Saturn and Dreamcast PSU Swapping (120V -> 240V and 240V -> 120V)

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some clarification on this for the Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast.
Saturn PSUs are OK to switch back and forth between Model 1 and 2 right?

But on the Dreamcast side you shouldn't take a Rev 1 PSU and put it into a Rev 0 right?
Will the Rev 0 work OK in the Rev 1 and 2 units?

Any help is most appreciated as always! :smile-new:

 

x

 

As I recall, short term, a VA0 dreamcast will work nicely with a VA1 power supply but after prolonged use, something will die because the VA0 board draws more power than the VA1. I could be misinformed though

 

Excellent, I have no Saturn motherboards beyond VA5 so that is good to know (again :smile-new! Thanks for that!

I am sure I have heard something somewhere along those lines and wanted to be safe rather than bang-bang-explosion. That's the last thing I'd want to happen.
My current problem is that I have a VA0 (with the metal HSF) Dreamcast that has some possible power related issues.
If it turns out to be the PSU... it is awfully hard to come across VA0 PSUs for PAL units.

 

l_oliveira has posted that information, but it goes counter to mine (and several other peoples) experiences.

There have been no numbers on voltage/amps drawn posted to confirm it either.

The only source of this information is l_oliveira had one that went pop, which now we have the assumption you are repeating. There is no evidence/numbers to back it up, other than 1 PSU dying. I have ran VA0 units with a VA1 PSU for months without issue, as have others here.

Also, VA0 dreamcasts werent released in PAL areas as far as I know... are you sure you dont have a motherboard swap with a VA1 psu already?

 

Ah is that where the rumours all came from. Must have came across that post while browsing a while back.
Just took some pics. I haven't had much time recently to photograph all the insides of the Dreamcasts I have just yet... Only barely finished on the Saturns I have!
Actually I've taken no photos of inside any of my Dreamcasts... Ughhh lazy me! Can anyone compare with their VA1 PAL units if the PSU is similar at all?
Should be the same design as a VA0 Japanese or US model though right? Just more 240V-ish
See the limited amount of photos I just snapped in low light conditions here.
Any ideas?















Edit: Just realised I could open one of my own Dreamcasts and look at the PSU... Yes! It is the same or extremely similar.
That means that VA0 and VA1 PAL units should be able to have their PSUs swapped around right?
Although this VA0 is showing random reset problems... need to look further into that one day. At least for now I have a test PSU (or six, wait seven) :victorious:

 

Thats interesting! it certainly does look like a VA0 PAL unit.

Any history on that? obviously not retail (going from the sticker)

 

I only picked it up myself recently on eBay and had it shipped across from the good old UK. The fellow who I purchased it from got it from a friend who dumpster dives at their local tip. Took me a while to track down the message he sent back but here it is...

Date stamp on the plastic of April 1999 given they didn't hit Europe in a retail sense until October 1999.
Anyone else got or come across these PAL VA0 units before?

I am curious to pull it apart and compare it side by side with the VA0 Japanese unit I have. One day!

 

What colour is the start up swirl?

 

Blue as the blue sky! Now I'm playing Bomberman on it... to see when it does the restarting thing. Fun!

Edit: Damn I am good at Hyper Bomber Rule Stage!

 

Reseting is a common and easy fix to do. Remove the power supply, clean the pins and slightly bend the pins towards the connector (contact springs). Have fixed a few this way.

 

x

 

Yep was reading on mmmonkey about that fix! But it is working well now... Played Bomberman for over two hours before passing out from exhaustion! :biggrin-new:

Oh of course, but some of the launch day Dreamcasts I have now have the plastic stamped with August 1999. This one is a good while before that!
I'll really have to pull it apart and look at the chips on the mainboard to get an idea of when it was built though.

As for the 837-x / 171-x IDs... there is a slight difference in one of them. I think it was the 837-x number. All the other markings seemed to match though. Will need to double check it, but it's working for now so there's no immediate rush!

 

x

 

PC BD KTN PWR UNIT PANA EU V01 on the VA0 - 837-13774 and 171-7960A.
PC BD KTN PWR UNIT PANA AU V01 on the VA1 - 837-13974 and 171-8066A.

Guess it says AU since this one is from Australia and the European VA0 is from Europe.
Might take apart the VA0 unit now to check if the mainboard actually says VA0 on it.
Since I just pulled apart a regular Dreamcast to change the shell on it... Looks great!







Edit: See all the photos of this unit here in my gallery.
Definitely a VA0 though. Says it on the board. Can anyone see anything different about this one compared to other VA0 units?
(High resolution picture of the mainboard is in the "see anything different" part above just in case anyone missed it)



I had a dig around Google images but couldn't find any other VA0 boards to compare it with.
Did find a VA2 though, interesting how they connected the GD-ROM straight onto the mainboard via wires instead of the connector.
I had to stare at it for a few minutes while trying to work out what I was actually looking at!

 

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It was just 837-13392-0, I noticed the VA1 unit I took some photos of did not have the -0 at the end at all. Excitement?

Edit: And by -0 I actually meant -04
So the number should read 837-13392-04. How did I not see that? Lucky I recorded some video of the board.

 

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Check out the above post. You were spot on - 837-13392-04 is the correct number.
No modem on the VA0 one, just a blank modem looking placeholder.
On the VA1 I've taken to pieces that is a tad blocked isn't it... I'll check now.

But yes both boot up with the blue PAL swirl. How do you dump one of these chips anyway? Heatgun and care?


Edit: Modem on the VA1 is a 171-7955D.

 

you can remove it, but BBA and homebrew is probably much better lol

Unsure if you can dump to sd card - dont see why you couldnt, just depends if someone has written the software