Coin Door Lighting Issue?

[sc1103]

I finally got around to hooking up my coin door lights to a PC power supply.  I dissassembled an old 486 from my attic and took out the power supply and hooked up the lights following the Retroblast! method.  The cab i am using is a xenophobe-SFII-MAME (it was destroyed basically when i got it) so it has 3 lights.  Question:  When i turn on the lights, sometimes they flicker on then die, if they stay on then I hear a high-pitch noise, almost as though the supply is straining to support the 3 lights.  Should I take off one of the lights and avoid any chances, or is this normal?

[Sasquatch!]

No, that's not normal.  If you just power on the power supply with none of the lights hooked up to it, does it still make that noise?  I'm guessing that something's wrong with your power supply to be honest...supplying power to three incandescent bulbs shouldn't be putting a "strain" on your power supply.

[sc1103]

Im guessing that is is an issue with the power supply - i removed one of the bulbs fro eh chain and they still go off after a short period of time   I guess ill try hooking up each bulb to a seperate molex connector...

[rchadd]

if you want to use pc psu - consider using led lighting

[Ken Layton]

If all you have hooked up to the power supply is just 3 lamps, that's not enough of a load. Many (but not all brands/models) of computer power supplies require a minimum load hooked up. That minimum load is required on both the +5 volt and +12 volt outputs.

You need at least a 3 amp load on the +5 and a 2 amp load on the +12 volt for the power supply to work properly. To operate these power supplies without their minimum loads can damage or destroy them.