Electrical safety concern -- grounding

[cwstnsko]

I don't want to start a panic, but, over the last few hours, I've convinced myself that every one of my pachislos is going to be fitted with a ground wire from now on.

I've noticed on several occasions since I started playing with these great machines that I got a little tingle from the front door panel on some of my machines, especially if I was reaching around the door to get tokens out of the hopper, and my face touched the door frame. I noticed this again tonight on one of my machines, and I flashed back to something I read on a website about Pachi-Parlors having a common grounding system for all of the machines.

I ran around to all of my machines, and every one of the 100v machines gave me a tingle to the face when I touched my cheek to the door frame. I installed a small ground wire from the chassis of 2 of those machines to the outlet faceplate screw. The tingle immediately was gone!

I do not feel any tingle on 24V machines, but I plan to run ground wires to all of my machines just to be safe.

This will be my new #1 mod, even before volume controls

[arbycoffee]

A very good point

[TANK]

dang your right!! i dun forgot!! and stray voltage sure isn't anygood for the I.C.s either. i'll replace all the pwr cables with grounding type and run the 3rd lead to the housing of the pwr supply.

[dapperdan]

When I got my first pachislo, I was surprised that there was no grounding wire on the plug. I remember thinking "Large metal case, no grounding wire. Hmmmm..."

[cwstnsko]

... I'll replace all the pwr cables with grounding type and run the 3rd lead to the housing of the pwr supply.

That would be especially easy on the machines with transformers, but a couple of my 100V machines have a specialized looking plug where the cord connects to the power supply. I wonder if that connector is readily available to be fitted to a new cord?

[luckydog]

just don't stand in a puddle of water while playing your machines :lol:

at my age the old ticker could use a small jolt once in awhile :oops:

[dodc2]

How many pachislos can you plug into the power outlet using a surge protector before the circuit breaker (20 amp circuit) tripped?

Of course, every vendors installed different amperage transformer.

Also, the total amps of the circuit breaker is a factor.

[cwstnsko]

I'm not making the connection between the powerstrip circuit breaker comment and the stray voltage I'm observing on the chassis, but at the very least, I think I'd plug my machines into GFCI protected circuits. They might not prevent the machine from damaging itself with stray voltage, but at least it should keep the machine from zapping you too hard before they trip-out.

[luckydog]

the most i have is 4 on one line.

being by myself most of the time,

i usually only turn one set of machines on at the same time. :lol:

[glennrd82]

Both of mine are 24v and I found it odd when they arrived with only a two lead plug. Since they are only 24v, I wasn't too concerned but will probably go ahead and install grounded plugs. I hope that won't void my warranty. :?:

[TANK]

WARRANTY BE DA*NED! first time you drop a 2 liter of cheap whisky on the floor and lean against a machine to yell at your wife to clean this california mess up!! WAMM!! you'll be waking up in "valley gaming" (the spell checker wouldn't let me use the double toothpick word)

[TANK]

i never said who or what caused the WAMM!!

[Utopia1dc]

If you have them plugged in surge protectors...is this enough to keep them/me safe?

[TANK]

you need to have them grounded. this means there must be a wire from the machine case to ground on the wall receptical. this can be accomplished by running a seperate wire or by using a grounded cord (preferable) a gfci will not function properly without a ground, neither will your surge protector. both units sense a difference in potental by referencing power to grd. if there is no grd it obviously won't function.

[Utopia1dc]

Tank-

Thanks for the info.

Also, I wonder why they don't put a ground on these when they are being refurbished...Maybe they will start if we express our concern to them (DGI, Stealth, PP, etc)?

Maybe Tulsa or David R could contact them (you probably would have more pull with them than any of us)...it seems you guys could possible sway them to do this upfront and save us some time? Just a thought. :-)

[gwarzin]

GFI should still work. In monitors current on the hot lead vs. current on the return lead. If your body provides a path to ground the GFI sees the drop on the return and shuts off. You do need a ground at the outlet, but you don't need a ground at the device being protected (the pachislo).

The "logical" proof of this is that GFI's provide protection in all wet areas of the house - bathroom, kitchen, etc. Most of the appliances you would used in a bathroom (hairdryer, etc.) have only 2 conductor plugs, not 3-pin grounded plugs. If GFIs required a grounded lead to the appliance, they'd wouldn't be to effective.

[Utopia1dc]

gwarzin-

I have my Pachislo (2 prong) plugged into a surge protector (which is a 3 prong) and that is plugged int a GFCI outlet on my basement wall. So, you are saying this is acceptable? If so, then I don't need to do any modification. :-)

[gwarzin]

GFI protects you from current going through your body to ground. So I'd say your OK in most cases. Now, if you opened the machine and had one hand on the case and the other on something live, that's not a ground fault - that's your fault. Current flows from the outlet to the machine, through you and back to the wall outlet. The GFI sees the same current in both directions and you're dead. But then, grounding the case probably wouldn't have helped you in that situation anyway.

That said, I would think you'd be just a little bit safer if all your cases were grounded. But I haven't ground any of mine yet.

[slotter]

I'm not going to worry about this issue. (Am not going to grab the transformer, either when barefoot) but, I wonder if this isn't needlesssly worrying? :wink:

[cwstnsko]

I'm not sure it's a big deal on the 24v machines with transformers, but on the 100V machines, you can feel the tingle, and that's more than enough to get me to install a 25 cent ground wire. When I mentioned the "tingle", my 7 year old daughter tells me she feels it too. That's not cool in my book. I just did a little 20 gauge ground wire on most of mine, but a few are going to get new power cords with ground wire.