Machine hums?

[joshmail]

I have 3 machines in one spot all on one surge protector. Check this out, dosent matter what machine I plug in it will humm intermediately. It will be quiet then humm about every minute or so and last for a fue seconds only.

I'll unplug all three and the one pluged in will do the hum. If I plug in all 3 at once only ONE will humm, usualy the bonus times. If I un plug the bonus times the Quick time pay time starts to hum. Un plug the Quick time pay time and the peppers starts to humm. Only one will humm, even if all three are plugen in.

Now if I move the machines to another room no humm from any machine....This is puzzling me? Can any one shed some light on this for me, is there somthing I should do?

Thanks!

[brichter]

 Can any one shed some light on this for me, is there somthing I should do?

Thanks!

I haven't heard that one before, can you hum a few bars?   


On the serious side, it sounds like a bad ground on the outlet where they hum...

[joshmail]

I tested it with a fault tester, tested and said ground is OK...

I also have 2 surge protectors a single 700 jule and a 1400 jule strip. Strip into single..

And one will humm surge or not?

I know STRANGE...do..da.....do...da........

Thanks!

[reho33]

You might want to get some stands for those slots, cinder blocks are not safe and the might collapse in the long run. Stands are not that expensive and your games will be safe when you play them.

[stayouttadabunker]

***********Warning! The following message may be completely useless! **************

I had a electric convection floor heater near my pinball machine during the winter
in the garage and the machine hummed when the heater was on low
but stayed quiet when I turned it all the way up.
Hmm...

[a69mopar]

I would check to see what else is on the circuit as well as to see if it is wired correctly.

thanks,
Wayne

[bkoch]

One sure fire way to reduce incoming noise is to get a battery back up. The battery will act as noise filter. Then you can determin if the noise is actually coming from your machine or incoming line noise. Costco sell a great battery backup.

Thanks
Blake

[joshmail]

Seams like it may be the circuit. If I plug the machine into any plugs in that room,(all on the same circuit I think) They hum. Anywhere else , no hum.  All outlets in the room (circuit) seam wired correctly. It is a looped wire that goes from outlet to outlet, some of the wires are cramed tight in a couple outlets but nothing I think would cause a problem.

Could you tell me what causes the hum, is it a lack of or surge of voltage? Could it damage the machine?

Thanks.

[bkoch]

Noise is a little hard to describe when it comes to A/C especially since it comes from so many different places. It could be lights, lighting ballast, motors, or any other electrical device using that leg of power. The load device doesn't even need to be in the same room for it to create electrical noise on that leg of power. Surge protecters usually have no real effect on noise as noise is more hertz thing.
Try a battery back up/UPC they are the cheapest noise filters.

Good luck 

Blake

[joshmail]

Thanks,

But does this "noise" cause problems with the machines?

Thanks again

[bkoch]

It probably will not melt the machine down but you could get a few adverse reaction under the right conditions.

Blake

[Crowsen]

I used to work on those old machines and the noise my machines were making was a low hum. I found two broken Fan Blades and a ballast that needed replacing. I don,t know if this is the problem with your machines but checking the fans might help.

[Magicslots]

Do you have a ceiling fan and/or a light dimmer, fan speed switch on the same circuit?
I used to install fans and we found that dimmers/speed controls often caused hums in electronics nearby.