I have an old US (NTSC) NES system which we found in the garage. Sadly the power supply is missing.
As I now live in the UK, I was wondering if it is possible to use a UK NES power supply with it.
The power supply I was thinking of using is below:
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2This would be easy to answer if the output was DC (just check the polarity, voltage and current draw), but if it really is AC, then there may be a difference: the US has 60Hz AC, the UK 50Hz. I'm wondering if a US console on 50Hz would produce a bizarre 50Hz NTSC output... (Your original US adapter wouldn't work in the UK anyway, since it's not a 230V-compatible switching adapter.)– Stephen KittCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 11:39
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2Excuse the ignorance but isn't the role of the "brick" to convert whatever came from the wall supply to what is compatible with the console? Do the power units in the console differ as well?– Emanuele CiurleoCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 12:40
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1The brick converts the wall supply to whatever the console it was sold with expects. You can use other bricks, as long as all the output specs match up (or in the case of current, as long as the brick can supply at least the current needed for the console) — but when you're dealing with AC, the specs include the frequency. I'd imagine the power units in the UK/US consoles are the same or very similar, but the whole console will be designed around a certain frequency, 50Hz in the UK and 60Hz in the US. I don't think you'd break anything, but you might not see anything on your TV.– Stephen KittCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 12:57
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2It would be pretty uncommon for a "relatively modern" console like the NES to derive video frequency from the AC power frequency. So I wouldn't expect any problems basedon that. You will, however need an NTSC-compatible TV in case you want to use the RF output.– tofroCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 15:22
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The "TV", I have (although seeing a 10" screen sitting next to my "real tv" makes me think it should be called something different ;) )– Emanuele CiurleoCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 15:33
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1 Answer
It should work just fine -- the PPU times the rendering process based on the clock. The NES doesn't directly use the 9V AC from the power supply; the power supply circuit converts it to 5V DC with a rectifier and voltage regulator. I'm using a DC adapter with my NES without problems.
answered Oct 24, 2016 at 15:42
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Interesting! I wonder why they didn't just make the brick output 5V DC... Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 18:18
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@StephenKitt It was probably cheaper to put it on the console. The NES did a lot of strange things (like incompletely decoding memory addresses and disabling decimal mode) just to save money. Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 18:23