anyone done a CPU fan install in their headbox?

vintagegamer

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My Time Warp pin gets pretty warm so I'd like to put a CPU fan in there to help move the air through a little better.

Would I just wire it to the power supply somehow? I have a CPU fan that has 4 wires (red, blk, yellow, and another I can't remember offhand) that I would like to use.

If anyone can provide any info I'd appreciate it- I'm guessing the red and black would be the wires I would need to hook up.

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't be too concerned about the heat. It made it this long ;)

If you want to cool the backbox there are a couple of things you can do like converting the lamp matrix driver circuits to MOSFET and moving the GI transformer to the bottom cabinet.

If you're going to go with a fan, something that runs on 120VAC is probably the best option. Dropping a fan on the +5V or +12V circuits seems like a bad idea.
 
I wouldn't be too concerned about the heat. It made it this long ;)

If you want to cool the backbox there are a couple of things you can do like converting the lamp matrix driver circuits to MOSFET and moving the GI transformer to the bottom cabinet.

If you're going to go with a fan, something that runs on 120VAC is probably the best option. Dropping a fan on the +5V or +12V circuits seems like a bad idea.

Thanks for the input Lindsey- yeah, it's made it this long, but the original Switch Matrix PIA was also pretty well baked (which is apparently a fairly common issue with this game due to heat issues). That's why I was kicking around the idea of putting in a CPU fan. I know that it's done with arcade games to keep monitor temps cooler, so I thought it might be a good enhancement for a pin as well, provided I wired it in at the right place.
 
I opted against fans in mine, would move too much dust through there.

A mosfet upgrade on the driver board and LED swap in the backbox dropped the temps more than enough for me and eliminated all the heat coming off those lamp matrix resistors that causes all the switch matrix failures.

-Hans
 
Thanks for the input guys. Now I have to look up all this "converting the lamp matrix driver circuits to MOSFET and moving the GI transformer" mumbo jumbo. ;)
 
Thanks for the input guys. Now I have to look up all this "converting the lamp matrix driver circuits to MOSFET and moving the GI transformer" mumbo jumbo. ;)

The MOSFET conversion is fairly basic but moving the transformer is a whole other story. I would go for the MOSFET conversion first and see if it's cool enough for you.
 
Have you already changed all your 44 bulbs to 47's and removed about 25-50 % of the backbox bulbs ?? This will drop temps a bit.
 
I agree on the 47 lightbulbs..
no need to install fans, I've seen a few games that had them and the pcbs were really dirty!
especially in home use you shouldn't worry about it, unless you're leaving it on for 8 hours or more straight..
 
Have you already changed all your 44 bulbs to 47's and removed about 25-50 % of the backbox bulbs ?? This will drop temps a bit.

I have not yet done this, I went after the board issues first so I haven't done any bulb swapping yet (unless I saw one that was completely burnt out).

When you say remove 25-50% of backbox bulbs, do you mean swap them with the 47s or take them out completely and leave no bulb there?
 
My Time Warp pin gets pretty warm so I'd like to put a CPU fan in there to help move the air through a little better.

Would I just wire it to the power supply somehow? I have a CPU fan that has 4 wires (red, blk, yellow, and another I can't remember offhand) that I would like to use.

If anyone can provide any info I'd appreciate it- I'm guessing the red and black would be the wires I would need to hook up.

Thanks!

The only game that I have with an extra fan is my Pinball 2000 game. In a regular type of pin I think adding a fan would not benefit in a pin used in the home.
 
Yep this pin is used at home, and the only time it might be left on for more than 6 hours would be during a party. I know these machines were built to take a beating BITD, but I prefer to not just leave them bake if I don't have to.
 
Have you already changed all your 44 bulbs to 47's and removed about 25-50 % of the backbox bulbs ?? This will drop temps a bit.

To circle back to this topic, I looked and it looks like the majority (if not all) of the backbox bulbs have been switched from 44 to 47s.
 
I've done this for machines I've taken to expos. I used the service outlets in the cabinets.

Down side, is the fans are always on whent he machine is off. However what did I care? The machines were used for a better part of the day and into the nights, not my dine of elec either. Dispite a fan, the backbox still got hot, you can't stop it all. I swapped the standard incadesent back box bulb, for an LED bulb too. This particular machine did not use little bulbs, but one large 60 watt blub.

You could do this and put it on a timer on the fan, it could also stay on after the machine is off for say 30 minutes to cool it down for the day.

If I had one on location, I would do this. Possibly more dust might get in, but then again I would be checking on the machine monthly at least. After four days, my machine was not any dustier then when I brought it.

I would also switch to LEDs for some bulbs but not all as 100% gives me headaches.
 
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