Power ALL Your Retro Consoles Off ONE Power Adapter (USB Type-C PD)

[@wiintend07]

Just made a DIY USB-PD cable for my Famicom and Super Famicom from the mutilated remains of its crappy aftermarket power supply. Not only do I no longer need to use a giant plug, it actually cleaned up the dirty power that was causing weird artifacts on the screen! Edit: Should probably stop commenting before finishing the video. You brought up the exact same point

[@MN12BIRD]

Naw that's good to hear it works and you made your own cables good job 👍

[@MaximumRD]

What a great idea for alternative power supply for all our aging consoles.

[@MN12BIRD]

Right? Again it was actually a LTT video that gave me the idea. They went a little further modifying systems like the Dreamcast and Saturn's internal PSU to also run off an adapter like this as well. I guess if the PSU's in those systems are starting to fail it would be worth it maybe?

[@destindude1978]

@@MN12BIRD can you link us up with a link to the power adapter? or one that's currently available?

[@MN12BIRD]

I'm just waiting for that polarity reverse adapter and in a few days I'll have an update to this video showing many more consoles being powered off this adapter.

[@sithwarrior]

Just an update Mister Addons has made a bunch of USB C to Console cables called Reflex Volt console power cables.

[@MN12BIRD]

Oh I'll have to remember to check those out at sometime. Eventually I want the NA SNES cable and Genesis model 2/Game Gear would be nice

[@atranimecs]

THIS THIS THIS, consolidates the cable into one purpose-built cable and comes with the correct DC plug for the specific console. So long as you get a good PD USB C charger and read the specs and do the math for your specific console, it'll be good to go!

[@solidussnake9802]

Awesome idea! I was wondering though, could you get a NTSC NES or SNES running on that adapter in Europe at 220 Volts?

[@MN12BIRD]

Yep no problem the input says 100-240v so it will automatically adjust to 220v

[@rfigueroa1247]

Never thought of that thanks for the idea

[@walkout85]

I have a UGreen USB power brick like that and it allows me to charge multiple devices that have different voltages. Unless I'm misunderstanding, that sounds like an issue with that brand. However, you do have to plug the devices in a certain order or it won't register everything. For example, I have to plug in my Legion GO first, then my cell phone, or it will only charge the cell phone.

[@nensondubois]

This is one of the coolest adapters. Totally going to get all the cables. My AC adapters are original equipment manufacturer and they're definitely ageing. The adapter that splits off into two powers my Famicom and Disk System and it isn't ideal.

[@MN12BIRD]

Just be sure to double check polarity I needed to order that reverse polarity adapter dongle thingy but once it arrives I'll be able to power many more consoles!

[@MN12BIRD]

@@_kardus this is center pin positive and I needed a polarity reverse pigtail adapter to get center pin negative for the Genesis and Super Famicom. I show all that in part 2 of this video if you haven't seen it I show the adapter.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

The multimeter showed 9V, but that was not under load. The voltage would dip. I don't know if that's normal and shouldn't be a problem. Normally when I test old console power adapters, they show higher voltages. Maybe they are old and that is why.

[@MN12BIRD]

Those old ones are non regulated linear transformers. They have no smarts in them. These modern units are switch mode with controller chips that regulate power transformers at high freq. The voltage on these will not drop as load increases at least within most of its rated range until you get closer to its max rating and then it will probably drop .5v and shut itself off. They are regulated. The old liner transformers are not regulated. They do put out a higher voltage at idle and it's expected it will drop under load. Again not the case with switch mode regulated supplies like the PSU in your PC for example. Voltages have to be tightly regulated under various and constantly changing loads.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@MN12BIRD Awesome. Thanks for the info.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

I decided to take the plunge on this, since I saw these selling at a super low prices at a discount clothes / department store in the USA called TJ Maxx. I bought a 45W at $12.99 US. There were some there at 20 or so Watts which sold at $3! TJ Maxx is also the same store as Marshalls in the USA, so they share similar inventory in their small (very, very small) miscellaneous electronics section. Now I only need to invest in those USB-C-->Sega Plug cables with the special chip. Hopefully, that won't go bad with no ability to source a replacement two decades from now. I guess you could replace the whole power intake entirely with whatever is the thing two decades from now. The main reason I bought it was to combine the Sega combo of Model 2 + 32X into one plug. I probably could have used the 20W plug since both the Model 2 and 32X are 10V 0.85A. Currently I use a Y-splitter of a more than heavy-duty gauge.

[@nekononiaow]

My, this is fantastic. Funny thing is I have been banging my head in the past few days to power old consoles without having to go through the hassle of dedicated power bricks and my conclusion as well had been to rely on a USB Power Delivery power supply and find a way to modify each device advertise their power needs properly but I did not think about putting this logic inside the cable. I will definitely be buying myself a few Christmas gifts on Adafruit soon. 😉 *Also, you should probably put the link to those cables in the video description.* One thing that bothers me though is that I worry that the USB-C PD chips which are in the USB plug side of the cable are quite thermally constrained by the plastic enclosure they are fitted in and will eventually fail. It would suck to have to replace those cables in say 20 years just because those chips failed. I would feel much safer if those enclosures were either ventilated and/or could be opened for repair/inspection. In any case, thanks for putting up this video, you saved me quite a few headaches!

[@ayellowbeard]

Thank you for this! I understood your instructions much better than other similar videos on the same topic. Maybe it's because I'm fluent in Canadianese. 🙃

[@sithwarrior]

I was looking for sources from Canada for those USB C to dc barrel jack, all of them are from the states with shipping as low as $20 CAD, which made me hesitate on getting them,

[@MN12BIRD]

Yeah I ordered 2 of them from Adafruit and that shipping was like $16.40 but I couldn't find them on Amazon (fulfilled by Amazon.ca) and at least the shipping was fairly quick from Adafruit. I also ordered the reverse polarity adapter but Amazon.ca did have that so I got free shipping and it should arrive today (2 days)

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

You're right on about those featherweight modern day manufactured power adapters for retro systems. They have to be putting stress on retro systems which could eventually break them. I found one adapter with way off power specs and I'm like, 'You poor kid, you didn't know it was breaking your system or affecting gameplay (dipping colors, contrast, sound, etc.)'.

[@shanez1215]

It's ridiculous how they can make absolute garbage for 7 dollars but refuse to make something good for like 15. The same goes with composite cables. They could make a WAY better cable for a tiny increase in material costs, but They. Just. Don't. So there's like 300 brands with random stupid ass names selling garbage cables all made in one place. If the market has room for that many brands, maybe one of them could make a better product?

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@shanez1215 They win by flooding the market with their crap that everyone buys in bulk and resells under a different name. It's sad when I compare 3rd party old school cables to modern junk. I always thought bitd, 'Stay away from 3rd party stuff. It's junk.' Now, find me a pelican or MadCatz cable. If you can find someone new old stock of 3rd party stuff, I recommend buying a couple. There was a guy clearing out Pelican S-video cables for Dreamcast for $10 maybe back in 2018. Yeah, that deal wasn't going to last, so I bought a couple in hopes that it would last longer than modern 3rd party junk which has crapped out on me in months.

[@Clancydaenlightened]

most retro stuff runs on 5v anyway, just need a usb cord and plug and a 2amp usb charging block, of high quality cuz you may get noise from it, and power any retro hardware, may have to remove dat 7805 and make it 5v only, though this wont work well with atari vcs ( or a commodore which uses multiple voltages, and uses AC voltages to derive video or some system timing iirc), wont get proper color output from that because it uses unregulated 9vdc in a simple voltage divider with potentiometer to generate a 7-7.4vdc color phase offset voltage to set proper colors, which would require a boost dc-dc converter to run the entire system on 5vdc, it would work on 5vdc but only display B&W or all the wrong colors if any... i power my atari 800xl with a 120w hp g5 dock, plenty of power for any retro console, or computer, just hook a ps1 or tft screen and one of those large usb battery banks, and will have an 800xl laptop that is fully portable, with wifi and bluetooth capability!

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

ha ha a portable Atari 800. Did you ever see that mod where someone crammed a 5200 into an Atari 2600 Jr case?

[@nekononiaow]

Good points about using USB 2 directly after removing the regulator. But still, it's nice to have some regulation in case the power supply is not 100% reliable. This said, replacing the regulator with a very efficient one that accepts 5V-?V would work fine and still provide some protection against fluctuations. The advantage of using USB-C PD though is that the voltage and max wattage are guaranteed by the power supply whereas USB-2 will not be able to adapt its current limit to the end machine.

[@TheEnderpearl1]

Has anyone tried to plug in some more modern consoles like the WiiU and the Switch all in one adapter? Im a little bit worried that the USB PD PSU would deliver not enough power because the manufacturer says that if two plugs are used simultaneously they deliver like 22W each plug on a 100W PSU. And since they are on standby these plugs are active, so would these plugs then go down to 22W?

[@MN12BIRD]

not sure newest system I've seen someone do this with is Dreamcast. The Wii U power adapter is 75W and there are PD Type C adapters that can easily do that. I've seen ones like the ugreen 140 Watt that can put out 140 W on an individual USB port (enough to charge a higher end laptop like a Macbook Pro) and it can do 100 W on one of the type C ports while also doing 22.5 Watts on the type A. 22 W is certainly enough to charge a Switch but that assuming it can output 5V and 15V at the same time. I don't know if any can do that but I'm not sure.

[@charliecharliewhiskey9403]

It looks like the Super Famicom is a negative ring one - thankfully didn't brick my console haha. You can get polarity changers online that take positive ring and switch it out to negative ring, just a little adapter that goes on the end of the barrel connector

[@Waifu4Life]

Plot Twist: His house caught fire after he uploaded this video 😹

[@MN12BIRD]

Shush u 😂

[@Metal-Josh]

@@MN12BIRDwell did it lol? I’m hoping not

[@MN12BIRD]

@@Metal-Josh nope still working fine watch the follow up video to this if you haven't shows it running a Genesis and Sega CD at once.

[@BeansEnjoyer911]

All my devices are also running on these USB C to Barrel Plug adapters. As long as the cable is correctly rated and polarity is correct, I have had NO issues! That said.. I messed up the polarity on my OSSC and it smoked like crazy… oops

[@Justin_Strack]

What does the JVC X'eye take? Also the Sega CDX it's says for it 9.5V to 1500amps

[@MN12BIRD]

Not sure I regretfully sold my Xeye like 6 years ago but I would imagine 9-10v and at least 2.5 amp should cover it

[@duhmez]

I have evry one of the godd old systems, 20+ if u include all. I want this for their power., bt I wonder, is this safe? How clean is the power form these things?

[@MN12BIRD]

That is hard to say for sure and you just never know. There's always a risk. I mean a cheap USB Type-C adapter could have a fit and surge but at the same time it's possible the old OEM ones pop and take out the system too. Most of these power adapters (like the Sega Genesis one) have large filter capacitors inside of them and to think they're 30 years old in many cases it makes you wonder how clean they are? I can only go off what I saw in the video signal. I mean it looks clean and that's more than I can say for the cheap one I bought many years ago like the one in the Amazon page I show. In the reviews for that one there are a few people saying they got wavy lines in the video when using it. This certainly seems better than most of those cheapo replacements at least. But again, always a little bit of risk I suppose.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

That's a concern of mine too. Quality has always shifted downwards through the years (planned obsolescence). I've encountered dead power adapters from retro systems, but it's usually because of a break in the cable. I've had one power supply "explode" and it was not great. It wasn't like a grenade but more a cloud of invisible toxic-smelling (and probably actually toxic) gas. That adapter was a model 2 Sega Genesis adapter (mid-90s). I guess the adapter put out all it could through the years and just couldn't take any more. I have Atari power adapters from the 70s that still work though, so whether my fears of crapping power supplies putting out bad power is happening or not has not been tested. If only I had proof of what these things output freshly-made in say 1990s, 1993, and 1996, I would have more to go on.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

Am I understand this correctly? The device allows only one port to be used at a time? OR, is it that any / all ports can be used as long as they are outputting the same voltage? I was hoping you had tried hooking up a Sega Genesis, 32X, and CD combo in this vid. I've bookmarked several techniques throughout the years, but never invested in any. I already have a squid of short extension cables; however, I have always been concerned about the wear and tear on the original consoles since the adapters and their regulators put off a ton of heat. There's a mod by someone on AtariAge to replace caps on console motherboards like the Atari, NES, etc with a newer type that also affects the power draw and hence heat output. This looks promising, but my initial question leaves me needing more info. For example, the Sega Genesis 1 takes in 9V, Sega Genesis 2 and 3 both take in 10V (at different amps though), the 32X uses 10V, and the Sega CD uses 10V. I don't think this would work with a model 2 Sega Genesis nor a 32X since 10V isn't on the spec of this adapter (at least I don't see it listed). If it does support 10V, the model 2 would draw 0.85A and the 32X would draw 0.85A. But, if you hooked up a Sega CD, that can run on the original 9V adapter for the model 1, but it draws 1.2A. Would the splitter be compatible with different amps? A last curve ball is the JVC X'Eye. That uses 9.5V. I don't know, the more I think about it, the less I think this adapter would work for the Sega trio. Let me know if you have the answer to any of my questions.

[@MN12BIRD]

old linear transformers were never that accurate anyway. 9v, 9.5v, 10v all close enough. The console only needs 5v internally it's going to regulate it down so as long as the voltage is within the working range of the regulator typically 7 to 12v it's fine. Anything higher than 10 the regulator will run hotter so best to keep it between 9 and 10 realistically. Amps are drawn by the device not pushed in by the PSU so as long as the PSU has sufficient amps to give it's fine. The PSU may have 5A on tap but the console will only draw what it needs likely half an amp to 1A. No reason model 2 or 32x wouldn't work just fine as long as I had the right size barrel plug for them and the polarity is right.

[@nekononiaow]

@@MN12BIRD good points. I guess that suggests a mod which could be done: replace the internal regulator of those consoles (a 9-10V to 5V in the case of the above mentioned consoles) with circuitry which directly accepts a 5V input voltage. This way, there is no need anymore to create waste heat in the regulator since the power supply will guarantee the required 5V. This may require to adapt (i.e., increase) the current requirement accordingly but in theory this should not be strictly necessary since those old regulators decrease the tension by simply converting the charges into waste heat but do not adjust the current upward when doing the conversion IIRC. Please correct me if I am wrong. The advantage of such a mod would be: - reduced power consumption (no need to convert 9-5=4V to waste heat) - reduced load on the power supply Another option would be to replace that regulator with a more efficient one, so as to preserve its voltage safety function, while still reducing the power consumption and load on the power supply.

[@NewLife-qj9mx]

Is there any way to convert an N64 console to operate from a 12v source? The PD still needs to be plugged in to house current.

[@RetrofIex]

Do you own a SupaRetron SNES clone from Hyperkin? Any opinions of it if you play it A/V on a CRT vs the original hardware? I heard it has a bit of a ‘washed out’ look and it has some signal noise in the background that appears on any TV.

[@MN12BIRD]

Not sure but I've heard they're okay for the most part maybe just that the color is a little off but for the price they seem alright. My Genesis one isn't perfect but again for the price it's good enough for most people.

[@Imjustsaying1966]

So you traded a wire and a block, for a wire and a block?

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

The heat is a concern. I have run across a handful of non-working official adapters, but I suppose they can become worse at doing the job and produce more heat with age. The regulators and caps around the power intake of old systems put out a lot of heat too. Feel the back of your NES after a few hours. That may be a symptom of those components going bad with age, but I am not sure, since I never felt the back of an NES or Sega Genesis bitd, or I simply can't remember. I found a post on Atari Age which detailed a user replacing caps around the power intake in his old consoles which reduced the heat and power draw tremendously. I have to find the link, if you want it. I recall the caps where small and cube-like rather than the traditional cylindrical ones, if that gives you any indication of the type of caps used. I am not an expert at these things. I solder only where instructed (like a script kiddie, but with soldering). I saw that GaN on the adapter you have and apparently that also puts out less heat than older USB chargers made using Silicon.

[@james42519]

Nes power supply is ac?

[@MN12BIRD]

Yes indeed the NES power adapter outputs AC however the very first thing the NES does with that is rectify it to DC as it doesn't actually use AC internally. They just put the bridge rectifier in the console rather than in the power adapter like most other systems.

[@thereason1010]

Classic MN12BIRD

[@KevinTwiner]

Oh yes 😃... So many wall wart's I think 🤔 they're breeding. Especially around the 32x

[@davidaamaya1]

Would this work with a ps1 slim

[@MN12BIRD]

If your adapter supports the correct voltage (7.5?) and you can find the correct cable sure it should.

[@thelightwielder]

are you sure Genesis 1 is center negative? Pretty sure we used to swap the power between it and the NES

[@thelightwielder]

you were right, I went to the garage to take a look and the brick is center negative and now that I think about it, it was the coaxial adapter that cross compatible

[@duhmez]

MN12bird dude I have super important question to axe you, hope u see this. I was very confused and you did not explain why. Why is it ok to put a center negative on a NES, which is center positive? u said bothh would work? Why can all the center positives work with a center negative adapter?? Why wont they all fry like when u do the opposit t to the model 1 genesis!?!?

[@MN12BIRD]

The NES normally takes in AC and rectifies it to DC inside the system. Since AC is changing polarity at 60hz it can take in both polarities. There are a set of diodes setup in both directions so my guess is when you use DC depending on the polarity the power will find its way through on the corresponding diodes. The NES is the only console shown here that takes in AC and rectifies it to DC inside the system all the others do that inside the power adapter instead.

[@vshah1010]

You can buy a multiple voltage power supply that you can set with a switch. This seems alot easier. I don't see the advantage of using USB C power delivery.

[@MN12BIRD]

True but there may be some things to consider. Historically those universal voltage adapters were like 500mA to maybe 1,500mA (13.5W) barely enough to run a single system let alone two (I ran the SegaCD and Genesis combo off this one adapter in part 2 of this video) and they were just cheap linear transformers (not active controlled switch mode voltage regulation) and so the voltage regulation won't be as solid ie they were kinda high with no load and the voltage would drop as load increased. Also the really cheap ones may have had ripple or noise in the output that causes video noise (I had a cheap linear SNES one that added visual lines in the image) and while in theory switch mode would probably have MORE noise it also has more need to filter it out. There's zero noise on any of my systems using this adapter. But of course all that is from experience in the PAST again, historically speaking. I see more modern ones now that claim to be 30W and that should be enough to run SegaCD and Genesis together no problem. I still wouldn't expect VR to be as good and as for noise it may just depend from example to example. But again with these modern GaN PD adapters most are 45W or 65W and could run the tower of power (Genesis + CD + 32X) all off one adapter easily. Even with 30W that might be pushing it a bit. Also it's handy to have one adapter I can also power my Raspberry Pi retropi system, other USB powered clone systems, my Miyoo Mini plus etc. It's not the cheapest solution. So sure if you find a universal voltage adapter and it does the job with no noise for less it's certainly a fine option too.

[@kingK.M897]

Is there a Nintendo Wii power cable?

[@MN12BIRD]

Not sure someone might make one. I've seen people powering N64 and Dreamcast with a similar Type-C PD power adapter so should be possible.

[@ericmackrodt9441]

I really wanted to go this route but until there are bricks with 8 or so ports it's kinda pointless compared to a good quality non-type-c adapter. One good reason to do this is to save space, but having to have a a power adaptor for each console doesn't really solve the problem.

[@carlodeguzman683]

how do u measure dc plug size?

[@MN12BIRD]

outter diameter x inner diameter you need to use calipers or something similar or just look it up. Genesis model 1, NES, SMS, TG-16 and many others are 5.5mm x 2.5mm for example. There's a website that has almost every one you'd ever need to know just google Video game power adapter and the guru wiki page.

[@dimscrawl4910]

pretty cool

[@BrandenMoffat]

Very cool! I might get one of these too :) If I'm not mistaken, the NES requires 9 VAC. Of course, it's rectified right away. I wonder if supplying it DC harms anything?

[@MN12BIRD]

I don't think so as I've been running my NES off a Sega Genesis 9VDC adapter for 10-12 years now! My guess is it just passes right on through the corresponding pair of diodes depending on polarity?

[@BrandenMoffat]

@@MN12BIRD Sounds right to me!

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@BrandenMoffat I've heard the NES is happy with a lot of different voltages as well. Maybe it was on AtariAge that I read this, but yeah, you can throw a lot at that system AC or DC.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

There's a bridge rectifier built in, so if you use DC, it means that half of the diodes in that part of the circuit aren't being used. I don't know that that really matters for the longevity of the system. And then there's a voltage regulator involved to ensure that the power is appropriate for the rest of the system. So, I run mine at 9v DC and 800mA and I haven't had any problems. You can run the entire system off of a 9v battery for a short period of time, or 6 AA batteries in series. Or, you a set of several of those 6AA battery banks wired in parallel to each other for even longer. If you pair that up with a small TV screen, you can use a classic NES console in a car without much work in terms of the electronics. I've got a 7.3" LCD screen that takes 12v DC power.

[@Botankh2]

Tight!

[@simbin.]

This makes me want to consolidate all my retro AC bricks, reducing all those surge protectors and extra clutter.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

He didn't test consolidation (such as the Sega trio). I'm concerned about making the investment before I see that working.

[@leobgoo6350]

👍

[@Videogamelover58]

Really copl