Best power source for Spy Hunter upright

SpyHunterGenEXr

New member
Joined
Oct 3, 2025
Messages
23
Reaction score
13
Hello all, I have all but finalized a deal for a Spy Hunter upright machine and I could not be happier. I am going to be upgrading the power supply. What do you all suggest would be the best switching power source out there for this machine or do you just recommending refurbishing the original linear power supply. I'm leaning towards replacement with a switching power supply but do not want to get the cheapest thing, I want the most reliable safe thing. The person selling me the machine recommended one from the Arcade Shop but it appears that the heavy duty one recommended is not available for sale there or on other sites as well. Looking forward to hearing all your advice.
 
This is a group that wants to keep things as original as possible.

You should refurb the existing power supply. Many have, and they are just as reliable as buying a new one.
 
This is a group that wants to keep things as original as possible.

You should refurb the existing power supply. Many have, and they are just as reliable as buying a new one.
I have no problem refurbing the original. I have the soldering equipment and skills to do it. Have any of these gone bad and did any serious damage to the boards or other components?
 
The best option is to use the original linear power supply.

When they are rebuilt they are solid.

There is some evidence that replacement switching power supplies even heavy duty ones can increase your chances of having nasty hum.

I do not recall ever hearing a story about a bad linear power supply nuking someone's main board.

Rebuild yours and forget about it. It will last forever.
 
The best option is to use the original linear power supply.

When they are rebuilt they are solid.

There is some evidence that replacement switching power supplies even heavy duty ones can increase your chances of having nasty hum.

I do not recall ever hearing a story about a bad linear power supply nuking someone's main board.

Rebuild yours and forget about it. It will last forever.
Thank you for the advice!
 
I've never had problems with the Arcadeshop power supply kits. out of like 20 games I've worked on over the years, probably 18 of them had the linear power supplies trashed because of the leaking nicad batteries.

if you have issues with hum you replace the caps on the Dual Amp and replace the larger input plug. a Spy Hunter some 10 years ago was missing a whole audio channel, I just resoldered one of the amps and it worked. that was like a $400 handyman special game that didn't work at all that I made work. and I didn't know anything about MCR then.
 
All good advise above.

Original PS works great when rebuilt and the dumb battery removed to avoid acid damage. But like @mecha said the newer ArcadeShop PS and MRC adapters work great as well and they have the added benefit of giving you HSS with their adapter. MRC games are picky. Some like the original PS to avoid the famous speaker hum. Some cabs will be ok with the newer switcher and MRC adapter. Just have to try it out and see. I can tell you this from fixing several SH over the years it's best to look at this cab as a whole restoration. Clean every connection and best to rebuilt all the boards. Also consider repining the harness, at the very lease the power connectors. Soo many issues can pop up if you dont.

Good luck
 
All good advise above.

Original PS works great when rebuilt and the dumb battery removed to avoid acid damage. But like @mecha said the newer ArcadeShop PS and MRC adapters work great as well and they have the added benefit of giving you HSS with their adapter. MRC games are picky. Some like the original PS to avoid the famous speaker hum. Some cabs will be ok with the newer switcher and MRC adapter. Just have to try it out and see. I can tell you this from fixing several SH over the years it's best to look at this cab as a whole restoration. Clean every connection and best to rebuilt all the boards. Also consider repining the harness, at the very lease the power connectors. Soo many issues can pop up if you dont.

Good luck
Where can I find a harness replacement kit if they make one? Also, the boards with the machine have been fully re-worked so I anticipate no problems.
 
Where can I find a harness replacement kit if they make one? Also, the boards with the machine have been fully re-worked so I anticipate no problems.
Here is the kit for the power supply. Mine had some battery acid damage, so I shipped the kit off to @cdjump who is THE MCR expert here on KLOV. I kept the connectors for the harness and repinned the harness while Chris did his voodoo. I also completely rebuilt the power brick while Chris was doing his work. Chris does more than just install the kits. He does lots of extra little things, so you may want to ship the whole lot of PCBs off to him if you want this relatively bullet proofed.


I also recommend rebuilding the audio amp with this kit. I too sent this off to Chris

 
Not sure where you are located but if your harness appears to be more trouble than it is worth then Ken rocks.
Golden Age Arcade Parts
Thank you. I won't receive my machine until early to mid November so I have not been able to closely examine the original harness's. I see this website also does harness restoration. I reached out for a quote on a new set if I end up feeling the need to go that route.
 
Hello all, I have all but finalized a deal for a Spy Hunter upright machine and I could not be happier. I am going to be upgrading the power supply. What do you all suggest would be the best switching power source out there for this machine or do you just recommending refurbishing the original linear power supply. I'm leaning towards replacement with a switching power supply but do not want to get the cheapest thing, I want the most reliable safe thing. The person selling me the machine recommended one from the Arcade Shop but it appears that the heavy duty one recommended is not available for sale there or on other sites as well. Looking forward to hearing all your advice.
First off, congratulations !

Let me tell you a quick story that might help your decision. I have a working Spy Hunter. The previous owner had felt the same as some, where he replaced the old original PS with the newer kind thinking its safer. Sound has bad hum. Won't go away. I rebuilt the entire sound/audio board.. same issue. My very next plan of attack is to rebuild and switch back over to the original power system. I have a strong feeling all will be fine after that. If not, I'll let you know.

And FYI Golden Age Parts is the absolute best harness building place you will find. Ken is a great guy, professional, very knowledgable, and does the best work I've seen. So do it regardless of price. Its worth it unless you like working for yourself for under $20 a hour for passion reasons or something.
 
First off, congratulations !

Let me tell you a quick story that might help your decision. I have a working Spy Hunter. The previous owner had felt the same as some, where he replaced the old original PS with the newer kind thinking its safer. Sound has bad hum. Won't go away. I rebuilt the entire sound/audio board.. same issue. My very next plan of attack is to rebuild and switch back over to the original power system. I have a strong feeling all will be fine after that. If not, I'll let you know.

And FYI Golden Age Parts is the absolute best harness building place you will find. Ken is a great guy, professional, very knowledgable, and does the best work I've seen. So do it regardless of price. Its worth it unless you like working for yourself for under $20 a hour for passion reasons or something.
Thank you for the advice! I am learning towards refurbishing the original PS. I have a soldering setup and can desolder pretty well. I've replaced all the relays in my hot tub spa pack board recently with success. I'll have to wait and see what shape the original harness is in before deciding on that.
 
In my own case, it was cheap and easy to send mine out, which i did. I figure the expert knew better and had more experience than I did how to do it properly. That was 15 years ago. Still no problems.

I think I paid about the same to have an expert refurb mine as I would have paid for the switcher. Easy decision for me.
 
Back
Top Bottom