I get that the calibration goes out of whack since Horizon can't keep track when linux is running, but I don't get why the actual battery life would be affected.
I suspect that the actual battery voltage was a good bit lower than the percentage would suggest, and the Switch would stop charging when it hit what it thought was 100% as a protection mechanism.
The way it's behaving though it's almost like they used a stupidly rudimentary battery management system. Pretty shocking for a modern device.
Well still if you have used something like Artic MX-4 on the SOC you would shave already at least 6º Celsius or more and you would know it would be safe for at least another 8 years...
I really doubt it. The SOC puts out what, 15W max? Even on CPU and GPUs pumping out 180+W where thermal transfer is a signficant limiting factor, it's very rare you see an 6C drop with thermal paste alone.
If at some point in the future my Switch starts running hotter than I'd like, it takes all of 10 minutes to open up. Big deal.
Yeah well the thing is some Switches are having overheating problems... Also on the PS3 you only got Ylod after most likely after warranty was over as the thermal compound is fully dry by then and was always a crap since day 1.
On intel cpus 4 example when they delid them and put liquid metal its mostly a HUGE 20Cº drop already on them.
And also even after I don't use my devices I still want them to last 4 ever (off course nothing will), but with MX-4 they have a guarantee of lasting 8 years, so you likely won't ever need to open the switch again to re-paste it other than to clean it...
Other good thing is if you can remove a lot of heat from the Switch someone reported that the fans spin less and some minor lag on Zelda goes away and saves more battery (however they also used liquid metal which makes a lot more heat transference, but its also dangerous).
you can even have a 1000watt device that will never break because of heat, the thing is if you have a 15w device and use a 10w cooler kaboom, it always require a cooler that can dissipate more watts than the device output and then the thermal compound is a huge factor specially when the cooler is designed to dissipate just around what the device put out bad thermal compound will not put enough heat transference or can dry very easily loosing most of its heat transference...
X360 4 example was a mix of not enough cooler on the GPU side and bad thermal compound, turning it off the metal was so little that the device even heats up while turning off right after playing a game and the fans stopping. PS3 was more a thermal compound problem than the actual cooler... It depends on the device.
On intel cpus 4 example when they delid them and put liquid metal its mostly a HUGE 20Cº drop already on them.
And also even after I don't use my devices I still want them to last 4 ever (off course nothing will), but with MX-4 they have a guarantee of lasting 8 years, so you likely won't ever need to open the switch again to re-paste it other than to clean it...
Other good thing is if you can remove a lot of heat from the Switch someone reported that the fans spin less and some minor lag on Zelda goes away and saves more battery (however they also used liquid metal which makes a lot more heat transference, but its also dangerous).
The watts don't mean much...
you can even have a 1000watt device that will never break because of heat, the thing is if you have a 15w device and use a 10w cooler kaboom, it always require a cooler that can dissipate more watts than the device output and then the thermal compound is a huge factor specially when the cooler is designed to dissipate just around what the device put out bad thermal compound will not put enough heat transference or can dry very easily loosing most of its heat transference...
X360 4 example was a mix of not enough cooler on the GPU side and bad thermal compound, turning it off the metal was so little that the device even heats up while turning off right after playing a game and the fans stopping. PS3 was more a thermal compound problem than the actual cooler... It depends on the device.
Last edited by guily6669,
Intel CPU is a special case. They use a shit TIM (practically functions as an insulator) between the die and heat spreader. Switch heatsink is directly on the die, so the situation is different. And we're still talking about a power profile that's ~10% of what a desktop CPU outputs. It's just not comparable at all. I'm skeptical of the heat difference. No one is measuring these directly, and placebo effect is a thing. Liquid metal may make a minor difference, but as you say, it's a lot riskier to apply. Especially in a portable device.
All of my Nintendo devices going back to 1991 are still working fine. I'm not really concerned about the longevity. At some point the battery will hold less of a charge, I can always change the TIM if/when I replace the battery.
All of my Nintendo devices going back to 1991 are still working fine. I'm not really concerned about the longevity. At some point the battery will hold less of a charge, I can always change the TIM if/when I replace the battery.
Last edited by TerraPhantm,
you can check all consoles, even the ones with best thermal compound still have a huge difference to a good normal thermal compound that you buy, not to mention liquid metal which will drop a lot on everything that its used...
And at least with MX-4 just knowing its safe for 8 years of use is a HUGE plus.
The guy on this forum that used liquid metal 4 example claim that the fan almost never speed up anymore...
A quote from him.
Also theres a video on youtube from Gamers Nexus that he see that every time the console hits around 59-60Cº theres FPS drops on Zelda, he also believe it could be due to thermals as 60Cº he was getting, was not exactly the real die temperature as we can't still get to that, when CFW comes out maybe we can finally get the thermal reading on the die, can't wait for that function and to see how much I can reduce in temps with the cooling mods I'm planning to do when the CFW comes out.
EDIT:
And to end theres also a video on youtube of a guy that made complete cooling mods on his Switch and one thing he noticed and even shows on camera is that after the mods on Zelda on the forest part there is no more stuttering or FPS drops.
On my Switch that part of the forest looks like deep shit LOL, but I'm also on V1.0, latest version improved it a lot, but still had lag and he fixed it portable with the cooling mods.
Watch at 5:30, there you have the proof of it improving things...
And he used Artic Silver 5 which by it self is worse than Artic MX-4, but he also did other mods like adding thermal pads and some minor stuff.
ps: This is the reason why since you already open the console to remove the battery plug, just also use propper thermal compound and it will only improve everything a lot with not much money needed...
Last edited by guily6669,
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I pretty much agree on this. I'm building my own Linux rootfs at this moment, just to determine if kombos' image is at fault here.
I can confirm this as well.
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I've just had my Switch open and disconnected the battery and held down the power button for about a minute. Let's see if that'll fix my issue.
This is Nintendo. Shockingly rudimentary is basically a design goal for them.
If anyone still needs something to try for their battery level you can try the following.
Warning: It could maybe damage the battery by draining the battery so low.
First disable automatic sleep.
Load a game like BoTW that will utilize more power from the system and let it "die".
Turn the Switch back on and do it again. If it repeats quickly, turn it back on and load something like Stern Pinball (free demo) that does not drain the battery as fast.
Select the Frankenstein Machine and do the same thing as BoTW (dont need to play).
Proceed to do this until the Switch will not power on by itself.
Plug your charger into the bottom of the switch until you see the nintendo logo then unplug it. If it dies as soon as you unplug it, charge your switch and start over, otherwise continue.
Let the Switch sit on the home menu and slow drain as much remaining % as possible, then repeat these last two steps.
Maybe not clear but that's how I've been resetting mine. Can take a while sometimes (aka multiple passes).
Warning: It could maybe damage the battery by draining the battery so low.
First disable automatic sleep.
Load a game like BoTW that will utilize more power from the system and let it "die".
Turn the Switch back on and do it again. If it repeats quickly, turn it back on and load something like Stern Pinball (free demo) that does not drain the battery as fast.
Select the Frankenstein Machine and do the same thing as BoTW (dont need to play).
Proceed to do this until the Switch will not power on by itself.
Plug your charger into the bottom of the switch until you see the nintendo logo then unplug it. If it dies as soon as you unplug it, charge your switch and start over, otherwise continue.
Let the Switch sit on the home menu and slow drain as much remaining % as possible, then repeat these last two steps.
Maybe not clear but that's how I've been resetting mine. Can take a while sometimes (aka multiple passes).
It will. Had many people try this already, just waiting to hear if it comes back after using Linux again since I can't replicate the issue at all.
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Yup, down to 30% and it didn't turn off this time. I'll try running Linux once it's fully charged again to see if it has any effect now.
Well it just is as Artic MX-4 even though is similar to artic silver 5 in temps (some cases can make like a 1 Cº difference for MX-4, on the Switch the difference would probably be like 0.5 Cº or less maybe so both are practically the same), but Artic silver 5 don't guarantee 8 years of life and for that and other reasons MX-4 is far better.
Even older MX-3 is also better (8 years guarantee too) and the best is both MX3\MX4 dont require curing time and its 100% safe non conductive while AS5 is electrically capacitive even though not conductive therefore are not exactly 100% safe and need curing time from 50 to 200 hours...
Oh and some ppl say MX-4 is not for OC lol while my I7 2600K is at 4.9ghz on air which 99.9% of ppl dont get even close to that (call it lucky lottery on the CPU but I guess my MX-4 is also doing its OC job pretty good).
ps: There are betters, but I have used Artic MX2, MX3 and MX4 and will stick with the latest MX-4, though off course nothing come close to liquid metal compounds for copper coolers.
Last edited by guily6669,
I think switch can recalibrate itself. There is a guide by Nintendo for People who are on 3.0 I charged mine to 100% (It stucked on 95%) now it is down to 75% instantly, so I asume it recalibrated himself.
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Using my own compiled coreboot + kernel + rootfs didn't yield positive results. My Switch is yet again displaying the battery discharge issue. Funnily enough, I thought for a second that I damaged the right Joy-Con rail pins or the USB-C port, or that I shorted some pins I shouldn't have, because I wasn't being able to enter RCM, and my laptop was instead making the Horizon OS boot. I was beginning to worry when I noticed the battery problem yet again.
@Shadow LAG Since I've been able to replicate the issue not once, but twice, using different rootfs, are there any kind of tests you may to perform? Just let me know.
