Car Adapter to Run Wii U in Car

• 

  Cartman2530 on 22/02/2019 - 16:00

  +5

  Modified sine is harder on electric motors due to the waveform, on electronics it should be fine as the AC going in the Wii power supply is converted to DC before being converted again to a lower voltage DC that the Wii can use.

  With inverters, particularly on ebay, check that the wattage shown is the continuous rating not the peak. From a quick google search a Wii U PSU draws 75 Watts peak so i would reckon a 150W inverter should be fine.

  Jaycar has this one:
  https://www.jaycar.com.au/150w-cup-holder-inverter-with-dual…

  • 

    godofpizza on 22/02/2019 - 23:45

    +1

    thanks for your info, much appreciateD!

• 

  Quantumcat on 22/02/2019 - 17:25

  Get a Switch

  • 

    FireRunner on 22/02/2019 - 18:29

    This would be the much simpler solution.

• 

  aussieprepper on 22/02/2019 - 18:46

  +1

  Your WII U runs on DC and the car runs on DC so its easy. Why would you convert it to AC just to have power converted back to DC? Just get a buck driver cut the cable and fit it to the driver.

  These drivers below will work fine you just have to set the voltage and amperage. Also you need an enclosure for it. Solder one side to the cigarette lighter adapter and other end plug into the WII U.

  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DC-9A-280W-Step-Down-Buck-Conver…

  This one will give you some room to grow lol
  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DC-DC-Buck-Converter-Step-Down-P…

  As an example the WII U power supply says its output is 12v 3.7amps your cigarette lighter can do 10 amps.

  You could also try a car laptop power supply.

  • 

    Cartman2530 on 24/02/2019 - 15:56

    +1

    I also thought about this but the only reason I wouldn't recommend this to the OP is if they aren't electrically literate and want a literal plug in solution that they are familiar with. Also it has USB ports for charging stuff as well! =)

    The reason I recommended the OP to go with the Jaycar inverter instead of the buck converter is that it has electrical isolation with a transformer, as opposed to a buck converter which if it fails short (a common failure mode) will transfer the full input voltage to the output. (About 14.2V or so depending on the car.)

    I don't know if you are familiar with automotive electrics as they have to survive a load dump of up to +100V and other transient phenomena. If the jaycar unit fails, the Wii U will be protected via transformer isolation, if the buck converter fails short then the Wii will cop whatever voltage is present.

    However, with a few protective mods to those you have linked, a buck converter would be my preferred choice!