Power converter for PSP?

December 22, 2005 12:59 AM

My brother lives in England and while he was visiting the states, he bought a PSP (playstation) Now that he's back in the UK, the psp needs to be recharged. He has the adapter from the UK (3 prong) to the States (2 prong), but needs an adapter from the States (2 prong) to the UK (3 prong) to charge it.

I tried looking on amazon.co.uk but could only find converters from UK to US. He doesn't want to buy from ebay and preferably would like to avoid paying international shipping charges. Will any adapter work or does it depend on like what the voltage of the psp, and would he be able to purchase what he needs from a UK store? Hope this makes sense, obviously, I don't know anything about electronics.

posted by camfys to technology (14 comments total)

Without holding me responsible for anything that goes wrong: yes, any adapter should work. When I brought an iPod in the US, rather than spend £30 on the official travel adapter kit, I brought a 99p 'electric shaver' plug adapter from a nearby electrical shop that's still working fine now, three years later. (As I am too tight to buy a US to Europe adapter, if I go to Europe I have to then put a UK to Europe adapter on top of my US to UK one)
posted by Hartster at 1:11 AM on December 22, 2005

Best bet is to try a store with a big luggage department - somewhere like Selfridges is probably ideal. Alternatively, shops like WH Smith at airports should carry these. No idea where you can find one online though I'm afraid.
posted by bifter at 1:12 AM on December 22, 2005

He's in luck - it's a lot simpler than that, since PSP chargers are effectively multi-region. All he needs to do is take out the two-prong power lead from the charger, and plug in a three-prong UK lead (the charger uses a standard 'kettle' power lead, the same sort as most PCs and an awful lot of household appliances, so if he doesn't have a spare one lying around you can buy them absolutely anywhere). The charger's designed to cope with UK or US power without any need for a step-down or an adapter. I've been charging a US PSP like this since it was released over there, and can confirm it's absolutely fine.
posted by terpsichoria at 1:14 AM on December 22, 2005

For reference, if you're running anything only designed for US power in the UK, you *need* a step-down converter, like this one or the device will literally blow up. Stuff designed for 100v at 60hz won't take 240v at 60hz without the sort of serious stepdown linked above, and certainly not with a travel adapter. As I said, this doesn't apply to the PSP, since the charger supports both voltage standards, but most other devices (US and Japanese consoles, in my case) absolutely require a stepdown.
posted by terpsichoria at 1:21 AM on December 22, 2005

That's 240v at 50hz for UK power, not 60. Oops.
posted by terpsichoria at 1:23 AM on December 22, 2005

terpsichoria's right. For future reference, mains in the UK runs at 240V, while mains in the USA runs at 110V. You need to make sure that your device can cope with the higher voltage.

The trick is to check the label on the brick. If it says something like

INPUT: 100V - 240V 50/60Hz

then it'll be fine running on 240V mains.

Most power bricks these days can cope with a range of voltages/frequencies like this, which is what makes them 'multi-region'. However, some devices with internal power supplies (like the original Xbox) only accept the voltage appropriate for the region that they are sold in, and you can quite easily fry a 110V device by plugging it into a 240V socket.

Always read the label.
posted by chrismear at 1:24 AM on December 22, 2005

Whoops, cross-posting ahoy! terpsichoria's already covered it all.

For a little added value, there's a good site called NTSC-uk which has all kinds of info about bringing foreign consoles and games into the UK, including this FAQ about electricity and video issues.
posted by chrismear at 1:28 AM on December 22, 2005

Thank you for your quick responses everyone. Terpsichoria, I'm embrassed to have to ask this, but could you explain "All he needs to do is take out the two-prong power lead from the charger, and plug in a three-prong UK lead?" Sadly, I'm the one who knows more re: computers and electronics and I have no idea what that means so I know my brother will be baffled as well. Thanks for your clarification!
posted by camfys at 1:57 AM on December 22, 2005

You should have a lead that plugs into a US mains socket (two prongs) at one end, and into the PSP power-brick at the other end ('figure-of-eight' plug). All you need to do is unplug that lead from the power-brick, and replace it with the equivalent UK lead -- for example, this one.
posted by chrismear at 2:23 AM on December 22, 2005

Hey, no problem. Believe me, I'm not the clearest commenter before I've got some coffee in me :)

Okay, looking at the PSP charger, you've got a box with a cable coming out of each end, one of which goes into the PSP, and the other ending in a two-prong American plug. The lead with the two-prong plug on the end is detachable, and connects to the charger with a standard figure-of-eight connection (not a kettle lead, as I said earlier - once again, oops!). You can get leads with a figure-of-eight connection on one end and a UK three-prong plug on the other (like this) at any electronics/office store over here extremely cheaply. All he needs to do is swap the lead which came with the PSP's charger for one with a three-prong UK plug on the end.
posted by terpsichoria at 2:33 AM on December 22, 2005

Maplin's is probably the easiest place for your to go for a figure-of-eight lead. But most UK households tend to have one or two of them lying around, with or without plugs, since they're more commonly used for household electrical stuff than in the US.
posted by holgate at 2:47 AM on December 22, 2005

If he isnt going to be using the US lead he could also just cut the US plug off the lead and wire it into a UK plug. I had to do this with my laptop last time I was visiting my parents.
posted by yetanother at 12:36 PM on December 22, 2005

If he does want to wire his own plug, he could use this to work out which wire goes where.
posted by yetanother at 12:53 PM on December 22, 2005

I sucessfully charge a US PSP here in Fiji with different voltage and plugs. As mentioned above, if you read the back of the power box you'll notice that it says INPUT: 100V - 240V 50/60Hz. That means it will handle any juice comming out of the wall. You don't even need a new figure-of-eight lead, all you need is the little do-hicky to go on the end of the plug. Like in the US if you have older sockets that only have two holes, but you've got a new applience with three prongs, you get yourself a "three prong adaptor". Because the charger itself can handle multple volts and hertz you don't need a converter or a transformer, just an adaptor to get the thing to plug into the wall.
posted by dipolemoment at 2:36 PM on December 22, 2005