Power supply questions

smitymike11

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Are the power supplys in arcade games week? Do they not last very long? Do they break down alot? I am asking because I seem to be having problems with mine. The one in my MK2 went out and now it seems the one in my Cool Gunman is not working. My Cool Gunman was working just fine a couple of days ago, my son was playing it with his friends, and when we went to the house last night he wanted to play it with his friend so I plugged it in and nothing. When I plug it in it does take a little bit to fire up but I hear a fan kick in. Last night nothing happened, I even let it sit there for a little. Just woundering if anyone else seems to have problems with there power supplys?
 
I don't think they are weak but they are old. MK2 is ~20 years old and I have no idea how old Cool Gunman is but it doesn't really sound like a new release.

I haven't seen a rating for how long the switching power supplies are intended to last but I doubt it exceeds 5 years.
 
It has always seemed the power supplies are the most common point of failure on machines, regardless of the style used. I have machines with 30+ year old switchers still going strong and then I have seen new ones fail in only a couple years.

If you are hearing a fan then it is probably using a PC style power supply. You can wire in a normal style switcher, it just takes a little extra time. I know at my old place of employment the PC style power supplies on stuff in the phone/server room all crapped out on a pretty strict 5-6 year schedule, of course that stuff was on 24/7.
 
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It has always seemed the power supplies are the most common point of failure on machines, regardless of the style used. I have machines with 30+ year old switchers still going strong and then I have seen new ones fail in only a couple years.

If you are hearing a fan then it is probably using a PC style power supply. You can wire in a normal style switcher, it just takes a little extra time. I know at my old place of employment the PC style power supplies on stuff in the phone/server room all crapped out on a pretty strict 5-6 year schedule, of course that stuff was on 24/7.

The PC style power supplies are normal type switchers in arcade games, unless someone modified and used an actual PC power supply.

Bob Roberts - 20 Amp Switching Power Supply $30.00

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The difference is mostly amps, they are basically the same. The PC supply has a lead for a switch, monitor, and one for the game board.

15 Amp Standard Switching Power Supply $25.00

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I always called them PC style because they look like a PC one and you have to hack up the wiring to use a standard supply in a game that had one of those.
 
They have all the same voltages... one just has less amps and no switch input.The monitor output is a pass-through. I would, and have made molex connectors to adapt it to the other supply... you shouldn't have to hack anything.

4 Pin molex for the power switch and monitor power, then a 9 pin for the PCB...

Then you have a hole in the back of the cab where the PC style supply once was...

I have one or two extra of both in case I have an issue... I swap them out then repair the power supply and it sits till needed again.

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-Mike
 

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My Super Pac-Man cocktail has a PC supply in it. It works fine, but there is no voltage adjustment on PC supplies. Also, there is a green wire that needs to be grounded so that it will run whenever it has power.
 
Some of the square metal arcade power supplies also don't have a +5 adjust on them either, or if they do then it is sealed up inside the darn things.
 
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