N64 crashing? [&& other help]

[timmeh87]

Did it look like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP5c_MEs9mo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lucidPerspective]

ahhhahahahahahahha That was the freaking FUNNIEST video EVER omg omgom g lolcanna roflcopter!!!!11!!!!1!1one!!1

Edit.. I had not come across that meme before, thanks for letting me know

[tsukasa]

I would not recommend a fan, it's not necessary if you have decent heatsinks, and a fan is what killed my first n64, if a loose wire drops into the blades while it's on, it'll fry whatever it's connected to, (in my case, the 5v rail that powers the a/v section) >.<

[Falco]

Nice, Timmeh. I wish it were like that.

Yeah, I don't think a fan will fit in my case the way I have it planned right now, anyway.

[lucidPerspective]

you need some sort of ventilation no matter what.. heat + enclosed space = overheated N64. even if you have the best heatsinks in the world, if that heat has no way to get out of your case you may as well not even bother putting in heatsinks

[Falco]

I know I will have space enough for the heatsinks to not be crammed against other things, so I can put vent holes in the back, at least.

Now to slowly resolder my cartridge slot wires...

[lucidPerspective]

hopefully vent holes will be enough, I'd still recommend a fan though. just make sure you don't have any loose wire that'll fall into it and you shouldn't have any problems. i think you can get the 5v from where you take the video signals. Electronics run much better when they're cool, and when a fan will cost $4, and will have an almost unnoticeable effect on your battery life it's definitely worthwhile

Have you considered trying the relocation method in my sig? it's nearly 100% foolproof, tidy, and hardly takes up any room (basically the same amount as wiring it by hand. you can get the parts from your local electronics shop for about $6

[tsukasa]

hopefully vent holes will be enough, I'd still recommend a fan though. just make sure you don't have any loose wire that'll fall into it and you shouldn't have any problems. i think you can get the 5v from where you take the video signals. Electronics run much better when they're cool, and when a fan will cost $4, and will have an almost unnoticeable effect on your battery life it's definitely worthwhile

This is exactly the thought i had for mine, was powering it off the 5v section. Wire dropped into the fanblades and stalled the motor, thus shorting the 5v rail to ground and frying my a/v section (R.I.P. )

Vent holes should be fine, if you use a fan, don't power it from the 5v a/v section unless every wire is securely taped or hotglued safely out of the way.

[lucidPerspective]

can't really blame the fan for frying your N64 when it was because you had left loose wires inside

If your pressed for room in your case, but still want a fan, take a look at this: Blower Fan on ebay

These fan's take the air up, and then blow it out sideways, so you would only need a 20mm x 40mm hole in the outside of your case, but you would get the same cooling as a fan that would require a 40mm x 40mm hole. I'm using one of these in my MacMiniN64

[Falco]

I'd be more worried about the thickness, as my case won't have much depth room as I originally thought, so I'd probably go with the regular fan, as according to the dimensions, it's 20mm versus 6mm. I'll just have to see how it all fits together, once I finish this rewiring (over halfway done!) and trim the board.

[lucidPerspective]

wow! I didn't even realise the first fan I linked to was that thin! the plus side to the sideways blowing fan though is that you could mount it as close to directly over the main CPU as possible and still be able to have stuff on top of it, like CPU - fan - LCD stacked on top of each other (if your case would allow it) ..so you wouldn't have to waste any case area for a big hole where you could be putting controller buttons, or screen etc.

But yea, it very much depends on your case what will work best, ultimately you are the best judge of what suits your needs the most

[timmeh87]

I would go with the smallest possible fan, you barely need it in the first place and its kind of a power hog, for what it accomplishes. You could put it anywhere in the case, and put the air intake holes far away from the output holes so that it pulls air through the whole case. A sealed case will probably pretty hot after a long time of playing, but even the smallest amount of ventilation should drastically cut down on the maximum temperature. Most people just rely on slight breezes, convection, and plenty of holes.

Remember that the N64 has no fan.

[Falco]

I finished rewiring the cartridge loader, and so far no problems. I left it running for an hour or more with just the heatsink blocks, no covering, and it didn't freeze or shutdown or anything, so I'm going to hot glue my connections again and hope for no more problems from this.

If I do go with a fan, I will definitely look for the smallest possible size I can, and see where I can fit it, since you're right, the N64 never had a fan (although it was pretty spacious and had plenty of metal shielding to dissipate heat) But keeping the system cool would be a plus. I may even add a switch to preserve battery or reduce noise.

[lucidPerspective]

Sounds good! good work

and yea, the big difference between the actual console, and a portable is we remove the huge heatsink, and try cram it into as small a case as possible. so saying it doesn't need cooling because the original console didn't have any doesn't quite work lol. a fan controlled with a switch would be a good idea, cause if it's a cold day, or your only going to play it for a short while, you probably wouldn't need it. but if it's a hot day and/or your going to play it for a long time, having a fan would definitely be good

[Falco]

I also have just found a ~8mm thick fan, about 40*40mm, that I had on an old graphics card, so I don't even have to worry about waiting for one to ship when I finally decide.