Homebrew Question Is this a battery calibration issue?

[JumpGamer09]

I'm having an issue where the battery indicator on my Home Menu and Hekate Menu would rapidly drain down to 1% every few seconds (down to 0.0% on the Hekate Menu), but I would still get around 2 hours of playtime before the system shutting down. Being that my Switch is on Hekate v5.0.1, this doesn't appear to a battery desync issue since a fix would apparently be applied on boot.

Is this indeed a battery calibration issue? If so, how exactly do I fix it?

 

[Hayato213]

It shouldn't drain that fast, probably want to recalibrate your battery by loading up Hekate.

 

[JumpGamer09]

This issue seems to apply to Hekate as well since I see the battery indicator on the Hekate Menu rapidly drain down to 0.0%. I would charge my Switch to 100%, only to see it down to 0.0% upon booting up Hekate despite the system having been turned off.

 

[Hayato213]

This issue seems to apply to Hekate as well since I see the battery indicator on the Hekate Menu rapidly drain down to 0.0%. I would charge my Switch to 100%, only to see it down to 0.0% upon booting up Hekate despite the system having been turned off.

How old is the unit?

 

[JumpGamer09]

Bought it early 2018.

 

[Hayato213]

By default now hekate has battery recalibration when you load up hekate, I would let it charge for a few hours and then run hekate a few times to let it recalibrate, then again how many times have you let the system completely drain it battery?

 

[JumpGamer09]

I let it drain completely once before letting it charge for 3 hours. Although I'm not positive that my Switch was fully charged first before letting the battery drain the first time. I haven't had the time to work on this issue due to work.

I believe this process could take multiple repeats?

 

[Hayato213]

It shouldn't drain that fast if you put it in sleep mode, keep it in mind that Emunand drain faster than Sysnand, but still you can leave it on sleep mode all day and it will only drain few percent on sysnand and a little bit higher on emunand.

 

[JumpGamer09]

Loading up Hekate doesn't seem to fix my battery indicator, and there doesn't appear to be any option to recalibrate the battery on Hekate v5.0.1.

I came across this thread that I had a similar issue to mine: https://gbatemp.net/threads/is-this-the-famous-battery-desync-issue.507470/

Opening up my Switch, and disconnecting & reconnecting the battery was recommended.

 

[Hayato213]

Loading up Hekate doesn't seem to fix my battery indicator, and there doesn't appear to be any option to recalibrate the battery on Hekate v5.0.1.

I came across this thread that I had a similar issue to mine: https://gbatemp.net/threads/is-this-the-famous-battery-desync-issue.507470/

Opening up my Switch, and disconnecting & reconnecting the battery was recommended.

That is an old thread, in the past it wasn't auto recalibration for battery, now a day it is automatically done when loading up Hekate.

 

[JumpGamer09]

So I should let my Switch charge for maybe 3 hours for full battery, then let it drain completely while on Hekate Menu. Afterwards, I give it a few hours to charge again?

 

[Hayato213]

So I should let my Switch charge for maybe 3 hours for full battery, then let it drain completely while on Hekate Menu. Afterwards, I give it a few hours to charge again?

Just let it fully charge, and power cycle and go into hekate menu a few time. You should check the battery info.

 

[JumpGamer09]

Just let it fully charge, and power cycle and go into hekate menu a few time. You should check the battery info.

Update: Yesterday I charged my Switch for 3 and a half hours. I turned it off/on a few times, going into the Hekate Menu to shut off the system as I did. The battery indicator is still going down a percentage every few seconds.

I decided to try leaving my Switch on Sleep Mode overnight, the battery went down from 78% to 57% in about 8 hours. It should've only went down a couple of percentages right?


Posting a photo of my Hekate settings and battery info if that's any help:

 

[Hayato213]

Looks like you needs a new battery, 731 mAh maximum capacity is really low.

 

[GothicIII]

Hayoto213 is totally right. Your max. Capacity is really really low.
I would try to disconnect the battery physically and reconnect it. If the capacity won't go up then most of your battery cells are dead. You'd need a new one.

 

[JumpGamer09]

Yeah I'm now considering opening it up first and disconnecting/reconnecting the battery since the battery still last for hours despite being down to 1%.

If that doesn't fix it, any links to good Switch battery replacements?

 

[JumpGamer09]

I thought disconnecting 7 reconnecting the battery physically fixed the issue when the maximum capacity went up, but my Switch's battery indicator still went down to 1% overnight while shut off.

Looks like I will have to buy a battery replacement for my Switch. Any good websites to purchase one?

 

[GothicIII]

I don't know about USA but as usual for batteries: The cheaper the price the lower the quality.
-ebay/aliexpress for very cheap ones at about <20$. More expensive ones won't guarantee that they are OEM but could be of better quality.
-for 100% OEM you'd need to buy a broken switch and salvage it for a battery.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Update: Yesterday I charged my Switch for 3 and a half hours. I turned it off/on a few times, going into the Hekate Menu to shut off the system as I did. The battery indicator is still going down a percentage every few seconds.

I decided to try leaving my Switch on Sleep Mode overnight, the battery went down from 78% to 57% in about 8 hours. It should've only went down a couple of percentages right?


Posting a photo of my Hekate settings and battery info if that's any help:View attachment 177040 View attachment 177041

That max capacity can't be right, you wouldn't get more than like half an hour of battery. But something is definitely not right.
I see your battery got as low as 2.54V, it must have been left for a while in a discharged state to get that low. The minimum safe voltage on lipo batteries is 2.5V, so it's still within safe limits (just barely), but the battery might have been degraded a bit, which would explain why you only get 2 hours. 2.5-3 hours is more typical. But it could just as well be normal wear and tear if you have been using the console a lot, or leaving it in the dock all the time. I think Nintendo claims 3.5 hours minimum but that seems overly generous to me.
If a lipo battery goes down below 2.5V, it's recommended not to recharge it, and many charge controllers will refuse to charge at that point, considering the battery dead. But it's usually possible to resurrect it with a very low charge current (you can buy special charge controllers for this), without any further damage than some lost capacity. 2.54v is borderline, but not much reason to worry.

Your battery % issues might be related to the battery being slightly worn due to having been discharged to 2.54v or it might just be normal wear and tear. My mom's iPhone battery is now about 2.5 years old, and once it gets down to 50%, it drains down to 0% very quickly.
Does it drain down to 0% quickly even from a full battery? If so that's strange even for a worn out battery.
Also what do you mean by "every few seconds"? It sounds like the % goes from 100 down to 0 in a few seconds and then starts over, and repeats, but I figure that's not what you mean.

 

[JumpGamer09]

That max capacity can't be right, you wouldn't get more than like half an hour of battery. But something is definitely not right.
I see your battery got as low as 2.54V, it must have been left for a while in a discharged state to get that low. The minimum safe voltage on lipo batteries is 2.5V, so it's still within safe limits (just barely), but the battery might have been degraded a bit, which would explain why you only get 2 hours. 2.5-3 hours is more typical. But it could just as well be normal wear and tear if you have been using the console a lot, or leaving it in the dock all the time. I think Nintendo claims 3.5 hours minimum but that seems overly generous to me.
If a lipo battery goes down below 2.5V, it's recommended not to recharge it, and many charge controllers will refuse to charge at that point, considering the battery dead. But it's usually possible to resurrect it with a very low charge current (you can buy special charge controllers for this), without any further damage than some lost capacity. 2.54v is borderline, but not much reason to worry.

Your battery % issues might be related to the battery being slightly worn due to having been discharged to 2.54v or it might just be normal wear and tear. My mom's iPhone battery is now about 2.5 years old, and once it gets down to 50%, it drains down to 0% very quickly.
Does it drain down to 0% quickly even from a full battery? If so that's strange even for a worn out battery.
Also what do you mean by "every few seconds"? It sounds like the % goes from 100 down to 0 in a few seconds and then starts over, and repeats, but I figure that's not what you mean.

The battery percentage indicator would go down 1% like every 3-4 seconds until it drops down to 1%, where it can last around 2 hours before hitting 0%.

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

I don't know about USA but as usual for batteries: The cheaper the price the lower the quality.
-ebay/aliexpress for very cheap ones at about <20$. More expensive ones won't guarantee that they are OEM but could be of better quality.
-for 100% OEM you'd need to buy a broken switch and salvage it for a battery.

I'm considering ordering one from this link: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Game-C...OxEke0KwU74ccf1mfSKesBFaNcQpu-mBoC6HkQAvD_BwE

Total is $46 after shipping and taxes.