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help! i'm importing a wii and i don't know anything about electricity/wattage/pikmin

jarosh

Member
i'm in euroland and i'm getting a us wii (thanks to beelzebozo <3).

what exactly do i need? please spell it out for me. threat me like a retard. i need you to link me to a product or give me a really good description of what kind of converter i need. you can talk about voltage and wattage and power consumption and shit like that but don't expect me to understand any of it. if you advise me to buy an adapter to convert 900 pikmin to 300 watt then i will buy said adapter.

oh and i'm NOT IN THE UK, so no uk plugs. they're different from the rest of europe (this sentence may or may not be intentionally ambiguous).
 
jarosh said:
oh and i'm NOT IN THE UK, so no uk plugs. they're different from the rest of europe (this sentence may or may not be intentionally ambiguous).
Hah, you said that as a swiss. Hah.

;) Oh, I have no clue either :/
 

wsippel

Banned
jarosh said:
i'm in euroland and i'm getting a us wii (thanks to beelzebozo <3).

what exactly do i need? please spell it out for me. threat me like a retard. i need you to link me to a product or give me a really good description of what kind of converter i need. you can talk about voltage and wattage and power consumption and shit like that but don't expect me to understand any of it. if you advise me to buy an adapter to convert 900 pikmin to 300 watt then i will buy said adapter.

oh and i'm NOT IN THE UK, so no uk plugs. they're different from the rest of europe (this sentence may or may not be intentionally ambiguous).
You'll need a stepdown converter. That's it.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Preferably a quality step-down converter that's reliable, well-built, and most importantly, strong enough to support the consumption of the Wii's power source. Your best bet it so determine the Wii's power specs, and shop around for a quality step-down converter that will suffice.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
I believe the stepdown converter should also be at least 150W.


http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-gn-77-1-49-en-15-stepdown-70-18d.html
PA.01597.001.jpg


Note that these things tend to be heavy and you'll be paying quite a bit of shipping if you purchase them online outside of Switzerland. Best to check local stores first.
 
Wouldnt he just be able to purchase a european Wii power cable (with power brick)?

Since the european power brick will essentially be the stepdown converter
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
jamesinclair said:
Wouldnt he just be able to purchase a european Wii power cable (with power brick)?

Since the european power brick will essentially be the stepdown converter

Sure, but these things are rarely available at launch afaik.
 

jarosh

Member
okay so i only need to worry about the wattage. the voltaga-to-voltage is implied through the regions i guess. if the gc was 40w, i think 150w should still be enough for the wii, right? what do you mean by 'at least 150w', tempy?

now, uhm... does any german fella here know what 'stepdown converters' are called in german?


jamesinclair said:
Wouldnt he just be able to purchase a european Wii power cable (with power brick)?

Since the european power brick will essentially be the stepdown converter
yes... 3 weeks later.
 

maxmars

Member
jarosh said:
okay so i only need to worry about the wattage. the voltaga-to-voltage is implied through the regions i guess. if the gc was 40w, i think 150w should still be enough for the wii, right? what do you mean by 'at least 150w', tempy?

now, uhm... does any german fella here know what 'stepdown converters' are called in german?

If I was you, I'd enter a shop dedicated to electronics / electric stuff and explain the problem (preferably with your Wii transformer handy as it will have some runes inscribed which will help the druids of electricity understand what it does).

They, in turn, will put in your hands a device that you'll have to insert between your home plug hole and the wii cord, you give them some money, go home and play.

BTW don't forget to check if your TV does NTSC (it most probably does).
 

jarosh

Member
maxmars said:
If I was you, I'd enter a shop dedicated to electronics / electric stuff and explain the problem (preferably with your Wii transformer handy as it will have some runes inscribed which will help the druids of electricity understand what it does).

They, in turn, will put in your hands a device that you'll have to insert between your home plug hole and the wii cord, you give them some money, go home and play.

BTW don't forget to check if your TV does NTSC (it most probably does).
thanks but i think i know what i need now. i'm just trying to find an online shop here that carries that kind of converter.

Nash said:
Yay, my trusty stepdown is 150W.

Been serving me well since the Saturn

i guess 150w should be enough then. if it's enough for the xbox it should be enough for wii.
 

jarosh

Member
wow they're incredibly hard to find. there's not a single online shop in switzerland that carries a converter like this. the only one i could find is 40w max.
 

KimiNewt

Scored 3/100 on an Exam
Just buy the one from play-asia, I bought a 50$ 300W for my 360 and it worked great, but some people told me you'd be better off with something a little bit above your device's wattage so it wont overheat after too long of a session (I've played for over 10 hours with a 300W step down and the 360 is 254W so..)
 

Goldrusher

Member
jarosh said:
wow they're incredibly hard to find. there's not a single online shop in switzerland that carries a converter like this. the only one i could find is 40w max.

Try finding one for the PS3, 400W wawaweewa. :lol
 

jarosh

Member
Finguo said:
Hey jarosh, step down converters are called "Spannungswandler" in german. This guy here is exactly what you need: http://cgi.ebay.de/Spannungswandler...8QQihZ009QQcategoryZ12076QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It´s got 200 watt, 150 watt ones are somewhat difficult to find. But anyway, bigger is better, right?

Didn´t find one of those on ebay.ch, though, so you might try looking for a converter with these specs elsewhere on the swiss internet :D .
thanks, i already know about the name. figured it out myself. they're also called "abwärtswandler" and some stores even call them "step down konverter". i'm not gonna get one from ebay though. i searched both swiss and german sites and most converters beyond 100w are huge ass boxes. i decided to check out some local stores first.

wsippel said:
Try calling Softridge in Zürich:

http://www.softridge.ch/
they're not carrying stuff like that.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
jarosh said:
thanks, i already know about the name. figured it out myself. they're also called "abwärtswandler" and some stores even call them "step down konverter". i'm not gonna get one from ebay though. i searched both swiss and german sites and most converters beyond 100w are huge ass boxes. i decided to check out some local stores first.


they're not carrying stuff like that.

http://www.playtower.ch/

http://www.gameboxx.ch

are both in Basel and might have what you're looking for.
 

Blimblim

The Inside Track
jarosh said:
thanks, i already know about the name. figured it out myself. they're also called "abwärtswandler" and some stores even call them "step down konverter". i'm not gonna get one from ebay though. i searched both swiss and german sites and most converters beyond 100w are huge ass boxes. i decided to check out some local stores first.


they're not carrying stuff like that.
You might want to check the eletronics store, they usually carry this type of items.
 

maxmars

Member
Blimblim said:
You might want to check the eletronics store, they usually carry this type of items.

Amen. They may not have the exposure of online outlets, but local electronics shops usually contain a wealth of such ingenious devices.
 

jarosh

Member
yilmazz said:
http://www.importfun.de/catalog/default.php?cPath=44_47&sort=1a&page=1&language=de

kA ob die auch in die Schweiz liefern, Österreich auf jeden Fall.
yeah i visited that site yesterday. i guess i will have to get a huge box-like thing anyway. i haven't seen a small adapter-like converter beyond 100w outside of play-asia.

norinrad21 said:
ummm have you tried calling this guys? they are right up in your neighborhood as well and have been around for a few years now

http://www.agestuff.ch/games.php?mc=1
yeah, that's alcom.ch. i order from them all the time. they don't carry step-down converters.

8bit said:
http://www.playtower.ch/

http://www.gameboxx.ch

are both in Basel and might have what you're looking for.
i don't know anything about gameboxx, but playtower doesn't have stuff like that.

Blimblim said:
You might want to check the eletronics store, they usually carry this type of items.
that's what i'm gonna do. that's what i meant by 'local stores'.
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
In the other thread, someone made the good point that he probably meant 120V not 120W, and the amps is missing a decimal point.

So although it would be good to have it confirmed again for sure, it's probably this now:

Input

AC 120V 53W 60Hz

Output

DC 12V 3.7A
 

jarosh

Member
so there's a store here that carries an adapter which converts to 115 volt. does that work too or are the additional 5 volts gonna fry my system?
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
more importantly, is the mailman going to klep your system when he sees on the description tag "gift: video games, value approximated at $370"

newmanrr4.jpg
 

maxmars

Member
jarosh said:
so there's a store here that carries an adapter which converts to 115 volt. does that work too or are the additional 5 volts gonna fry my system?

Every device must have tolerances (part of the consumer electronics certifications) because there is no such thing as a stable current. It normally fluctuates, and precise values are dependent on a lot of funny factors (did a sparrow shit on the cables, is the wind blowing etc).

E.g. My 220 volt notebook transformer goes up to 240 v.
 

KimiNewt

Scored 3/100 on an Exam
beelzebozo said:
more importantly, is the mailman going to klep your system when he sees on the description tag "gift: video games, value approximated at $370"

newmanrr4.jpg
I had to pay 170$ for my 360 and it said that value was 550$
 

jarosh

Member
maxmars said:
Every device must have tolerances (part of the consumer electronics certifications) because there is no such thing as a stable current. It normally fluctuates, and precise values are dependent on a lot of funny factors (did a sparrow shit on the cables, is the wind blowing etc).

E.g. My 220 volt notebook transformer goes up to 240 v.
so what you're saying is that 115 volt are okay. is that what you're saying?
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Japan and US are 110 and 120V, I've used the same stepdowns for consoles from both countries with no problem.
 
US = 110V (100V - 127V is ok)
Europe = 230V (220V - 240V is ok)

You need a stepdown converter that takes the 230V from the outlet and makes it 115V so you can plug the US Wii power supply into it. TADAAA!
 

jarosh

Member
wait a second... what about the power frequency. does it have to be 60 hz since the wii is from the us and obviously 60 hz? i think the converter i ordered now is 50 hz... ugh
 

Baryn

Banned
Topfuel said:
The GC used around 40w so a safe bet is probably around 150w would cover it. Check specs to be sure.
Wait, doesn't Wii use considerably less power than the GCN?
 
jarosh said:
wait a second... what about the power frequency. does it have to be 60 hz since the wii is from the us and obviously 60 hz? i think the converter i ordered now is 50 hz... ugh

Nah, it'll work just fine. I'm using one for my US GameCube.
 

jarosh

Member
FoxHimself said:
Nah, it'll work just fine. I'm using one for my US GameCube.
what's the point of the power frequency then? some converters support both 50 and 60 hz while others support either 50 or 60 hz only.
 
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