Pins are designed to run 24/7 without a fan.

But if you smell "burning transformer" smell, unplug and investigate.

No need to be concerned about overheating anything, although, if you smelled something burning you may have a problem due to other reasons....so at least check that out.

These machines were made to be on location and ran all day long. I actually know of an Elvis on location that has been on for pretty much 8 years straight. I have no idea why they leave it on all night when they're closed, but they do. The display has been replaced at least once, but she's still going...

He?

LOL! Pins are like boats....you always use "she" when referring to them, right? I surely didn't mean to call the king a woman.

Just making sure

I put 12 VDC fans in the top of my backboxes and it draws the heat out nicely and keeps the board alot cooler than normal. Electronics hate heat!

Can you recommend a source for the 12 CDC fans? Thanks.

You can get them at newegg, but you don't want to draw in dust into the machine.

You can pick them up at Radio Shack or any electronic companies ie; DigiKey, Mouser, etc. They are very inexpensive.

Pinball machines are designed to be run 24/7 with no fans needed.

Many people add LED lights that effectively cut the heat generation in half; so there is even LESS need for any active cooling.

If you add a fan to exhaust the air in the back box, you will draw dust into the machine.

Don't bother adding fans to pinball machines.

Fans are not needed and won't do much good for the resale value if you saw big holes in the pinball machines for them.

+1 No fans, more bad than good from them. Yes LEDs can cut some of the heat down for longevity, burning smells though are bad and sign of a problem that needs to be addressed.

Either way, I do not have any dust problems in the games I have fans on compared to my non fans one. It really helps keep the boards to run cooler than without.
Just a suggestion that he ask for.

Just out of interest, where do you plug a 12V fan into your machines? Solder to a connector? Is this just Stern or all machines?

Cheers!
Adam.

I do not alter the games when mounting the fan, I use existing screws in backbox and I use straight soldered on pins and connect into existing connectors off of the board.