to obtain your measurements? :cool_thumb_up:
Rich
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yea and psp program is an old dos program
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Yes using P3 Killawatt. Ran the machines for an average of 1 hour each.
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I have a different theory.
I have been told by Casino Tech's that when a S2000 Machine has been running for years & the power is turned off, they have had problems with the Power Supply going out?
I have found it easier to leave mine running 24/7.. The Room has lights going all night and may be a deterrent against Crime?? Don't really know. Just know what the County Sherrif said.
The money you save may not be worth the Price, in the long run.
Just my thoughts.
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Computers and other electronics that have large power supplies often have problems.
Basically AC power is fed into a transformer. The purpose is to step down the power from 120 to 24v.
The 24v AC power is then converted to DC by being fed through a rectifier.
Often other electronic components like capacitors are used to "smooth" out the power
24v DC is further reduced to 12v, 5v etc by a series of resistors.
All of the components (especially the transformer coils and resistors) dissipate heat.
After a power supply has been on for a long time the various electronic components tend to expand - this expansion continues over time.
When a power supply is turned off the contraction can physically damage the components as the contraction happens over a much shorter time than the expansion did.
My advice is that if you power cycle your machine continue to do so. If you leave it on all the time, continue to do so.....
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Good read. Thanks everyone for the inputs. I know, I'm late to the conversation, new guy here.
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I have three machines so to leave them running all the time is approaching $800 a year. With that said though I have had nothing but problems with leaving them off. Batteries going dead, soldering, reset chips etc...
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interesting numbers here. I come from the arcade world originally. then I got my first pin. now i'm working on a slot and a video poker. economically it probably doesn't make sense to leave anything on 24/7 if it's 25+ years old. I would turn them off if you're not operating commercially.
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I leave mine off all the time now and turn them on when I want to play, and then I typically leave them on for the rest of the day. The only issues I've had are batteries running down. The Alpha 2 pro are notoriously battery drain happy, so I seem to be changing the batteries on these every few months. The Alpha 1's don't have the same issue, maybe yearly or so, maybe even a bit longer than that. The WMS bluebirds (BB1, BB2 and blade) are a lot better at that, with battery replacements rare for me. Same goes for the IGT machines (S+, S2000, 044, AVP).
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I replaced my on board battery with an external battery pack that is many times larger capacity. Still NiCad technology though. I have no idea how long the original rechargeable battery would last without power applied, but I expect mine should last 10x as long with its new 900 mAh battery.
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What machine type?
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Mine? I have a slot machine by Universal. It is a Target Scope art wise and reels. The inside has a black metal cage the pcb sits in... I think people determined what submodel it is with that? I found a $0.25 token inside the machine from Harrah's in Louisiana... So I'm guessing at one point it was a riverboat machine?
The battery I got was just a NiCad battery on amazon.
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The problem with Nicads in general is that they develop a memory.
There are two chemicals that react that produce the charge.
When you use the battery to the end you run the risk that it won't take a charge - the longer they sit dead the greater chance this occurs.
When your battery sits and is not consumed its possible that a crust develops and then it appears dead, you can charge it but it will only run down to where the crust developed.
When you keep your battery fully charged the same thing happens in that they don't appear to hold the charge.
The batteries perform the best when they are fully cycled over a period of 3 days.
There are also "smart" batteries that manage their charges better usually this is a circuit that detects the battery is full and cuts off the charging.
Any chance I get I swap out to a lithium based cell.
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I have a different theory.
I have been told by Casino Tech's that when a S2000 Machine has been running for years & the power is turned off, they have had problems with the Power Supply going out?
I have found it easier to leave mine running 24/7.. The Room has lights going all night and may be a deterrent against Crime?? Don't really know. Just know what the County Sherrif said.
The money you save may not be worth the Price, in the long run.
Just my thoughts.
I can't tell you how many Trimline monitors we lost over the years just from powering down. Multiple recaps of the power supply. If is home owned yes turn if off when not in use, in a casino let it run until the CPU or something else goes out.
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I have a different theory.
I have been told by Casino Tech's that when a S2000 Machine has been running for years & the power is turned off, they have had problems with the Power Supply going out?
I have found it easier to leave mine running 24/7.. The Room has lights going all night and may be a deterrent against Crime?? Don't really know. Just know what the County Sherrif said.
The money you save may not be worth the Price, in the long run.
Just my thoughts.
I can't tell you how many Trimline monitors we lost over the years just from powering down. Multiple recaps of the power supply. If is home owned yes turn if off when not in use, in a casino let it run until the CPU or something else goes out.
You did not loose them because they were powdered down the already existent problem only became apparent because the machine was power cycled yes the caps failed because they were on 24/7 and exposed to heat and over usage for a prolonged period of time. Home use environment is very difficult than casino usage. If a machine in home use has a new power supply and is only turned on when being used that power supply will last longer than if the machine is left on 24/7.
My recommendation is always base your decision on how much you use the machine. If your constantly going back to the machine leave it on because frequently power cycles can be bad. If the machine is going to be idle for a few hours or more turn it off.