NTSC NES Power Supply

Alowishus

Good Afternoon All!

Yesterday I bought a NES from the USA. I've bought a NTSC SNES before from the US and I was able to get a power supply to use on it (I use an Atari Jaguar PSU).

However, I'm not 100% clear on what to use from this NES (I don't wanna fry it).

I'm nearly certain we get 220-240v AC in and the NES needs 9v DC in (converted down from 110v US).

So basically I need 240v to 9v. There's cheapo things on ebay and stuff which claims 100-240v to 9v but I am a bit skeptical.

For my PAL NES the PSU changes 110-240v to 15v but that seems a bit much.

My Megadrive does 240v 50hz in and 10v out.

On this site: http://www.consolegoods.co.uk/ (sorry can't link to NES)

It sells 230v to 9v but it states PAL only, so I am a bit confused as to why it could be PAL only.

Do you guys have any idea what I could use? I have a PAL SNES but I cannot for the life of me find the PSU.

Cheers.

Myrddin

I think you can just use the PAL NES psu you have no?

Alowishus

Yeah, well it's strange. The PAL NES takes 9v DC too but the PAL NES I was sold has an adapter which is 15v and it runs fine. I would have thought the differences in voltages would have caused problems?

I probably should have explained but my PAL NES PSU is not the original with the console, it's a third party.

CiDeRmAn

AFAIK they are exchangeable, just look up the power requirements of the two region Mes consoles, you should find they are the same and that the Euro PSU will work with the other machine.

The Last Bandit

The PAL NES and SNES use a 9V AC power supply (well at least mine do) which will damage anything that expects DC current only.

You can use use a 9V DC power supply with both of these consoles as they'll rectify the incoming voltage to DC anyway. The 15V adaptor you got will probably work but you're likely to damage the consoles regulator over time.

Nothing wrong with those Ebay power supplies with the multiple tips once they are regulated.

80s Synth Pop

don't bother with an stepdown converter as it usually introduces noise.

I picked up a PAL NES power supply from http://warnersretrocorner.com a few years ago and it works fine on a USA NTSC console. It's output is 9v DC 1.5 amps.


Also think of getting yourself one of these http://etim.net.au/nesrgb/

Alowishus

The Last Bandit wrote: »

The PAL NES and SNES use a 9V AC power supply (well at least mine do) which will damage anything that expects DC current only.

You can use use a 9V DC power supply with both of these consoles as they'll rectify the incoming voltage to DC anyway. The 15V adaptor you got will probably work but you're likely to damage the consoles regulator over time.

Nothing wrong with those Ebay power supplies with the multiple tips once they are regulated.

Hmmm, there's a bit of confusion here on what I should use. I looked at the bottom of my consoles to clarify this situation.

(I will provide pics if requested).

PAL NES - Rating - AC 9V 1.3A

PAL SNES - Rating - AC 9V 1.3A

However.

NTSC SNES - Rating - DC 10V 850mA - Uses an AC Adapter.

and with correspondence with my American friend.

NTSC NES - AC 9V (i think it's 1A).

For my NTSC SNES I use a AC/DC adapter - which is from an Atari Jaguar - from AC 240V to DC 9V 1.2A.

I don't know if the specs for NTSC NES are the same as NTSC SNES as with the PAL SNES and PAL NES.

I find it puzzling that if mains electricity is AC, then why in PAL does it remain AC for console usage and then why is it converted to DC for NTSC?

The answer to this seems to be the voltage regulator as Last Bandit said.

So with a quick google, I stole these posts from elsewhere on the internet:

An NTSC SNES will NOT work on AC. There are no rectifier diodes. AC will make Bad Things happen to it. Now, an NES, which is designed for AC, has a full wave rectifier inside. So, it'll happily work on DC with no problems. And, yes, your assumptions are correct, an NES (or SNES) will happily work on 20v without problems, it'll just make that voltage regulator get hotter.

Regarding NES - The original power supply is of the linear type, which means it uses a bulky transformer.
This power supply has a few disadvantages:

• It is bulky, which is not very convenient when you're carrying your NES in a pack sack.
• It covers almost 3 sockets when you plug it in a power bar.
• Mine is old and has started to fail (you need to pull the plug in the right direction to make it work!)
• It has an AC output, which is rarer. It is hard to find a perfect replacement.

By looking at the NES schematics, I saw that the power coming from the power supply is converted to DC and lowered to 5 volts using a simple lm7805 voltage regulator. This means that giving 12 volts to the NES will not damage it (however, please note that the regulator will generate a little more heat). Since the NES expects AC, you can supply the NES with DC power without having to check the polarity.

So, after that confusion, it seems that a NES can accept either AC or DC current. If it is AC it will be converted and if it is DC it doesn't matter.

So I guess in theory that the NTSC NES can run on a PAL NES or SNES supply (i'm not 100% sure on the currents though). However a NTSC SNES cannot because it will not accept AC.