Way to cool mac 512ke

[akakae7r6fjb3]

What can i use without soldering anything to cool the 512ke instead of just passive cooling

 

[Iesca]

There were a number of 3rd-party fan attachments that go over the top of the Mac 128k/512k/Plus. Probably the most well-known is the Kensington System Saver, though there were many others. (There was a version of the System Saver for the Mac SE, but that one is just power management, no fan, as well as versions for the Apple II, but those aren't of any use on a Mac.) Additional ones included: Mac'N Frost, MacBCool, MacFan, MaxChill, Fanny Mac, and probably others.

The problem is getting one for a semi-reasonable price. People have decided these are "valuable" I guess, and charge anywhere from $50-100 for one on eBay. You may just want to go the route of hot-gluing a regular box fan inside the case and using hook leads to connect it to voltage and ground. Larry Pina talks about it in the Macintosh Repair & Upgrade Secrets book.

 

[cheesestraws]

if you want to keep it cool, you could rig up an ersatz System Saver with some kind of sturdy cardboard box and a large, slow-moving fan, perhaps with its own mains cable, so you wouldn't need to solder anything. Make sure it's drawing air out of the top vents, not trying to push it in.

If you want to Do Science™, I think someone made a cardboard net for a MacChimney available. Those are kind of bonkers, but they ought to work. I've never built one or measured the actual temperature difference though. You could provide data for The Good Of Humankind (for a fairly restricted definition of the good of humankind)

 

[Crutch]

Do you have a reason to think your 512KE needs active cooling? I thought the Received Wisdom was that an unaccelerated toaster Mac doesn't really benefit from a fan.

 

[Phipli]

A silly suggestion would be to stick a window mount AC in the same room and keep the room at 20°. If it never got too hot in the room, the machine would never get too hot either. If the room was 10° cooler than it would have been in peak summer, the temperature inside the Mac would be approximately 10° cooler too.

Just saying because it is the least invasive mod I can think of. If perhaps not the most energy and wallet efficient.

 

[akakae7r6fjb3]

Do you have a reason to think your 512KE needs active cooling? I thought the Received Wisdom was that an unaccelerated toaster Mac doesn't really benefit from a fan.

Idk what exact temp it gets to but after 5 min it gets warm

 

[joshc]

It’s normal for a 512ke to run warm. The problems come when you run it that way for many hours every day. If you’re only using it occasionally you shouldn’t need to worry about active cooling.

 

[thecroc15]

Don't forget about the Mac Chimney for a convective cooling boost!

 

[Crutch]

It’s normal for a 512ke to run warm. The problems come when you run it that way for many hours every day. If you’re only using it occasionally you shouldn’t need to worry about active cooling.

FWIW I’ve never entertained adding any sort of active cooling to any of my (unaccelerated) 128k/512k going back to the ‘80s and have never had any sort of problems except floppy drive wear and tear. They are amazingly robust machines. I’m really curious what problems are associated with long-term use without a fan, and if we actually have any data indicating a fan would have helped or are just guessing. (Not trying to be difficult, I have been wondering this forever, and yes I realized informed guessing is still helpful.)

Certainly if you add a heat-spewing accelerator, or an internal SCSI drive to a Plus, or are running any flavor of SE/30 with its melty caps of course one needs a fan but …

 

[Phipli]

I’m really curious what problems are associated with long-term use without a fan

Not possible to answer without a lot of study, but the analogue board getting too warm accelerates the determination of caps, and if it gets really hot, you can have flyback issues. Plus temperature cycles can lead to solder joint failures due to the board flexing (not the solder melting).

Personally, I just don't run retro computers when it is 30° or more or whenever I think it is an abnormally hot day.

In industry, manufacturers give component failure rates w.r.t. operational temperatures, and it is approximately proportional to temperature, so if you increase the temperature, you increase the failure rate. I don't have... Lets have a look...

 

[Phipli]

Some interesting reading that doesn't enable conclusions to be drawn, but shows that nevertheless, temperature does matter for certain components.

It's a whole big barrel of it depends, but in this case, temperature does impact the life of components in the Mac such as capacitors and other components (in general, not specifically referencing the link).

Does a 10°C Increase in Temperature Really Reduce the Life of Electronics by Half? | Electronics Cooling

This may seem like a silly question to ask in a magazine entitled “Electronics Cooling”, but why do we really care what temperature of electronics really is, anyway? The simple answer to that question is that it is universally recognized […]

www.electronics-cooling.com

 

[Phipli]

FWIW I’ve never entertained adding any sort of active cooling to any of my (unaccelerated) 128k/512k going back to the ‘80s and have never had any sort of problems except floppy drive wear and tear.

Sorry, to clarify, I'm not saying your 512k needs cooling. Just explaining what impacts higher temperatures have.

 

[joshc]

I’m really curious what problems are associated with long-term use without a fan, and if we actually have any data indicating a fan would have helped or are just guessing.

Weak solder joints on the analog board is the typical one that affects the pre-SE models, presumably caused by heat cycles as Phipli mentions above.

 

[Crutch]

Yeah of course I’ve seen (and fixed) lots of those too - though if it’s caused by “heat cycles” I’m not sure running it more hours a day would exacerbate that so much as multiple power cycles per day (and actually I was told many times as a kid in the ‘80s, possibly by people who had no idea what they were talking about, that It’s better to leave your computer on all day vs. turning it on/off multiple times). Also it‘s a 5 minute repair that in my mind doesn’t merit the noise/inconvenience of a fan that might not actually reduce the likelihood that much -- but not trying to quibble, that is indeed a relevant point.

 

[Phipli]

Also it‘s a 5 minute repair that in my mind doesn’t merit the noise/inconvenience of a fan that might not actually reduce the likelihood that much

It would reduce the impact because it is the depth as well as the number of cycles, but I'm still not saying you need a fan.

The avoiding power cycles made more sense for adequately cooled machines, but these are marginal if we're honest. The lack of a fan is a Jobs thing, not a good design practice thing.

If it was my design there would have been one from new, if Jobs wasn't there. There should have been one.

I haven't fitted anything to my Plus, but if I can think of a quiet and unobtrusive way, I would seriously consider it just out of mechanical sympathy.

 

[Phipli]

@akakae7r6fjb3

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