I was wondering if anyone brought their north American game systems to switzerland.
If so, what do I need?
I've heard I need a power adapter, but is it true?
Thank you.

See what your power supply says, the only difference (except for the plug) will be that in Switzerland it is 220V instead of 110V, the XBox 360 power supply is usually not universal, but rated either 110V or 220/240V, i.e. you'll have to buy a new power supply in Switzerland.

You need a AC power transformer, not just a plug adapter.

It transforms the power from 220v to 110v so that you don't blow up your xbox!

Something like this , they come at different prices depending on what appliance you are using, 300W for small appliances right up to about 3000W for heavy duty stuff. I can't remember what we had but it was about $70 and might have been 1000W. An xbox works fine through it.

I was actually told yesterday that I can't even bring my xbox because xboxes are encoding for different parts of the world and I have a north american one.
I wish this wasn't true - I swear Ive seen people on the internet say they brought their xbox with them .. but that could be just the internet ... or the guy at best buy is a dick.

I brought my US Xbox 360 here a year and a half ago and it is just fine. You will need a step up/step down converter. I bought one before I left on eBay for 50 USD. You will want 500 watts or higher. Then all you will need is the outlet converter and your in business. You will have no problems connecting to Xbox live either. Really simple process and much better than dropping 500 chfs for new system and games. The only downfall is that games you buy in Switzerland wont work on the US system because the regional format is not the same. You will have to buy them online or have family ship them to you. You can, however, download all of the full length games a available on Xbox live. There are quite a lot to choose from.

Wow, thank you!

Sorry, but can you tell me the exact thing I need? I'm clueless what it comes to this stuff *(^#(*^(*$^@. I need a walt converter for 500 Watts?

You can either buy a voltage converter from 220V to 110V, such as the one pictured above, which will allow you to use other US appliances only rated for 110V as well (provided they do not exceed the power limit of the converter).

If it is just for the XBox, simply buy the XBox 360 220V Power Supply in Switzerland for CHF 43:

http://www.videogame.ch/test-oxid/Mi...er-Supply.html?

Careful with buying the power supply. I had a friend who moved to France and he bought the 220v power supply and connected it to his 110v Xbox and it fried it. Red circle then nothing. For the same price, just buy the voltage converter. If you get one with 500 watts or higher, you can buy a US power strip and run a few different devices. My wife plugs her US hair curler into it and my daughter has her Disney Princess CD player plugged in as well. Just a thought.

http://www.110220volts.com/SYM-500.html

i have been using one of these for years with my xbox. Cant remember where I bought it originally though.

I brought both of my US/NTSC Xbox's here to Switzerland. You can go two routes: Buy a new power supply rated for 220V or use a 220 to 110 down converter.

It also depends which Xbox you have. Is it the old style or the new Slim model?

Mine are the NON-Slim models. One I bought a new/used 220V Euro power brick.

For the older Xbox, there were 3 models of power brick, 203W, 175 and 150W. The connector for the brick to xbox was designed as such that you cannot plug in a lower rated brick into a higher rated xbox. IE: a 150 watt brick will NOT plug into an xbox that needs a 175/203W brick. Look at your original brick label and It'll say what the rating is.

If going this route you'll probably have to go thru ricardo.ch or ebay.de or ebay.co.uk. The new/used brick may only have 2 pins for power from the wall but you can still use a standard computer power plug, no biggie.

If you have a Slim model, same principal may apply. I think the connector on the back of the xbox is the same for either power brick. This one you may be able to get at a local gamestop because they are newer systems.

If you buy a Stepdown converter from 220/110V make sure the Wattage exceeds what's rated for the xbox power brick. I bought a 400 Watt so not only can I run the xboxs' 203 Watt brick but also charge some 110V cordless batteries w/out a problem.

Some wiki info here.

Another thing to consider is a lot of Euro games will not play on a US console. Visit Play-Asia for a compatibility list. Play-asia.com.

Another thing that is weird is if you have a US generated xbox live account. Something about when you redeem those long-a$$ codes. Some codes are region specific. US ones may work if you are logged into you US Live account. It's hit and miss. There may be a trick by creating a Swiss account and playing the games while logged in as the US account (having 2 accounts logged in at the same time). Something like that.

Good luck!

We brought the Xbox. you can make it work over here easily, as long as you understand what you're doing.

Essentially here's the idea; The transformer (the thing in the power cord with the green light on it) takes the U.S. 110 voltage and reduces it quite a bit before it goes into the actual xbox. However, the 220 voltage in europe is too much for it to handle (at least on the older xbox 360's the new ones may have a dual voltage transformer, I don't know).

You need either a power cord with a European transformer (which replaces the power cord you have now), or a voltage transformer that reduces what comes out of the swiss electrical outlet to a voltage that your current power cord/transformer can handle.

If you go the second route, you can get a transformer from Amazon for about $30.00 you need a 220/240 to 110/120 volt transformer rated for a minimum of 500 watts. You then plug the transformer into the wall to step the european voltage down to something your current setup can handle, then plug the current US power cord into the converter.

The only problem that I've had with this setup is that occasionally my wife steals the transformer to run the waffle maker or whatever.

Just one word of warning--if you get the cable we got (the Swiss adaptor for the Slim model), it sounds like a damn jet engine.

Hi All,

I bought my xbox from Nor Cal and plugged it in (thinking it's ok).

Of course the power brick blew...

So 2 question here:

1) Should I buy a swiss adapter and plug into my xbox? Will it fry my xbox?

2) Buy a USA adapter and buy the power transformer...

Please enlighten me..

I think a swiss adapter will fry your xbox - it will let 220v through and your xbox will fry as it only wants 110v.
Step-down transformer is what you need, and you can run other USA electronics through it too.

Thanks Rachel,

So I am guessing I have to do 2 things here:

1) Get back a USA adapter
2) Buy a power transformer

Right?

thanks for the initial reply though!

Hmm, Maybe something is was lost in translation. The 2 routes to take are as follows...

You can use the 110V power brick (and US Cord to brick) ONLY IF you purchase a 220V to 110V down converter. Get a Higher than 300 Watt version. The 220V European to 110V US will have a standard US plug on the front.

Friendly reminder: Some brands of 220 to 110 converters also have a 220V output PASS-THROUGH on the front or wherever. DO NOT PLUG YOUR 110V BRICK INTO THAT ONE! Not to confuse anyone but don't worry about the 50/60 Hz thing too much.

Below is an illustration of sort.

[220V WALL POWER]---[220V to 110 POWER CONVERTER @ 300W MIN]---[110V US XBOX POWER BRICK]---[XBOX 360]

OR

Buy an Xbox 220V Power Brick. You can use a Swiss plug from the wall to the brick. I bought my power brick out of Germany so I discarded the cord with their round face plug and used a Swiss desktop computer cord in its place. (a DE to CH adapter would have worked just as well).

Another illustration. =)

[220V WALL POWER]---[220V EU XBOX POWER BRICK]---[XBOX 360]

Hope that clears stuff up if applicable. =)