What would be the damage by using a Japanese voltage charger, Input AC 100V, output DC6V 800mA on MZ-NH1

[Happy Hopping]

okay, so I was trying to save money.  My regular Sony charger becomes defective a no. of years ago.  I should have buy a new one.  But instead I use the other charger from my NH1.  I bought my NH1 directly from Japan, this is the gold plate version, so the charger is meant for Japan voltage system, a Sony AC-ES60BK, w/ input AC100V, 50/60Hz 12 VA, output DC 6V, 800mA

 

the original charger, was 115V.  Since then, I notice this charger only takes 15 to 20 min. to charge a near empty battery, and likewise, the battery may be dropping juice somewhat faster.  I am also certain the original charger takes much longer than 15 to 20 min. to recharge the battery

 

Moreover, for those who own the North American version of your NH1, could you please post a photo of the front plate of your charger, there is some specification that I need

 

 

[Richard]

Hi there... 

I guess there are a few different questions in here:

1. If you want to know what the original part no. is for the US NH1 charger, you can see below from the service manual:

2. Do you need the original US charger? Not necessarily - you could get one like the one from the DH10P (AC-ES608K3) for example which is 100-240v input. You could also get a 110-100v step down transformer and use your JP NH1 charger. I generally just charge all my Li-Ion batteries for Hi-MD units in the RH1 because you can use any USB charger with it. 

3. Damage to your unit / ac adaptor by putting 115v or so into the 100v charger? Not 100% sure, but I would avoid it if possible.

 

 

[sfbp]

I'm *really* surprised there's a difference in the charger. Wouldn't the major difference be that the plug shape is different for the different models?

Stephen (who blew up his 110V GP gumstick charger by plugging it into 230 volts when on holiday - never again).

[Richard]

Just now, sfbp said:

I'm *really* surprised there's a difference in the charger. Wouldn't the major difference be that the plug shape is different for the different models?

 

Yes, the plugs were different (although I think JP and US are the same), but all the old JP domestic units came with chargers that were 100v input only (vs 120 I think for the US). It was only from around 2005 onwards they went with 100-240v input.

Quote

Stephen (who blew up his 110V GP gumstick charger by plugging it into 230 volts when on holiday - never again).

No comment 😆

[Happy Hopping]

the plug shape is the same. 

 

there is a lot of information I need from the US charger.  Anyone who owns this unit, I would appreciate a photo

[Richard]

I have the NH1, but with an Australian charger (240V input) and the NH3D with the 100v input. However, a Google image search turned up the below - perhaps it's this one for the US.

[BearBoy]

Have you checked the output of your adapter? Is it 6V DC?

I'm not sure if feeding 120V AC into an adapter designed for 100V is dangerous or not but as long as it's not outputting more than 6V DC then I would assume it won't damage your MiniDisc player? It might damage the adapter itself though.

I'm not an electrician though so probably best to take this with a pinch of salt...

[sfbp]

What one of these PS's does with a meter across the terminals is neither here nor there. It's what happens under load.

Kevin will probably correct me, and Gyula undoubtedly would have, but I think the only damage will be to the charger.

[kgallen]

7 minutes ago, sfbp said:

Kevin will probably correct me, and Gyula undoubtedly would have, but I think the only damage will be to the charger.

The master of the house has rung so I shall answer!

I’ll answer slightly generically as I don’t own either pieces of kit…

The management summary is it’s possible you will stress the PSU and the machine.

However I would expect enough design margin in both for it not to be an issue in the lifetime of both. To be sure I’d have to check the spec on the power supply/charger chip in the machine.

The issue for me here is that the power supply is single voltage type so I suspect it’s based around a transformer. It’s also likely the output of the PSU is unregulated. This means the output voltage will be load dependent, so measuring the voltage with a high impedance voltmeter will probably give you a high reading and we cannot tell what the voltage will be under the load of the machine and/or charging the battery. However it’s likely to be on the high side but by how much is hard to say. 
 

The machine will have a fairly elaborate and undoubtedly well designed power supply circuit that will be deriving the multitude of digital and analogue supplies required inside the machine. Similarly the charger for the battery will be based around a proper charger chip that will assess and charge the battery with the correct voltage and current profile. I would expect both of these to have adequate input supply headroom to tolerate a slightly high input supply. But to be sure the chip specs would need to be checked. I haven’t done any maths here considering supply tolerances to know what the range could be. However I recall we did go into this a little a while back on another thread.

The boring advice is to find a charger that suits your local supply. I suspect there are a few Sony power supplies that you could use with appropriate specs. For a short while you could probably get away with the Japanese charger. At user risk.