Posted By
Hypex
on 2019-10-26
11:26:24
|  Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
Hi guys.
A while back a friend aquired a Plus/4 for me said to be in working order. All I've got is a blank screen. I tested another TED, another CPU, and both appeared to be dead.
However, one thing occurs to me. It is an NTSC American model and I'm in Australia. I bought a step down transformer to use with it. I've checked the votages and they are correct. 120 AC is being fed to the PSU and the right voltages are coming out of it.
However, I found it is a simple step down. Too simple. Though it can take 240V down to 120V. It also allowed 240V to upsize into 480V! Rather dangerous I would say. 
But my question is this. 50Hz AC waves are going into a PSU that expects 60Hz, as does the Plus/4. Will this render the Plus/4 as non working?
Can a 50Hz step down transformer still work in a 60Hz PSU?
Idealy I'd replace the whole setup with a native PSU that will plug right in. But I don't want to hack a round DIN in there. I did notice that the PSU plug was all plastic on the square so a 3d print design replacement/converter should be possible.
|
|
Posted By
gerliczer
on 2019-10-26
12:18:33
| Re: Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
I don't remember anything being in the Plus/4 expecting 50 or 60 Hz AC. Ray Carlsen seems to have adapters to convert between round plug power bricks and square power receptacles.
|
|
Posted By
siz
on 2019-10-27
02:27:46
| Re: Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
The only thing where 50/60Hz matters is the 9VAC output on the user port. And - as I'm not that much into electronics - I'm not sure if 9VAC converted to DC will be OK for the datasette.
|
|
Posted By
gerliczer
on 2019-10-27
05:33:20
| Re: Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
According to the Plus/4 schematics, the incoming 9 V AC is turned into unregulated 9 V DC and that is switched with a transistor to drive the Datasette motor. Were there any different 1531s for the US and European markets? If not then it surely doesn't matter what the AC frequency is.
|
|
Posted By
MCes
on 2019-10-27
06:57:26
 | Re: Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
Each +4 power supply unit (120V 60Hz or 230V 50Hz) is able to correctly feed a +4, but you have to pay attention only to feed a 120V unit with a 120V line, and a 230V unit with a 230V line....
Remember that a PAL +4 will output a PAL signal independently of it's PSU (and a NTSC +4 will output always a NTSC signal...) so remember to check that your TV/Monitor/Display is able to manage the native TV standard of your +4, otherwise it could show not the video signal but an empty screen...
|
|
Posted By
Hypex
on 2019-10-29
10:40:13
| Re: Can NTSC Plus/4 work with PAL PSU?
Thanks guys. Looks like I can cross that off the list. Just wanted to ask and make sure. 
@gerliczer
I was aware of these custom PSUs. I didn't know there was a converter which is good. But the converter in my mind is all black plastic in a single housing with a round socket at the back end and a square plug on the front end. :-)
@MCes
That's a good point about NTSC signal. My TV should display it. It's a Sharp analogue LCD TV. Model LC-20SH3X.I've also used a CRT TV that to my knowledge supports NTSC but never saw a screen. Just blackness..
|
|
