How to prevent your XBox 360 Nyko Intercooler from melting/burning your Xbox

If you have an early XBox 360, you probably know that there's a horrible design flaw Microsoft didn't have time to properly test and fix-- the system at times can get so hot that the logic board inside cracks. Microsoft, sensing pending class action lawsuits, extended warranty by three years.

The Nyko Intercooler is a possible solution, since it keeps your xbox cool. This cooling unit plugs into the back of your 360 using the 360's power supply. However, there's an ironic problem. The Nyko Intercooler is also badly designed ... and also melts. The problem is that the 360's power supply at times uses so much juice that the Nyko's adapter melts.

Also, because the 360 wasn't designed to power a separate set of fans, it sometimes does not get the power it wants and games crash. Bummer! (happened to me within 5 minutes of use without this mod).

The obvious solution is to rig it to use it's own power supply! My method involves getting an AC/DC adapter so that you can get juice from your wall. I found another design that uses 12v batteries. [link]
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=602647&st=0[/link]. I personally prefer my design, because you don't need to worry about getting new batteries all the time!

Step 1: What You'll Need

The tools in this project are pretty straight forward. You don't /need/ to know how to solder, but it would REALLY help. You can search for soldering tutorials on instructables. The soldering skills you'll need are beginner.

The Nyko is set up very simply, it's just 3 fans all wired together. However, you may need to do some very simple calculations to get the correct power supply.

I = P/V
For 12v you'd do this: (1.44 * 3)/12v = 0.36A

In other words, if you use a 12v power supply you should get at least 360 mA. You can get one at radioshack, and those two numbers are blatantly visible on the packaging. I used a 9v, and for that you'll need at least 270mA. I'll assume you'll get a 9v with at least 270mA for this instructable.

Thanks to my pal Joe for helping me with the math. Anyhow, I managed to run this on 3 AAA batteries so we based the math around that.

Tools and Supplies
Wire (I used thin wire wrapping wire)
Solder
Solding Iron
handsaw that'll cut plastic
9V AC/DC power adapter with over 270mA
Female adapter for that power supply (device specific)
Electric tape
Phillips head screw driver
Wire stripper (you can use your teeth)

Comments

[albylovesscience]

why do people make accessories for the 360 without testing them these things hinder more than help thanx for fixing this problem

[WhiteTigerTails]

It was the XBOX itself that wasn't tested, not the intercooler, but you're probably right.

[bleachworthy]

good idea, my buddy's melted, and cought fire.

[Derin]

now-whoa.the xbox(me thinks) even when covered with tinfoil and towels won't catch fire

WHOA LMAO!!!

[ZeroXL91]

xD, you should just take it apart and put the fans inside the XBox

[thatonekid]

however if you can create an arc between the power connectors as they fail from over-heating, it can and has caught fire.

[InnovativeMotorcycle]

The 2nd gen NYKO cooler is awesome. Highly recommend it! Its only $20 and well worth it -WAY BETTER THAN ITS PREDECCESOR! It uses an auxiliary power source and It operates similar to a turbo-timer on a TC'd car. ItIt will continue to provide cooling after the system is shut down until it reaches a certain temperature, and will also kick back on if the temp goes up after the unit has shut-off.

[turbochardged]

i've had two of these and no problems, i replaced it because one of the fans bearings went out. As far as the power consup issue it's bull. plugging in a wired controller takes more power than those fans.Mine was a refurb so no warranty. WE need a mod to make the fans run 5 min after shut down to help cool off. anyone idea?

[thatonekid]

are you sure the two fans draw less amperage than a wired controller?
If a wireless controller can run off 3 volts i wonder why MSFT would make a wired controller that requires 12 volts?

[turbochardged]

the wired controllers actually run on 5 volts, reason is because usb is 5 volts. the reason they do that is because if you want to plug in a thumb drive, or ext drive it can run them. Those fans only pull 30ma per fan that 0.0030amps of power. if i plug in my zune to chardge it requires 500ms or .5 amps to charge it

[thatonekid]

however that doesn't void my point because i guarantee that the fans run off twelve volts not five.

[turbochardged]

the reason these melt is because the two adapters that connect the male end of the power brick to the female plug on the xbox  are made in china and they can't handle the current very well, so it's a connector failure not a power consumption problem

[bigwhitemike]

Oh my god! DON'T buy one of these fans! They make your 360 fan in the back spin super fast and will damage your system. Plus if you have xbox live or have your 360 hooked up to the net Microsoft can monitor you fan speed and if you sent it in because its still under warranty they wont fix it because you mis used the system. -happened to a pal of mine, thats why i use the under neath fan.

[pooley182]

no microsoft can NOT monitor your fan speeds or your current draw from the power supply and they aren't going to refuse to fix your console because your fans spun faster because the system was over heating. also you can't get banned from xbox live for doing any of these either.

[Derin]

if i was microsoft i would add a pin from the psu that normally does not normally go to the xbox,they would absentmindedly bridge that pin too

[Derin]

WOOPS

[skater7832]

i have the next-gen nyko intercooler. it plugs into the wall and hooks on to ur 360 instead of plugging in to the 360.

[Head Wound]

I don't mind having exposed wires either. It resembles half of my projects. So I will not complain about that (at risk of being a hypocrite). I do think your power connector could use some additional insulation of some sort (electric tape, hot glue for examples), I can see the exposed leads to the female power connector.

[BorisTheSpider]

These things are great for forcing the RRoD so that M$ will extend your warranty. Sometimes you get stuck with an error that M$ refuses to repair, so that gives them no choice. That said, I still wouldn't really advise that method. You could always just get very unlucky.

[surviverman]

(removed by author or community request)

[arseny]

(removed by author or community request)

[arseny]

PS, you can get it from Gamestop or amazon.com

[chinocarlosvazquez]

Hey Arseny today i got a sweet deal at K-mart,ive got the nyko intercooler plus 2 rechargeable batteries for the controller for $18 as soon that i got home i followed your instructable and made it with the switch and drilled a hole for the female connector it looks great and works like a charm thanks.

[arseny]

Sweet!

[tintin_08]

hya i tryed this out out useing usb it is good but i dident use a nyko cooling fan i used a gameware 1

[arseny]

That's a cool mod!

[Boden]

bioshock is incredible

[arseny]

Sweet!

[danymw]

how about a small but good cooler using the 3rd usb connection?

[jives11]

Hmmm, I remain to be convinced that piggy backing fans is a good idea. I think it's better to put the extra fans blowing in, which was the approach I took with my home made cooler

homemade xbox 360 cooler

[killerjackalope]

hey I'm guessin before these melt you can smell something similar to a powerful electric motor doing overtime like usb vacuums (motor is being murdered in them. or RC cars going nuts, some call it ozone smell, basically mine has that smell and it's not the fans blowing wrong way because I chacke that on install (when you hook up usb's the intercooler starts up and if no air goes out then you know its bad and I just realised why gears of war wont crash but NFScarbon and such will (bad games coding in my opinion as it overworks the CPU and has huge loading times... way longer than anything else I own.

[Apostrophe X]

Couldn't you keep the 360 pass through power and on/off switch and just shunt the fan wires to a 12 volt adapter through a small unobtrusive hole? Keeping it all pretty? Sure you'd have to be on it with the on/off switch but it'd be pretty, almost fancy.

Provided of course that it hasn't already started melting. Mine isn't one of the ones with shorting connections but it was still making my console crash by stealing power. I do understand that some were just melting thus necessitating a removal of the pass through power.

[arseny]

I agree with that idea. My point is to get rid of that passthrough, I think they used the cheapest possible wires as well as coated it all together in a glue that isn't heat resistive enough. To make it prettier, I can drill a hole into the side and stick the adapter jack in there. But I think the 360 is kind of ugly to begin with.