Cheers mate.
Sent you a message too...
Yup just put one on my Munsters pro , such a must have . The difference is insane ! There is a arrow on the fan to show direction of airflow , make sure the arrow is pointed up and your good to go . I still place a small piece of paper after the install to make sure it working because it’s so quiet
Quoted from Phatchit:Yup just put one on my Munsters pro , such a must have . The difference is insane ! There is a arrow on the fan to show direction of airflow , make sure the arrow is pointed up and your good to go . I still place a small piece of paper after the install to make sure it working because it’s so quiet
Yes, checking your work with the paper towel test to make sure the fan is oriented properly and will come on after a while is a MUST before you put the head back together.
Glad you like it. One day in my dreams Stern will contract Meanwell to use these in the power supplies instead of the terrible noisy default one.
Just ordered two. One for BM66 and one for GB. My batman spins up periodically, but the GB just runs all the time. Looking forward to putting these in!
thanks
Quoted from DudeRegular:Just ordered two. One for BM66 and one for GB. My batman spins up periodically, but the GB just runs all the time. Looking forward to putting these in!
thanks
Be sure to do the paper towel test to check your work at the end, but you're going to love the silence compared to what Spikes ship with.
Quoted from PinMonk:Be sure to do the paper towel test to check your work at the end, but you're going to love the silence compared to what Spikes ship with.
Will do. Looking forward to it. I recently moved my desk in next to my pins and that is when the noise really became noticeable. It will be very nice to be able to leave them on and be doing other things without feeling the need to turn them off. thanks!
Vic - great job on these - got them all installed and feedback from other UK folks is super positive!
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Vic - great job on these - got them all installed and feedback from other UK folks is super positive!
Thanks! Such a small change, but it makes SUCH a big difference in a quiet environment like a home.
Got the parts this weekend. I installed in my BM66 and its nice and quiet now. My GB ended up having the front facing fan. I should have caught that before I ordered haha.
Anyone have a recommended fan for the front facing spike power supplies? I figured I would ask before I go and search for good 60mm fans.
Thanks!
DudeRegular I used this on my Whoa Nellie. It required splicing, but was straight forward. I plan on picking up several more for my JJP games.
Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX, 3-Pin Premium Cooling Fan (60mm, Brown) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NQMESS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_E4LJCb4NWVYPF
Quoted from jfesler:duderegular I used this on my Whoa Nellie. It required splicing, but was straight forward. I plan on picking up several more for my JJP games.
Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX, 3-Pin Premium Cooling Fan (60mm, Brown) amazon.com link »
I was looking at this very one on Amazon this morning. Not afraid of splicing if that is what it takes. Are you happy with the noise level on yours? Thanks for the answer too.
Quite happy. I'm also running it at the slowest speed; I haven't tried the higher speeds. In Whoa Nellie, the fan rarely comes on even with the lowest speed selected.
PinMonk Thank you. I ordered two of these. One for my GOTG and the other for Star Wars. Put the first one on GOTG and got the positive paper towel air flow test. Last night after company left, I had all the games on without the TV. Totally quiet downstairs. The only game I could here was Star Wars. Stock fan ramped up every so often. Very, very obvious. So I went and listened for our other spike games. I could hear KISS, and GB but not bad. These had the older style stock fans that direct vented out the front, not the top, so I did not use your replacement fans.
But GOTG! I could only hear it if I really listened. Wonderful improvement. I will be changing out the SW fan this afternoon or tomorrow! Great job and thanks again.
Quoted from hd60609:vireland Thank you. I ordered two of these. One for my GOTG and the other for Star Wars. Put the first one on GOTG and got the positive paper towel air flow test. Last night after company left, I had all the games on without the TV. Totally quiet downstairs. The only game I could here was Star Wars. Stock fan ramped up every so often. Very, very obvious. So I went and listened for our other spike games. I could hear KISS, and GB but not bad. These had the older style stock fans that direct vented out the front, not the top, so I did not use your replacement fans.
But GOTG! I could only hear it if I really listened. Wonderful improvement. I will be changing out the SW fan this afternoon or tomorrow! Great job and thanks again.
Awesome. Once people hear the difference there's no going back. I really wish Stern would put me out of the fan businesss and ask meanwell to put these in theirs from the factory, but if they don't (and they likely won't), I'll keep offering these replacement to quiet the machines.
Quoted from jfesler:Quite happy. I'm also running it at the slowest speed; I haven't tried the higher speeds. In Whoa Nellie, the fan rarely comes on even with the lowest speed selected.
Thanks again. Ordering today.
Quoted from PinMonk:Thanks! Such a small change, but it makes SUCH a big difference in a quiet environment like a home.
Sorry for the late reply I was at Arcade Expo 5 all weekend.
I too had the front fan so I ordered this one. Still needed splicing but the wires have the woven cover and I was able to slide that over the splice. ebay.com link: Noiseblocker NB BlackSilent Fan XR 1 60mm Ultra Silent Fan 1600rpm 3 pin 11 dBA
I installed the Noctua fan in my Ghostbusters tonight. It has the front facing fan style power supply. Clipped the connectors from the old fan and the new, then soldered them together and shrink wrapped it all. What a difference. The game is running behind me as I type this and my PC is now louder than my GB. My PC is in a quiet case too btw. GB was super loud before. What a difference. Highly recommended for anyone on the fence.
Quoted from DudeRegular:I installed the Noctua fan in my Ghostbusters tonight. It has the front facing fan style power supply. Clipped the connectors from the old fan and the new, then soldered them together and shrink wrapped it all. What a difference. The game is running behind me as I type this and my PC is now louder than my GB. My PC is in a quiet case too btw. GB was super loud before. What a difference. Highly recommended for anyone on the fence.
If there were enough of the front-facing power supplies out there with people that wanted a plug and play kit, I could do a custom factory order for those, too, so there's no soldering and no cutting, but the front-facing machines are a small fraction of the top mounted ones and I'd probably end up sitting on a lot of fans since I have to buy hundreds to make it pencil out and leave me enough for a #1 combo at Mcdonalds.
Quoted from PinMonk:If there were enough of the front-facing power supplies out there with people that wanted a plug and play kit, I could do a custom factory order for those, too, so there's no soldering and no cutting, but the front-facing machines are a small fraction of the top mounted ones and I'd probably end up sitting on a lot of fans since I have to buy hundreds to make it pencil out and leave me enough for a #1 combo at Mcdonalds.
Totally understand bud. Your solution worked great on my BM66 with the top facing fan. Plug and play is the way to go. Margins can't be very high on an item like this.
It *might* be worth making the 2 pin (power supply) to 3 pin (standard PC) adapters, particularly if that’s a part you can outsource. Those would be easier to stock, mail, etc. Then again, it’s only been a couple games so far that we’ve run across that use the 60mm fans..
Quoted from jfesler:It *might* be worth making the 2 pin (power supply) to 3 pin (standard PC) adapters, particularly if that’s a part you can outsource. Those would be easier to stock, mail, etc. Then again, it’s only been a couple games so far that we’ve run across that use the 60mm fans..
THAT part already exists. I'm not sure if the pins are all in the right place but you can get that fan adapter on Amazon.
Quoted from PinMonk:If there were enough of the front-facing power supplies out there with people that wanted a plug and play kit, I could do a custom factory order for those, too, so there's no soldering and no cutting, but the front-facing machines are a small fraction of the top mounted ones and I'd probably end up sitting on a lot of fans since I have to buy hundreds to make it pencil out and leave me enough for a #1 combo at Mcdonalds.
It's hard to say how many units went out this way. And you know they changed and they are still using the top fan design. I'd say provide instructions and maybe built to order for the 60mm fan and save yourself the trouble of having unsold stock.
Quoted from Vader77:Finally put mine in... SSOOOoooo much better, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Another satisfied customer. Now if Stern would just do this OBVIOUS change at the factory level!
Hi Vireland
Done a few of these.
All good.
Doing a mates KISS.
20++ minutes in, no fan action. Played heavy game. Nothing.
Swapped fan for another, still nothing after 10 minutes idle.
Can the games vary wildly ?
Quoted from Wotto:Hi Vireland
Done a few of these.
All good.
Doing a mates KISS.
20++ minutes in, no fan action. Played heavy game. Nothing.
Swapped fan for another, still nothing after 10 minutes idle.
Can the games vary wildly ?
Yes, the amount of time before the power supply reaches the thermal threshold (122 degrees) to turn on the fan can vary WIDELY from machine to machine (even longer times on all machines if the room they're in is cool/cold). Ghostbusters turns on very frequently. As you've discovered, 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 do a lot of these, do yourself a favor and get one of the Thomas Traceable 4240 Dual Temp probe thermometer for like $25 on Ebay. With it, you can watch the inside of the power supply temps after install in real time to see what the temp inside the power supply is inside while you wait for it to come on. You can also just leave it in and have one probe in the power supply and one in the backbox to see the max temperature in each over whatever timeframe you want (hour, day, month, whatever). It's what I used to test these fans on location for like 6 months before I released the plug and play kit.
FYI, I'm almost out of the first batch of these fans I had made for this application. Factory is already working on the order for the next batch, but they haven't been sent yet. There's a possibility that there may be a week or two where I have no fans to send, but it will be a temporary situation.
With the existing orders, I'm completely out of these now, but will be restocked by next week, so if there's a delay when you order some, it will be short.
The new shipment of fans is in, so backorders are being filled and they're available to ship for new orders.
These fan kits will be available from distributors soon, so I made instructions on installation to go with each one. This is what they'll look like. See anything wrong (typo, etc - besides a couple words cut off at the bottom of STEP 1 I already know about) I missed? (Click to see the larger version)
Quoted from PinMonk:These fan kits will be available from distributors soon, so I made instructions on installation to go with each one. This is what they'll look like. See anything wrong (typo, etc - besides a couple words cut off at the bottom of STEP 1 I already know about) I missed? (Click to see the larger version)
[quoted image]
Looks great, I'll be installing mine this weekend......
It is cool that you went to all this trouble and time to come up with this solution. I gotta ask, though, wouldn't a resistor that could be plugged in line to the existing fan slow the thing down to make it quieter and still keep temperatures where they need to be?
Quoted from D-Gottlieb:It is cool that you went to all this trouble and time to come up with this solution. I gotta ask, though, wouldn't a resistor that could be plugged in line to the existing fan slow the thing down to make it quieter and still keep temperatures where they need to be?
Simple. A resistor will not solve the enormous NOISE of the stock fan. Sure, making it turn slower will reduce the sound somewhat, but you're not getting down from 34dB to 12dB with a resistor while also keeping any decent kind of cooling flow. The stock crappy fan also has a 30% shorter life than the replacement.
Plus I've learned with this thread that people in general don't have the skills or don't want to DIY. The vast majority want plug and play, even when I lay out all the instructions and part numbers for DIY.
And I'll say it again, Stern COULD just request a better fan like these Sunon maglevs in these power supplies from Meanwell. They buy enough that the factory would DEFINITELY do it for them. Cost would be almost the same or pennies different at the scale Stern buys them. Nothing would make me happier than to have Stern end the need for this mod. It makes no sense that they didn't do it from the start.
Quoted from AUKraut:Looks great, I'll be installing mine this weekend......
If you have a #1 and #2 philips, if you'd double check which works best on the tiny screws on step 4, let me know. I'm pretty sure it was a #1 but I don't have a power supply on hand to check easily.
Quoted from jfesler:I found that my number 2 for better even the tiny machine screws. Less likely to strip those heads.
Thanks for verifying. Those tiny screws are a pain, and I've found in the many I've upgraded that not a small number are cross-threaded from the factory and hard to get out, so having exactly the right kind of philips is critical.
Quoted from PinMonk:If you have a #1 and #2 philips, if you'd double check which works best on the tiny screws on step 4, let me know. I'm pretty sure it was a #1 but I don't have a power supply on hand to check easily.
Quoted from jfesler:I found that my number 2 for better even the tiny machine screws. Less likely to strip those heads.
@vireland:
Agree, just got done installing mine, a #1 will work, but a nice new #2 tip will work better.
You do need to make a couple of other corrections/additions:
For reference all nuts loosened/removed in Step 1 are 11/32"
Step 1 C: You only need to remove the bottom 2 R nuts to remove the lower power supply cover.
Step 2 A: You are actually unplugging connector CN1 and NOT CN6. I would also put this step before Step 1 C as it makes it easier to remove the left most nut R.
Quoted from AUKraut:vireland:
Agree, just got done installing mine, a #1 will work, but a nice new #2 tip will work better.
You do need to make a couple of other corrections/additions:
For reference all nuts loosened/removed in Step 1 are 11/32"
Step 1 C: You only need to remove the bottom 2 R nuts to remove the lower power supply cover.
Step 2 A: You are actually unplugging connector CN1 and NOT CN6. I would also put this step before Step 1 C as it makes it easier to remove the left most nut R.
Awesome. Thanks for the feedback to make the instructions better.
Quoted from PinMonk:Plus I've learned with this thread that people in general don't have the skills or don't want to DIY. The vast majority want plug and play, even when I lay out all the instructions and part numbers for DIY.
I'm just gonna say: It's great you shared the info. People can be frugal and still get rid of that hideous cheap fan noise. It's also great that you're putting these together for those who are inept, lazy, and/or short on time. I'm pretty sure I'm all 3. And the time saved with the plug-n-play I certainly value!
Quoted from jfesler:I'm just gonna say: It's great you shared the info. People can be frugal and still get rid of that hideous cheap fan noise. It's also great that you're putting these together for those who are inept, lazy, and/or short on time. I'm pretty sure I'm all 3. And the time saved with the plug-n-play I certainly value!
Thanks. I didn't intend to get into the mod business when I started with these DIY instruction threads (fan, corner bracket cab upgrade, etc) and the color DMD gasket. The fan and gasket were projects for just me that kind of exploded once I showed them. But yeah, even when I started selling the fans, I left the DIY instructions there for anyone that just wanted to make their own. Best of both worlds. But like I said, most people just opt for the time-savings and buy the plug n play kit.
Quoted from PinMonk:But like I said, most people just opt for the time-savings and buy the plug n play kit.
I've bought and installed a couple of these Pin Monk kits and they work great. It's definitely simple to install and the price is right. I've also made my own setups a couple of times. I just recently got a 3D printer, so I've been looking for things to make for my games. This weekend I printed out a 40mm to 80mm fan adapter and installed it in my Star Wars Premium. I had a silent 80mm fan in my parts drawer and installed it on the adapter. I have it wired so that it is always on. It's so quiet you can't hear it with the backglass on. It pulls enough air through so that the Stern factory fan never has to come on. It just sits there and I suppose will come on if something goes wrong with my fan.
Definitely more geeky looking than the Pin Monk solution, but a fun project.
20190616_190628 (resized).jpgI did the same thing with a 60 mm silent fan. I got my adapter from someone here on the forum. Works great, and I like the steady cooling rather than the on/off system.
I wonder if a perforated cover on the power supply would be sufficient so the fan could be ditched entirely.
Here's the revised instructions, front and back. I decided to just bite the bullet and illustrate step 2. It was less confusing than an arrow to the cover talking about what's behind it.
I'm currently working on a possible plug and play version for the previously-unsupported front-mounted fan Stern power supplies and the Spooky meanwell power supplies. Holy crap, I had no idea how LOUD Rob Zombie was because of the fan in the cabinet. Perhaps due to the larger area in the cabinet, it makes it even more of an echo chamber than the Stern Spike fans in the backbox. It'll probably be a bit longer because I need to do temperature testing inside and outside the power supply with the new MUCH QUIETER fan, but I expect the results to be essentially the same as the Stern one I already have out. If things go well, I should have it available in a few months.
Quoted from PinMonk:I'm currently working on a possible plug and play version for the previously-unsupported front-mounted fan Stern power supplies and the Spooky meanwell power supplies. Holy crap, I had no idea how LOUD Rob Zombie was because of the fan in the cabinet. Perhaps due to the larger area in the cabinet, it makes it even more of an echo chamber than the Stern Spike fans in the backbox. It'll probably be a bit longer because I need to do temperature testing inside and outside the power supply with the new MUCH QUIETER fan, but I expect the results to be essentially the same as the Stern one I already have out. If things go well, I should have it available in a few months.
That's funny, I was just reading this thread, thinking I needed to do something in my AMH and TNA. I did already swap out using the fan suggested in the TNA thread, but both games (especially AMH) are still louder than I like. I used one of your kits for IMDN, and it makes a HUGE difference. I'd love to get those kind of results for my Spooky games.
Quoted from PinMonk:Here's the revised instructions, front and back. I decided to just bite the bullet and illustrate step 2. It was less confusing than an arrow to the cover talking about what's behind it.
[quoted image]
Impressive instructions! Did you draw all of those images? Looks great.
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