Guns N' Roses Tibetan Breeze 3-Flipper Cooling Kit

Guns N' Roses Tibetan Breeze 3-Flipper Cooling Kit

NOTE: THESE REDESIGNED BRACKETS IN THE KIT ARE ONLY FOR JJP GUNS AND ROSES. They will NOT work on PotC. The new brackets look slightly different from the pictures I'll get the pictures updated soon.
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At last, I have completed adapting the SPIKE/SPOOKY flipper coil cooling kit so it works on JJP machines as well, providing much-needed relief from long-play weak flippers and excessive heat on the playfield near the flippers. There is quite a story about how these kits came to be, but rather than re-tell it here, if you go to the SPIKE Tibetan Breeze page, it is all there for you to enjoy at your leisure.

During testing for the conversion of this kit to JJP machines, it became clear that the higher temps possible on JJP coils during long play sessions, or with lots of trap play required a fan that could push more air. Initially we tried a 20% more CFM fan, but that wasn't quite enough to keep the flipper coils below the threshold of fade, so eventually a 50% CFM fan was tested that did the job. So this kit has fans with 50% more air flow than the original SPIKE or Spooky kits just to keep the cooled temps on JJP machines the same. Fortunately I was able to find a fan that was not too much louder than SPIKE/Spooky sets.  The original SPIKE/Spooky 3 flipper fan sets are 17.6dB total combined.  This higher flow JJP 3 fan set is still only 25.8dB total combined, so very reasonable and basically hard to hear over the normal pinball machine noise at rest.

Now that this kit exists in JJP form, the benefit is yours to claim. All you need to do is purchase a kit and spend 15-30 minutes installing it in your JJP pinball machine. It has already been tested on all JJP machines with great results all the JJP machines benefit from the breezes it creates.

This expanded JJP-specific 3 flipper kit contains:
3 x Fans with 50% higher CFM than standard
3 x fan brackets with hardware
1 x Fused ATX power adapter with rectifier diode
2 x 7.5 foot cable to connect fans to power adapter
1 x 4' extension for JJP machines with the electronics in the head
1 x Molex-ended secure-connect splitter
18 x Zipties for a clean installation
1 x Precision cutter for zipties
1 x Complete illustrated instructions for installation

SHORT FAQ:

WHAT CAUSES FLIPPER COIL FADE?
In general, with coils you're fighting the laws of thermodynamics. Energy (power) sent to the coil is converted to action and heat, and if there's not enough time between pulses to let the heat dissipate, the heat continues building, which increases electrical resistance of the coil windings, requiring more power for the same work which increases heat, in a loop. Unlike the other coils in the game, the flippers are firing all the time with few pauses of more than a few seconds, so they just build up heat, which affects their performance over time. Some games are better at building pauses into the action that gives the coils time to cool for short bursts. These fans help continuously dissipate the heat to prevent heat buildup and in turn, keep electrical resistance to a minimum.

Here's a really easy to understand explanation of electrical resistance with an experiment:
https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/watch-play/interactive/heat-resistance

SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT FLIPPER COIL FADE?
If your playing time is sessions of 30 minutes or less, you don't have to worry about fade. It only happens over time and usually isn’t noticeable for 40 minutes or more if you start with a “cold” game. However, once the fade starts, it only gets worse unless you let the machine rest (allowing time for the heat of the coils dissipate). This fan kit keeps the coils primarily in the 110-130F range, primarily below the threshold where fade begins no matter how long you play.

WHAT TEMPERATURE DOES FADE BEGIN?
There really isn't a hard answer for this because the player perceiving weakness is well after fade has actually started. It initially manifests as missed or bricked shots that you can easily make earlier in the game. It also depends on the size of the coil and whether or not it's dual wound.  Larger coils can get hotter before they feel weak to the player because they're powering through the electrical resistance.  However, larger coils are more destructive to the playfield because cold, they have much more power to launch the ball at targets, ramps, and plastics and that can damage them faster.  But, generally speaking for all but the largest coils (most Sterns) fade starts around 130F, and the flippers begin feeling weak to the player around the high 140s to low 150s.  Spooky and JJP can go higher before showing signs if they're using larger coils, but fade for long play sessions is a problem for all of them.

DO ALL STERN/SPOOKY/SPIKE MACHINES HAVE FLIPPER COIL FADE?
All Spike and Spooky machines are being tested and so far there is a range of fade, from none (Star Wars) to severe (Stranger Things) with most pins in-between. JJP machines have had the highest coil temperatures in long play sessions of all the modern pins tested. Check the chart we have provided for the machines we’ve tested. Each machine is rated from “None” to “Severe.” If you don’t see your machine on the list and aren’t sure if you have it, we will eventually have them all tested, keep checking back or ask around. If you feel the effects of fade, no need to wait for us to confirm it.

ARE THESE MAGIC FLIPPER-FIXING DEVICES?
No. These kits are ONLY designed to keep the flipper performance consistent for as long as you play by keeping the temperature of the coils around 110-130F, generally below the beginning-of-fade threshold of about 130F. They will not give you magical pinball skills or let you fire off laser-focused shots suddenly. They will only let you play as well as you do on a "fresh" machine, even if your machine has been played for hours with these installed.

ARE THESE AVAILABLE FOR <insert pinball machine here>?
Currently there are plug and play pinmonk flipper cooling kits available for all Spike and Spike2, Spooky Rick and Morty, and JJP GnR machines. Kits for other Spooky and Jersey Jack machines are under development and should be available before long. When that is completed I'll adapt the wiring and brackets as needed to create kits for older Sterns and Bally/Williams machines.