Arcana heart is coming out in less than a month and I kept talking about how I needed and new PS2 and how my PS2 doesn’t play Japanese games.
Anyway I just got a new Japanese Ps2 for a birthday present along with Arcana heart (Pre order) but I just wanted to make sure plugging this Shiny new PS2 in won’t fry it.
It will work fine. I’m getting one also. except it for all the JPN games that I do have.
You’ll be ok, if you want to take precautions then you can just have your JP PS2 always plugged in via extension cord.
Dont you mean a power strip? An extension cord wont help you with a power serge, its just an extension of the cord and nothing more. But power strips normally have safty features in them.
Also, like the others said, plugging it in wont do it any harm. I have a Japanese wii and no harm has ever come to it. It runs off of the same 110V AC that we have here in the US. Now if you were in Europe, then you would need a power converter since their electricity is 220V, runs at a different AC frequencey, and they have a different plug shape.
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I am not an electrician, and am just going off of what I remember reading years ago.
If I remember correctly, electronics have issues when going from areas of higher voltage to areas of lower voltage. The equipment uses voltage to figure out how much current to draw. If the equipment is built for 220V and you plug it into a 120V outlet, it will try to draw a lot more current, and could end up doing itself lots of damage, exploding, etc. However, if you take equipment made for lower voltage and plug it into a higher-voltage outlet, the worst that’s likely to happen is that the equipment won’t draw enough current and won’t turn on or will shut off intermittently.
I think Japan might be 120V, but whatever it is, I’ve had a Japanese PS2 in the States for around three years now, and it hasn’t had any problems (though I think the drive is going–but I don’t imagine that’s a power thing).
Japan is 100V iirc, and when I said extension cord, I also meant surge protector, power bar and whatnot, I tend to just call of them extension cords at the end of the day. lol
hm, so it is 100V. I was going off of play-asia before which said that the systems came with a 110V adaptor. But looking at my power cord for my Wii I am seeing its rated for 100V input. Oh well, no problems so far and its been plugged in for almost a year straight.
you should be able to look at a label somewhere on the unit, they always have the voltage rating on there somewhere
with my experience…(i used to live in italy which is pretty much all 220v stuff) if you plug in something that needs 220 or 240 volts into the wall that provides 110-120, it’ll just run shitty (ie: disc reader motor running slow or not powering on at all)
you should be able to find it on the unit. i’m not sure how much voltage japanese products require, but i think the US is one of the very few that only run 110-120 outlets (most other countries use 220-240v rather than 110-120v to prevent accidental electrocution…from what i’m told)
EDIT:from http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2225.html
“The voltage in Japan is 100 Volt (like Superking said), which is different from North America (110V), Central Europe (220V) and most other regions of the world. Japanese electrical plugs have two, non-polarized pins, as shown above. They fit into North American outlets.”
“Some North American equipment will work fine in Japan without adapter and vice versa, however, some sensitive equipment may not work properly or even get damaged. If you intend to purchase electronic appliances in Japan for use outside of Japan, you are advised to look for equipment specifically made for oversea tourists.”
Lets see if I am remebering this correctly, in a power converter they use a transducer to step down the voltage. The set up is that you have something like a square metal ring with coils on either side of it. One set of coils is hooked up to the wall socket and the other to what ever is on the other end of the power cord. The current from the wall socket induces a magnetic feild in the metal ring which preduces a current in the coils that are connected to the other end. Based on the number of coils on either side there is a different amount of current transfered, thus there is a different voltage difference.
The ratio of the voltages is supposed to be equal to the ratio of the number of turns. so for my Japanese Wii, the power adaptor is ment to take 100V and convert into 12V (I am not worring about the fact that one is AC and one is DC since that gets handled by other electronics such as diodes and capaciters). This means that the ratio of the turns is equal to 100/12.
When I plug it into my 110V sockey in the US you can use the relationsihp of V1/V2=T1/T2 so figure out what voltage my system is running at. And it turns out that it has 13.2V going to it instead of 12V. Thats not too much of a difference and its likely that the electronics in the system are rated for higher than 12V anyway in order to prevent damage from small serges and such. Also since my system has been plugged in for close to a year and no harm has come to it, I feel its safe.
But if you really wanted to be sure your system would be okay, then you could see what the output on powercord is and go buy a powercord from where you live that matches that same output but corresponds to the input voltage of where you live. I would imagine that all PS2s, japanese, american, pal, run on the same voltage, so you could probably just buy an american power adaptor from somewhere and use that instead. Then you could be sure that no harm would come of your system.
The word you want is transformer but you are dead on about its operation. The voltage ratio of input to output will be the ratio of the turns in the coils (which are inductors).
On a side note, I would never plug a 220-240V device into a 110-120V outlet or vice versa. You might not ruin it immediately but it could have its lifespan shortened.
i don’t think you can just get a japanese power cord for the ps2 and think it’ll make a difference.
the cord for the ps2 is just a cord (a very common cord too), not like the wii that has the brick in the middle
the transformer (did i use the right terminology?) for the ps2 is built in to the unit.
yeah whenever i plugged in a 220-240V into a 120, it was because it was a dual voltage product and i just forgot to dial in the right setting
thankfully i never accidentally did it the other way around -POP-!
The cord for the PS2 is not just a cord, it too has the brick in the middle. And that brick is what does the job. Although, looking at mine now, it says its rated for 100-240V so it looks like the PS2, or at least the slim version I have, used a universal power adaptor.
really!? i’m so confused. i don’t have a ps2 now, but i coulda swore it just had the standard power cable like a bunch of electronics use, (same as the dreamcast)
Whether the cable has the transformer at the end where you plug it into the wall or in the middle of the cord doesnt matter. But you still need it to convert the current from AC to DC and to step down the voltage.
I dont know the exact reason they started putting the transformers in the middle of the cords, but I am pretty certain that its so you dont have to block 5 other outlets just to plug one thing in.
okay i figured it out
i was thinking of the old “fat” ps2 where the PSU was built in, thus using a standard generic power cable
i didn’t know the slim ps2 came with a corded brick, but makes sense as they were trying to shave the actual unit down
i think we’re starting to get a little OT here, BTW
Well friend, I just got a very simple question for you about Japanese PS2 . Will Japanese PS2 Games work on an American PS2? If I were to buy a PS2 game from an online asian store, would the Japanese PS2 Game work on my American PS2? And if it doesn’t, how could I get it to work?
No it won’t work. You’ll need to either buy a Japanese PS2 or mod your PS2 with a modchip or swapdisc +fliptop.
Don’t forget fat PS2 + Harddrive + HDLoader + Network Adapter. It’s worked for many people, but for me I wouldn’t know, since for my PS2 has always only been a vanilla J-PS2.