Spaceball

Hey hey y'all.

Have any of you brought over a UK PS3 with you to the States only to experience any issues in terms of being able to power-on and use?

I have done some google searches with no definitive advice, bar the statement that ALL PS3's have a power supply of 110-240 regardless of where bought.

After studying teh PS3 I own, the model number of my PS3 is a CECH-2003A.
Additionally, it reads: "220-240V ~ 12A 50/60Hz."

Does this mean that I can simply buy a kettle lead from Best Buy or Wal-Mart or wherever and just plug and play from the box?
OR will I need a transformer?

I came across some threads - mostly claiming a US PS3 in UK works fine with no transformer necessary, but not as much experience regarding using a UK (PAL) PS3 in the US.

Also, what if any issues will I experience re: connecting to PSN region-specific stores and DLC?

Will my PS3 suffer from an identity crisis? Or will acquiring a US IP address bypass any issues - despite the hardware being a PAL PS3?

Can someone please shed some light on these questions?

Thanks in advance!

embrake81

For what its worth a friend of mine took his PS3 purchased in Australia over and had no problems but of course had to purchase a power output adapter, hope this helps

Bob

If it says 220-240V only, then it'll probably need a transformer or risk burning up...I'd not risk it, but then you might be right and it might be duel voltage, weird that it wouldn't say it was though.

As for the PSN store, no idea, but region specific stuff might have issues.

Brat1

Before we moved to the US we had a Wii and sold it as we were told that the games in the US were not compatible with the British console Don't know if this is correct though, and we sold all the rest of our electric appliances and bought new ones, which were all relatively inexpensive apart from the large TV for the family room

ChocolateBabz

Our PS2 was dual voltage but needed to go through a PAL - NTSC convertor to make it work on the tv.

TimNiceBut

That will want a step-up transformer then as it won't be able to deal with the 120V supply here, or a US-spec power supply.

PAL vs NTSC shouldn't be an issue if you can use HDMI to connect the PS3 to the telly.

If the games are region coded (I don't know, I'm not really a gamer and have never owned a console) that might be another issue.

TBH I'd be tempted to sell it in the UK and buy one here.

Spaceball

Hey all,
Thanks very much for your thoughts on my question. Your posts have been more useful than what I came across on my google searches, so again, thanks for your help.

I think I may have to get a step-up transformer then, so thanks especeially Bob and TimNB. I would have thought it would have been straight-forward to find an authoritative answer to this from Sony itself, but no dice. And I can't seem to find my PS3 user manual for further guidance, if any, when I actually need it. But anyway, a step-up transformer may be a need-to-buy when we first hit Wally-World or Best Buy.

I don't know if I'd sell it...I'd have to remove my 500gig drive and slot=in the original 120gig drive it came with, plus maybe offer a game or 2 with it to not lose too much money on it.
:\

But if it turns out I don't have to sell it, that may be just as well.

I'm not at all worried about the games aspect because all PS3s play retail discs regardless of what region they are normally coded for. And PSN Store-wise, I already have a UK and US PSN Store accounts so again, not concerned about it.

I guess in actual fact the issue that I was wondering if a problem would arise would be if given the machine is a PAL PS3, than when hooked up and ready to play once in the States, that when trying to log online, that there may be a logging-on conflict between an American ISP address and a normally PAL piece of hardware. Any thoughts on this specific concern?

In the meantime, thanks again for your help, guys and gals!

Bob

The only concern and it probably isn't even a issue would be the region locking of the dvd drive for movies, but you probably already have a dedicated DVD drive anyway, and very few BR's are regioned.

You could get new power strip in the US and it might work, it has for some people, but the actual connector to the console is different for each revision, never mind between release model through the Slim, so if you do go that route, you should bring the console with you to check the connection.

The logging in isn't a problem with the IP, I'm pretty sure....though if you have the gold, or whatever they call it online service thingy, renewing that might be a problem if you were changing credit cards to a US one.

Spaceball

Hey Bob,
Thanks for the reply again.

I'm not worried about the potentially locked DVD aspect on the UK PS3 - we'd get a cheap, dedicated DVD drive anyway once Stateside, and I was considering just hooking-up NetFlix plus basic cable rather than bothering with storing up a new DVD collection from scratch again.

The simple power strip could also be the first step. Good idea.

And PSN-wise, well I won't ever use my CC online - especially given lulzsec has already dissuaded me from ever doing so - so would just end up using PSN cards instead, if at all.

Thanks again for the advice - I may yet try to match an appropriate power strip by way of my slim's model #, if at all possible to do with a little google magic.

TimNiceBut

Given that you seem to have been able to cover most concern I'd have re the region coding already, I'd just try to bag a replacement PS3 power supply on ebay once you're over here. That's most likely easier/less fuss than a step-up transformer (the only reason I'm using them is that the manufacturer of my Hifi gear actually suggested that as they said it would be much more expensive if they swapped out the built-in PSUs).