NES alternate power supply

[Some1]

Hi, everybody!

I just have a quick question.

I live in Europe, but I've just got an NTSC NES. Since the American and European voltages are different, I obviously can't use the American power brick.
However, I do have this 9V 1A DC adapter with the proper plug. Could I use that instead of the original? I want to make sure I don't fry anything when I plug the thing in.

[davidbrit2]

That should be fine. You can feed either 9V AC or DC into the NES and expect good results. I'm running mine with a 9V DC Sega power supply right now.

[Some1]

Okay, thank you!

[Satoshi_Matrix]

The NES has a powerful voltage regulator and it's power supply very unusually works on AC voltage, which is usually inhospitable to consoles and other electronics in general.

As a direct result, you can use almost any power supply you want between 7-12 volts with as little as 300mA. The voltage regulator only needs 7v (5v in reality, but it regulates it to 7v) and so anything over that is just wasted as excess heat.

Since it was built to accept AC current directly, polarity is not a factor when powering an NES. You can use DC power supplies of either center pin negative or outer barrel negative polarity.

You could use a model 1 MegaDrive power supply, or any generic one. The NES is a beast that does not care.


However, this ONLY applies to the NES-001 (the 'toaster') and NES-101 (the "top loader"). This does NOT apply to any version of the Famicom, or any other console. Only the NES.

[Some1]

I'll keep that in mind. I'll probably just get a small 220-110V transformer if I get any other American systems anyway.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah keep in mind that any 9V AC or DC adapter should power a NES and allow the games to work, but one time I used a smaller 9V adapter that came with a videocassette rewinder my grandma had. It must have not had enough AMPs because when I would turn the system on a low pitch humming sound would be constantly heard through the TV's speaker. The noise was pretty loud, and about the same volume as the game's sound. You could only get rid of the noise by turning the volume on the TV all the way off. It won't fry the system, but will be annoying if you get the wrong one. I assume these smaller low AMP adapters are generally uncommon though.

[Some1]

Well, the difference here definitely isn't large enough, and really, as long as I don't fry the thing, I can always just change the adapter to a better one.

[kikenovic]

The NES is a beast that does not care.

Damn right, they were made to last. Last December, after 25 years I had to replace the 72 pin connector. In comparison, after only 5 years of moderate use I had to pay M$ to fix my rrod X360.