Thanks for all your responses,

and yes TwRoO, it is entirely possible that Nintendo haven't updated their internals much. We certainly haven't seen anyone with model number RVL-002(Country), and that they wont until supply drops below demand. But if that is what we find out from this at least we are more certain they haven't updated them :) I certainly haven't noticed any differences besides the one mentioned, and that seems to be a region difference rather than a time difference.

The problem is most of us bought Wiis early on. Has anyone bought a Wii in the past 6-9 months? I would appreciate responses from you if you have.

You are right in remembering V=IR, and that P=VI.
Often the first equation is substituted into the second, to give
P = I^2*R


So the equation makes sense for my Americas/Australia Wiis
Power Rating on the Wii = 12V 45W
Output 12V 3.7A
12*37 = 44.4

However it doesn't seem to make sense for Euro Wiis

It's my understanding that having a power supply rated above the power a device requires helps protect against power surges. If this is the case, perhaps the disparity between 45W and 36W has to due with expected power fluctuations in the power grid of North America versus the power grid in Europe.

Model no - RVL-001(USA)

Power Rating on the Wii = 12V 45W

Date and Country of purchase = late May 2008 in USA

Power Brick input 120V 60Hz 53W

Output 12V 3.7A

Lol... that's the patent code not the hardware revsion number.

RVL-002 is the code for the Wii power supply, RVL-003 is the Wii remote, 004 is the nunchuck etc, etc.

each cord, perephrial and even the plastic stands have a seperate code depending on which was patented first.... the latex sleeves they brought out for the Wii remotes for instance are RVL-022

As for the equations... I did remember it wrongly, I said V=IP... but it's VI=P instead. And I was initially thinking it was different perhaps because of the different voltages of AC power (120V in US, 230/40 over here) but nothing works out right.


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Wait.... I have a feeling people in this thread may have been missing bits of info from their Wiis

Here is what is on the bottom of mine: (the = sign is a replacement for the sign shown, which is like = except the bottom line is in 2 parts... I can't recall what the sign represents in words)

Rating: 12V = 3.0A  36W
Only to use with power supply (RVL-002).
Power supply output: 12V = 3.7A

and on the bottom of my power brick:

PRI: 230V~50Hz  52W
SEC: 12V = 3.7A

Although this still doesn't explain why the EUR power brick 'pumps in' a higher wattage than the Wii uses... wheras the US one apparently pumps in just the right amount

But if I can remember, the Gamecube had different models. I think there was, for example DOL-001, DOL-101 etc. But the difference was probably the digital out (so I think it may have a new patent).

True on the patent code. But I have often seen such numbers appended with another number (-n) when revisions are made. So no appended dashed number would seem to indicate no revisions.

I am t work but when I get home I'll tell ya ^^