Pachinko Power cord Questions

[Eddie]

I would like to install a longer 3 prong grounded power cord In my new pachinko machine.
It now has a short 2 prong ungrounded cord! How to do it?

Should I add a fuse to the cord or to the transformer? If so where and how to do it?

What would be the best type of cord to use?

What type of fuse harness. if needed. to use?

Can anyone help wih this? Any of you guys have pics of such installations?

Thanks in advance

[luckydog]

The pictures aren't that good but this was how Arby did my Bunny Girls

the ground wires 110v and 24v are going to the transformer base, no fuse.

I can't trace where the ground on the machine is, I can't find my flashlight

Iwould put a regular auto in line 5 or 6 amp fuse on the 24 volt side.

[Lddrizzt]

Looking at your second pic in the thread where you posted the pics of your new baby, I would hook up the 2 wiresform the new cord (usually black and white) to the transformer like the current one is. And right above the loop in the pic is a short wire screwed down to metal plates on the boards. Look over the back of your machine, you should see more of these type wires (usually they are green), they will be attached to various places, I would connect the green wire in your new cord to one of those, as those are the grounding wires.

[daverob]

the ground wires 110v and 24v are going to the transformer base, no fuse.
...
Iwould put a regular auto in line 5 or 6 amp fuse on the 24 volt side.

There's not really any need for a fuse on the 24 volt side, as the machine will have a fuse in it's power supply box just after the power switch, so your extra fuse will be redundant (it will only protect the bit of wire between the transformer and the fuse in the pachi). If however you do decide to use one then I would recommend something higher than 5 or 6 amps as the pachi's I've seen have 8 or 10A slow blow fuses fitted, and something lower might blow during the normal start-up surge.

If it were me, then I'd fit a fuse for the primary (110v) side of the transformer. A 4 or 5 amp slow blow should be about the right value. As without one, the only thing protecting this side is the 15 or 20A breaker in the main house panel.

The only time I wouldn't consider them necessary is if you are sure that the transformer is a good quality one with a (preferably resetable) thermal fuse that you can trust (like the ones Arby uses). Even then if I was extending the mains lead beyond say 3 or 4 metres (10-15' or so) I would feel a lot more comfortable with a fuse fitted.

We don't have this issue in the UK as all mains plugs are three prong and contain a fuse (which should be 3 or 5A for a pachi). Which is a good thing as it sort of makes up for the fact that they are probably the most painful thing to step on with bare feet (as when unplugged they tend to lie with the pins facing up).

[alstonj1]

ditto .........put the fuse on the black line in to the transformer (110 side)and yes a 3-5 amp fuse is suffient for this purpose you can get an inline fuse holder at radio shack or any other electrical supply store.....

[slothappy144]

I am about to make a run to the shack for some rsistance to quite the doggy Pachi I picked up, the music is annoyingly loud, I don't see any volume controls at all. Jeff, Are input fuses that important? wouldn't the fuse on the powersupply do an adequate job? Thes would ba a snap to install so if there is any benifit to protect my investment is there I am gonna grab a bucket of em.
I plug the machines int a 1000 Joule surge strip as it is. I know some will say never too much saftey, they wear suspenders and a belt.

[luckydog]

None of my pachinkos have inline fuses and only Arby's is grounded.

I don't know a lot about electrics, but all my transformers are only luke warm even right after a fever.

I've never gotten a shock and I keep them all on power strips. and turned off unless playing them.

[daverob]

None of my pachinkos have inline fuses and only Arby's is grounded.

I don't know a lot about electrics, but all my transformers are only luke warm even right after a fever.

I've never gotten a shock and I keep them all on power strips. and turned off unless playing them.

Ok, this reply and it's recommendations have got a bit more long-winded than I was hoping they would be, so if you're not interested in the technical stuff, feel free to skip to the summary at the end.

I'm a qualified electrician in the UK, so I know a little bit about this stuff , but I don't know the exact regulations for the US or elsewhere. However when it comes to safety issues, I think that all of the regs are based on the same fundamental principals. If anyone is more familiar with regs on your side of the pond, then feel free to correct me...

With regard to grounding. All the electrics in a pachinko (not neccesarily true for a pachislo though) are isolated from mains voltage by the transformer, and as it is mostly made of plastic and wood with very liitle exposed metalwork, you are very unlikely to get a shock even if the machine is not grounded. There are no interference suppression components on the mains side of the power supply which would require a ground either.

For these reasons I wouldn't consider a non-grounded pachinko as unsafe. Providing a ground may cut down radio frequency interference, and it would protect you in the unlikely event that the transformer melts down so severely that live mains wiring comes in contact with exposed metalwork (but I wouldn't consider that to be a likely event).

In the UK at least, it is considered good practise to use a three core earthed mains cable and connect all of the earths up. In a commerical location it would be required by law, as the pachinko machine has not been certified to the standards that unearthed 'double insulated' equipment needs to be, so it would fail the annual 'portable appliance test'. However (again in the UK) these regulations don't apply to equipment in the home.

On the fuse issue, their main function is to protect agains overloads and short circuits. The fuse in the machine will protect the 24v side of the transformer, against all overloads, and will protect against short circuits inside the pachinko machine. It won't, however, protect the cable from the transformer to the power supply box, so if that get's trapped in the door and the wire gets damaged, it won't blow as it won't see any of the short circuit current in the damaged wire.

If this did happen (and I would consider it to be something that is quite likely so should be planned for when considering safety issues) one of two things will happen. Hopefully the transformer will quickly overheat, and the thermal fuse in the transformer will blow before it or the electrical wiring gets hot enough to melt or cause a fire, on the other hand if the transformer has no thermal fuse (or the thermal fuse is too high a temperature) then you will be relying on the fuse in the mains side.

In the US, the nearest fuse could be the 15-20A breaker in the main panel, and while a short circuit on the live side of the transformer will blow this fuse (with a correctly designed home wiring installation), you would need well over 100A flowing on the 24v side to make this fuse blow, and even then it could take minutes to blow. The type of cheap transformer that this problem is likely to happen with, is also likely to have a high internal resistance, and will not be capable of passing that kind of fault current, which makes transformer meltdown a lot more likely than the breaker tripping.

A smaller value fuse local to the pachi transformer will blow much faster, and need a lot less current to blow, so is a lot more likely to protect you from your cheap chinese transformer turning your pachi into a pile of smoldering plastic and wood.


So in summary, it's a good idea to use a 3 prong plug and connect the earth wire to a screw holding the transformer metalwork to the pachinko frame, and also link it to the green earth wires in the pachinko, but I wouldn't loose sleep if there was no earth.

I'd also highly recommend a 4-5A fuse on the mains side local to the transformer if you are in any way unsure of the quality of the transformer. If it is a known good quality transformer and has a resettable thermal trip (like Arby fits to his machines), then I would consider this fuse to be purely optional. If the transformer has a non resettable thermal fuse, then again it's not neccesary but is a good idea, as a 50 cent fuse could save you from having to replace a $20 transformer. If your transformer is an unknown quantity (ie not UL marked or runs very warm to the touch) then either replace the transformer (with one from Arby!) or add a local fuse.

[slothappy144]

Thanks for taking the time to reply daverob.

[websherpa]

If anyone is more familiar with regs on your side of the pond, then feel free to correct me...

With regard to grounding. All the electrics in a pachinko (not neccesarily true for a pachislo though) are isolated from mains voltage by the transformer, and as it is mostly made of plastic and wood with very liitle exposed metalwork, you are very unlikely to get a shock even if the machine is not grounded. There are no interference suppression components on the mains side of the power supply which would require a ground either.

For these reasons I wouldn't consider a non-grounded pachinko as unsafe.

I am not a professional, only a layman, so take this with a grain of salt until someone with more qualification answers.

In my unqualified understanding (use at your own risk), in Canada at least, almost any device with a metal case, (and possibly any exposed metal parts, or exposed wiring - not sure if this is required or just good caution) must be case grounded. The only products which I can think of that aren't grounded (2 wire polarized plugs) are table lights and portable appliances (which must have polarized plugs and the case electrically isolated - usually a fully enclosed plastic case). Appliances may not use the neutral as ground, nor combine neutral and ground at the appliance (even though they are combined at the fuse box). Pinballs, a similar type of devices are grounded at the Transformer, and then normally grounding wires are run through newer machines to the metal coin door, and backbox, legs, etc.

The reason is, if either a hot wire or neutral wire should come loose and short on the case somewhere, the case and any connected metal parts would become a potential source of death (if you were standing in a puddle), or happen to touch one hand to device and another to a ground of some sort. You would conduct electricity from the device, to ground and may have a heart stopping shock.

Most of the pachinkos and pachislos I have dealt with do have some exposed metal on their cases, often hinges, sometimes other parts including metalized or chromed plastic (which can carry a charge). Pachislos definitely have metal cases in many of them, either reel cages or power supply cases on the newer units.

Users here have reported receiving the classic "tingle" of a stray voltage, on some of their older machines when touching the machine.

In the Japanese Pachinko Parlours, ALL machines are hooked up to a house ground, a wire that connects directly to the machine at a point in the back. THey don't often have a three-wire , three prong plug. exporter / importers are lazy and sometimes cheap, they utilize the existing 2 wire plug, cut the ground wire and ship as is (since the machine works this way).

In my opinion, to be safe, the Pachi suppliers really should be requiring the installation of grounded plugs (I think, I could be wrong), and fully enclosed back panels. Only one supplier of Pachinkos in Canada, that I can think of, will supply a back panel case (for an added fee). Though because these machines are imported used, they by-pass the usual need for CSA./UL approval.

For this reason, I reground ALL pachi machines and old pinballs, arriving in my household. I check that the hinges and any exposed metal are grounded. God forbid my son should reach around back of an exposed machine (although the lines in to the transformer are all insolated).

Although highly, highly unlikely, you can bet that the first time someone electrocutes themselves on a Pachi, there will be a huge lawsuit followed by a clampdown on their import.

[alstonj1]

What they both said is true and i would replace the two prong cord with a three prong cord and attach the ground wire to the transformer housing mounting screw . as for the fuse most are protected internally with a thermal protection device on the output of the transformer some are resettable (more expensive) others one time only (cheap ones) neither of these will protect you from a primary winding shorting out and becoming hot enough to melt plastic or burn wood . as stated yes you have the house circuit breaker to protect your house wiring but its to large to be really effective in this case how many times have you heard of a fire being started by an overloaded extension cord ...... why didn't the house fuse protect that problem answer is it didn't draw enough current before becoming cherry red and starting the fire ....things don't always make a direct short some times they have resistance to overcome before tripping the breaker level during that time they can get red hot like a soldering iron . Now just because arby and others don't have a fuse doesn't mean you shouldn't have one on there most electric devices even Christmas light have an in line power fuse before the device and you should have one on any device you plug in the wall .....but then i'm not a professional i only play one on T.V) just kidding I am a professional just always wanted to say that ....smokin:

[daverob]

in Canada at least, almost any device with a metal case, (and possibly any exposed metal parts, or exposed wiring - not sure if this is required or just good caution) must be case grounded. The only products which I can think of that aren't grounded (2 wire polarized plugs) are table lights and portable appliances (which must have polarized plugs and the case electrically isolated - usually a fully enclosed plastic case).

We have the same/similar rules in the UK, if a device only has a two wire mains lead (with no earth connection) then it must have 'supplementary insulation', so that if a fault occurs then hazardous voltages will be contained by the second level of insulation. These are commonly known as 'double insulated' over here, and are mostly plastic cased.

If a pachinko/pachislo was supplied by a 'safety isolating transformer', where even under fault conditions the physical isolation between the mains primary, and low voltage secondary windings would be maintained, then it would be classed as double insulated, and a ground would not be required,

In my opinion, to be safe, the Pachi suppliers really should be requiring the installation of grounded plugs (I think, I could be wrong), and fully enclosed back panels.

I have yet to see evidence of any pachinko from any supplier that has a power supply that would 100% satisfy the EU safety requirements for a brand new machine or would pass the periodic 'portable appliance test' that would be neccesary to use the machine in a commercial location in the UK. That's not to say I would consider them electrically unsafe or an immediate danger. To put it in perspective we're dealing with a machine that uses 1000's of ball bearings which are far more likely to be the cause of an injury than the remote possibility of several things failing in such a way that none of the protection devices can make it safe.

Personally I wouldn't go as far as a fully enclosed back panel either. My ideal pachi power supply would be a correctly rated transformer, fully enclosed in an earthed metal box, with all mains voltage cable connections inside the box, a fuse for the primary of the transformer, and a three prong plug, with all earths connected. BTW none of my machines have this kind of setup, even the ones that I've fitted transformers to myself, but if I was selling these machines commercially...

I've only seen one supplier who encloses the transformer and their supplies were very close to what I'd have designed, but unfortunately they were a little underrated for some of the more demanding machines (which I believe was corrected in the Mk2 units) and didn't have anywhere to connect the green earth wire from the pachinko (so very close, but no cigar).

as for the fuse most are protected internally with a thermal protection device on the output of the transformer some are resettable (more expensive) others one time only (cheap ones) neither of these will protect you from a primary winding shorting out

I was under the impression that UL certification required that there be a thermal fuse in the primary winding, on all the transformers I've had to replace them on they've been on the mains side. I could be wrong though, and if I am then I would agree an external fuse would be an absolute requirement.

[websherpa]

I was under the impression that UL certification required that there be a thermal fuse in the primary winding

Digging into my memory, I seem to remember at least one US pachi dealer promoting the fact that they use thermally protected transformers. Now, I'm assuming that the windings heat up enough due to a short, and not a direct short, like a loose wire touching the case before the primary (which a ground wire would protect for).

[alstonj1]

nothing but an in line fuse will protect you from a direct short . thats why most older 100 volt machines had a fuse on the power supply but they no longer do (some do hard wired inside the power supply).especially the 24 volt ones dont have one (weren't designed for use on 110) this fuse is imperative if you plan to run it 24-7 or any time the machine is unsupervised . as for the thermal by the time it activates if it activates ... you may already have a considerable amount of damage . a fast blow 3 to 5 amp fuse will blow before damage results to your machine .under max load meaning a 8 amp (24volt) output (more than the most advanced mmachine should be drawing) your machine should draw around 2 amps (110 volt ) input a 3 amp fuse will cover the machine nicely and if it blows its time to check the current draw of your transformer ....

[slothappy144]

I just started 'fixing' the power supply cords on my machines. I replaced the non polarity cheapo 2' line cord with a 6' 3 prong cord. I grounded the green to the transformer frame. I connected the fuse to the black (hot) wire. if by some chance your cords are not colored same look at a 3 prong wall jack, notice one slot is larger than the other the shorter one is the hot, trace it back to end, put fuse in this wire. one wire will usually have a stripe or writing on it, good for polarized 2 wire cord.
Thanks to everyone who posted about this. I feel better knowing I have more safety and also the longer cord is more convienant!

[websherpa]

One more quick thing. There is usually a green wire, or cut green wire somewhere near where the mains (past the transformer) goes into the pachinko, this is the house ground tie in. It's a good idea to conenct from the transformer mount to this wire as well, or if you can see ground wiring to various metal points on the pachinko frame, tie in to a point there too (so the case is grounded as well as the transformer). Usually all I have to do is loosen a screw in the hinge, push a lug connector in there and tighten.