I have a Nintendo Entertainment System - yes, don’t laugh, the original NES. The beige box. The one that comes with the light gun so you can play Duck Hunt.
Question: I have lost the AC/DC Converter for this and would like to get an aftermarket adapter. Can anyone tell me what voltage/amperage I need, and what the polarity of the plug is?
Told you it was esoteric.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
I believe the original NES used a 10 VDC adaptor supplying 800 mA max. I am not certain of the polarity–I’ll keep searching.
It’s also possible that buying a used NES would be cheapper then getting a new adaptor 
Not if you work in the electronics industry and have access to all sorts of variable power supplies and converters.
Yeah, I know, I’m a geek…
Reading off the back of my NES’s power plug:
"NINTENDO
AC ADAPTER
Model No. : NES-002
Input AC120V 60Hz 17W
Output AC9V 1.3A
Power Supply for use with
Video Game NES-001
Only
Nintendo Co.Ltd.
Made in Japan"
Although i worked in a Canadian Radioshack, it is quite likely that your local U.S. Radioshack carried an aftermarket NES power adapter. It is likely a discontinued item, so it might be hit & miss, but there is probably one lying around in the stockroom of a RS somewhere near you. Last summer i dug one up for a customer in a few days. Also, because it is (likely) discontinued, it might only be $5 or so, compared to the $15-30 that Radioshack normally (over)charges for transformers of various sizes.
Hopefully you’ll get a sales associate that has an idea what they’re talking about. if not, try & talk to the manager about it.
Happy Hunting,
Mailbox
P.S. Note that in BraheSilver’s post, the output of the adapter is defined as 9V AC out. This is important. Don’t buy a 9V DC adapter and expect it to work. Expect it to not work.
Oops, I missed your last post, Rico. I probably didn’t need to tell you about the AC/AC thing, but I know it’s a PITA when you forget about it. One more thing you probably know is that since it’s an AC/AC converter that the polarity of the plug is basically irrelevant now.
Why are you ashamed of owning it? It’s one of the best systems ever, certainly better than a lot of the crap on PS2.
Wrongo , Batman.
When the unit expects AC, you can give it DC with no problem. When the unit expects DC, then you cannot give it AC - that would like as not fry the sucker.
If it is expecting AC, and you give it DC, then the polarity is irrelevant.
Unless you’re talking about the Japanese version, wouldn’t your NES be a grey box?
You’d think so. 15 years of sunlight is apparently enough to stain it a nice shade of tan.
Mort I can think of several power supplies where your answers are wrong. I have definitely seen transformer coupled power supplies these will not work with DC input. In fact I think that these are in the majority of wall wort type power supplies.
Gazpacho:
If the unit is expecting AC, and the adapter you use puts out DC, then the bridge rectifier in the unit will “automatically” swap the polarity of the DC you give it match the DC part of the powersupply.
This is all a bridge rectifier does, anyway. It swaps the polarity of the incoming AC so as to put out a pulsing DC.
I have a book of simple electronics projects that includes a “universal car DC adapter.” This lets you connect a DC powered device that runs on twelve volts to the cigarette lighter of any vehicle without worrying about the polartiy. There’s nothing to it except a cigarette lighter adapter, a full wave rectifier, and an adapter for your device. The thing itself isn’t very useful in this day and age - virtually all modern cars are negative ground - but it fits the bill of being simple, illustrating some principles of electronics, and (in its day) served a purpose. The book is about twenty five years old.
Not to be insulting, but take a look at the diagram of a fullwave bridge rectifier (the kind with four diodes,) and imagine putting DC on where the AC usually comes in. You’ll see what I mean.
In actual effect, the unit is working with a cleaner DC supply than it would normally have.
The only problems that can arise are that the unit may have a simple one diode rectifier, in which case you will have to play with polarity.
The other possibility is that you may need to use a slightly higher voltage. The AC voltage is not especially exact, and may be (depending on load) a few volts above the voltage listed on the tag. Also, there is a slight (usually 0.7V) voltage loss going across the rectifier.
Anyway, I’ve done it often enough to know that it works.
On thinking about it, there is also the possibility that the unit has a switching power supply that takes AC from the transformer and converts through a switching process into DC. That kind of thing (possibly) wouldn’t work.
I also consider it extremely unlikely that the NES has such a critter.
Look Mort not to be insulting but before the full wave rectifier there is a transformer to convert the 110V to something nearer the output voltage that will be used. DC will not go through that transformer.
Yes, and that is in the wall unit - which we are talking about replacing.
Some device have only a transfomer in the wall unit, and the rectification and all takes place inside the device itself. The wall unit transformer that puts out low AC voltage (9VAC, or whatever) can be replaced with a complete DC wall unit that puts out 9VDC.
Mort you made the statement:
This is wrong in most cases because there is a transformer that would not pass DC. I am sure somewhere you can find a power supply that can accept both AC and DC. These are not very common with consumer electronics.
Man, oh, man , oh, man.
We are talking about replacing the external transformer for a video game. Specifically, the 9VAC transformer from an NES. Under the assumption that we were talking about that, my statement is correct - read the post above the one you quoted from.
Since we are talking post transformer I agree with you and appologize for being a jerk.
No problem. I could have been clearer, too, and specified that I meant after the transformer.
Glad we’re squared away.