A 110 volts play station power supply connected to 220 repaired
A play station power supply was brought to my shop for repair. A guy who lives in USA brought it as a gift to someone who lives in my area. The man was so excited to show his gift to this kid that he plugged it into a 220 volts power outlet. At that moment, the standby power supply went into complete shutdown.
These are the specification of this play station. As you can see this only accepts 100-127 volts. Beyond this, the power supply will explode and will be damaged. If it was 100-240 volts, it would be safe to plug it into a 220 volts power outlet.
I was expecting the worse and that is why I put on my gloves, assuming the juice inside the capacitor is over flowing on the inside of the power supply.
As expected, I saw the indication of capacitor fluid spill and I could see it first hand on the fan of the power supply. In my mind, I was thinking, this was beyond any repair but I kept investigating.
As you can see, this is the cover that usually cover that covers the power supply on the inside. The capacitor fluid is there as well. That did not look good.
If you look to the printed circuit of the power supply, you could see it wet with the fluid of the capacitor. My guess, the capacitor somehow exploded and that means, a big mess awaits me.
The capacitor was bulged but to my surprise, the fuse was not open. The in-rush current varistor was intact as well. Since both of them which suppose to protect the device were intact, I was really getting worried.
The first thing to do was to clean the whole board. After done with cleaning, I started investigating and checking parts in the primary and secondary sections of the power supply.
This capacitor was the first victim affected by the damage of this power supply. To my surprise, it was the only victim and nothing else. I was really shocked to see and experience that.
It was bulged and the fluid came out and filled the whole power supply. After I made sure all the other parts were intact, I replaced the capacitor with the same rating and used the light bulb to check for any shorted component I might left out and did not check. To my surprise, the power supply standby came on and it was orange, the way it should be.
I did not have the whole machine to try it out. Later on when the customer came to pick the power supply up, I explained to him the situation and asked him to try it out and give me a call if it worked or not.
One hour later, he gave me a call and said that it was working fine. I asked him for a photo of the whole set and he promised to send me one but so far he did not so I guess you have to take my word for it.
Anyway, the damage was done and then repaired, I could not be happier. Mission accomplished.
This article was prepared for you by Waleed Rishmawi, one of our ‘Master Authors’ and currently working in the Bethlehem area of Palestine repairing electrical and electronic equipment.
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Note: You can check his previous repair articles in the link below:
https://www.electronicsrepairfaq.com/how-to-repair-a-play-station-controller-charging-problem
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Jestine Yong works as an Electronics Repair Lecturer in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and his training website is http://www.NoahtechElectronicsTraining.com. You can check out his repair blog at http://www.JestineYong.com
33 comments on “A 110 volts play station power supply connected to 220 repaired”
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Excellent service!
Parasuraman: thanks. have a blessed day
You could have gotten shocked to see and experience that the e-cap tank capacitor was completely leaking all over. But you should not have gotten worried after you noticed that both fuse and in-rush current varistor were still intact. Including bridge rectifier and all other parts that survived the blast. How and what did you use to clean the adapter?
But how was the customer able to run this 110V adapter on the 230V mains voltage?
Yes was wondering that mnyself – probably used a step up converter!
Nope the ps4 is bivoltage apparently.
But if its one of the others i think they have a 110/240 selector switch like pc power supplies have?
#
Thanks Gary, that’s something worth mentioning and would explain how the same 110V AC adapter was able to work on the 230V AV power mains.
Gary: they only work on 110. I used a step down converter from 220 down to 110.
Albert: I used a step down converter from 220 volts down to 110 volts.
Understood Walleed. They must be affordable. Do you have a example of how they look and where we can buy them?
they look like a power transformer but in one end is the 220 volts pins and on the other side the 110 volt pins. I am not sure If I can upload a photo to this conversation..you can buy them from any electrical store
Albert: I cleaned it with Isopropyl Alcohol. I used a stiff brush to clean up the board then a soft brush..so far I did not get a complain from the customer.
Understood. The Isopropyl Alcohol cleaning method probably requires us to brush and clean above a thick old newspaper outside. After which brush, gloves and newspaper are contanimated goods we need to dispose of in a environment friendly way. Maybe cleaning in a ultrasonic tank at my shop owners friend’s place is possible too but I’ve no experience with this.
Albert: I have ultrasonic cleaner but it did not fit the in..I usually use it for cleaning Iphone boards.
I appreciate your comments
Yea, good experience seeing this repair.
James: thanks.
Good Job Mr.
Surange: thanks and many blessings to you
The picture shows that it’s a Microsoft power supply, so it can’t be for a Play Station. Its for a Xbox 360.
Indeed you are right! Microsoft in the past also made a protection module for the first XBOX consoles to apparently protect the XBOX from blowing up or creating fires. It was send to many registered XBOX buyers.
Anthony: it is a play station
That was an excellent work.
Joseph: thanks man
Dear Waleed,
Thanks for sharing info, anyway I have experienced this kind of PS is capable to work normally in 220V50Hz power line, by simply replacing the capacitor with a 220uF or 160uf 400v. (if space is not matter)
I have repaired/modified many cases of DVD player from USA misplugged into 220V with the same way. They all work well in common powerline w/o stepdown 220/110V transformer. Eventually customers are also very very happy.
Regards.
Matsuokai: you are most welcome. Yes I have done this kind of modification myself and in this case the customer did not want to do that because he is leaving back to the states soon.
Sorry that I ask but it is a very confusing answer. Wouldn’t it matter if Matsuokai’s method by replacing the original tank capacitor by a 400V (or higher) voltage works for both 110V and 220V power mains? If as he said a stepdown transformer is not necessary. The customer that way could use the same Microsoft adapter (original for XBOX only) in the USA and elsewhere without the need of a transformer adapter.
If it is really so easy without even having to change the type of primary fuse to adapt a 110V SMPS to work on 220VAC I’ve learned an interesting new fact.
Albert: yes and appreciate your comment but if the customer refused such modification, who am to argue with a customer? have a good day
Dear Albert,
True, those products later can work normally with 220V line, but IF you re-use them in 110V, video/sound MAY be distorted, because the capacitor’s value is lesser, causing more ripple in DC supply. If the capacitor is with higher V same uF, its size may become too big to fit in (unless the product has a lot of space as in a DVD player). Regards.
Thanks Matsuokai. It must also be that the primary current on 110V adapters is twice that of the current if fed on 220/230V, why the primary transformer coil can also safely be used on the 230V AC mains? If according to P=VxI primary has be kept the same.
Nice work, Man.
Andrew: thanks man
you are lucky,only a capacitor is bad!