Ever since the Switch was released my friend and i were very disappointed about battery life we ordered extended battery cases that made the switch twice as heavy but it was just not a good solution overall.

So I ordered 2 NEW OEM Switch batteries from ebay,charged both to 100% and soldered the positive-negative together to run them in parallel then cut the metal shield with scissors and cut the back cover with a plexy glass cutter to glue one battery on top of the other and covered the exposed battery with vinyl

The switch weights 476 grams vs the original 398 grams the battery last 5:30 to 6:00 gaming and it takes about 6 hours to charge thats the only downside.

 

[SirNapkin1334]

Not the best solution, I don't like stuff hanging out if it isn't covered by hard plastic, but still good. But, does it fit in the dock?

 

[Migoma]

How are you balancing them?

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/bu_803a_cell_mismatch_balancing
A battery expert once said: “I have not seen a cell balancing circuit that works.”

When one battery has more voltage that the other one that it shouldn't but happens because thermal difference or battery degradation or etc the higher voltage battery charges the lower voltage battery

You meant how did I matched them ? I didn't just bought 2 New ones that's the best I could do without a battery production line and tools

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Not the best solution, I don't like stuff hanging out if it isn't covered by hard plastic, but still good. But, does it fit in the dock?

Yeah I covered the battery just didn't post pic it doesn't fit I use a usb c extension

 

[The Real Jdbye]

A better solution would be to find a thicker battery with the same voltage and a similar width and height so it will fit without obstructing the fan or requiring you to cut part or the heatsink, and using that instead.
It's easy to find lipos in various sizes and capacities online (mainly for RC use but also replacement batteries for tablets, laptops and similar)

 

[HamBone41801]

When one battery has more voltage that the other one that it shouldn't but happens because thermal difference or battery degradation or etc the higher voltage battery charges the lower voltage battery

at least he's confident. he's gonna blow a battery, but he's confident.

 

[gameboy]

Couldn't you have just bought a power bank? They go for $20 for really good ones

 

[FAST6191]

When one battery has more voltage that the other one that it shouldn't but happens because thermal difference or battery degradation or etc the higher voltage battery charges the lower voltage battery

Which would be fine if it had a management chip, however here you have an almost 0 Ohm link and a potential difference of half a volt at times. That makes for a very large I in V=IR thing and that ain't good.

You meant how did I matched them ? I didn't just bought 2 New ones that's the best I could do without a battery production line and tools

You don't have a voltmeter, a camera (video or time lapse)/or a stop watch if you are really hard pressed, and a means to create a load?

 

[gameboy]

Which would be fine if it had a management chip, however here you have an almost 0 Ohm link and a potential difference of half a volt at times. That makes for a very large I in V=IR thing and that ain't good.



You don't have a voltmeter, a camera (video or time lapse)/or a stop watch if you are really hard pressed, and a means to create a load?

Hopefully it "doesnt" explode all over his nuts when he's playing, leaking toxic acids into his flesh pouch

 

[Deleted User]

Im considering something like this for my vita
Battery life is already great but i want more
And i have a few dedicated charging chips that can tell you the individual battery levels as well as be on the same supply
Only issue i would have is they would need to be charged with a seporate port
The vita has tge accessory port thats unused so it should be pretty easy

 

[BvanBart]

This is without a regulator a bomb waiting to explode.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Hopefully it "doesnt" explode all over his nuts when he's playing, leaking toxic acids into his flesh pouch

I wouldn't be worried about it exploding over his nuts. Probably it wouldn't damage much and he will be able to notice it, quickly clean himself and stop the fire, etc.
Now if it ignites while he is sleeping and his house catches fire, that's a different story.

 

[gameboy]

I wouldn't be worried about it exploding over his nuts. Probably it wouldn't damage much and he will be able to notice it, quickly clean himself and stop the fire, etc.
Now if it ignites while he is sleeping and his house catches fire, that's a different story.

somewhere down the line we'll probably hear a story about how someone modded his switch battery and something bad happened, and it'll be the OP

 

[Migoma]

Which would be fine if it had a management chip, however here you have an almost 0 Ohm link and a potential difference of half a volt at times. That makes for a very large I in V=IR thing and that ain't good.



You don't have a voltmeter, a camera (video or time lapse)/or a stop watch if you are really hard pressed, and a means to create a load?

Of course I have a voltmeter I did measure the batteries to the best of my knowledge I just don't see this as a big deal after using my vita with different batteries in parallel I think batteries start exploding in series parallel usually just kill them.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

somewhere down the line we'll probably hear a story about how someone modded his switch battery and something bad happened, and it'll be the OP

Right lol I'll let you guys know if I burn my nuts haha

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Im considering something like this for my vita
Battery life is already great but i want more
And i have a few dedicated charging chips that can tell you the individual battery levels as well as be on the same supply
Only issue i would have is they would need to be charged with a seporate port
The vita has tge accessory port thats unused so it should be pretty easy

I put a cellphone battery in parallel to my vita years ago and for the most part it worked fine but the battery level reading was messed up due to the smaller capacity battery discharging faster never overheat or nonthin it did take a while to charge

 

[gallymimu]

Ever since the Switch was released my friend and i were very disappointed about battery life we ordered extended battery cases that made the switch twice as heavy but it was just not a good solution overall.

So I ordered 2 NEW OEM Switch batteries from ebay,charged both to 100% and soldered the positive-negative together to run them in parallel then cut the metal shield with scissors and cut the back cover with a plexy glass cutter to glue one battery on top of the other and covered the exposed battery with vinyl

The switch weights 476 grams vs the original 398 grams the battery last 5:30 to 6:00 gaming and it takes about 6 hours to charge thats the only downside.

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I just wanted to pop in here OP.

Most of the advice you are getting about battery risk, management circuits, and balancing and just plain wrong. It's pretty clear they are all enthusiasts not engineers.

I don't want to get into a big flame war but:

small numbers of LiIon batteries in series and parallel work just fine.

Parallel is the easiest because:

LiIon charging is a dual step process, initially current limited (you are limited to a charge capacity defined by Nintendo to be suitable for one cell). You will never charge either battery too hard as you can't be above 100% recommended charge current per battery.

LiIon charging at the second stage (above about 85-90% is voltage limited to about 4.2V depending on the chemistry and charge profile. This is also ideal for parallel charging, as, both batteries will be topped off.

If the batteries are missmached you'll get one charging a little more than the other, but who cares? You'll get one discharging a little more than the other, but again who cares? You can't over-discharge, you can't overcharge, and the inherent drop in output voltage and internal impedance HELP keep the cells balanced as you charge and discharge.

As someone who frequently DESIGNS battery circuits for MEDICAL DEVICES. I don't think you are doing anything that will cause harm or damage.

That said. here comes the disclaimer. LiIon batteries are high density energy devices, they are dangerous. I don't know exactly what you did and if you did something wrong you can hurt yourself or cause the batteries to overheat, explode, or ignite. Be careful. Be trained. The advice above lacks context and should not serve as reason or justification to do what you are doing.

Re, the guy who said balancing circuits don't work: Balancing circuits are generally only needed with series cells and with 3ish cells or more. They do work, and they work well. There are many techniques. By saying they don't work, the person may have meant that you never get PERFECT cell performance and still approach the performance of the worst cell for the whole pack, but balancing definitely extends the life and capacity of series based battery packs.

 

[Migoma]

I just wanted to pop in here OP.

Most of the advice you are getting about battery risk, management circuits, and balancing and just plain wrong. It's pretty clear they are all enthusiasts not engineers.

I don't want to get into a big flame war but:

small numbers of LiIon batteries in series and parallel work just fine.

Parallel is the easiest because:

LiIon charging is a dual step process, initially current limited (you are limited to a charge capacity defined by Nintendo to be suitable for one cell). You will never charge either battery too hard as you can't be above 100% recommended charge current per battery.

LiIon charging at the second stage (above about 85-90% is voltage limited to about 4.2V depending on the chemistry and charge profile. This is also ideal for parallel charging, as, both batteries will be topped off.

If the batteries are missmached you'll get one charging a little more than the other, but who cares? You'll get one discharging a little more than the other, but again who cares? You can't over-discharge, you can't overcharge, and the inherent drop in output voltage and internal impedance HELP keep the cells balanced as you charge and discharge.

As someone who frequently DESIGNS battery circuits for MEDICAL DEVICES. I don't think you are doing anything that will cause harm or damage.

That said. here comes the disclaimer. LiIon batteries are high density energy devices, they are dangerous. I don't know exactly what you did and if you did something wrong you can hurt yourself or cause the batteries to overheat, explode, or ignite. Be careful be trained. The advice above lacks context and should not serve as reason or justification to do what you are doing.

Re, the guy who said balancing circuits don't work: Balancing circuits are generally only needed with series cells and with 3ish cells or more. They do work, and they work well. There are many techniques. By saying they don't work they may have meant that you never get PERFECT cell performance and still approach the performace of the worst cell for the whole pack, but balancing definitely extends the life and capacity of series based battery packs.

Thanks I Know this doesn't justify what I'm doing I did a lot of research reading forums what not and that's why I went ahead this route because I know there's minimal risk of fireworks I know the batteries may die prematurely due to one being lower capacity that happens to me all the time on prebuilt battery packs and Never had a problem recycling the good cells left

I won't advice anyone doing this if they don't feel comfortable and I can keep updating the thread in case something changes.

 

[Dvdxploitr]

I don't think i'd like an exposed battery like that. Plus it may not fit in the dock. I'll just stick with using a battery bank...I even considered putting a piece of velcro on the back of my Switch and a battery bank with a short USB-C cable. At least if I decide I don't like that solution, just peel off the velcro and use Goo Gone to get any sticky residue off...no permanent damage to the console. Only downside is, I wouldn't be able to use it with the kickstand unless I used a plate holder or something but I don't use it in tabletop mode often anyway

 

[Migoma]

I don't think i'd like an exposed battery like that. Plus it may not fit in the dock. I'll just stick with using a battery bank...I even considered putting a piece of velcro on the back of my Switch and a battery bank with a short USB-C cable. At least if I decide I don't like that solution, just peel off the velcro and use Goo Gone to get any sticky residue off...no permanent damage to the console. Only downside is, I wouldn't be able to use it with the kickstand unless I used a plate holder or something but I don't use it in tabletop mode often anyway

The Velcro battery could be a good solution if you can find a battery light enough that provides 3 amps I just wanted a more permanent solution.

 

[adarsh100]

This is pretty cool I'd say. Gallyminu is right about the safety of parallel batteries, since the switch is gonna draw power equally from each battery if the internal resistances are the same. If the cells have slightly different capacity, they will even out the voltages to reach equilibrium. What I'd like to see now is 3 batteries in parallel so the entire back is even, and then a custom backplate made probably with a laser cutter and a 3d printer bracket to screw into the switch and to mount the backplate to. This would very similar to the zerolemon batteries for phones with removable batteries. I think something like this also came out for the 3ds also, so this method is tried and true. If you don't believe me about the parallel batteries thing search up jehu garcia and his powerbank videos. Most of the haters here would flip shit since the guy uses 1000s of USED batteries to make diy power walls . His house still hasnt burned down either

 

[Canna]

Good thought wish it was that simple...Time Bomb

 

[annson24]

Small numbers of LiIon batteries in series and parallel work just fine.

Parallel is the easiest because:

LiIon charging is a dual step process, initially current limited (you are limited to a charge capacity defined by Nintendo to be suitable for one cell). You will never charge either battery too hard as you can't be above 100% recommended charge current per battery.

LiIon charging at the second stage (above about 85-90% is voltage limited to about 4.2V depending on the chemistry and charge profile. This is also ideal for parallel charging, as, both batteries will be topped off.

If the batteries are missmached you'll get one charging a little more than the other, but who cares? You'll get one discharging a little more than the other, but again who cares? You can't over-discharge, you can't overcharge, and the inherent drop in output voltage and internal impedance HELP keep the cells balanced as you charge and discharge.

As someone who frequently DESIGNS battery circuits for MEDICAL DEVICES. I don't think you are doing anything that will cause harm or damage.

That said. here comes the disclaimer. LiIon batteries are high density energy devices, they are dangerous. I don't know exactly what you did and if you did something wrong you can hurt yourself or cause the batteries to overheat, explode, or ignite. Be careful be trained. The advice above lacks context and should not serve as reason or justification to do what you are doing.

Re, the guy who said balancing circuits don't work: Balancing circuits are generally only needed with series cells and with 3ish cells or more. They do work, and they work well. There are many techniques. By saying they don't work they may have meant that you never get PERFECT cell performance and still approach the performace of the worst cell for the whole pack, but balancing definitely extends the life and capacity of series based battery packs.

@Migoma you should quote this on your OP.