Pool Table Battery Life

[arz]

Hi All,
Iam new to electronics and need some help.I have a pool table that is powered by a 12v,55Ah battery.The table has a bill acceptor and electronic coin mechanism.My problem is the battery keeps going flat after about 10 days and has to be recharged.Is there any way I can extend the battery life between recharges to last say a month or more before having to recharge again ? I do not want to disconnect the electronics as the table is in my friends shop.

 

[Diver300]

Unless you can modify the bill and coin mechanisms, you are stuck with the power consumption. You can either fit bigger batteries or arrange not to run the mechanisms for a lot of the time.

It is worth checking that the battery is in reasonable condition, and that its voltage has dropped to below 12 V when the mechanisms stop working. If they stop when the voltage is below 12.5 V, then you are not getting the full charge from your battery. Then there are electronic solutions that would increase the life a lot.

Would you be able to fit a timer so the mechanisms are only powered when the shop is open? Could you fit a time switch, like the ones on some corridor lights, so the customers would push the switch to power the mechanisms, put their money in, and then the switch turns itself off a bit later?

Without knowing what the mechanisms do, and how they behave with no power, it is difficult to know what to suggest.

 

[Brevor]

I remember those tables, the company I worked for made the coin and bill acceptors that went into them. They can be powered down without any problems. You could add more batteries in parallel to increase the operating time.

 

[arz]

Thankyou Diver300 the timer is a good idea.The bill validator is an ICT S6 series:
Power Consumption:
Action mode 12V,2A(peak),650mA(average)
Standby mode 9V~15V DC
Power saving mode 12V, approx 40 uA

Coin Validator : Comestro RM5
Test carried out at 12V dc
Stand-by mode 35mA
Coin measurment 50mA max
In acceptance 340mA max
If you need more info please let me know.I realy appreciate your help.

 

[arz]

Thank you Brevor I need all the help I can get.You said in your post the tables can be powered down,how do you do that?In my response to Diver300 I have included what info I have,hope this helps.

 

[Brevor]

Thank you Brevor I need all the help I can get.You said in your post the tables can be powered down,how do you do that?

Sorry I dont know how to power down the table, I just know that the coin and bill acceptors will power back up OK.

 

[arz]

Hi Brevor,no worries I still appreciate your help.

 

[Diver300]

The ICT-S6 Bill Acceptor (**broken link removed**) seems to say that it should go into power down mode after 10 seconds and it then takes so little current that you can ignore it.

The coin validator takes 35 mA in standby. That should let it run for around 2 months on a 55 Ah battery. The first thing that I would do is to check the current on both the coin and the bill mechanisms. If most of the power is going into the coin validator, then that is what you need to switch off when you can. I guess that the coin validator will just reject everything if it has no power, but you need to check.

Something like this switch http://uk.farnell.com/elkay/400a/timer-light-switch-variable/dp/1623061 could be added. Customers would have to press the switch before putting coins in.

 

[arz]

Thanks Diver 300 , I will do the current checks and let you know the results.

 

[dougy83]

So it sounds like either the electronics is drawing more current than it's supposed to, or the battery is on the way out.

Can you possibly connect a battery maintainer/conditioner or trickle charger (connected to mains) onto the battery to keep it full all the time? You can just use a plugpack and series resistor for this if you wanted to.

 

[Pommie]

I would be 95% sure that it'll turn out to be the battery. Batteries that have been allowed to go flat have a very short life time. Buy a new battery and make sure it's charged every month so it doesn't suffer the same fate.

Mike.

 

[arz]

Its not the battery its a brand new one

 

[arz]

No unfortunately I cannot do this due to safety issues (the nearest mains outlet is some distance from the table)