Hardware Battery degradation

[ReDEyeDz]

Honestly, battery degradation is the only thing that keeps me from buying Switch. I know that it might sound strange to a lot of people, but I'm very preoccupied with this thought.

Every single phone's battery (you can also add many laptops here as well) that I had in like past 15-20 years went to crap in a few years (or even faster in some cases). Knowing that Switch battery is not changeable is a big dealbreaker to me. I love how you can easily change battery in n3ds, but not here. I know Nintendo offer battery change, but first it would cost a lot, second it's very hard to find official nintendo stores around where I am and third I won't be able to do it if I possibly install custom firmware in the future.

Switch is relatively new console and not many people can answer me tho.
Should I be bothered by it? Battery life is not that great in the first place and if it goes like 15% down every year its would be very sad.

 

[Retrojunkies]

my switch when i used to play it drained pretty fast, also noted it seemed to loose charge when plugged in and docked.

 

[FAST6191]

Mechanically speaking it is not that hard to change the battery on a switch -- it is not buried deep and soldered in. I don't think they are gated with an EEPROM or serial paired or anything like that but that is a largely solved problem as well (plenty of tools, laptops, phones and even the humble PSP went here before).

Custom batteries are also getting somewhat easier to make, though I am not sure when the shift will be and exactly how it will play out. That said I would look at something like PCB manufacture today vs it in the 80s and 90s.
Equally if some of the leaps in battery tech happen as some predict then it will be even more incentive to allow things to be retrofitted -- right now I can design circuits to sit in front of NiCd charge controllers to in turn make it so it charges lithium properly and presents itself to the system as NiCd but the space it takes up leaves me with a tiny Lithium cell and it is not really worth it. If the energy density shoots up not all that much more then even with a big controller/adapter (which will probably also shrink) it might still be able to produce a runtime people can live with, if not outright improve on them, and be a drop in replacement.

I completely get the concern and had this been 5 years ago you would have been correct to worry, you may still be as it could be a few more years yet before easy custom drop in cells appear at your door or some bored engineering inclined person can get them spat out by a factory but if this is more the "I want to pull it out of a box in 15 years and play" then don't.

 

[ReDEyeDz]

I completely get the concern and had this been 5 years ago you would have been correct to worry, you may still be as it could be a few more years yet before easy custom drop in cells appear at your door or some bored engineering inclined person can get them spat out by a factory but if this is more the "I want to pull it out of a box in 15 years and play" then don't.

Nah, I'm not talking about a big life span, but just average usage of something like 4-5 years. Also knowing Nintendo there MOST LIKELY going to be a lot of big revisions into the future.

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my switch when i used to play it drained pretty fast

How fast? I'm very concerned as I'm going to use it mostly in handheld mode.

 

[FAST6191]

The inevitable Switch lite, especially if they do follow Nvidia's embedded hardware path, is something of a concern for many I speak to and may be bigger than any of the previous shifts (SP, lite, XL, n3ds). I don't know that I have seen the GOTY mindset (wait a year for that version which has all the DLC, patches and more) applied to hardware before but it makes some sense here.

The question then becomes do you have too few games to play now (hard to imagine but depending upon your tastes you may)? Are there any Switch games that are likely to die out in the future (either because they are online or because your friends will no longer want to play them) or become super super rare (such things rarely get cheap for Nintendo systems but at the same time they can usually still be had)? Are there any Switch games that you want to do the Switch for-- I have a laptop if I want to play Skyrim on the train but for some it represents something, even if it is a bit nerfed)?

 

[Retrojunkies]

Nah, I'm not talking about a big life span, but just average usage of something like 4-5 years. Also knowing Nintendo there MOST LIKELY going to be a lot of big revisions into the future.

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How fast? I'm very concerned as I'm going to use it mostly in handheld mode.

playing BOTW lasted aprox 1-2 hours on a full charge, im sure fans will quote (as they do) defending, some in other posts claimed to get 3+ hours in portable mode playing BOTW which is ??? utter BS.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I'm sure they will make a battery extending accessory attachment like they did for 3DS

UPDATE: They did. But I was joking!

 

[ReDEyeDz]

playing BOTW lasted aprox 1-2 hours on a full charge, im sure fans will quote (as they do) defending, some in other posts claimed to get 3+ hours in portable mode playing BOTW which is ??? utter BS.

This indeed sounds different from the what I heard before with aforementioned 3+ hours. 1-2 is almost nothing.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

playing BOTW lasted aprox 1-2 hours on a full charge, im sure fans will quote (as they do) defending, some in other posts claimed to get 3+ hours in portable mode playing BOTW which is ??? utter BS.

3 hours seems about right. I get at least 2.5 hours of continuous BotW before I get the low battery warning. It's not a lot, but it's just about good enough. I don't get more than like 4 hours on the 3DS and that's a much less powerful system.

Honestly, battery degradation is the only thing that keeps me from buying Switch. I know that it might sound strange to a lot of people, but I'm very preoccupied with this thought.

Every single phone's battery (you can also add many laptops here as well) that I had in like past 15-20 years went to crap in a few years (or even faster in some cases). Knowing that Switch battery is not changeable is a big dealbreaker to me. I love how you can easily change battery in n3ds, but not here. I know Nintendo offer battery change, but first it would cost a lot, second it's very hard to find official nintendo stores around where I am and third I won't be able to do it if I possibly install custom firmware in the future.

Switch is relatively new console and not many people can answer me tho.
Should I be bothered by it? Battery life is not that great in the first place and if it goes like 15% down every year its would be very sad.

The battery is pretty easy to replace. Unscrew the back, remove the metal shield and the battery is immediately visible. I don't think it's soldered in either.
Getting 1st party replacement batteries might be an issue though... I don't trust 3rd party batteries.

 

[8BitWonder]

It's not impossible to change the battery. You just need to do a little more digging than you would with a 3DS or phone.


That being said, I understand if even this seems too much of a hassle to do for battery replacement.

 

[Retrojunkies]

This indeed sounds different from the what I heard before with aforementioned 3+ hours. 1-2 is almost nothing.

thats all i get out of mine, even when its docked and fully charged it loses battery power.

to be fair i even had joycon issues and nintendo refused to respond.

 

[ReDEyeDz]

It's not impossible to change the battery. You just need to do a little more digging than you would with a 3DS or phone.


That being said, I understand if even this seems too much of a hassle to do for battery replacement.

You still need to find a battery to change and it's not that easy.

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thats all i get out of mine, even when its docked and fully charged it loses battery power.

to be fair i even had joycon issues and nintendo refused to respond.

Is your switch from the early shipments?

 

[Kioku]

thats all i get out of mine, even when its docked and fully charged it loses battery power.

to be fair i even had joycon issues and nintendo refused to respond.

I'd get 2.5-3 hours on a full charge. Granted that's with airplane mode. Sounds like you drew the short straw with this one.

My first switch had an issue with speakers and Nintendo replaced it. Makes me wonder.

 

[Issac]

I've gotten 3+ hours at least from playing BOTW. Remember that it have to do with screen brightness, audio volume, wifi being on or off, ambient temperature I think (and maybe humidity?), and so on.

My controllers were fully charged and didn't drain anything extra from my switch while playing handheld, and my screen brightness was at a comfortable level (not the darkest).

Also, Retro above has had a lot of bad luck with his switch, since he's had every problem that has been reported. His switch isn't the norm.

 

[J-Machine]

You still need to find a battery to change and it's not that easy.

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Is your switch from the early shipments?

that video is literally from the store that sells the batteries...
http://www.cameronsino.com/batterylist.aspx?categoryid=109

 

[ReDEyeDz]

that video is literally from the store that sells the batteries...
http://www.cameronsino.com/batterylist.aspx?categoryid=109

Yes, I know, it's also not very cheap, plus shipment price to europe, plus you need to void your warranty disassembling switch, etc
Thats what I would call "not that easy"

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I've gotten 3+ hours at least from playing BOTW. Remember that it have to do with screen brightness, audio volume, wifi being on or off, ambient temperature I think (and maybe humidity?), and so on.

My controllers were fully charged and didn't drain anything extra from my switch while playing handheld, and my screen brightness was at a comfortable level (not the darkest).

Also, Retro above has had a lot of bad luck with his switch, since he's had every problem that has been reported. His switch isn't the norm.

That gives me hope.
Is there much changes to newer switch shipments compared to preorders and older versions?

 

[Issac]

Yes, I know, it's also not very cheap, plus shipment price to europe, plus you need to void your warranty disassembling switch, etc
Thats what I would call "not that easy"

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That gives me hope.
Is there much changes to newer switch shipments compared to preorders and older versions?

I wouldn't know, I have a launch day Switch.

The only trouble I have, which have been fixed in newer versions, is the connectivity issues on the left joycon. If you're walking in one direction for example, and then hold the left joycon under your leg or under the covers or something, it will think your still pressing some button when you've let go. It's like you can accidentally shield it by hiding it or holding it. But the issue is actually smaller than it sounds, at least for me and the way I play.

 

[naddel81]

I have a spare switch here unopened. should I take it and charge it every few months?

 

[Kioku]

Yes, I know, it's also not very cheap, plus shipment price to europe, plus you need to void your warranty disassembling switch, etc
Thats what I would call "not that easy"

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That gives me hope.
Is there much changes to newer switch shipments compared to preorders and older versions?

As someone who had a day 1 system and bought another a few weeks ago? No.

 

[Dimensional]

I'm sure they will make a battery extending accessory attachment like they did for 3DS

UPDATE: They did. But I was joking!

And who of us backed this accessory on IndieGoGo?