2020 Update - MARCO SPECIALTIES IS SELLING A "QUIET FAN UPDATE" that is NOT a pinmonk Quiet Fan kit, and does not have a custom wire length specifically for the Spike power supplies, no connector (naked wire), no thread cutting screws, and no instructions. Basically, it's the DIY fan I linked to in this post - but instead of $10-15 for a naked fan, they're charging $25. Buyer beware.

NOTE: Due to popular demand, a plug and play solution with the custom fan and correct thread-cutting screws is now available if you don't want to bother with the DIY solution outlined in this original post below. This is available in my pinside store, Pin Monk (https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1170-pin-monk) and pinmonk.com. International isn't working through pinside, so use pinmonk.com to order internationally. Otherwise, the DIY instructions to roll your own follow below. Here's what the plug n play kit looks like:

fan-kit-in-bag-sml (resized).jpg

Spooky / Multimorphic plug n play quiet fan kit is also available in the pinmonk store. SFAN-003.

May 2020 Update: Ministry of Pinball is carrying all the PinMonk fan kits now!
https://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=fan+kit

Sept 2019 Update: Pinball Life is also carrying the Spike Plug n Play Quiet Fan kit now:
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-spike-system-plug-n-play-quiet-fan-kit.html

Aug 2019 Update: Working on a possible plug and play version for the previously-unsupported front-mounted fans on Stern Pro and contract pin 300W power supplies, and Spooky/Multimorphic power supplies (all three types will be the same fan specs).

NOTE: THIS FAN WILL NOT WORK ON WHOA NELLIE!, PABST CAN CRUSHER, PRIMUS OR ANY VERY EARLY PRO THAT HAS THE FAN ON THE FRONT OF THE POWER SUPPLY. IT IS FOR SPIKE 2 GAMES (THE LISTED MACHINES ON THE STORE SALE PAGE THAT HAVE THE FAN ON THE TOP OF THE POWER SUPPLY). IF YOU'RE NOT SURE USE THIS PICTURE TO COMPARE WITH THE POWER SUPPLY YOU HAVE:

PowerSupplyComparison (resized).jpg
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ORIGINAL DIY VERSION POST
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NOISY Stern Spike 1/2 power supplies can be quieted SUBSTANTIALLY
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Stern insists on using CRAZY loud fans in their power supplies (34.6dB!) when much quieter ones (12.8dB) are available. I suggest picking up one of these from Digikey. It will be so quiet you can't hear it come on - a huge improvement over what Stern ships with. The CFM is less on this one, but I've never had a problem in a temperature-controlled location. If you have your pin outside in 90 degree heat, this is probably not a good idea. But for a house or temperature-controlled location, this is fine in my experience.

Replacement part 40mm x 40mm x 20mm - use ONLY this size fan:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunon-fans/HA40201V4-000U-999/259-1617-ND/3694184

(If you're concerned about airflow, this one from mouser has 30% more airflow than the one above, but is 21dB instead of 12.8dB - still less than the Stern at 34dB: https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=MB40201V2-000U-A99 )

You'll need to get 2 thread cutting screws (NOT sheet metal, but they can work - look for "thread cutting" screws specifically) because the holes on this are a little bigger and the stock screws will not work to put it back in.

Stern used to have different power supplies in the Pro and Prem/LE, but it seems like they've settled on the Prem/LE type power supply for Pros, too, so this fan should work in all the recent Spike power supplies that have a small fan pointing up at the top edge of the power supply. If you have a larger fan in the middle of the PS on your older pro power supply, it's not nearly as loud, and you'll need to source a different fan.

Before you start this POWER OFF the machine and UNPLUG IT from the back of the head.

Here's the original Stern Fan:
original-Stern-fan (resized).jpg

Here's the newer, quieter fan:
new-fan (resized).jpg

This is the Stern Power Supply with the noisy fan:
powersupplyjpg (resized).jpg

Loosen (do not remove!) the two nuts on the left side of the power supply, then loosen the two on the right side of the power supply, then remove the three nuts in yellow below. Once you've done that the bottom cover will come forward and off:
power-supply-screws (resized).jpg

Once the lower cover is off, disconnect the two revealed connectors here:
power-supply-connector (resized).jpg

Remove the power supply by sliding it up and then pull it forward over the 4 loosened nuts. After removing the power supply, remove the two screws at the top end that hold the fan in:
power-supply-end (resized).jpg

Remove the 6 screws around the edge of the top side of the power supply and remove the lid, revealing the inside. The connector you need to disconnect is here pointed out here:
open-power-supply (resized).jpg

FAN KIT NOTE: To remove the existing fan, you need to free the wiring from the glob of white goo. If you don't have precision cutters for this task, you can get a pair for like $4-5 on Amazon with free shipping, locally at Harbor Freight if you have one in your town, or at pinmonk.com:

amazon.com link »

Some of the fan wires are near the top of the white blob and can be pulled out gently. Others you need to cut free. If you need to cut, CUT CAREFULLY and shallow, a little at the time and test-pull after each snip or two. Don't go crazy here. And watch that white connector to the left of the blob. If you disturb that, your machine may not turn on.

DIY NOTE: If you don't want to splice this in, you can get the connector and contacts to crimp to make a factory-look with these Digikey parts:
Housing JST XHP-2
https://www.newark.com/jst-japan-solderless-terminals/xhp-2/wire-to-board-connector-receptacle/dp/72M6922

Crimp on connectors to snap into the XHP-2 connector:
https://www.newark.com/jst-japan-solderless-terminals/sxh-001t-p0-6/contact-socket-28-22awg-crimp/dp/49Y1258

Slide out the old fan, splice the connector onto the new fan (keep the color orientation the same, use shrink tubing to cover each color and a slightly larger tubing to cover both those) and re-install. NOTE THAT YOU MUST INSTALL THE FAN WITH THE LABEL FACING THE OUTSIDE OF THE CASE (NOT THE CIRCUIT BOARD) so it will vent the power supply! You'll need two new Thread Cutting screws to attach the new fan since the holes are little larger. Sheet metal screws will do in a pinch, but try to get the thread creating ones. I used these ones from Ace Hardware:
replacement-screw (resized).jpg

The new fan is so quiet you can't tell when it comes on, so to test my work, I leave the backglass off and put a torn off piece of paper towel over the fan vent on the top of the power supply so I can tell that the fan is coming on (when it blows the paper towel piece off) to make sure I did everything right before putting the backglass back on and calling the job done. Just play the game to put the power supply to work and look up every now and then to see if the paper towel has blown off. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes or even more (if the room is cool/cold) for the fan to kick on.

The amount of time before the power supply reaches the thermal threshold to turn on the fan (122 degrees) can vary WIDELY from machine to machine. Ghostbusters turns on very frequently. Games like KISS not as much. I haven't had a defective fan sent out yet, but it's why I recommend you ALWAYS do the paper towel test, even if it takes a long time before the fan comes on. That way you know everything's working as it should before you zip the machine back up.

If you want more concrete temperature data to make sure the machine is still being sufficiently cooled, you can get a Thomas Traceable 4240 Dual Temp probe thermometer. Put one probe inside the power supply and the other probe near the top of the head. It will measure and save the minimum and max temp recorded by each probe over a day or week or month or whatever time range you want. Super handy for making sure everything's working great now that the PS is essentially silent. You can pick them up used on Ebay for around $25 shipped. Highly recommended. They look like this:

Thomas Traceable 4240 (resized).jpg

UPDATE 12/2019:
The dual probe 4240s have become pretty expensive on eBay now, with prices commonly in the $50 and up range. If you just want to monitor the temp inside the power supply (where it most matters) with memory, you can use the VWR 61161-324 single probe large display thermometer, which go for $12-25 currently.

All done with this project? Here's a couple other DIY guides I've made for newer Spike machines:

Are LED lights popping out of your spotlights (not just on Spike machines!)? Make sure they never fall out again:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fixing-led-bulbs-flashers-that-fall-out-of-spotlights#post-4402506

Have a Stern machine from KISS or after with the softer wood cabinet? Reinforce it to prevent a splitting cab:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/reinforcing-stern-cabinet-legs-step-by-step

Want to have the option of operating the action button on your spike game with a foot pedal?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/action-button-foot-pedal-for-bksor-godzilla-etc#post-6616394

Have an $80 alibaba hologram fan topper you want to cleanly power so it turns on and off with the machine? Do this:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hologram-fan-or-lightedpinballmods-power-fix#post-6241182

Are your Iron Maiden speakers crackling when you crank it up? Fix that with a cheap external amp:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacing-on-board-amp-with-external-amp-for-iron-maiden

Add a working lockdown bar button to your Iron Maiden
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/iron-maiden-how-to-add-a-working-lockdown-bar-button

Deadpool Katana entrance protection:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/protecting-katana-lane-entrance-from-playfield-damage

Is your Spike machine occasionally resetting during hectic play, torpedoing your high score runs? This guide to fixing it might be for you:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fixing-stern-reboots-on-spike

Do you have a WoZ ECLE and think it's too loud in a quiet room? Replace two fans and make it almost silent:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/quieting-down-a-woz-ecle-machine

And here are some other plug and play mods you can just buy:
Iron Maiden Light Tree Mod for colored mode lights:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/iron-maiden-colored-mode-lens-tree-mod

Metallica F-U-E-L lights bracket:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/metallica-f-u-e-l-gauge-lens-bracket

ColorDMD gasket for Stern machines with the angled speaker panel:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/colordmd-gasket-for-angled-stern-speaker-panels

I guarantee they're buying them straight from China:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Mean-Well-LED-Power-Supply-RSP_60753566828.html

Says $20-30 per unit, and (having dealt with China manufacture extensively myself) in quantity I'm POSITIVE they could get the manufacturer to put a quieter fan in it. Their real cost may actually be less than $20/unit.

Interesting that the RSP-500 is not UL listed, but many other meanwell items are.

Well, you already know it's less because I said it was, so you won't be installing this. I have this running in 10 machines with zero problems, from KISS forward, so years of real-world testing. As I said in the OP, the reduced CFM isn't a problem if you have the machine in a temperature controlled environment.

I didn't take pictures of that, sorry. Before this last one I documented, they had another fan with a red label that had the connector pre-installed and you just had to put an adapter on it and plug it in. But that fan is NLA. I've been looking for this fan with the connector already on it for a decent price but haven't found that yet. When I do, I'll post.

Basically, you want to slide one large shrink tube on on end that covers the whole wire and leave that unshrunk, then put smaller tubes over the soldered connection of the splice of each lead and shrink those, then slide the bigger one over the two smaller ones and shrink that. You don't want the spliced leads touching each other when they have power, for obvious reasons.

19.3 dB isn't THAT quiet. If you're getting a larger fan like this you should be able to get somewhere in the 10-12Db range. You also need a 3 pin to 2 pin adapter to use that one (if the fan is even the right size).

Is this for the older Stern power supplies for the Pros that have the big fan in the middle? If not, this is the wrong fan for the ones that have the fan on the end.

It looks like this one is the newer replacement for the now-obsolete one I've been using. They obsolete fans like CRAZY.

If you try this one instead, post how it goes and if all goes well, I'll update the OP with this newer version. The one listed in the OP isn't going out of stock anytime soon, they have plenty even though it's now-obsolete.

20dB gain is 10x more sound pressure and 4x perceived loudness. So, yeah, the 19.3 is better than 34dB, but is still too loud.

I didn't stick a probe inside the power supply to get a numeric temp, but the fact that the temperature controlled fan (comes on when it's too hot inside) was only coming on intermittently tells me everything I need to know. If the CFM wasn't sufficient, the fan would never turn off, and even after this mod, it's off more than it's on.

Alternately you can get the part number and order the connectors and the housing and make a new plug for the new fan. That would be the cleanest install, but I didn't have the part information for the OP. If anyone knows what they are, please share, I'll try it and then update the OP.

No, nothing special about it. The original red label Sunon was plug and play with a 3-2 adapter, but they discontinued it. I just need to find another with the connector already attached, that's all. Until then, I've been splicing them in.

Because I can read a spec sheet?

I know how to test for temp inside the case, but that would be stupid since the fan clearly works, and the fan control is temperature based according to the spec sheet for the RSP-500-48.

The spec sheet clearly says the fan comes on when the case exceeds 122 degrees farenheit, then shuts back off once the temp goes down to 104 degrees or less. And if there's a runaway condition the power supply just shuts down. All of that's plenty good enough for me, but you're welcome to probe your power supply to your heart's content.

The ONLY thing anyone HAS to test for is whether they installed the fan with the proper orientation, and that the fan comes on occasionally.

Looks great, it's just the wrong fan. Part number says that one is 21dB, which is MUCH louder than the 12dB on in the OP.

That backbox fan mod is a waste of time, IMO. Fix the problem at the source (the power supply) and if the power supply is over 122 degrees, the fan will just stay on longer. You can't hear it anymore once it's replaced, so who cares?

No the "specs" do not say that. The newegg AD says that. The listing company can write whatever they want in there. If you go to Digikey and look up the real specs of the fan part number in the picture (KDE1204PKV2), it says 21dB. NONE of the real Sunon specs have a 5dB RANGE. They give you the sound rating - ONE sound rating.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunon-fans/KDE1204PKV2-MS.A.GN/259-1353-ND/1021202

Aside from being very loud, it's also an obsolete fan.

This advice from the person that thinks an ad is a spec sheet. And the CFM in that ADVERTISEMENT you keep referring to is NOT THE SPEC. The real CFM is only a little higher than the much-quieter one in the op. Like 2k CFM more - not the ridiculous 15k CFM in the advertisement.

The ultra-quiet fan in the OP is the best choice for ANY temperature controlled environment. It moves plenty of air to keep the power supply cool. The ONLY time I wouldn't recommend it is if you're in a non-temp-controlled environment (i.e. outside, or no A/C) and it's hot anyway. Even then the fan would probably be enough, but I would err on the side of safety, so I wouldn't recommend it for THAT ONE APPLICATION. So, in that ONE CASE (hot environment) the 19dB fan would be better since it moves a little more air but is still quieter than the Stern one. But ONLY that one case.

I remember the thread, and I know I posted in it, I guess I didn't remember the finer details of it.

That was back when the Pros had the big fan in the front of the power supply. End result for Prem/LE was essentially the same as this post, just with a plug and play fan that's NLA. I'm still looking for one like I used in the OP with the connector already installed. Would make this upgrade way easier.

That fan isn't 10db because the Stern power supply ONLY runs the fan at 12v speed (on/off, only), not lower 5v and 7.5v power to get them quieter. I'm not sure which size you went with, but the two smallest ones are 16.9dB and 20dB respectively, so substantially worse noise than the one in the OP here.

Plus, most people want a factory look and the larger fan isn't it, so it might be a negative when you sell.

It didn't click with me that you were using an external power supply plugged into the service plug. It seems like a waste to be pulling 115v only to convert it to 5v when the power supply already has 12v for the fan inside. But, yours is easier to undo, I'll give you that.

Heh. Gomez wasn't kidding when he said the power budget on Spike is so tight adding a single mod runs the risk of killing it. Talk about crap system...

I wasn't worried about the fan mod I did, though because it's pulling the same voltage as the stock super-loud fan, and everything happens pre-spike system. The output of the power supply is unchanged with this mod.

Do you have a hearing aid? Usually people lose the upper frequencies when they age. It should be less annoying, not more as you get older, UNLESS you have a hearing aid.