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A question about pots

TerryG80

May 10, 2013
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May 10, 2013
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I recently bought a used Playstation 3 that the previous owner did a "cooling mod" on that consisted of cutting the wire that carried the PWM signal to control the fan speed and tapping into a power wire coming of the power supply. It causes the fan to run at full speed, which is great for cooling, but it is ridiculously loud. I'm not sure if the system actually had cooling issues or if the guy did it as a preventative measure.

After doing some reading online I've seen people putting potentiometers in line and using them to manually control the fan speed. I'm wanting to do this, but my worry is that I will turn the fan down low, start playing, and have an overheating problem.

My question is can I hook the line from the power supply to one end of the pot, the PWM signal to the other end, and have the PWM signal take over and automatically adjust the fan speed if needed?

Thanks for your time, and sorry for the long post. I just wanted to be as thorough as possible.
 

BobK

Jan 5, 2010
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Why would not trust the original design? I mean, how many millions have they sold, and there is no uproar that I have heard of about them overheating and dying. I would just put it back to the way it was.

Bo
 

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
Moderator
Jan 21, 2010
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Why would not trust the original design?

You've never heard of an XBox then? :D

I think some gaming consoles were/are designed for far more intermittent use than they actually get. Heat has been a problem (as is witnessed by the vast number of third party cooling devices on the market).

I suspect that the answer could be:

a) do what Bob suggests and hope the original cooling is OK
b) leave it as it is
c) leave it as it is but try to find a quieter replacement fan
d) do as Bob suggests and get an external cooling device (hopefully quieter).
 

CocaCola

Apr 7, 2012
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Why would not trust the original design? I mean, how many millions have they sold, and there is no uproar that I have heard of about them overheating and dying. I would just put it back to the way it was.

You might be surprised if you dig a little bit... Google up PS3 YLOD

There are few 'official' numbers but there have been many surveys, by game websites and magazines...

Xbox failure rates reported in excess of 50%
Playstation 3 failure rates reported in excess of 10%

These game systems have very poor cooling, the graphics and CPU BGA chips reflow themselves right off the boards under heavy use or in higher ambient temp environments...
 
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