Hacking Hows the DSi's battery life?

[Uruha]

So DSi owners, how is the battery life on that thing? ive seen specs but i want to know from ur experience!
The battery life is the thing that is deciding if im getting one or not since i know the flashcart/firmware thing will be addressed.

 

[iwakura]

great for me

I kept mine on all day, intermittently opening and playing a bit and closing. and by all day, I mean since 8AM. I probably played ~5 hours, on second to highest lighting. Battery is showing that it's around half capacity.

 

[klopfdreh]

yep, for me it is also enough time for playing and surfing via ds browser.-

 

[CheatingSoi]

For me the battery doesn't last long enough. But thats because the internal clock in my head is whack and I always feel like I "just started" playing something no matter how long I've been using it. The only thing that actually has more than enough battery power for me is the GBA Micro. I've charged it around 5 times since I got it a year ago. I rarely use it, but I did a quite i bit when I first got it,

 

[Ballistic]

I did a test, DS Lite (recently bought too since my old DSL broke) at max light (4) in PictoChat along with the DSi at light level 4 in the pictochat as well. DSi lasted longer, wtf? I fully charged both before conducting the test. Nothing was inserted in any slots except for GBA filler.

DSL: 4 hours and 45 minutes
DSi: 5 hours and 29 minutes

 

[CheatingSoi]

I did a test, DS Lite (recently bought too since my old DSL broke) at max light (4) in PictoChat along with the DSi at light level 4 in the pictochat as well. DSi lasted longer, wtf? I fully charged both before conducting the test. Nothing was inserted in any slots except for GBA filler.

DSL: 4 hours and 45 minutes
DSi: 5 hours and 29 minutes

So the secret is revealed about the DS lite dust cover. I remember when it came out, people were wondering why it had contacts on it. As if it maybe had some sort of secret software. Well here it is, revealed. The dust cover drains battery power at an ever increasing rate!

PS love the signature

 

[Ballistic]

I'm not too sure on that. It could be possible that the new DSi hardware allows PictoChat to executed while draining less battery. Maybe, but I'm just a noob at electronic hardware.

 

[Joe88]

well if you are willing you could try it again without the pak in

 

[klopfdreh]

I did a test, DS Lite (recently bought too since my old DSL broke) at max light (4) in PictoChat along with the DSi at light level 4 in the pictochat as well. DSi lasted longer, wtf? I fully charged both before conducting the test. Nothing was inserted in any slots except for GBA filler.

DSL: 4 hours and 45 minutes
DSi: 5 hours and 29 minutes

I think it is because of the whole powerpack lifetime. You charged the power pack of the ds lite more often than the one of the dsi. That impacts the maximum capacity of the powerpack as mention in your manual! ;-) That comes along with li-ion powerpacks.

 

[Ballistic]

I bought that DSL a month before DSi came out and only used it three times. (Still using my DS Phat)

 

[klopfdreh]

Ok, then it is not the li-ion powerpack - Dunno. :-)

 

[Maz7006]

I kept mine on all day, intermittently opening and playing a bit and closing. and by all day, I mean since 8AM. I probably played ~5 hours, on second to highest lighting. Battery is showing that it's around half capacity.

Great stuff, hopefully it will stay like that though :S

I'm sure the DSi uses a different battery, can anyone pop theirs open to see....please

 

[yawnjovi]

What about Sleep Mode with a flashcart? The DSL flashcarts all drain the battery when in sleep mode. Is it the same with the DSi?

 

[a2h]

I forgot the source unfortunately, but:
NDS: 850 mAh
NDSL: 1000 mAh
NDSi: 840 mAh

 

[houseonfire]

If the batterylife is too bad some form of better capacity battery will be released, or some form of expansion pack for it.
Hopefully a better one will be released.. No one liked expansion battery packs on the hogging up the back of the DS.

 

[Canonbeat234]

Anyways if I remember clearly about my previous PhatDS battery before replacing one last year around December. The previous one when I played Sonic Chronicles on the R4DS, my DS around 3 hours and 54 minutes, just barely hitting the 4 hour mark. (It started to go red around the last 31 minutes while it was still on green) When I got the new battery from Nintendo, I fully changed the PhatDS and played a similar game like FFIV which the PhatDS was still on for 5 hours before turning red on me. I might have to do research if I feel like doing them >.> Play with the R4DS versus the CycloDS.

When I played Legend of YS: Book I, I played for like 5 hours and it didn't turn red on me. When I started playing Soma Bringer for like 4 hours, it started to turn red on me. So I don't know what's difference.

Also you the most resistance the battery is given, i.e. charging for fewer hours then more the battery life is slashed.

 

[tj_cool]

the ds lite should last longer than the dsi
the only problem should be that the DSi has 5 light modes and the DS lite only 4
but heres the official table:

 

[BoGG]

I did a test, DS Lite (recently bought too since my old DSL broke) at max light (4) in PictoChat along with the DSi at light level 4 in the pictochat as well. DSi lasted longer, wtf? I fully charged both before conducting the test. Nothing was inserted in any slots except for GBA filler.

DSL: 4 hours and 45 minutes
DSi: 5 hours and 29 minutes

mmh personally I would have made this test using both DS at max lightning.. I don't think DSi level 5 is more bright than DS level 4.. More like DSi as 1 more brightness level between the lowest and highest.

If thru testing the DSi battery really last longer than DS under the same use.. don't you think Nintendo would have used that as a Feature and argument to push sells of DSi.

 

[Esoth]

I did a test, DS Lite (recently bought too since my old DSL broke) at max light (4) in PictoChat along with the DSi at light level 4 in the pictochat as well. DSi lasted longer, wtf? I fully charged both before conducting the test. Nothing was inserted in any slots except for GBA filler.

DSL: 4 hours and 45 minutes
DSi: 5 hours and 29 minutes

mmh personally I would have made this test using both DS at max lightning.. I don't think DSi level 5 is more bright than DS level 4.. More like DSi as 1 more brightness level between the lowest and highest.

If thru testing the DSi battery really last longer than DS under the same use.. don't you think Nintendo would have used that as a Feature and argument to push sells of DSi.

Actually, I have both and the DSi's max brightness level is definitely brighter than the DS Lite's max brightness setting.

 

[nagareboshi]

too bad the battery life isn't better than the DSLite.
I really wish they would someday replace it with a better one. But that's probably highly unlikeable.