# Dreamcast help?



## Ryufushichou (Aug 11, 2010)

Well i just bought a US dreamcast off eBay, and the person who im buying it off said that i would need to buy a Step down transformer, so I've  been searching around and they look fairly expensive, im just wondering if its absolutely necessary to get one or if i could just get my cable from my old dreamcast and use that, also any good game suggestions? I've got JSR, Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi, Anything else?


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## indask8 (Aug 11, 2010)

US Dreamcast uses 110V/60hz if I remember well...

I don't know what kind of voltage/frequency you have in your country...

EDIT: just checked, looks like you will need one converter, or you'll fry your dreamcast, as it's 240V in australia.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 11, 2010)

so i will need to get a Step down transformer -.- what wattage would that need to be?


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## Jamstruth (Aug 11, 2010)

If the PSU for the dreamcast is build into the unit (there's no power block) then you need a transformer. If the power block is on the cable (like a Wii or 360) then you can use your old Dreamcast's cable assuming it is functional.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 11, 2010)

the PSU is built in so i will need a step down, im just trying to figure out how many watts. i think im going to buy a 100W one from DX the dreamcast takes 75V  is that too much or will it work fine?


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## jinnpan (Aug 11, 2010)

You can always replace the PSU. A EUR PSU will work with a US system.
Remember that the DC is region locked and NTSC format.


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## overlord00 (Aug 11, 2010)

why dont you just use a USA plug and then use a travel adapter on that... dont they do that sort of thing anyways... or am i way off?


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## ddetkowski (Aug 11, 2010)

Dreamcast uses 110V/60hz.
Other good games are downloadable, and burn onto blank CD-R's. Also, burns will play with NO modding whatsoever. Some games do need the utopia boot disc tho, which is Downloadable also.
Software to burn = Discjuggler, any version. trial version is free.
Google dreamcast iso's and anything out there should be good.
As far as games, Resident evils, Sega sports,  Rayman, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, heck, DL em ALL!

*Posts merged*



			
				overlord00 said:
			
		

> why dont you just use a USA plug and then use a travel adapter on that... dont they do that sort of thing anyways... or am i way off?



I agree with overlord on this........


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## Jamstruth (Aug 11, 2010)

The plug changer works if you're going around Europe because we have the same voltage. The adapters for them just change the pins around to fit what's in that country. If you go to America you need a transformer before any of your stuff can wok because they operate on a lower voltage.


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## jinnpan (Aug 11, 2010)

If you need a chip to make the DC region free let me know.  I have several in stock.
I can also help you change the region to USA, JPN or EUR. Video Mode NTSC, PAL50 or PAL60


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 12, 2010)

would a 65w stepdown work for my 75w dreamcast without damaging it? i know it sounds stupid but im new to this stuff.


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## BlueStar (Aug 12, 2010)

The DC uses a standard figure of 8 adaptor, there's no power block on the cable.  Can't remember off hand if the internal PSU is dual voltage. Look carefully at the back/base of the unit and it will tell you.   If it says 110-240v, you're good to go.  If not, you're likely to make something go kablammo if you wire it up straight to your 240v ozzie mains supply.


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## FAST6191 (Aug 12, 2010)

As others have said the DC power supply is internal. All is not lost however.

It is not the DC I would be worried about- overloading a transformer is the thing I would be worried about (it probably has protection though).

Option 2 is do what the good car conversion types do and look at the internal voltages are, a quick search (after I made the mistake of using the DC abbreviation) says you are in luck as well if you fancy a PC power supply conversion http://portablesofdoom.org/archive/index.php?topic=1077

This will take a minor bit of electronics skill (should be no more than it would take to replace the power supply) to pull off but just about any PC power supply will do this one.
http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/powersupply.htm is one guide to converting them and another is available at http://www.instructables.com/id/ATX--%3E-L...ply-Conversion/
As long as the supply works just about any of them will do- it is only this last generation that went truly electrical power hungry.

Option 3 is do a replacement but looking around there are apparently third party universal supplies available.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 12, 2010)

FAST6191 said:
			
		

> As others have said the DC power supply is internal. All is not lost however.
> 
> It is not the DC I would be worried about- overloading a transformer is the thing I would be worried about (it probably has protection though).
> 
> ...


Yea i dont wanna pull the dreamcast apart, but would a 65 watt stepdown work on my dreamcast? or should i be looking for something higher?


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## FAST6191 (Aug 12, 2010)

Tough to say- a device only draws as much current as it presently uses and the 75W is the upper limit accounting for four controllers all with VMU units, internet/modem active, drive whirring away (motors are not all that great for power), transformer losses (usually a sizeable percentage although do note they do not scale up/down well) the internals (CPU, GPU, everything in between) all being pushed to the limit and  video output ( http://pinouts.ru/Game/dreamcast_pinout.shtml, note the 12V and 5V lines in there) and part of that is probably something resembling a safety factor*.

*varies between electrical fields and person/company doing stuff but 10% is a good rule of thumb here meaning 67.5W is top end.

While I can not say I have been entirely safe in my activities in this arena I am still not comfortable giving a yes or no without at least doing some tests myself.

edit: I have not watched it but maybe a better source of info http://moddedbybacteria.wordpress.com/mult...mcast-portable/


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 12, 2010)

oh ok, would a 100watt Step down fry it? or is that just the maximum the converter can hold? cause ive found a 100watt one that isnt to expensive, as i said i dont really want to mod the console in any way, i like my DC the way it is


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## FAST6191 (Aug 12, 2010)

100W just refers to the maximum current the device can in this case provide.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 12, 2010)

So this one would work? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10098 what are the postage times with deal extreme?


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## jinnpan (Aug 12, 2010)

Console  	                Power Recommendation (Watts, W, VA)
Dreamcast 	            75 Watts
PS2 	                            100 Watts
Gamecube 	            120 Watts
Xbox 	                    150 Watts
Xbox 360                  	    300 Watts


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## FAST6191 (Aug 12, 2010)

That device changes 12V into 220V AC (and not usually a great AC wave as they are usually more square wave than anything else)- it is called a step up transformer and is designed for cars to run mains equipment. To this end it utterly useless for what you want (indeed it would probably do just the same as plugging it into the mains without anything).
You want a step down transformer to turn mains Australian into mains USA, something like http://www.lightinthebox.com/200-Watt-240V...32-_p67507.html although I am often wary of cheap transformers (if nothing else because they usually hum quite loudly and can get quite hot and on the other hand like we do not trust our devices to cheap batteries .......).

As for postage times it might be different for Australia but I doubt it (Hong Kong not being that far away and all)- most other places are 2 weeks minimum, more like 3 unless you are lucky.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 12, 2010)

oh ok, my bad, im not very good with that kinda stuff, so i had the wrong adapter, now that i know what im looking for, i can probably find something i need, thanks for the help guys! just one more quick question, will this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Voltage-transformer...6QQcmdZViewItem do the same job?


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## jinnpan (Aug 13, 2010)

Yes it will.


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 25, 2010)

I now have a problem with my dreamcast, i started playing sonic earlier, was having alot of fun, but i decided to play something else so i switched games to soul calibur (Sonic is a backup, Soul calibur is original) and now the only backup game that loads, is street fighter 3 alpha, none of the others work anymore, anyone know how i can fix this?


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## George Dawes (Aug 25, 2010)

No need for a stepdown.

Open your PAL Dreamcast, remove the PSU board from the side.

Open USA Dreamcast, remove the PSU board and stick the one from the PAL machine in.

Use any standard figure-8 power cable in your american DC.

?????

PROFIT!


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## Ryufushichou (Aug 25, 2010)

problem wasnt so much that my old dreamcast stopped reading discs or anything, it fell out of a trailer while we were moving and smashed, so in other words, it was thrown out, but the one with the disc reading issue is the new one, any ideas on how to fix that.


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## George Dawes (Aug 25, 2010)

New GD drive?

Does your DC have a mitsumi or a yamaha GD drive in?  Yamaha drives are fairly reliable and seem to last a while (they also load games MUCH faster and make less of a grinding noise).  I've seen quite a few mitsumi drives that have trouble reading discs.


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## jinnpan (Aug 25, 2010)

Use JVC/Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs
Burn at the lowest speed.
Don't use crappy media


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