N64 No Signal

[AdamAnt316]

See I have an old original Xbox as well which now I've looked clearly says 220v on the back of it...so I could use the step up for that too...I was looking on amazon saw this;

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002...A2O5IPLWDUVMNZ

or is this overkill? Trouble I've had is shopping on amazon.ca it's given me canadian to uk travel adapters...I've noticed somethings like the travel kit below saying its only for use for 15 mins at a time

http://www.voltageconverters.ca/p-11...-50-1600w.aspx

I checked my own original XBox, and it indeed is non-universal power supply-wise (rather odd, but whatever). The plate on the back of mine reads "100-127V 2.1A 50/60Hz", which works out to roughly 250W, so the step-up in your first link should be sufficient. I wouldn't bother with any of those cheesy travel kits, which are not good for any sort of sustained operation (as the second linked page indicates). I've had cheap step-up converters go up in smoke with little to no load connected, and seem to run quite hot even with small loads. The old adage "You get what you pay for" is very much applicable here.
-Adam

[Gameguy]

It's basically already been said but there's a few ways to look at it. If you're just wanting to use the N64 then a North American power supply would be the best thing to do, it would use less electricity too as these step converters use more power when converting the voltage. If you're wanting to use other devices like that Xbox you mentioned then a step converter would probably be more suitable, or use a North American N64 adapter and still get the step converter anyway for everything else.

As for the other adapter you posted, this would go with my previous statement of "cheap adapters" and aren't worth bothering with. I'm going to assume the adapter you've already been using with this UK N64 isn't even that good and just adapts the shape of the plug as I originally thought. If you're patient you can find proper step converters for better pricing, I found one at a thrift store that works pretty well and was under $10 with tax included. You have to be lucky though. Just another option if you're not in a rush.

To anyone else asking about the TV, he said that he's using a TV that previously worked fine with it. I'm going to assume that it's a PAL compatible TV and would continue to work just fine with these UK systems.

[flameboy]

It's basically already been said but there's a few ways to look at it. If you're just wanting to use the N64 then a North American power supply would be the best thing to do, it would use less electricity too as these step converters use more power when converting the voltage. If you're wanting to use other devices like that Xbox you mentioned then a step converter would probably be more suitable, or use a North American N64 adapter and still get the step converter anyway for everything else.

As for the other adapter you posted, this would go with my previous statement of "cheap adapters" and aren't worth bothering with. I'm going to assume the adapter you've already been using with this UK N64 isn't even that good and just adapts the shape of the plug as I originally thought. If you're patient you can find proper step converters for better pricing, I found one at a thrift store that works pretty well and was under $10 with tax included. You have to be lucky though. Just another option if you're not in a rush.

To anyone else asking about the TV, he said that he's using a TV that previously worked fine with it. I'm going to assume that it's a PAL compatible TV and would continue to work just fine with these UK systems.

Not to belabor the point too much but just to check when your saying cheap adapters your meaning the second link and not this amazon one;

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002...igitalpress-20

This seems like a midrange for these kind of things some are going for $20 others for $150. I'm sussing out what to do, I'm not in a rush as long as the N64 is up and running for Extra Life this year I'll be happy!

[bacteria]

As mentioned, all the N64 PSU is is a transformer to output 12v and 3.3v DC; it matters not if your N64 PSU is UK or Europe or Japan or USA - as long as it's a N64 PSU for the country you are in it will take the AV (whether designed for 110v, 240v etc) and still feed the N64 console 12v and 3.3v DC. The N64 PSU is only a pair of step-down regulators via a transformer. Remember, the console does not run via AC, it runs DC.

That's why you can run an N64 happily in a handheld system at 7.2v DC batteries - the 12v line actually only goes to a 7805 to output 5v for the audio and the 3.3v runs the system.

[AdamAnt316]

Not to belabor the point too much but just to check when your saying cheap adapters your meaning the second link and not this amazon one;

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002...igitalpress-20

This seems like a midrange for these kind of things some are going for $20 others for $150. I'm sussing out what to do, I'm not in a rush as long as the N64 is up and running for Extra Life this year I'll be happy!

As I said eariler, that Goldsource unit looks fine to me. It should be sufficient for running your UK XBox, and more than sufficient for running your UK N64 using the UK power supply until you find a US version. It even looks as if it could be used in the UK to run US-type devices (while minding the frequency difference thing, as I mentioned before).
-Adam

[Gameguy]

Not to belabor the point too much but just to check when your saying cheap adapters your meaning the second link and not this amazon one;

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002...igitalpress-20

That's correct.

As for the pricing varying so much, it has to do with the wattage rating. For consoles you don't really need that much, some other devices use a lot of power so a converter with a higher wattage rating would be necessary.