Hardware what the hell happened to my switch?

[gnmmarechal]

I think discord tells us what happened there...

 

[SonyUSA]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

 

[Kioku]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

This makes the most sense.

 

[VinsCool]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

Nicely observed. That does make a lot of sense, considering that battery leaking usually make a "foam" puddle, and not just something white.

 

[Kioku]

Nicely observed. That does make a lot of sense, considering that battery leaking usually make a "foam" puddle, and not just something white.

Not to mention that battery leaks usually tend to lead to an unusable device.

 

[SonyUSA]

Not to mention that battery leaks usually tend to lead to an unusable device.

At that viscosity (nearly water-like) it would have had to have completely covered the internal components for it to have flowed to the opposite end of the device and leaked out, which would fry it if you tried to turn it on.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

So you suggest it is actually nail polish thinner/solvent.
That is actually quite plausible.
That would explain why the outer side of the plastic is damaged, and why the Switch still works.
I doubt it would still work if the battery was so damaged as to leak.
The battery would be dead so it shouldn't turn on and the acid should have come from the insides, destroying all the electronics.
In the other hand, if the "solvent" liquid came from the outside, and produced damage only on the outside, well... That would seem more fitting.

 

[smileyhead]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

And it would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for this meddling kid.

 

[TheRedfox]

Another mystery solved! Time for a Scooby-Snack!

 

[NekoMichi]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

Makes sense. And the acetone would have evaporated in minutes, leaving no liquid trace on the wood of the table.

 

[SonyUSA]

Makes sense. And the acetone would have evaporated in minutes, leaving no liquid trace on the wood of the table.

There is some warping of the wood from liquid damage, the camera flash highlights it, but that may have been from a previous spill.

 

[sarkwalvein]

And it would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for this meddling kid.

 

[Deleted User]

Makes sense. And the acetone would have evaporated in minutes, leaving no liquid trace on the wood of the table.

honestly, at this point this is much more logical than the battery leaking,

because the bottle was on it's side, i have cats so one could have sat on it to cause pressure for it to leak
the system powered on just fine and didn't short immediately
the microSD card was completely unnafected

 

[NekoMichi]

Dried acetone traces aren't supposed to irritate the skin though. Maybe it could've been some byproduct of the chemical reaction between the acetone and the Nintendium.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Dried acetone traces aren't supposed to irritate the skin though. Maybe it could've been some byproduct of the chemical reaction between the acetone and the Nintendium.

But the Super Alloy N made out of Nintendium should be indestructible!

 

[SG854]

This is actually a lot of fun. Its like solving a murder mystery. But with a Switch.

What damaged his Switch? Tune in to GBATemp to find out.

 

[SonyUSA]

Dried acetone traces aren't supposed to irritate the skin though. Maybe it could've been some byproduct of the chemical reaction between the acetone and the Nintendium.

People can have skin reactions/hives/itchiness from water if they are mentally preparing for it to be caustic... in other words, it could have been a psychosomatic reaction

 

[The Real Jdbye]

This is amazing tbh.
The white chemical contained in the outer layer of your LiPo battery prevented a fire by preventing the oxygen from reacting with the lithium, but this only happens when the battery doesn't have room to release gasses when damaged and just builds up pressure against the weakest point(where it probably popped). Very interesting the battery of your switch didn't swell up first, or that nintendo maybe designed the battery this way.

Overall this only happens in RC toys and bigger appliances, smaller devices just inflate and customers will notice the damage before it becomes hazardous

Nintendo is going to send you a special shipping kit with a fireproof bag, or send a courier which will handle the fireproof packaging for you.

There isn't actually that much lithium in modern batteries, it's trace amounts that won't cause a major reaction.
What does cause a major reaction is when the intervals of the battery short out due to one thing or another, which causes it to release all it's energy at once, in the form of heat.

Lmao! Don't bother trying to return it, this isn't covered by Nintendo. Clean your room bud.

It's fairly tidy, you should see my mess.

lol ikr it only took 6 pages for someone to actually point that out.

I didn't even notice at first because it's become the norm for me

 

[smileyhead]

But the Super Alloy N made out of Nintendium should be indestructible!

Nothing and no one can be invincible. That's against the rules.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Third photo, at the top, that nail polish remover you have laying on it's side leaked (probably loose cap) and got under the Switch, where it sat for 2 days (see chat log) and ate away at the plastic. The white'ish color and flecks of white are from the dissolved paint from the lettering and plastic mixed together. If it was the battery it would have leaked out from the vent under the battery, but that side of the Switch is totally fine. Liquid got into the kickstand area from capillary action. Case closed, my dear Watson.

That sounds plausible. I have seen first hand the effects of acetone on plastic. It basically dissolves part of it into a pool and would leave colored residue like that shown in the picture. Some kinds of plastic are vulnerable, others aren't, but I've never seen battery acid make cracks like that, so acetone is more likely.
I do have to mention though that there isn't actually a gap underneath the battery-side air vent. The nearest gap is the one on the opposite air vent, which you can see on this picture from iFixit:

So if the battery did leak, that would be the most likely escape route. Not sure how it would get under the stand though, since there is no gap for it to escape through there...

At that viscosity (nearly water-like) it would have had to have completely covered the internal components for it to have flowed to the opposite end of the device and leaked out, which would fry it if you tried to turn it on.

It would only fry if the liquid actually conducts electricity. Water on its own is not a very good electrical conductor, but tap water conducts electricity due to the minerals in it. I don't know about battery acid though.

So you suggest it is actually nail polish thinner/solvent.
That is actually quite plausible.
That would explain why the outer side of the plastic is damaged, and why the Switch still works.
I doubt it would still work if the battery was so damaged as to leak.
The battery would be dead so it shouldn't turn on and the acid should have come from the insides, destroying all the electronics.
In the other hand, if the "solvent" liquid came from the outside, and produced damage only on the outside, well... That would seem more fitting.

The thing is, the battery would continue to work as long as there is charge left in it and the protection circuit doesn't trip. And the protection circuit would only trip under certain conditions such as overvoltage, undervoltage, overtemperature and overcharge. So I don't think that alone is reason enough to think it's not battery acid. It's hard to tell at this point but the acetone theory seems the most likely.