Dreamcast 120v to 240v PSU Conversion Mod:
This is another old mod that is probably not so well known.
I bought a Japanese Va0 Dreamcast which of course is 120v so it needed a step down converter to run in the UK on our 240v mains electric supply:
I already had a step down converter, however it was problematic as even at over 1m away from my CRT it was still causing interference in a “wobble effect” for lack of better terms in the picture being displayed.
While I was searching for another solution I discovered there was a 120v PSU mod that had been posted on the darius-saturn forum in French.
So I decided to give it a try.
Here is the original 120v PSU:
But we are only concerned with this area of the PSU:
Here I removed the 200v 100µF capacitor at location C3 and the jumper with at position JP1:
Then on the rear of this area on the PCB there is a surface mounted resistor marked 124 (R13):
This also needs to be removed:
The removed components:
Now I needed to buy a single 400v 68µF capacitor and two 62Kohm 1/2W resistors:
We then solder in the 400v 68µF capacitor at location C3 and replace the jumper wire at location JP1 with one of the 62Kohm 1/2W resistors:
Then we need to solder in the other 62Kohm 1/2W resistor at location R13:
Now simply re-installed the PSU and powered up the Dreamcast:
I’ve been running my Dreamcast with this modded PSU for several years now on direct 240v mains, however the PSU does appear to run warmer than stock.