Japanese Gamecube console w/ US power adapter?

I was wondering if I could use a US gamecube power adapter on a japanese Gamecube?

 

Yes, it will probably be ok.

 

They are interchangeable with no problems. The only power supply swaps you need to avoid are:

NES (US or PAL) adapter with a famicom
PAL SNES adapter with a US SNES or Super Famicom

 

Is the SNES warning just because the connector is different?

 

NTSC-J N64 with PAL power supply also works, my jp supply blew up, but my pal one worked fine

 

No, it's another AC vs DC issue. The PAL SNES uses the same (AC output) adapter as the NES and has a built in rectifier which the US and Japanese consoles lack.

In general, you can run a console that's designed for AC off either AC or DC with either polarity, but extended use might damage the rectifier, since it was designed with the idea that each diode was only carrying current 50% of the time - when running off DC, two of the diodes are carrying the current 100% of the time and the other 2 do nothing.

Code:

               NES/FC      SNES/SFC
Japanese       DC           DC
US             AC           DC
PAL            AC           AC

Yeah, this stuff only applies to the consoles before the N64 - all the consoles from the N64 onwards (inclusive) have completely interchangeable supplies.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I tried this at some point and it actually didn't work, it made a high pitched noise and cartridges wouldn't load.

Ah right, thanks tri.

 

I don't have a PAL N64 PSU here to check, but I have done this previously and it worked - all the N64 supplies output the same +12V and +3.3V. Normally a squeal from the PSU means that it's being overloaded - did you have another PSU to check that console with?

 

some of mine flat out did not work (probalby because they where european being run in australia) but my AUS ones worked perfectly with my NTSC and J units

 

Strange - both Australia and Europe are nominally 230V and use 50Hz so the supplies should be compatible. The HK N64 is also basically a Japanese N64 with a UK power supply, and that seems to work OK

 

I had about 30 Japanese N64s to test and wanted to do it that day, so I couldn't be bothered to order a PSU on Yahoo and wait. I tried my Australian PSU through a step-up transformer (this was in Tokyo), and it didn't work with any of the consoles. When I got a Japanese PSU later they all worked fine.

 

perhaps its a saftey feature, to shut it down so it wont overload

 

OK, I have no explanation for that - I just tried the (220V) power module from my HK N64 in a Japanese one, and it works with no problems. The power unit is marked "NUS-002(HKG)" and has a UK style BS1363 plug on it. The units I have here are Japanese, US and HK, and all the PSUs appear completely interchangeable.

I'm also pretty sure that one of my friends in Shenzhen has a Japanese N64 which he uses with an Australian PSU (Australian plugs fit in Chinese 3 pin sockets!).