How do I find out whether a PS3 has a universal power supply?

[Petitssk]

Greetings, BG!

Long story cut short, managed to find a JP 60GB PS3 which I'm exchanging with my other one, lucky so far.

Thanks to the insightful comment of a friend I found out that US/JP consoles tend not to work (meaning their circuits melt or something, they blow up) when plugged into sockets in Germany due to the fact that we've got 220V (or was it 230V?) instead of 110V running through our electricity networks over here.

Seeing how I'm not exactly keen on watching hundreds of dollars experience a meltdown in my room I read up a bit on the subject in question and found out that PS3's have a universal power supply, meaning that I can plug them in anywhere without them catching fire.
Naturally, this would be too easy and thus I also happened to read that the oldest PS3's do not have this useful feature.

Unfortunately, this would also seem to include at least a part of the JP 60 GB PS3's. The problem is, the seller does not know whether his one has a universal power supply and, not being too handy when it comes to handcrafts myself (think I scarred my dog for life trying to repair my bike), I don't really want to open it either to check the power supply itself.


What my question boils down to is whether old 60GB PS3 models really do not have a universal power supply and, if they don't, how do I find out whether my PS3 has one or not, aside from opening it and checking what's written on the power supply?

Should it come down to it I'll just buy a step-down converter (one that won't melt, that is) and live happily ever after, but, considering that I could save some money, I'd rather ask for advice first.

Thank you very much in advance for any helpful advice!

[bungiefan]

You have to read the voltage rating on the back of the console or the power supply to find out what the voltage on it is. Generally with Sony consoles, if it has an external power supply (aka a power brick) it is globally compatible except you need something to change the plug shape. If it has an internal power supply, it is usually only compatible with the power standard of the region it was sold in, and you'll need a power transformer.

Tangent, is that Touhou?

[Petitssk]

You have to read the voltage rating on the back of the console or the power supply to find out what the voltage on it is. Generally with Sony consoles, if it has an external power supply (aka a power brick) it is globally compatible except you need something to change the plug shape. If it has an internal power supply, it is usually only compatible with the power standard of the region it was sold in, and you'll need a power transformer.

Hmm, I see, seems like the PS3's power supply is internal.
The thing with the voltage rating is, apparently the one on the back only states the voltage rating of the region it's sold in. The voltage rating on the power supply itself on the other hand seems to say something like 110V-230V, meaning that I wouldn't need a power transformer which is my main problem.
I read quite a few posts by Germans regarding this problem and have yet to find one by someone who had to use a power transformer to use his console without causing it to break, those were JP 60GB PS3's as well, that's why I'm rather torn here.

Thanks a lot, though!

Tangent, is that Touhou?

Certainly is, "a bit" of a fan myself, lots of new CD's from Comiket on the way here, looking forward to it!

[Fottiti]

Find a voltage converter that will do 110 > 100. At a guess I would say you will need to buy a slightly more expensive converter to get a 100V option on it as majority of japanese appliances will run fine off american power supply, its mainly more sensitive equipment (such as a games console) that will suffer.

[Tyche]

What's the point of having a japanese 60gb PS3? Isn't the PS2 BC region locked?

[virusiidx]

What's the point of having a japanese 60gb PS3? Isn't the PS2 BC region locked?

The PS2 games are, but PS3 games are not.

[Petitssk]

Find a voltage converter that will do 110 > 100. At a guess I would say you will need to buy a slightly more expensive converter to get a 100V option on it as majority of japanese appliances will run fine off american power supply, its mainly more sensitive equipment (such as a games console) that will suffer.

Oh, thanks for the hint, I'm gonna need one for 230 > 100 since I'm from Germany, but I completely forgot that Japan didn't have a 110V electricity network, but a 100V one. Could have gotten ugly, thanks a lot!

Edit: Actually, this might help me find out whether it's got a universal power supply or not, gonna ask the previous owner if he used a power converter.

Also, my reason for switching is mainly that I do no longer have any use for German PS1/PS2 games which is why I'd like to switch to a console that meets both my aesthetic requirements as well as the gaming related ones, basically a console that I can play games that have never been released in Germany on and that let me improve my understanding of a foreign language (worked with English, should work out with Japanese, too). Furthermore, I'd like to be able to play new games I can just buy in Germany should I not want to import them. Also, it's a single console instead of a PS3 + a modified PS2 or whatever, so it's perfect, so to speak.

[Fottiti]

Ah didn't see you were from germany, should be cheaper then as there are a decent range of voltage converters manufactured for the european market that are specifically for japanese appliances. Should cost around 20-25 euros not counting postage

My PS3 also has an internal PSU and it wouldn't work on a different power supply than the one it was built for so I'd assume they all are.

[bungiefan]

Game consoles aren't that sensitive. They use the same parts for JP PS3s and for NA ones. A 10% voltage difference doesn't matter to the power supply. A 100% difference does. NA power runs anywhere from 115 to 125 volts depending on where you are so the devices have to be tolerant of that. My JP PS2 has been running in the US since 2002 with nothing but a power strip/surge protector on it. Same with my other imported consoles.

[fussel]

PS3 game aren't region coded. Also, 100, 110 or 115V shouldn't really matter.

Also, as far as I know, all PS3s have universal 100-230V PSUs, so you just need a different cable. However, I can ask some guys on IRC, at least one of them has a JP PS3, but I don't know which model exactly.

/edit: Der hat 'ne japanische Slim-PS3, sorry. Unklar, ob die alten auch universalnetzteile haben.

[Petitssk]

Alright, bit the bullet and plugged it in without a step-down converter. The PS3's been running for about 15 minutes now, nothing's happened. Nothing as in "no inferno in my room burning down my most expensive possessions".

After doing some more research I came up with some interesting chunks of information.
All of the reports written shortly after the JP release of the PS3 did not mention any flame-hazards whatsoever.
Those who went and opened their PS3's also found nothing but 100-240V stickers on their power supplies.

In one case there was a different sticker, though. Fortunately it turned out to be a US PS3, not a JP PS3.

One guy theorized that Sony might have released a 100-240V PS3 in Asia due to the fact that some Asian countries have 240V electricity networks, whereas most (if not all, please correct me) US-related countries stick with 110V, making it unnecessary to include a universal power supply.

It certainly does make sense and also explains the conflicting reports of PS3's starting to burn.
As for my PS3, so far it seems to work. I also looked up which version it is based on the serial number and it is one of the oldest JP models, CECHA00 which pretty much confirms that Japanese models included universal power supplies from the start.
I'm taking no guarantee, though, these are mainly conclusions drawn from second-hand information.

I'm gonna have it keep on running for another 15 minutes, so far it's been working fine for about thirty minutes. Should anything happen, I'll make sure to tell you, this whole subject is so ridiculously confusing that I thought I should try to shed some light on the subject here.

To sum it up (what I have concluded based on how my PS3 works): JP PS3s (probably all models) do have universal power supplies.
US PS3's don't, at least in some cases, maybe only the old models, I don't know; again, this is only second-hand information. If there's a need I can try and dig out the links.

Either way, thanks for all your help and sorry for the semi-necro, thought some people might want some information regarding this since I had a lot of trouble deciding on what to do here. In the end I sticked with being stingy as hell, so far it looks like it was the right choice.