Japan US Electrical Questions - Operating Candy Cab in US

shmup-o · Post by **shmup-o** » Thu May 17, 2007 9:22 am

New candy cab owner worried about blowing something. Didn't worry about this with my Saturn, but now I feel like some precautions maybe necessary...

1. I need to plug my cab into a US outlet. There should be 110 volts being output by the outlet and the Exceleena should be wanting 100 volts. Now, I realize this will power the Exceleena, but should I be using a step down here to protect the cab just in case?

2. The Exceleena features an outlet within the cab. I plan on having an amp, Dreamcast, PS2, and PC running off of this outlet via a power strip. I am assuming that the Exceleena will be outputting 100 volts from that outlet. I believe I need a step up here in order to protect my other electronics. Correct? Or would the Exceleena's output be more like a passthrough in this instance (if I just plugged it into the wall, it gets 110v and the cab's outlet would give 110v?)?

3. While researching products that step up, step down, or do both, I noticed that everything available is 110v/120v to 220v/240v and/or vice versa. Wouldn't I need a 100 to 110 or 110 to 100 product to do what I want?

I never realized all of this would be so much work... and I didn't even build anything!

antron · Post by **antron** » Thu May 17, 2007 12:23 pm

I was told not to worry about it, and I haven't had any problems. These sort of electronics just aren't that sensitive to input voltage.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Thu May 17, 2007 3:51 pm

Japanese power supplys normally accept input of 90 to 120v. All my cabs (including my exceleena) are plugged into normal US voltage for the last several years with no problems.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu May 17, 2007 5:57 pm

For shmup-o,

No need to buy such "step-down convertor" or even "step-up convertor" for your Excellena cab...such USA 120v will work just fine for Japanese A/C powered electronics with 100v requirements. Please do plug your Excellena cab into a high quality computer surge protector for extra insurance -- don't want your rare & expensive arcade Jamma PCBs to "go up in smoke", right? ^_~

Why not use that hard-earned $$$ & buy some of your favorite arcade PCBs instead of spending it on such a useless "step-down convertor" or "step-up convertor". No need to be "sweating bullets" over such trivial Japanese 100v requirements (one would need to be "really concerned" if he or she was based in Europe region -- then such "step-down convertor" from 240v to 100v would be necessary)... ^_~

My Japanese 15000 series PS2 console is a 100v powered console and plugged into such a good quality computer surge protector using USA 120v outlet -- no such problems to report with that setup. ^_~

The USA PS3 gaming console has a built-in auto-voltage switcher to switch from 100v to 240v and is usable in any country with such proper country-specific A/C adapters, of course -- courtesy of SCEI. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

shmup-o · Post by **shmup-o** » Fri May 18, 2007 12:22 am

Thanks for the replies everyone, I figured plugging the Exceleena in was ok, wasn't sure about running multiple consoles/electrical appliances off of the cab's power supply.

Anyone see a problem in doing that?

Post by **Dave_K.** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:12 am

shmup-o wrote:Thanks for the replies everyone, I figured plugging the Exceleena in was ok, wasn't sure about running multiple consoles/electrical appliances off of the cab's power supply.

Anyone see a problem in doing that?

That should be fine as well.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Fri May 18, 2007 12:58 pm

@shmup-o

Please read your pm and reply. Thanks!

oxtsu · Post by **oxtsu** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:17 pm

Or would the Exceleena's output be more like a passthrough in this instance (if I just plugged it into the wall, it gets 110v and the cab's outlet would give 110v?)?

Precisely.

It's there for daisy chaining cabinets. Extension cords = no need.