Sega Genesis adaptor

[calder]

So I just stumbled upon a sega genesis nomad for 15 bucks, i excitedly bought it, only to later find out, it didn't have the A/V out cord, it just came with a bunch of crap cords that went to nothing.

I went to the local old school games store and bought one, which went from A/V to component, 15$, also thought i get a game, 4 bucks. So 35 bucks.

I get home wanting to play, find out it isn't the right adapter, and wtf, sega genesis needs 10v DC, what thing ever has used 10v DC?! I went to goodwill in hopes that their bucket of adapters contained a 10v DC output one, no luck, guess i would try radio shack, no luck. At goodwill i bought another controller, 5$, total 40$.

I just called the old school games store, they sell the adapters for 12$, i don't want to pay 12$, i might have well have just bought the sega there if i do that.

Can i use a 12v DC adapter, maybe jury rig it with a resistor?

[Mario]

You should find an adapter that outputs the required voltage. I'm no expert, but + or -1V may be OK.

You need to be sure the adapter outputs, at a minimum, the required amperage. More amps is OK, but with a lower amperage, the unit probably won't power up.

Mario

[northerngames]

if you can get it down to the right voltage with a resistor it would be alright.

if you hook 12V and it takes 10V it will blow a fuse or cook something.

also make sure the adapter has enough mA's.

 it needs to have at least whatever the system require's in order to work also if it is over it should be alright but under is not good for the mA part.

[SavannahLion]

I get home wanting to play, find out it isn't the right adapter, and wtf, sega genesis needs 10v DC, what thing ever has used 10v DC?!

During that era, there was a number of stuff using a 10v power supply. TurboDuo, early SNES,  They probably drifted away from using it since it wasn't a nice breakdown of 6, 9, or 12 volts. Why would anyone care, I have no idea. Radio Shack used to sell console specific power supplies. Don't know if they still do. RS has gotten suck over the years with their switchable general purpose power supplies (What I could get for $12 as a kid now sets you back around $30 or even $40).

In any case, a Genesis II and Game Gear adapter will work. According to what I recall, it's a close cousin of the Genesis II so any cables for the II will work fine, unlike the Genesis I cables which is probably what you inadvertently picked up. I don 't know if I would go so far to try it, but the GG had a battery pack adapter that put out (IIRC might want to do research on it) 7 or 8 volts. A full two or three volts below the 10v from the AC adapter. Knowing their compatibility on the cables might might imply you can go with a lower voltage. I would caution against that without further research.

if you can get it down to the right voltage with a resistor it would be alright.

Wouldn't a power regulator be better suited? A real quick search turns up a suitable one (there are many, I just didn't want to spend a lot of time looking) like the LM317. My brain is a little too tired to do the math on how big a resistor would be needed to bring down a 12v line to 10v.

[Ed_McCarron]

if you can get it down to the right voltage with a resistor it would be alright.

No.  No.  No.

A series resistor will drop the voltage, but is dependant on load.  Not enough current, not enough voltage drop, and POOF.

A resistor voltage divider would work but is inefficient at reasonable power levels.  Plus, if one side of the voltage divider opens, see POOF above.

Go with a regulator if you need to.  At that current a 7810 regulator (while still inefficient) will do the job nicely.

[knave]

Jim beat me to it...a 9v should work...I bet most of them run at over 10v with no load anyway.

[Oni2382]

If you were lucky enough to buy a SEGA NOMAD for $15 (when those sell for $100 and up,) you should go ahead and spring the 12 bucks for a proper adapter and not risk messing up a classic handheld IMO. It uses the sega model 2 adapter and they had a 12v and a 10 v version I believe...I will run upstairs later and look at both of them (I have a sega model 2 and a 32x and both have different voltages WTH  )

[ChadTower]

Ebay completed listing prices has it averaging half that.  A full package with a few games and all accessories goes around $75 it seems... prices on consoles have dropped a lot in the last few years. 

[Oni2382]

Ebay completed listing prices has it averaging half that.  A full package with a few games and all accessories goes around $75 it seems... prices on consoles have dropped a lot in the last few years. 

GOODY lol....Now I can get one...I wanted a NOMAD for a long time, thats pretty good news...

[SavannahLion]

I will run upstairs later and look at both of them (I have a sega model 2 and a 32x and both have different voltages WTH  )

That's pretty common with what SEGA was doing at the time. IIRC, A SGII adapter will work fine with the Nomad whereas the 23X will not. I'm thinking SEGA was trying to keep all the voltages the same for their 1st Gen stuff. After GII and GIII was released, all that pretty much went out the door.