Slot Machine Power Consumption. Leave machine 24 hours? This is your co$t

[crimhead]

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.

[Retro tech repair]

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.

[undkeith]

I am a new owner of an IGT Game King  and I have been wondering about the cost of leaving my machine on 24-7.  I just looked up our new 2026 power rates for California, which unfortunately have really skyrocketed lately, depending on what power teir you fall into every month I calculate my machine will cost a minimum of $609.00 a year in the base line power rate.  Since I have several power hungry things I almost am alwase in the top tier rate which means leaving my slot machine on 24-7 would cost me $1,196.00 a year, almost $100 a month!   

I am wondering at $100 a month if I would be much better off adding larger capacity batteries 🔋  to my MPU  and leaving my machine off when I am not using it would be more prudent???  Especially considering that $1,200 a year could be used to buy a new slot machine lol....

Any other thoughts?
Keith

[Chris-socal]

I can’t imagine leaving my machines on all the time, it just seems like insanity. Do you have a constant flow of people using your machines day and night?
I have never had a problem with a machine due to turning them off, nor have I had a battery go bad in less than a month. There just isn’t any value in wasting the energy to run them, not to mention the heat that your AC needs to pull…which no one is accounting for when they do the math.

On older machines the flybacks are energized while powered on, they have a lifespan. Screen burn on CRTs will just get worse. You don’t need to worry about that on LCD monitors but they do get hot and those certainly are not cheap to replace.

Get a Kill-a-watt and connect your machine to it, you will see the true consumption numbers and you can do the math. In CA you expect to pay upwards of .50Kwh off peak, if your machine uses only 100 watts, thats .50 every 10 hours. I guarantee you most machines use more than that.

[Tilt]

If you have a 3902 MPU board you can install a coin cell holder for a CR2354 if you want.  It will last you several years.  If you have a 044 MPU it already uses a CR2354 and will last roughly 18 months and I wouldn't try to change it to anything else.

[undkeith]

Just an idea from a novice, but has anyone tried using 2 AA batery holders with leads  (see picture) soldered into your MPU?  I'd think that would power your MPU for years and would be supper easy to pop dead batteries out and replace them so easily....

Any thoughts?

Keith

[Chris-socal]

If you are talking about using two 3.6v lithium batteries to extend capacity You would need to wire them so the batteries are in parallel. That holder is wired in series which doubles the voltage. Those are used in pinball machines, two 1.5v alkaline batteries in series.

[Tilt]

I think you're over-complicating it.  Coin cell batteries generally don't leak.  AA batteries will.  What type of MPU do you have?

[Chris-socal]

Tilt brings up a good point undkeith, what exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you having a problem with a machine losing data in a short amount of time? Or are you trying to address a hypothetical problem that doesn’t exist?

[undkeith]

I have a game king with a 3902 MPU.  The batery on the board is a CR 2354 3 volts.  So I assumed using 2 AA batteries  would give 3 volts for much longer than the button batery.   Pluss using a case like the Pic I showed would make changing batteries supper easy and AA batteries are super cheep and easy to get.

[undkeith]

I was proposing this to solve the problem of leaving your slot machine off the majority of the time and not having to keep soldering in new coin batteries when they died from the machine not being on 24-7.

Keith

[Chris-socal]

I have machines and boards that have been in storage for years and most will turn on right where I left off. The battery isn’t being consumed like when being used to power a device, rather it is keeping a single leg on one IC with pressure on it which is sufficient to hold the memory, it doesn’t take much.

Much like a PC with a coin cell that holds BIOS for 10+ years.

[lookes]

I put CR2354 holders on all 3902's I repair. I check all boards for excessive current draw. Normal on a 3902 is about 7.5 uA.  The capacity on these batteries is about 550 mAH to 2V. The boards complain about a low main battery at about 2.6V.
I figure you get 475 mAH out of them.  Those numbers equate to about 7 years power off time. 

The other thing is, it's not hard to set them back up after a battery change anyway.   

[Tilt]

 

I've done the same with my 3902 boards and they have lasted several years.  Put the CR2354 battery holder and CR2354 battery in it and you will be set for years.  If you still have the machine when it does die you can pop the dead one out and put a new one in.  Setup is simple.

[undkeith]

Thank you for the invaluable information!!

I did not know that the button batteries lasted that long.  I was under the mistaken information that if the MPU is not in the game and turned on, the battery on the MPU would discharge quickly and need to be replaced.

If the MPU can be left unused on the shelf for years and not kill the battery then ill definitely NOT be leaving my machine turned on 24-7!!  As I said earlier, with the power rates here in Northern California costing me upto $100 per month it would be more prudent to have the machine off when not used.  I can take the money saved on power to buy more machines or parts & games for my current Game King!!

Thanks so much for all the great info!

Keith

[jay]

I have older S+ machines and have had some in storage for >1 year. The batteries predated my ownership and were probably 10+ when I got the machines.

The way I look at it, this forum just saved you in excess of $1000 this year.

Consider becoming a contributing member.... we are a good crowd.