Super Famicom Tragedy

[encephalon]

Today I received a super famicom in the mail with two games and ... no power adapter. I hadn't noticed it wasn't included in my purchase when I bought it. No big deal, I'll just use an equivalent one. Reading this post, I figured a 12 VDC 1.5A adapter would work and they tested it in radioshack. A red light came on. Tried it again at home, it came on but nothing showed up on my screen. I took it to another room, plugged it in, and this time plugged in my 3rd party unlabeled SFC RGB cord from Japan (didn't want to spend $100 to plug it into my XRGB3) and ... wondered why nothing happened at all. Looked down, and the light wouldn't turn on. The light will no longer turn on.

So, what exactly happened here?

Consider:

1. Official adapter is 100 AC to 10 DC; power difference.
2. The cartridge port sounds "sandy." Turning it on for a second in the first room, a logo began to come up then it turned off again. Could part of this have been the port?
3. The 3rd party RGB cord. Can an RGB cord (from Japan/NTSC) affect a console? If i get a new one is it unsafe?

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.

Note: I am in North America so no PAL land power issues or TV issues should be in play here ...

[Urzu402]

The voltage on the power adapter seems high I don't know if that matters, but if you need an AC adapter for either a famicom or super famicom use a genesis model 1 or sega cd power adapter.

[Urzu402]

Also another tip is NEVER use an NES adapter it will ruin your system

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Two things you did wrong.

12v - while the system handle 12v, its rated for 9 (though can run on as little as 7.8v) meaning its voltage regulator is wasting ~3v as heat

I also strongly suspect you incorrectly fed the SFC the complete wrong polarity. Like the Famicom, the Super Famicom requires 9v DC with a polarity of center pin negative.

Like this:

+ ---C--- -

NOT

- ---C--- +

You blew the 7805 voltage regulator by feeding it the wrong polarity. Open the system and replace that, and then make sure you only ever use the proper power supply.

[encephalon]

Two things you did wrong.

12v - while the system handle 12v, its rated for 9 (though can run on as little as 7.8v) meaning its voltage regulator is wasting ~3v as heat

I also strongly suspect you incorrectly fed the SFC the complete wrong polarity. Like the Famicom, the Super Famicom requires 9v DC with a polarity of center pin negative.

Like this:

+ ---C--- -

NOT

- ---C--- +

You blew the 7805 voltage regulator by feeding it the wrong polarity. Open the system and replace that, and then make sure you only ever use the proper power supply.

This is what happened. The wrong polarity was tested first, then the correct polarity. Because the power cord around the back of the system was awkward with the AV cable plugged in, it fell out and it was tested both ways again (because if it doesn't matter to Radioshack employees, does it matter at all?) Of course, the Radioshack employees had no real clue what they were doing.

Thanks.

[ccovell]

The SNES/SFC also contains a fuse which you should test before replacing the voltage regulator.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

This was so funny to me.
"Open the system and replace that". All I know about electronics is the correct way to put batteries is and you made it sound that simple.


QUOTE=Satoshi_Matrix;1946111]Two things you did wrong.

12v - while the system handle 12v, its rated for 9 (though can run on as little as 7.8v) meaning its voltage regulator is wasting ~3v as heat

I also strongly suspect you incorrectly fed the SFC the complete wrong polarity. Like the Famicom, the Super Famicom requires 9v DC with a polarity of center pin negative.

Like this:

+ ---C--- -

NOT

- ---C--- +

You blew the 7805 voltage regulator by feeding it the wrong polarity. Open the system and replace that, and then make sure you only ever use the proper power supply.[/QUOTE]

[Ed Oscuro]

Call around and ask if anybody will be willing to desolder the old one and put a new one in. That's presumably all it takes. You'll need to get a new voltage regulator but if you can find somebody you can solder, they might also know where to order a new one.

Actually - while I wouldn't second guess Satoshi here, I would say that the system should probably have a number of components checked with a multimeter. Again, somebody with soldering equipment and skills will surely have one of these, and should be able to find datasheets for many of the components for testing.

Otherwise, there are probably some hobbyists who will take the system in the mail, do the work, and ship it back to you.

But yeah, the first thing you need to do is take a picture so people can see what exactly went in.

It's a good reminder to me to find and label my systems and wall warts - I've got a few different types floating around here myself (the one that came with my A/V Famicom doesn't have the Nintendo molded case we are familiar with, but has a shiny label and might not even be branded Nintendo).