Famicom in Australia

[Mosdef]

Well That could be a good thing that it is just the adapter, is it an old one or did you just buy it? The screws you see are a torx screws and you can buy them on ebay for about $5 for 2, one for consoles which is the lager one and a smaller one that is for the game carts.
Where abouts do you live mate? are you in Melbourne? If so I could help you out .

[silenzxe]

Yeah, I'm in Melbourne. I bought this thing from Jaycar, see the link some other guy posted for the exact thing I got. I'm using the appropriate barrel size too.

These aren't torx screws, they look more like... bolts or something. Looks more like I'd need a wrench to get these out.

[Mosdef]

That was me that posted that link LOL

[silenzxe]

Oh yeah, so you did. I haven't really been looking backwards up the thread.

Anyway, moving forwards, what should I be looking to do here. Should I just pick up some random dirt cheap Famicom cart to see if this thing works at all? I haven't found anything around the house yet to try with this adapter to check if it actually, you know, works, either. I can't say I've ever in my life had a power adapter fail, too, so maybe this is the one? I don't know.

I'm still not even sure if the Famicom itself ever worked, or if I've cooked it tonight.

[Mosdef]

Tough call until you get yourself a cart to definitely know if the console works or not, I use a famicom to nes adapter to use my pal carts on my twin famicom.

I have had a few adapters blow up on me in the past weather or not new or old, some are just poorly made.
Let me know how you go once you get a cart 

[silenzxe]

Okay, haha, so, I've just tried something interesting. Set the voltage to 3v DC. Plugged in the USB adapter (which only goes in one way) and plugged it into a phone I had laying around. Nada. Plugged it into MY phone. Nothing. Not charging. Doesn't even acknowledge something is plugged in.

I think this power adapter is just dead.

[Mosdef]

Great start! hopefully the console is not harmed!

[silenzxe]

So I've just ordered a more specific power supply, for a Famicom imported to Australia (which is what I have). So, now lets hope this one works. I'll be heading to Jaycar for a refund, though. Not impressed.

Here's hoping that, yeah, the Famicom is fine. But, I must stress this right now this right now. I still don't even know if it works.

[P]

This time you better not try both sides. If you insert the AC-DC adapter with the wrong polarity you'll fry your Famicom.

[silenzxe]

So... I may have just fried it anyway?

Well shit.

[P]

If the adapter broke before you inserted it with wrong polarity the Famicom may still be fine I guess. Let's hope for that.

[silenzxe]

Well hot damn, I might be in with a chance here.

The Famicom works! Sort of! It gives me a red screen, and that's all it outputs. BUT IT OUTPUTS FULL STOP! This mean it's NOT fried! I hope!

I cannot describe how happy I am.

I bought this cheapo $20 adapter off Ebay, and it's working. But now I just need to ask, I want to play NES games on this thing as well. How do I get to doing that? Can anyone recommend a specific adapter? Or does it not really matter because any old NES > Famicom pin adapter will work? I had a brief look on Ebay and I could find a few, all different prices though so I'm not really sure who to trust.

Also, red screen? What does it mean? I don't have a cartridge inserted right now, so is that the problem? Is that all it is? Or is it telling me something more serious like there's something wrong with the console itself?

[Mosdef]

I got this one and have not had a problem http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221834256884.
The red screen might be because you don't have a cart in it as on my twin Famicom mine goes grey with nothing inserted

[P]

Yeah usually it outputs a one-coloured screen (the colour may be different between models) if if the PPU doesn't receive any instructions to draw anything. Like if you turn it on without a cartridge as Mosdef said, or if there is something wrong with the CHR (usually it's just dirty pins on either cart or console, try clean it with isopropyl alcohol).

[Arkanix38]

I've hacked together multiple PSUs for my Fami, my current one is actually a 9V adapter for my MicroKORG that I soldered a second connector on to for the FDD. Need to grab an AV Fami one of these days, the jailbars on my modded Famicom are horrid and my Turbo Twin Famicom has a very audible buzz on the audio and mushy controllers.

Also, regarding the Red screen it's just a ROM error caused by (in your case) not having a cart inserted. As for adapters... your PAL games are mostly incompatible with it. If you have US carts then you can grab a NES to Fami adapter every now and then on ebay. Else, your best bet is to buy games from Japan. If you buy multiple at a time the shipping is quite reasonable from my experience, especially from some of the folks on FamicomWorld based in Japan.