Let me start off by saying I'm not bashing pirates or anything(<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">cause I'm one too </span>).
You guys who wish to pirate games one your 3DS that's great, good for you but as you should already know the 3DS has horrible battery life. And most DS flashcarts(especially the clones) would suck your ds battery dry,only a few of them are battery life considerate.
And now you want to use those flashcarts in your 3DS. Get my meaning?
And then what happens when 3DS mode is hacked. When using 3DS mode you would be using even more power.
Just look at CannonFoddr's battery life results for the <b>DS Lite</b>.
And now imagine the battery power used for 3DS Mode.
BTW These are just speculations especially since 3DS mode isn't hacked yet.
You guys who wish to pirate games one your 3DS that's great, good for you but as you should already know the 3DS has horrible battery life. And most DS flashcarts(especially the clones) would suck your ds battery dry,only a few of them are battery life considerate.
And now you want to use those flashcarts in your 3DS. Get my meaning?
And then what happens when 3DS mode is hacked. When using 3DS mode you would be using even more power.
Just look at CannonFoddr's battery life results for the <b>DS Lite</b>.
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->I did a similar post to this a while back (found @ <a href="http://gbatemp.net/t240927-how-much-do-flashcards-affect-ds-battery-life)" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/t240927-how-much-do-fla...s-battery-life)</a> but since not a lot of 'Tempers contributed - I thought I'll do an update, redo & add a few more tests to make it the '(nearly) Ultimate DS Battery test' thread<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Firstly though
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Disclaimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Disclaimer)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><div align='center'>The results I have may not coincide with what you're getting with your own system,
I did not do the tests under 'Labratory conditons' or in a 'controlled enviroment' & many things can affect battery life
On most tests I used a standard stopwatch to time it, meaning I had to hang around to see WHEN the DS switched off
These tests were done over a long period of time, since they were mainly done only over the weekends <u>IF</u> I had any spare time
Because of the charging up/reformatting MSD/draining for each test - I could also only do ~1 test (2 if I was very lucky) a day
In some cases I also <u>re-done</u> tests [on different days], since some results 'seemed' wrong IMHO - the results shown below are the SHORTEST time recorded
Since I also have VERY limited resources I only concentrated on the one gaming system - the DSLite. This was so that I could test an extra flashcard (the 'N5')
All 'Conclusions' mentioned are what <u>I</u> think, based on the results - you may disagree... If you do - well tough !! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />
</div><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--><div align='center'>If YOU wish to have a go - perhaps on other DS systems/flashcards etc - PLEASE try & keep to the same test 'layout' as I've done so that we can 'compare notes' - thanks</div>
<u><b>Test Procedure</b></u>
<ul>In each test:<ul><li> The DSLite was fully charged - As soon as the charger was disconnected, the DS was switched on <u>straight away</u> & the test was started as soon as possible</li><li> The Stopwatch (where applicable) was started the moment I '<i>flicked the [power] switch</i>' & stopped when the DS powered down</li><li> The DSLite was set to 'Full' brightness & the Volume was set to a 'comfortable' level (except for during the 'Sound' tests)</li><li> The Same microSD card (8Gb Class 2 Sandisk SDHC) was used (wherever applicable) each time</li><li> The microSD card was re-formatted <u>each time</u> using the 'Panasonic Formatter' - options set to: Full Format/Flash Erase OFF/Format Size Adjustment OFF</li><li> Only the flashcard's EOS and the required ROM/Homebrew/Files were installed for each test (EOS was installed first each time)</li><li> Each flashcard/test was done in a random order & not the order shown below - only the test results are grouped/sorted into 'best' to 'worse' order</li></ul></li></ul>
<b>Onto the tests........</b>
<u><b>Test Group 1 - 'Benchmark Tests'</b></u>
This set of tests were done to compare my Second-hand DSLite battery life to the manufacturer stated lifespan
<ul>According to Nintendo specifications, the battery life for the DSLite system on MAX brightness is <b>5-8hrs</b></li></ul>
The DSLite was switched on &....
<ul><li>Left on main menu screen (Showing Picochat/Download Play) with NO game card(s) inserted: <b>5hrs 01mins</b></li><li> Left on main menu screen (Showing Picochat/Download Play) with both Slot1 & Slot2 game card(s) inserted (none were started though):<b>5hrs 00min </b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro--> (This was to test to see if having game cards left in the slots cause any battery drain)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> Commercial Slot-1 game (Sonic Rush) started & left in 'Demo mode': <b>4hrs 53mins</b></li><li> 'Download Play' started & left in 'scanning' (so that it used the Wifi) - DS kept open: <b>3hrs 09mins</b></li><li> 'Download Play' started & left in 'scanning' (so that it used the Wifi) - DS kept closed: <b>Not possible - Communications are cut off in sleep mode</b></li></ul><!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(I also tried a 'Commercial Slot-2 (Sonic Pinball) & left on 'title screen' test but the battery indicator was still green even after 8hrs- so I gave up as I needed to get up early for work the following day)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Despite being a second hand unit brought from 'Gamestation' IMHO the battery was still in pretty good shape in respect to Nintendo specifications, when it come to game playing
ii) Using the WiFi (on constant scanning at least) causes a <u>massive</u> drop in battery life - between 1hr 44mins to nearly 2hrs, when we compare it to the other results
<u>
<b>Test Group 2 - 'Flashcard + ROM'</b></u>
This set consisted of running each flashcard that I own running a commercial ROM (Sonic Rush) in 'Demo mode'
<ul><li> Ak2i + ROM: <b>7hrs 13min</b></li><li> N5 + ROM: <b>6hr 04min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->NB. This had to use a 2Gb SD (Apacer) card as it couldn't handle SDHC<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> DSTwo + ROM ['Clean' mode]: <b>6hrs 04min</b></li><li> DSTwo + ROM ['Patch' mode]: <b>5hrs 32min</b></li><li> R4iGold + ROM : <b>4hrs 15min</b></li><li> M3iZero + ROM: <b>3hrs 44min</b></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
It does seem as though flashcards do affect battery life, but not necessarly for the worse.. some seem to actually give longer battery life than that of running a commercial game
<u><b>Test Group 3 - 'Flashcard + Homebrew'</b></u>
This set is the same as above except I used Snailface '<a href="http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=22904" target="_blank">DS Battery Life timer</a>' Homebrew to test for comparison - this meant I could start it up & leave the DS alone without having to 'keep-an-eye' on it with the stopwatch
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro--><b>Note:</b> I had a lot trouble with v2 of this program on several cards, it kept locking up/freezing
- Since comparing v2 with v1.1 the time difference is not that much different, I stuck with the v1.1 for these tests as it was the most stable
<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<ul><li> Ak2i + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>8hrs 18mins</b></li><li> DSTwo + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>8hrs 06mins</b></li><li> N5 + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>6hrs 48mins</b></li><li> R4i + Battery Life timer v2: <b>4hrs 46mins </b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(as you can see between this and the result below, the difference between the two test programs is hardly noticable)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> R4i + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>4hrs 44mins</b></li><li> M3iZero + Battery Life timer v1.1 (Using Touchpod): <b>4hrs 06mins</b></li><li> M3iZero + Battery Life timer v1.1 (Using Sakura): <b>4hrs 00mins</b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(Didn't really expect these last 2 to be much different - I was just curious)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Homebrew software doesn't seem to cause as much a 'strain' on the battery life (>8hrs for the Ak2i, while a real 'Commercial game' only lasted 4Hrs 53Min),
ii) The more expensive the card does NOT mean it's has better battery life
<u><b>Test Group 4+5 - 'Memory Card/Sound tests'</b></u>
It's been suggested that different size/speed memory cards, & possible the level of sound, could also affect battery life so the following tests were tried out to test this theory.
All were tried out on a M3iZero flashcard (the worse offender in tests above) playing a variety of MP3 files (about 32 music tracks), with 'AllRepeat' selected
- no other Sakura settings were changed meaning that the screensaver kicked in after a period of time (by default)
The test(s) were first tried with a 2Gb (Apacer) SD card, first at MIN volume (you can't 'turn off' the volume on the DSLite) then at MAX volume (for this I taped over the speakers to muffle it & so not to disturb anyone too much), then I re-tested with a 8Gb (class 4) Sandisk SDHC card, once again at a MIN volume then repeated at MAX
- The reason for playing MP3 files was so that (In theory) the memory card is accessed each time a song finishes & therefore 'should' cause a bigger drain on the battery
<ul>2Gb Apacer SD card<ul><li> Volume at MIN: <b>5hrs 47mins</b></li><li> Volume at MAX: <b>5hrs 43mins</b></li></ul>
8Gb (class 4) Sandisk SDHC<ul><li> Volume at MIN: <b>5hrs 49mins</b></li><li> Volume at MAX: <b>5hrs 44mins</b></li></ul></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Volume wise - regardless of the level you have it at, on a DSLite at least, there is little difference in affected battery life - just a few minutes difference
ii) Memory card wise - once again it make no difference to battery life. They are virtually the same times regardless of the type of card used (If I had a 32Gb class 10 card the story might've been different)
iii) The m3iZero lasted longer when playing music than it did when running the Homebrew possibly due to the screensaver kicking in - this points to the possibility that the screens cause a bigger drain on the battery
<img src="http://gbatemp.net/style_images/2/folder_post_icons/icon37.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" /> <u><b>Test Group 6 - 'DSTwo Specific'</b></u>
I've seen many people have claimed that the extra CPU/Memory of the DSTwo drains the battery quicker than a 'normal' flashcard, but offered no 'real' proof that it does
So I hope this set of tests may prove it.... However, this set of tests was harder to do a proper comparisons since there's no programs that I know of are avaliable as both a NDS file <u>AND</u> a PLG file.
Because of this I had to 'compromise' on this set of tests
- I used DStwo own 'player' to (hopefully) test the onboard CPU/Memory and a suitable (IMHO) NDS homebrew to play the same/similar file(s) using the DSLite own CPU/Memory
<ul>MP3 file played (on 'loop') using....
<ul><li> DS2 'movie player': <b>4hrs 32min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(note: both screens turned off while playing)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> Moonshell2 (Child Zwai edition): <b>5hrs 25min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(note: moonshell2 switched off the DS after every 2hrs for some reason - so I had to switch on & restart it each time)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li></ul>
SNES Emulation (Emulators settings left on default) using:
<ul><li> CATSFC Emulator + Super Metroid (demo mode):<b>3hrs 55mins</b></li><li> SNEmulDS + Super Metroid (demo mode): <b>5hrs 55mins</b></li></ul></li></ul>
I WAS going to try & do movie playback tests as well, but the DSTwo's player can't play DPG files (so I couldn't use 'Moonshell2' for playback) & I had trouble trying to play AVI's through 'Tuna-Vids', so this test was scrapped
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Running DSTwo specific Homebrew (those ending in PLG) definitely drains the battery far quicker than using typical NDS homebrew.
ii) There is a greater drain when using Emulators (2hrs less compared to playing MP3's which was only ~1hr less) - this could be because of the extra 'work' the onboard CPU has to do
<u><b>Test Group 7 - 'Screen brightness'</b></u>
Someone suggested tests to see how much different the screen brightness affects battery life. In this set of tests I used a DSTwo, 4Gb [Sandisk] Class 2 MicroSD card + v3 of Snailface's 'Battery Tester'
The 'Level Nos.' shown match the same 'Levels' on the DSTwo's 'DS_Game' launcher ( 'Start' > 'Settings' > 'Brightness' )
<ul><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 1' (Lowest): <b>7hrs 30min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 2' (Low-Mid) : <b>6hrs 00min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 3' (High-Mid): <b>4hrs 30min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 4' (Highest): <b>3hrs 35min</b></li></ul>
=========================================
Anyway, that's that !!! - A set of tests checking how much flashcards could affect the DS battery life.
Hope you find this info useful - 'cos I doubt there ever be another one done (Well - not by me anyway <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> )
And a reminder -
If anyone does fancy having a go with a different DS/Flashcard etc - could you TRY & keep to the same 'test procedure layout' as above (& remember to post your results) as it'll give a more accurate comparison between system combinations
<div align='right'>Thanks <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yaynds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="yaynds.gif" /> </div>
Firstly though
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=Disclaimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Disclaimer)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><div align='center'>The results I have may not coincide with what you're getting with your own system,
I did not do the tests under 'Labratory conditons' or in a 'controlled enviroment' & many things can affect battery life
On most tests I used a standard stopwatch to time it, meaning I had to hang around to see WHEN the DS switched off
These tests were done over a long period of time, since they were mainly done only over the weekends <u>IF</u> I had any spare time
Because of the charging up/reformatting MSD/draining for each test - I could also only do ~1 test (2 if I was very lucky) a day
In some cases I also <u>re-done</u> tests [on different days], since some results 'seemed' wrong IMHO - the results shown below are the SHORTEST time recorded
Since I also have VERY limited resources I only concentrated on the one gaming system - the DSLite. This was so that I could test an extra flashcard (the 'N5')
All 'Conclusions' mentioned are what <u>I</u> think, based on the results - you may disagree... If you do - well tough !! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /> </div><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--><div align='center'>If YOU wish to have a go - perhaps on other DS systems/flashcards etc - PLEASE try & keep to the same test 'layout' as I've done so that we can 'compare notes' - thanks</div>
<u><b>Test Procedure</b></u>
<ul>In each test:<ul><li> The DSLite was fully charged - As soon as the charger was disconnected, the DS was switched on <u>straight away</u> & the test was started as soon as possible</li><li> The Stopwatch (where applicable) was started the moment I '<i>flicked the [power] switch</i>' & stopped when the DS powered down</li><li> The DSLite was set to 'Full' brightness & the Volume was set to a 'comfortable' level (except for during the 'Sound' tests)</li><li> The Same microSD card (8Gb Class 2 Sandisk SDHC) was used (wherever applicable) each time</li><li> The microSD card was re-formatted <u>each time</u> using the 'Panasonic Formatter' - options set to: Full Format/Flash Erase OFF/Format Size Adjustment OFF</li><li> Only the flashcard's EOS and the required ROM/Homebrew/Files were installed for each test (EOS was installed first each time)</li><li> Each flashcard/test was done in a random order & not the order shown below - only the test results are grouped/sorted into 'best' to 'worse' order</li></ul></li></ul>
<b>Onto the tests........</b>
<u><b>Test Group 1 - 'Benchmark Tests'</b></u>
This set of tests were done to compare my Second-hand DSLite battery life to the manufacturer stated lifespan
<ul>According to Nintendo specifications, the battery life for the DSLite system on MAX brightness is <b>5-8hrs</b></li></ul>
The DSLite was switched on &....
<ul><li>Left on main menu screen (Showing Picochat/Download Play) with NO game card(s) inserted: <b>5hrs 01mins</b></li><li> Left on main menu screen (Showing Picochat/Download Play) with both Slot1 & Slot2 game card(s) inserted (none were started though):<b>5hrs 00min </b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro--> (This was to test to see if having game cards left in the slots cause any battery drain)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> Commercial Slot-1 game (Sonic Rush) started & left in 'Demo mode': <b>4hrs 53mins</b></li><li> 'Download Play' started & left in 'scanning' (so that it used the Wifi) - DS kept open: <b>3hrs 09mins</b></li><li> 'Download Play' started & left in 'scanning' (so that it used the Wifi) - DS kept closed: <b>Not possible - Communications are cut off in sleep mode</b></li></ul><!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(I also tried a 'Commercial Slot-2 (Sonic Pinball) & left on 'title screen' test but the battery indicator was still green even after 8hrs- so I gave up as I needed to get up early for work the following day)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Despite being a second hand unit brought from 'Gamestation' IMHO the battery was still in pretty good shape in respect to Nintendo specifications, when it come to game playing
ii) Using the WiFi (on constant scanning at least) causes a <u>massive</u> drop in battery life - between 1hr 44mins to nearly 2hrs, when we compare it to the other results
<u>
<b>Test Group 2 - 'Flashcard + ROM'</b></u>
This set consisted of running each flashcard that I own running a commercial ROM (Sonic Rush) in 'Demo mode'
<ul><li> Ak2i + ROM: <b>7hrs 13min</b></li><li> N5 + ROM: <b>6hr 04min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->NB. This had to use a 2Gb SD (Apacer) card as it couldn't handle SDHC<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> DSTwo + ROM ['Clean' mode]: <b>6hrs 04min</b></li><li> DSTwo + ROM ['Patch' mode]: <b>5hrs 32min</b></li><li> R4iGold + ROM : <b>4hrs 15min</b></li><li> M3iZero + ROM: <b>3hrs 44min</b></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
It does seem as though flashcards do affect battery life, but not necessarly for the worse.. some seem to actually give longer battery life than that of running a commercial game
<u><b>Test Group 3 - 'Flashcard + Homebrew'</b></u>
This set is the same as above except I used Snailface '<a href="http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=22904" target="_blank">DS Battery Life timer</a>' Homebrew to test for comparison - this meant I could start it up & leave the DS alone without having to 'keep-an-eye' on it with the stopwatch
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro--><b>Note:</b> I had a lot trouble with v2 of this program on several cards, it kept locking up/freezing
- Since comparing v2 with v1.1 the time difference is not that much different, I stuck with the v1.1 for these tests as it was the most stable
<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<ul><li> Ak2i + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>8hrs 18mins</b></li><li> DSTwo + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>8hrs 06mins</b></li><li> N5 + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>6hrs 48mins</b></li><li> R4i + Battery Life timer v2: <b>4hrs 46mins </b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(as you can see between this and the result below, the difference between the two test programs is hardly noticable)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> R4i + Battery Life timer v1.1: <b>4hrs 44mins</b></li><li> M3iZero + Battery Life timer v1.1 (Using Touchpod): <b>4hrs 06mins</b></li><li> M3iZero + Battery Life timer v1.1 (Using Sakura): <b>4hrs 00mins</b>
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(Didn't really expect these last 2 to be much different - I was just curious)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Homebrew software doesn't seem to cause as much a 'strain' on the battery life (>8hrs for the Ak2i, while a real 'Commercial game' only lasted 4Hrs 53Min),
ii) The more expensive the card does NOT mean it's has better battery life
<u><b>Test Group 4+5 - 'Memory Card/Sound tests'</b></u>
It's been suggested that different size/speed memory cards, & possible the level of sound, could also affect battery life so the following tests were tried out to test this theory.
All were tried out on a M3iZero flashcard (the worse offender in tests above) playing a variety of MP3 files (about 32 music tracks), with 'AllRepeat' selected
- no other Sakura settings were changed meaning that the screensaver kicked in after a period of time (by default)
The test(s) were first tried with a 2Gb (Apacer) SD card, first at MIN volume (you can't 'turn off' the volume on the DSLite) then at MAX volume (for this I taped over the speakers to muffle it & so not to disturb anyone too much), then I re-tested with a 8Gb (class 4) Sandisk SDHC card, once again at a MIN volume then repeated at MAX
- The reason for playing MP3 files was so that (In theory) the memory card is accessed each time a song finishes & therefore 'should' cause a bigger drain on the battery
<ul>2Gb Apacer SD card<ul><li> Volume at MIN: <b>5hrs 47mins</b></li><li> Volume at MAX: <b>5hrs 43mins</b></li></ul>
8Gb (class 4) Sandisk SDHC<ul><li> Volume at MIN: <b>5hrs 49mins</b></li><li> Volume at MAX: <b>5hrs 44mins</b></li></ul></li></ul>
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Volume wise - regardless of the level you have it at, on a DSLite at least, there is little difference in affected battery life - just a few minutes difference
ii) Memory card wise - once again it make no difference to battery life. They are virtually the same times regardless of the type of card used (If I had a 32Gb class 10 card the story might've been different)
iii) The m3iZero lasted longer when playing music than it did when running the Homebrew possibly due to the screensaver kicking in - this points to the possibility that the screens cause a bigger drain on the battery
<img src="http://gbatemp.net/style_images/2/folder_post_icons/icon37.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" /> <u><b>Test Group 6 - 'DSTwo Specific'</b></u>
I've seen many people have claimed that the extra CPU/Memory of the DSTwo drains the battery quicker than a 'normal' flashcard, but offered no 'real' proof that it does
So I hope this set of tests may prove it.... However, this set of tests was harder to do a proper comparisons since there's no programs that I know of are avaliable as both a NDS file <u>AND</u> a PLG file.
Because of this I had to 'compromise' on this set of tests
- I used DStwo own 'player' to (hopefully) test the onboard CPU/Memory and a suitable (IMHO) NDS homebrew to play the same/similar file(s) using the DSLite own CPU/Memory
<ul>MP3 file played (on 'loop') using....
<ul><li> DS2 'movie player': <b>4hrs 32min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(note: both screens turned off while playing)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li><li> Moonshell2 (Child Zwai edition): <b>5hrs 25min</b> <!--coloro:#0000FF--><span style="color:#0000FF"><!--/coloro-->(note: moonshell2 switched off the DS after every 2hrs for some reason - so I had to switch on & restart it each time)<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></li></ul>
SNES Emulation (Emulators settings left on default) using:
<ul><li> CATSFC Emulator + Super Metroid (demo mode):<b>3hrs 55mins</b></li><li> SNEmulDS + Super Metroid (demo mode): <b>5hrs 55mins</b></li></ul></li></ul>
I WAS going to try & do movie playback tests as well, but the DSTwo's player can't play DPG files (so I couldn't use 'Moonshell2' for playback) & I had trouble trying to play AVI's through 'Tuna-Vids', so this test was scrapped
<u>Conclusion:</u>
i) Running DSTwo specific Homebrew (those ending in PLG) definitely drains the battery far quicker than using typical NDS homebrew.
ii) There is a greater drain when using Emulators (2hrs less compared to playing MP3's which was only ~1hr less) - this could be because of the extra 'work' the onboard CPU has to do
<u><b>Test Group 7 - 'Screen brightness'</b></u>
Someone suggested tests to see how much different the screen brightness affects battery life. In this set of tests I used a DSTwo, 4Gb [Sandisk] Class 2 MicroSD card + v3 of Snailface's 'Battery Tester'
The 'Level Nos.' shown match the same 'Levels' on the DSTwo's 'DS_Game' launcher ( 'Start' > 'Settings' > 'Brightness' )
<ul><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 1' (Lowest): <b>7hrs 30min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 2' (Low-Mid) : <b>6hrs 00min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 3' (High-Mid): <b>4hrs 30min</b></li><li> Screen brightness set to 'Level 4' (Highest): <b>3hrs 35min</b></li></ul>
=========================================
Anyway, that's that !!! - A set of tests checking how much flashcards could affect the DS battery life.
Hope you find this info useful - 'cos I doubt there ever be another one done (Well - not by me anyway <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> )And a reminder -
If anyone does fancy having a go with a different DS/Flashcard etc - could you TRY & keep to the same 'test procedure layout' as above (& remember to post your results) as it'll give a more accurate comparison between system combinations
<div align='right'>Thanks <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yaynds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="yaynds.gif" /> </div>And now imagine the battery power used for 3DS Mode.
BTW These are just speculations especially since 3DS mode isn't hacked yet.
