Hi all, Hopefully this is the right place to post this and hopefully someone can help! I recently got a Famicom with no AC adaptor and no instructions. Having alot of other retro consoles about I decided to plug in a Megadrive 1 ac adaptor and a master system RF switch. When I turned it on I did manage to get a black screen on some channels doing this. Thinking the adaptor might be wrong I swapped it out for a UK NES one and the black screens stopped coming up. After looking online I realised this has probably destroyed my new famicom I have an N64 rf switch which I'm told is ok but even using that now I get nothing...what can I do? Any help apprechiated
Ouch...UK NES adaptor? I'm no expert here, but I've been told never, ever use an NES adaptor because it outputs AC. The Famicom will blow with AC. Plus, I can't imagine the adaptor and Famicom voltage regulator can handle 220V, when the Famicom adaptor and Famicom were made to manage 100V. Doesn't sound good... EDIT: AC not DC, right as above and below -- I should've read my page about it on Famicom World. I hear the 220V vs. 100V isn't a problem because the power adaptor you used can handle it. Now, if you tried to plug an original Famicom adaptor into a UK outlet, with one of those prong converters, you might see smoke and fire.
Most broken Famicoms I hear are from using the wrong power supply. I don't think the Famicom takes AC. According to this page you could use a Super Famicom AC adapter. http://www.famicomworld.com/Workshop/Famicom_AC_Adaptor.htm Also the MegaDrive model 1 should have a close enough power supply for it to work. Your problem likely is that the Famicom uses japanese channel 1 or 2 or something. Not all TVs will tune it. Some US TVs see this at like channel 96.
Japanese channel 1 is equivalent to US *cable* channel 96. In the UK (and the rest of the world) there are no other channels with the corresponding frequency. Even if there were (you could retune the frequency of the FC's RF modulator--mine is tuned for a common terrestrial channel), chances are the TV wouldn't like NTSC over the RF connection anyway. Your best chance would be to modify the Famicom for composite output or purchase a North American/Japanese VCR with a cable-ready tuner. Not to scare you, but any chip could also be damaged from an AC supply, not just the regulator.
To prevent confusion, I must point out a MegaDrive 1 adapter outputs DC, not AC. But seriously, you should really check the output voltage is the same on the PSU and the console, else risk blowing either of them up.
