How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power supply

Need help with your PC or Modding Projects?
Post Reply
User avatar
Satoshi_Matrix
Next-Gen
Posts: 1340
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 3:51 pm
Location: Ontario Canada
Contact:

How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power supply

Post by Satoshi_Matrix »

I have a small and compact DC 9v 1amp power supply that's from something or another but it does not list what polarity it is. It has a barrel plug which would fit a Famicom, Super Famicom or model 1 Genesis and I'd like to use it with one of those which I know needs a negative center barrel plug, the + ---C--- -

I have a multimeter, but it doesn't seem to help me find out this information either. Luckily, I can take it apart, and I've taken photos of the board.

Image

Image

I know that vcc lines are red and ground is black, but it seems the red line goes to the side of the large capacitor that has the stripe, meaning that's negative. odd. I simply want to know how to tell what polarity the adapter is. if its center pin positive, I should just be able to desolder the two barrel plug wires and swap them correct?

Thanks for any help.
User avatar
Anapan
Next-Gen
Posts: 3946
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:15 am
Location: BC, Canada

Re: How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power sup

Post by Anapan »

Use a volt-meter set to 9 volts on the output with the red probe on your +/red output. if it reads positive 9 volt you're good, negative or no response and you need to swap the polarity. The probes on your multimeter Should be labeled. There's a thread here all about power adapters.
Last edited by Anapan on Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ImageImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImage
User avatar
ApolloBoy
128-bit
Posts: 954
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:56 pm
Location: San Jose, CA

Re: How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power sup

Post by ApolloBoy »

Anapan wrote:Use a volt-meter set to 9 volts.
Multimeters don't test for specific voltages, they test for different ranges. In this case what you want to do is set your multimeter to its second lowest DC voltage setting, and then place the red probe on the barrel and the black probe inside the tip. If it's tip negative, you should be reading some kind of voltage; if it's tip positive you won't get anything and you need to flip the probes around to get a reading.
Own: 2600, 2DS, 2DS XL, 360 S, 5200, 7800, 800, 800XL, AES, Amiga 600, C64, C64C, CV, DC, Duo-R, GB, GBA, GBA SP, GBC, GBP, Genesis 2, GG, JP SMS, Lynx, Mark III, Mega CD II, MD, MSX2+, N64, NES, NES top loader, Nomad, PCE, PSX, PS2, RetroUSB AVS, SAT, SFC, SG-1000 II, SMS, SNES mini, Switch, TE, Twin Fami, VIC-20, Wii, XEGS
User avatar
Hobie-wan
Next-Gen
Posts: 21705
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:28 pm
Location: Under a pile of retro stuff in H-town
Contact:

Re: How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power sup

Post by Hobie-wan »

ApolloBoy wrote:If it's tip negative, you should be reading some kind of voltage; if it's tip positive you won't get anything and you need to flip the probes around to get a reading.
Some multimeters will show negative voltage if you have it wrong. I'm pretty sure my current and previous ones did this.
User avatar
CRTGAMER
Next-Gen
Posts: 11933
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:59 am
Location: Southern California

Re: How to determine polarity of potential Famicom power sup

Post by CRTGAMER »

Hobie-wan wrote:
ApolloBoy wrote:If it's tip negative, you should be reading some kind of voltage; if it's tip positive you won't get anything and you need to flip the probes around to get a reading.
Some multimeters will show negative voltage if you have it wrong. I'm pretty sure my current and previous ones did this.
This. Most digitals will show that negative, dials would have the needle try to jump lower then zero.

@ Satoshi - Maybe just read the barrel without going inside the PCB? If its backwards then reverse the power leads from the brick to the barrel.
Image
CRT vs LCD - Hardware Mods - HDAdvance - Custom Controllers - Game Storage - Wii Gamecube and other Guides:
CRTGAMER Guides in Board Guides Index: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p1109425

Image
Image
Post Reply