Super Nintendo power supply tips, connectors

[Cyberghost]

I bought an original 10v Super Nintendo power supply, but the tip was cut off (another tip had been spliced on). Does anyone know where I can get another tip to splice back on? Radioshack had none. Even better, is there some other common adapter with the similar tip I can salvage?

I would actually like 3 tips because I also bought 2 other oem supplies, (each at 10 volts, one is 1 amp, the other 1.2 amp and they both look the same). I like these more than the originals because they have proper power cords going to the adapter box, rather than the box itself being the plug. So, where can I find the tips to splice on? Like I said, radioshack had none, but the tips they do have are kind of pricey anyway, and I also checked ebay and found nothing.

Last thing, does anyone see a problem using these oem supplies on the SNES? The SNES requires 10 volts at .850 amps, these oem supplies are 1-1.2 amps each so they should theoretically be ok, the higher amps wont harm the snes in the long run, right? Could there be other issues with the supplies? I read somewhere (maybe these forums) that the non-nintendo supplies cause problems with the video quality. True?

[APE]

I've been tempted to take the original connector off the SNES and replace it with what the Genesis 1 sports for simplicities sake. Nintendo really screwed the pooch with their connections.

[retro]

You need AT LEAST the right current. Higher is fine. It'll only draw what it needs.

I'd say get third party replacements. As far as I recall, the US spec machines had weird connectors that you're not going to find. On top of that, soldering a connector on is never ideal - they often short sooner or later. Stick with a pre-made cable assembly where possible.

If you didn't mind hacking your SNES about, you could change the connector if you wanted, yes.

[Bad_Ad84]

http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/ni...snes-power.htm

You can order the connector.

Also, higher amperage can cause issues if the PSU is unregulated.

Unregulated PSU's only provide the rated voltage when the rated current is being used. Less current drawn = higher voltage.

Regulated PSU's its fine though, as the voltage is always fixed.

[retro]

Doesn't the SNES have a regulator in it anyway? In which case, it should work fine... although yes, I prefer regulated PSUs. Naturally, you'd try and get a PSU that was as close as possible to the correct current draw, anyway. No reason to get a 2A if it only needs 850mA!

In America, where Cyberghost lives, MCM sell replacement PSUs - have for years. They're cheap - why would you bother fiddling about with a soldering iron when it's more cost effective to get one from them? Or eBay, of course!

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/28-2095

Beats ordering a part from Maplin in the UK for more money! ;)

[Bad_Ad84]

I did some googling around some time ago, the part is available elsewhere but I cant remember the part number. Point of the link was just to show they are available, not where you should order it from (especially in the US).

And yes, pretty sure the snes has a regulator and will just dump more heat into the heatsink. But it was a general comment - the internet is full of "More amps is fine, its voltage you need to worry about!" completely ignoring the fact that unregulated PSUs will be providing more voltage if you take that advice.

[retro]

Lol, true! I'd say go as close as you can - getting a proper replacement is best wherever possible, of course.

The SNES should run off a Genesis adapter fine as per that page in the US. However, was our SNES in Europe not run on an AC PSU, not DC? I know the NES was, at least. Yeah - that won't work! So anyone in the UK reading this thread, make sure you get the right kind of PSU! ;)

[bart_simpson]

2.8mm 5mm plug for pal snes.

[Lum]

For some reason NOE decided to modify SNES internally to accept AC like NES did, instead of adopting NOA's plug change. Though that makes me curious why NOA in the first place had NES rated for AC instead of using what was already established by Famicom.

The official US SNES plug is rare to see on anything else. Few other notable things used it beside US Virtual Boy and Korea SNES.

SFC and JPN Virtual Boy, simply continued to support FC's original 1983 adapter.

[Calpis]

And yes, pretty sure the snes has a regulator and will just dump more heat into the heatsink. But it was a general comment - the internet is full of "More amps is fine, its voltage you need to worry about!" completely ignoring the fact that unregulated PSUs will be providing more voltage if you take that advice.

Hm, I haven't heard of this being a problem. What kind of measurements are you getting at the barrel under load? I've measured a 10V supply before without any load to get around 14 or 15V, still well below the 7805 limit. Consoles are a big load to their AC adapters, usually half of the capacity. Also if you have a small load then while the voltage blows up, the power dissipated remains low.

I think unregulated 9-12V adapters are fine, but if you worry about heat newer today's 9V phone charger style adapters (ISOLATED ones) are ideal, 9V is the minimum you can get away with to work across most consoles. It can reduce the power dissipated by half, not sure what that works out to in heat.

Though that makes me curious why NOA in the first place had NES rated for AC instead of using what was already established by Famicom.

I'm sure they added a rectifier to protect the NES from using the wrong adapter. This was a big problem for the FC because at the time most AC "adapters" were just step-down transformers and people didn't realize the difference. This has the added benefit of the AC adapters being slightly smaller and costing less which is good if you need to replace it, but bad if you want to use it for other electronics purposes. When the NTSC SNES went back to DC they needed the weird plug so they could leave out the rectifier. I think they should have kept the rectifier and AC for robustness (since there's nothing stopping you from using a DC supply with it). Maybe they did it to fight 3rd-party adapters.

[Lum]

That and it helped stop users here from blowing up their SNES with an NES plug.

[Bad_Ad84]

Hm, I haven't heard of this being a problem. What kind of measurements are you getting at the barrel under load? I've measured a 10V supply before without any load to get around 14 or 15V, still well below the 7805 limit. Consoles are a big load to their AC adapters, usually half of the capacity. Also if you have a small load then while the voltage blows up, the power dissipated remains low.

General comment, rather than "OMG THIS IS A ISSUE FOR SNES".

Its just important to know in general, especially when it gets repeated as gospel that more amps is fine (which is technically correct) but completely ignore the additional voltage on a unregulated PSU that's not supplying its rated load. Especially if someone decides they have a 5 amp PSU to use on their 100/200mah device because "more amps is fine".