Just blew my Japan Dreamcast...

[Max P.]

What a idiot. Pulled it out of storage after many years, totally forgot it's 100/110v and I stupidly plugged in directly to UK 220v (or whatever we use now) without a stepdown. 30 secs later big puff of smoke.

I can see the large cap has burst but can anyone tell me what else is likely to have happened and best course of action pleasse?

I've cleaned everything up with IPA so far.

[dataDave]

My mate did this to mine. Easy fix. Just needs a new cap, most likely.

[Max P.]

My mate did this to mine. Easy fix. Just needs a new cap, most likely.

Cheers Dave, just that one cap you think? I can’t see any other obvious damage although I guess I would have expected some have stuffed double the volts into it!

Just remembered I’ve got a UK DC too so could try the PS board from that one in it?

[huxley]

Yep, the easiest thing to do is to just use the power board from a UK or EU model.

[fallenangle]

I would also guess that the fuse in the mains cable plug may have blown too and, possibly the fuse on the power board as well.

The latter is the squat, black cylindrical component near to the power connector port in front of the inductor (?) coil. It is marked as 250v 1.5A on the board but 250v 1.6A on top of the actual fuse. Apparently 250v 2.0A replacements are acceptable and quite easily found online, at least that is what I've read.

You should test that for integrity before replacing it because it might not have blown.

Also I clean all the 'juice' from the blown cap which looks to have sprayed over quite some area. Kitchen towel or Q-Tips dampened with isopropyl alcohol are recommended for doing that.

[Max P.]

Thanks very much for that - will check it out, I've found the correct cap online to replace it, spent ages cleaning it all with IPA immediately but luckily spillage was minimal. Cannot believe I did not even look on the DC base to check 100v...

When I saw what looked like clouds of steam billowing out I thought it might be the cooling system going pufffff like a car engine - it's one of the first 'water cooled' models.

I had not realised until I saw this really helpful YT video that all it ends up doing is supplying (on my board) 3.3/5/12v and you can just use an ATX PS so I the option is there to bypass a stepdown but I'll try the cap first.

[Max P.]

Fuses all good - board and plug.

Update - subbed in UK supply (has same 3/5/12 distribution) and all working perfectly - thanks again guys.

[fuse]

Was wondering why my ears were burning.

[Street Turk]

Wow, you fixed it!? Great work mate!

[Max P.]

Well, I just put in the power board from my UK DC but some new caps arrived yesterday so hopefully once I pop one in it will be OK again.

[Max P.]

Phew!

[Deuteros]

Congratulations on repairing your Dreamcast!

I still have a 15'' Panasonic Quintrix exactly as yours.

[Max P.]

Cheers - my faithful old Panasonic 21" I bought new in 1990 finally gave up on me so that little Panny is all I have now - it's not great TBH!

[JU!]

Yep, the easiest thing to do is to just use the power board from a UK or EU model.

This! I also thought about doing this for my Japanese Dreamcast.

Nice compact TV above.