Power supply suggestions

[wrkey]

Ok, I now have a total of 6 machines. My modern Pochi and the Vintage PowerFlash both have their own internal power supply as they require higher voltage. I have 4 vintage machines that have only lights and I would like to use on transformer to run them all.

Most of the time there would only be one on machine with lights on at a time. Some machines (my latest) utilize two or three lights for the jackpot and all use only 1 light for the hopper empty indicator. So, I figure the most likely event for a mutliple lights to be on would be a scenario where one machine's hopper empty light is on, that player gets another jackpot and at the same time one other machine hit's a jackpot as well. If we consider the most lights for a jackpot at 3 (for the monkey one) and 2 (for the Seven Dwarfs that would give me a total of 6 lights on (including the Hopper Empty). While I realize that over loading only causes dimmer lights, I want to size a power supply that can handle this 'max load'.

So, some out there with some electronic know how help me out. How many amps (or mili-amps) will I need to light 6 lamps at one time?

My plan is to have one power supply and then hook up the machines in a string like they do in the real parlours. Maybe even have an 'operator board' for the hopper empy indicators which would make the requirement 7 bulbs.

Thanks in advance!

[compirate]

In the parlors, the vintage ran on 8VAC. They're pretty big (about 6" cube) not sure the amps. You might find a bunch of cheap wall warts (9VDC) on the surplus electronics sites and use one per unit.

If you could find cheap counters, you could count the amount of wins off the 'win light'.

[Moparformances]

i found a power supply and our local swap meet that was 9 volts

cut the plug off the end and im using that on my vintage machines

works great

i would guess that most people have them laying around for old calculators that are dead or lost?

[compirate]

My next thought is to use an old computer power supply. There's a wire you have to connect from the motherboard plug to something to turn the unit on, then use the 5v or 12v dc line. There's a ton of them out there cheap.

Ratings for a 350W computer supply ($14.99):

350W

+3.3v
20 amps

+5v
25amps

+12v
12amps

[wrkey]

I am currently powering each of my vintage machines with the 'wall warts' (as compirate so elegantly put it) so that means I have 4 of them to plug in. Some of them don't put out a lot of amps so I get a dimmer light when there are multiple lights on (hopper empty and a jackpot).

If I can determine the amps needed for my 'worse case' scenario, I can then find the best power supply for it. The voltage isn't that big of an issue as I have two machines running 9v (old lights) and two machines running 6v where I've changed out the bulbs from radio shack.

My objective is to have one power supply, all consistant voltage lights and simplistic wiring. If I can make it more 'parlour like' all the better.

Thanks for all the advice!

[Meathead]

Many of the local thrift shops I have near home have bins full of those plug in power transformer used for battery chargers, phones, computer accessories, calculators, etc. for a buck or less. I have found several of the voltage that I need by sorting through a pile and separating out the volts/milliamps I need. Then, as Mopar stated, just cut the wire and connect it to you machine.

[mudfud]

I have 4 vintage machines that have only lights and I would like to use on transformer to run them all.

Most of the time there would only be one on machine with lights on at a time. Some machines (my latest) utilize two or three lights for the jackpot and all use only 1 light for the hopper empty indicator. So, I figure the most likely event for a mutliple lights to be on would be a scenario where one machine's hopper empty light is on, that player gets another jackpot and at the same time one other machine hit's a jackpot as well. If we consider the most lights for a jackpot at 3 (for the monkey one) and 2 (for the Seven Dwarfs that would give me a total of 6 lights on (including the Hopper Empty). While I realize that over loading only causes dimmer lights, I want to size a power supply that can handle this 'max load'.

So, some out there with some electronic know how help me out. How many amps (or mili-amps) will I need to light 6 lamps at one time?

My plan is to have one power supply and then hook up the machines in a string like they do in the real parlours. Maybe even have an 'operator board' for the hopper empy indicators which would make the requirement 7 bulbs.

Thanks in advance!

hey rusty. maybe you wired this up already, but if not...

6 standard light bulbs won't use more than 200 mA each

6 x 200 is only 1200mA or 1.2 amps, so your transformer doesn't have to be that big. it's usually common to find 9 volt, 1 amp ones for answering machines. my mini laptop eeePC has one that's 9.5 v at 2.3 amps, so most computer bricks in the 10-12 v range would work.

just make sure to wire them in parallel, so each machine sees the full source voltage. in series, you'd only get 1/4 the voltage across any single machine.

[wrkey]

Thanks for the advice! I am currently painting and finishing my wall mounting and once I get that done I'll be looking to make the KeyChinko Parlour room more like I want it (emulating a real parlor).

As most of you know, finding the 9v bulbs is a bit difficult. I think I'm going to have to decide on a voltage that make the bulbs afforable in quantity and then convert all the machine to that voltage. Once I do, I'll have a few 9v bulbs to spare/share.

Thanks again for the advice!