electrical to foul lights (+ switching on/off as needed)

[ChrisM]

I recently had to rip out all the electrical going to our foul lights as it was a dangerous situation. Without getting to specifics, there were hot wires just hanging around and not ran properly whatsoever.

After talking to some friends around our area, the highest suggestion would be running some wire from the ball return area to the foul lights. What do you think about this??

Secondly, if this is what most people suggest, how would it be possible to run wire to the front desk to where we could shut the foul lights on an off per pair as we needed.

We are a 12 lane center with tons of open play and decent growing league base, so the capability of turning them on and off behind the front counter would be awesome.

Me head mechanic and I know our way around electrical, but nothing too complicated so I was wondering if this would be possible.

Let me know what your thoughts, ideas and opinions are on this.

Thank you for your time in helping us getting these foul lights to work. I been a manager here 9 months and the foul lights have not been working for 3+ years and now that the machines run decent, I need to take some time out to get these working for our league bowlers. Thanks again!

[jim_long]

Do not run the foul lights off the ball lift power circuit! You have 12 lanes, that's 6 foul lights. You can run them all off one dedicated 15 amp circuit. The trick is to get control of each individual foul unit. This is accomplished with what's referred to as "Latching Relays", they operate off 24 volt AC and toggle on/off through a control panel at the desk.

This is what has been used for years in centers: http://westsidedelivers.com/ge_RR7.asp

These can be used as selector switches at the control desk: http://www.e-switch.com/entity/tabid...y/default.aspx

You should run the power across the house under the lanes at the foul line. You can use flex MC conduit and use 12 gauge copper wire ONLY! At each foul light mounting point, install a 4x4 work box that has a knock out big enough for the relay to mount into. Pigtail out of the work box with the foul light whip, and run your low voltage wire to each relay from the desk with a single transformer and selector switches.

One warning, do not mount the work box to the lane framing, the vibration of the ball hitting the lane will rattle the relays and may cause the contacts to chatter on/off.

Here is an explanation of the types of latching relays: http://www.serelays.com/library/Laun...ing-Wiring.pdf

The AC 3 wire system is what you should use. You can use a 2 wire system, that toggles the relay on/off.

[Ted]

Your Steltronic scoring can switch low voltage for foul units, so I'd run the control circuits down the lane to the API and use the front desk computer check box to turn them on/off. This you could do without latching relays, just a simple low voltage relay - say 6 - 12 volt automotive relays and a 2 amp 12 volt DC power supply. So the single 115 volt circuit across at the foul unit, using a 4 x 4 box as jim_long suggests to contain the high voltage connections. Mounting the relays in each one of them, and the 12VDC power supply can run across the curtain wall with lamp cord from the API control then up the ball track to control the relays.

[Ted]

Something else that make make this TOO easy. There are several places on your foul units where you could break a low voltage circuit to turn them off. On the radaray Plus, it means breaking a tracer on the bottom of the board, which is a little more tedious. But the Zot Wizard Plus just needs an exposed wire cut. This is where I use the Steltronics to turn them on/off - by running a lamp cord back to the API from the foul units. If you tell us what kind of foul units you have, we can probably figure out where to break a low voltage citcuit to control them.
Do NOT run 115 through the API relay, as is so tempting.

[ChrisM]

Zot foul lights with the board in the center and the reflectors on each end.

So youre saying I can have a 12V relay at the foul lights that turns on/off from the steltronic scoring, correct? I assume the API would control the 12V by a relay in the API of some sort... correct?

Where would I get the 115V power to power the foul lights from then? Do I need to run a whole new circuit to each of the six foul lights?

[Ted]

Zot foul lights with the board in the center and the reflectors on each end.

So youre saying I can have a 12V relay at the foul lights that turns on/off from the steltronic scoring, correct? I assume the API would control the 12V by a relay in the API of some sort... correct?

Where would I get the 115V power to power the foul lights from then? Do I need to run a whole new circuit to each of the six foul lights?

Use the same 115 volts that is for the existing foul units. Hook them up hot so they are on all the time.
On the ZOT unit, cut the outermost white wire on the connector to the transformer.
Extend those 2 wire ends to the API- there may be a spare wire in the underground already. If not, you can use 18 or 20 gauge lamp cord.
Hook the 2 wires into CN 13, positions 3 and 4. You can plug a 2 conductor phoenix connector into this 6 position socket (CN13)
Use the check box in the lane pair CNT (control) to turn foul units on/off.

(Let me know if you need the phoenix connectors - I'll send to you no charge. Send address via PM)