Hacking The ultimate 'DS Battery Test' thread in the world......

[Terminator02]

you should have reserved a post for it, but I guess you could just make a super long post

my vote is yes, because this must be "the ultimate 'DS Battery Test' thread in the world"

 

[CannonFoddr]

you should have reserved a post for it, but I guess you could just make a super long post

my vote is yes, because this must be "the ultimate 'DS Battery Test' thread in the world"

Well - I originally wasn't planning to have the older results in this post otherwise I would've reserved a slot - but I guess I could always put those in a spoiler

 

[GammaRay]

Not to necro a three week old thread, but it's full of great information on batter lifetimes. I recently got a SC DSTWO to supplant my now old R4DS (a real one). Its battery life is definitely less, but not as long (to be expected with the CPU onboard). Since I seldom play on max brightness or with the sound on, I thought I'd contribute my numbers for those that similarly play on lower light levels.

So, this is Brightness 2 of 4, no volume. Idle on my Mario Kart DS cartridge, since the demos are frequent and require polygon rendering, which I figured would be a decent representation.

Retail Cart: 10h 59m
R4DS: 8h 26m
SCDS2 [Patch Mode]: 6h 12m
SCDS2 [Clean Mode]: 7h 12m

Clean mode seems to drain notably less, which is nice to know and will result in less pounding of my battery. I was hoping for life as good as the R4, which has led me to wonder about using an Ak2i, especially thanks to this thread here. Not too keen on the way the SCDS2 fits too snugly into the slot, and the spring-loaded SD slot. It is an undeniably flexible unit, though.

 

[CannonFoddr]

@Gammaray: Thanks for those results,
I would add them to the first post but for one thing....
... one small bit of info is missing (or perhaps there's more) - What did you test them on ??.... DSPhat/Lite/DSi[XL] or 3DS ??

If it was a 3DS - what was the resultion used as well would be handy ??

 

[NES SNES V.B. N64 G.C. Wii WiiU]

@Gammaray: Thanks for those results,
I would add them to the first post but for one thing....
... one small bit of info is missing (or perhaps there's more) - What did you test them on ??.... DSPhat/Lite/DSi[XL] or 3DS ??

If it was a 3DS - what was the resultion used as well would be handy ??

Judging on the fact he said brightness 2 of 4 I would say DS Lite, as the phat has 2 settings, and the DSi/XL/3DS has 5 settings. Plus those resultts seem to good to be for anything else but the DS Lite.

 

[CannonFoddr]

@Gammaray: Thanks for those results,
I would add them to the first post but for one thing....
... one small bit of info is missing (or perhaps there's more) - What did you test them on ??.... DSPhat/Lite/DSi[XL] or 3DS ?

Judging on the fact he said brightness 2 of 4 I would say DS Lite, as the phat has 2 settings, and the DSi/XL/3DS has 5 settings. Plus those results seem to good to be for anything else but the DS Lite.

I would tend to agree (although I wasn't too sure how many levels the 3DS has) - but it's always best to check, because if you look at Snailface results for the 3DS tests he did - he got figures 'slightly less' than GammaRay (true - the DSTwo was using Homebrew & not a ROM)

Spoiler

Snailface results:
R4iDS (original, r4ids.cn): 7hrs10mins
DStwo + snailface's battery timer (3ds version)*: 6hr35min

Gammarays results:
R4DS: 8h 26m
SCDS2 [Patch Mode]: 6h 12m
SCDS2 [Clean Mode]: 7h 12m

 

[GammaRay]

My apologies for not stating what it was. USA Black DS Lite, 2006 vintage.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Many Thanks for that
- I've now changed the 'Test Results from older thread' section to 'Contributed Test Results' and added yours to that section

 

[caribou007]

I'm curious, does Snailface's battery testing app simulate SD card reads that would be taking place during normal gameplay? Since this is done by the flashcard's own hardware, isn't there a chance it could be a factor?

 

[CannonFoddr]

I'm curious, does Snailface's battery testing app simulate SD card reads that would be taking place during normal gameplay? Since this is done by the flashcard's own hardware, isn't there a chance it could be a factor?

The only person who can tell you that is Snailface... but IMHO I would guess that it DOES access the SD card on a regular basic since it has to record the time it's been running

The way I assume that it works is that when you start it, it 'writes' a file to the SD card, & every second it runs it updates that file by re-writing to it...
However, I believe a game doesn't 'write' to a memory card on a regular basis - only when the player 'saves' his game - although a game does 'read' information regularly

Whether a 'reading' used more battery power than 'writing' - or if 'reading' is done in a random access mode while the writing is 'sequential' & that uses more power - I honestly don't know..
...that is why I did 2 different set of tests (one with a game & one with homebrew) - so that any1 can see the difference & make their own conclusion

 

[Snailface]

I'm curious, does Snailface's battery testing app simulate SD card reads that would be taking place during normal gameplay? Since this is done by the flashcard's own hardware, isn't there a chance it could be a factor?

The only person who can tell you that is Snailface... but IMHO I would guess that it DOES access the SD card on a regular basic since it has to record the time it's been running

The way I assume that it works is that when you start it, it 'writes' a file to the SD card, & every second it runs it updates that file by re-writing to it...
However, I believe a game doesn't 'write' to a memory card on a regular basis - only when the player 'saves' his game - although a game does 'read' information regularly

Whether a 'reading' used more battery power than 'writing' - or if 'reading' is done in a random access mode while the writing is 'sequential' & that uses more power - I honestly don't know..
...that is why I did 2 different set of tests (one with a game & one with homebrew) - so that any1 can see the difference & make their own conclusion

My app is mostly CPU intensive (video on both screens + MP3 streaming) but it is not SD write intensive (the MP3 streaming is read intensive though). It writes a single numerical variable to the SD every 5 minutes (this is to avoid damaging the card with unnecessarily frequent card overwrites over 15 or so hours). I figures once per 5 minutes is accurate enough for the purpose of this application.

The app is really meant to test the battery performance of a flashcard under normal circumstances (ie playing a rom) and really not to gauge the effect of different SD cards on battery life. That, of course, would be possible to measure; but under the DSGM environment that would be difficult as writing files to the SD isn't a native function of DSGM.

In short, if you're interested in comparing the effect microSD writing has on battery life, you need to look elsewhere.

 

[Nathanaël]

Are there any known test results for the new 3DS versions of DSN & Gold? It'd be nice if it would be possible to compare them with Acekard now.

 

[jimmyemunoz]

I vote for the R4i Gold 3DS having the best results in a: Acekard 2i vs. R4iDSN vs. R4i Gold 3DS, SnailFace battery timer match? It's the winner in my mind, unless someone proves me wrong? Anyone disagree?

 

[CannonFoddr]

Are there any known test results for the new 3DS versions of DSN & Gold? It'd be nice if it would be possible to compare them with Acekard now.

If anyone posts them - I'll add them, but I can't as I don't own those cards

I vote for the R4i Gold 3DS having the best results in a: Acekard 2i vs. R4iDSN vs. R4i Gold 3DS, SnailFace battery timer match? It's the winner in my mind, unless someone proves me wrong? Anyone disagree?

I didn't know I put a voting poll on the thread but if you can supply suitable results to back up your claim, I'll post them & let others decide

 

[jimmyemunoz]

I have two of the cards and I just might do it. By the way, Cannon good work as always. I enjoyed reading this thread and find the information interesting to say the least. It's hard to believe your dedication to this project. GBAtemp should be thrilled your on their side. I can't wait to see what else you've got up your sleeve! Thanks Cannon

 

[Janthran]

QUOTE(aminemaster @ Apr 16 2011, 04:47 PM)
whoa it took a long time didn't it?

it's weird people say flashcarts drain more power...

Well, some do.

The DSTwo does because of the addition CPU or whatever it is. I guess that iEvo and the iPlayer do the same. It's not a huge difference.

But.. The DSTwo had a longer life than the Acekard, when it was just running the timer.

 

[CannonFoddr]

I can't wait to see what else you've got up your sleeve! Thanks Cannon

Well - you have a long wait. Not got anything (as detailed as this) planned...

But.. The DSTwo had a longer life than the Acekard, when it was just running the timer.

???? not according to the results in first post IIRC.....hang on I'll check.....

Ak2i + Battery Life timer v1.1: 8hrs 18mins
DSTwo + Battery Life timer v1.1: 8hrs 06mins

Nope that's not it... maybe in the 'contributed results'.....

DSPhat test.... No test results​

DSLite tests.... Nope - DS2 lasted less time​

DSi test.... Nope - same again DS2 lasted less time​

DSI XL results.... no test results​

Ah ! here we are - 3DS results.....

AK2i + snailface's battery timer (3ds version)* :6hr20min Brightness 1, Power Saving ON, Volume 50%, Native Resolution ON (256X192)​

DStwo + snailface's battery timer (3ds version)*: 6hr35min Brightness 1, Power Saving ON, Volume 50%, Resolution (320X240)​

well - OK, the DS2 IS longer than the Acekard in this particular test result - but notice that these tests were done @ different resolutions (can't remember but maybe also on different 3DS systems EDIT: checked through the posts - they WERE on the same system.) Could it be that running @ native resolution actually uses MORE power ????
Might be nice to re-check these results

 

[eliter1]

I kept hearing that the DSTWO would lower my battery life dramatically but I guess it doesn't, now I will probably buy one since my Acecard2i is a little bit up.

 

[tl2e3le4f]

Hi everyone. Thank you so much CannonFoddr for making this thread and doing all these tests. And also thank you Snailface for contributing some tests for the 3DS. I had a question about the 3DS tests specifically because I have one and want to purchase one of the flash carts but I don't know which one. The most important thing to me is battery life and in Snailface's tests it looks like R4i Gold had the best results:

3DS
> R4iDS (original, r4ids.cn): 7hrs10mins
> AK2i + snailface's battery timer (3ds version)* :6hr20min
> DStwo + snailface's battery timer (3ds version)*: 6hr35min

DS Lite
> AK2i + DS Battery Life Timer v2.0: 8hr 16min
>DSTwo + DS Battery Life Timer v1.1: 8Hrs 06mins
>R4i Gold + DS Battery Life Timer v1.1: 4hrs 44mins

However in the DS Lite's tests, the R4i Gold ranks one of the lowest in battery life, even less than DSTwo which I thought drains battery faster because of the CPU. Is this a flaw in the tests or just because the 3DS and DS Lite are different? I just want to confirm which flashcart has the best battery life for my 3DS.

 

[Snailface]

The R4iGold test on the dslite must have an anomaly. All of my experiences with the r4iGold have been excellent as far as battery life goes -- on any system. Its certainly better than the DStwo and the AK2i is disqualified due to lack of support and technical limitations (perma blocked on 3ds).

Hope that helps, and thanks for the kind words ^^