Hacking PSA: For those on v3.0.0 and you're suffering from the battery issue, you probably can't boot Switch

[kumikochan]

Like I said, it's an anecdote, and is a speculation at best. But the truth still stands; I'm no longer a Switch owner. It's still charging for 2 days now, and shows no signs of any life when attempting to power it on.


Nah, I don't think that is even necessary, because I'm sure they're busy with their things. Right now, I plan to fetch some tools to open it up and look up on iFixIt to replace the battery or something.

But it doesn't have anything to do with 3.0. The bug that was present in 3.0 was just for the indicator and that's that and not for switch consoles not powering on anymore seeing as that bug has nothing to do with that.
not saying it again necessarily for you but so that people will stop saying it is because of 3.0 wich it doesn't have anything to do with. Saying that it is because of firmware 3.0 is just misinformation. It is a shitty battery that Nintendo used, that's all

 

[Smash Br0]

So, if I have a Switch on 2.3.0 or 3.0.0 that's never been played or charged, and am just keeping it in storage until there are more developed hacks available...

I should charge the Switch and the Joy-Cons to full charge, then put them back in storage, yeah?

 

[kumikochan]

So, if I have a Switch on 2.3.0 or 3.0.0 that's never been played or charged, and am just keeping it in storage until there are more developed hacks available...

I should charge the Switch and the Joy-Cons to full charge, then put them back in storage, yeah?

even if ur not using your system the battery will still go down eventually so putting it in storage won't solve anything either

 

[NightsEkim]

This is just a fix for the INDICATOR not for the battery dying out. Why is that so hard to get for most people in here ? Again the INDICATOR got fixed, even if it said 0 percent you could still play because again the INDICATOR wasn't showing the correct number and switches not starting doesn't have anything to do with that bug !!! So please let this misinformation finally die out because it really baffles me how people don't get that

This might be partially true however, if this also updates the systems indicator of battery power as well it may fix the system fully killing the battery, fully killing a battery can damage the battery beyond repair even if recharged the batter can be damaged with a FULLY AND COMPLETE drain and by full and complete drain I mean beyond the minimum voltage a battery is supposed to have. So while the update may fix the indicator show to the user it might also fix how much the switch lets the battery die before it says "that's enough time to shut down".

This is a guess by the way but my knowledge of batteries and fully killing them leading to catastrophic results has been show in many other cases, same with overcharging. Take this for what it's worth but it's my best guess.

 

[DocAmes1980]

Literally killing your Switches to use shitty homebrew like the Ugandan Knuckles app that doesn't even have sound. This community is the peak of intelligence.

Strawman argument. People are staying on lower firmware to get useful hacks earlier. Things like emulators, savegame editors, file management, and of course, the launching of backups. I think you knew that though.

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

Preferable title: Your Switch may be unlikely, but possibly rarely, if not ultra rarely, that you can't boot your Switch, when on v3.0.0 while suffering from battery issues. (The title text limit is shorter than I wanted though.)

Anyway, I'm the current owner of a v3.0.0 with a dead battery. A battery that doesn't hold any charge right now.

Mine's literally dead. (I wished the thread flair would stay "dead").

This is an update to a thread I made a while ago (can't find it) where I made a PSA in regards to those updating the Switch to v3.0.0, to be aware of the battery issue that would drain far more quickly than you think.

This is just anecdote, especially when I only know it's happening to me, but apparently, my Switch now no longer holds any charge. I've plugged my Switch in with the AC adapter, and kept it charging for over a day. It just won't hold any charges.

But, the Switch should be able to boot up, right? Well, I'm just speculating a "yes", and that you need to have at least some percentage of charge staying afloat, at least above 2% or more. If it's less than a certain minimum threshold, it will only show a blank screen, with a charging battery icon in the top left corner. I'm saying that I'm speculating is because, well, I don't have a working test unit to confirm or verify this anymore, and I'm just running off the top of my head that this is the case. I'm not 100% sure. I'm also not the person to be knowledgeable about this.

Your mileage may vary. I agree with this sentence, and you should just take my PSA with a grain of table salt. It may be unlikely for you to experience what I've gone through. I'm okay with this.

Just wanted to share my experiences. Thanks for reading.

this is why my switch is connected to a potato battery

 

[runetoonxx2]

weird tho. my switch doesn't seem to have this problem
i can charge to 100% and i have left it to die recently for like a week
only took like 5 min to charge

 

[LineoftheDead]

This might be partially true however, if this also updates the systems indicator of battery power as well it may fix the system fully killing the battery, fully killing a battery can damage the battery beyond repair even if recharged the batter can be damaged with a FULLY AND COMPLETE drain and by full and complete drain I mean beyond the minimum voltage a battery is supposed to have. So while the update may fix the indicator show to the user it might also fix how much the switch lets the battery die before it says "that's enough time to shut down".

This is a guess by the way but my knowledge of batteries and fully killing them leading to catastrophic results has been show in many other cases, same with overcharging. Take this for what it's worth but it's my best guess.

well thats an awesome guess, you are totally right. If a device displays 0%, its not really 0% - look up LiPo LVC for similar information regarding this

 

[D34DL1N3R]

Defective battery. Otherwise systems sitting on store shelves or sitting in warehouses would run out of charge and be non working out of box. We'd be hearing about this like crazy if it were an issue to be concerned with.

 

[LineoftheDead]

Defective battery. Otherwise systems sitting on store shelves or sitting in warehouses would run out of charge and be non working out of box. We'd be hearing about this like crazy if it were an issue to be concerned with.

could be a 3rd party charger too...

 

[DocAmes1980]

Update 3.0.1 might not work for you right away, if you've been suffering from such issues. You'll need to follow these steps - as specified by Nintendo - to fully address the problem:

1. Ensure the console has the latest system update. The steps below apply to system menu version 3.0.1 or higher.
2. Set the Auto-Sleep mode to "Never" for "Playing on Console Screen" and for "Connected to TV."
3. Connect the AC adapter directly to the console until the battery is fully charged. If the battery charge indicator does not reach 100%, simply allow the console to charge for approximately three hours. The console can be in use while it is charging.
4. Once the battery is fully charged, leave the console alone for one hour with the AC adapter still connected to it.
5. Afterward, disconnect the AC adapter and allow the console to display the HOME Menu for approximately three to four hours. The remaining battery life must be depleted as much as possible.
6. Once the battery charge is almost depleted, power off the console by holding down the POWER Button for three seconds, then select "Power Options" > "Turn Off." Leave the console alone for at least 30 minutes. The battery charge indicator will improve gradually by repeating this process several times.
7. Repeat steps 2 - 6 several times.

Only Nintendo.

 

[EyeKey]

I have similar issue on 2.0.0 with booting after the battery depleted. I think that the issue isn't with the battery but with the charging code (when the screen is black with the battery charging icon). The Switch doesn't charge properly when the battery is empty. It will only charge properly after it booted. But the hard part is to get it to boot....

It happened to me twice, but I was able to turn it on eventually (and after that it starts to charge regularly).
This what I did: I connect it to the power, it will get to that black charging screen, and than I hold the power button until the screen is completely turned off. Than I let it stay like that for half an hour-hour, and only then I turn it on.

Anyway, I also figured out that "Shut down" doesn't really shut down the console and it continues to consume the battery slowly. Only holding the power button for ~12 seconds for force shutdown will turn it off properly.


And again, I am pretty sure that it is a software issue with the charging screen that it doesn't able to charge empty battery. That is why you need to let it charge when it is completely turned off. Maybe it has something to do with the calibration where some Switches are turned off only when the battery is too low (low enough to trigger the charging bug). (Or maybe what happened in my case was that the false "Shut down" state never stopped to consume battery until it is too low)

 

[yardie]

Literally killing your Switches to use shitty homebrew like the Ugandan Knuckles app that doesn't even have sound. This community is the peak of intelligence.

3.0.0 DOES NOT KILL BATTERY YOU IDIOT
ITS THE INDICATOR THAT DISPLAYS INCORRECTLY

Op has a defective battery

 

[EyeKey]

3.0.0 DOES NOT KILL BATTERY YOU IDIOT
ITS THE INDICATOR THAT DISPLAYS INCORRECTLY

Op has a defective battery

I am not sure that it is defective battery, it may be a software issue. If the method in my comment will "fix" his console it will confirm that.

 

[NightsEkim]

3.0.0 DOES NOT KILL BATTERY YOU IDIOT
ITS THE INDICATOR THAT DISPLAYS INCORRECTLY

Op has a defective battery

Not necessarily, as I said in my previous post:

This might be partially true however, if this also updates the systems indicator of battery power as well it may fix the system fully killing the battery, fully killing a battery can damage the battery beyond repair even if recharged the batter can be damaged with a FULLY AND COMPLETE drain and by full and complete drain I mean beyond the minimum voltage a battery is supposed to have. So while the update may fix the indicator show to the user it might also fix how much the switch lets the battery die before it says "that's enough time to shut down".

This is a guess by the way but my knowledge of batteries and fully killing them leading to catastrophic results has been show in many other cases, same with overcharging. Take this for what it's worth but it's my best guess.

Rechargable batteries have a minimum voltage that they are not supposed to go under, if the system is set to go under that voltage it can damage the battery. One of two things could have been fixed, improper reporting of battery voltage internally or improper setting on when the system should stop the system and tell the user the battery is dead. If either of these were messed up on lower firmwares draining the battery to 0% on those firmwares could possibly brick your battery and sometimes if it reaches a low enough voltage have catastrophic results. Most batteries have safeties built in to prevent catastrophic failure but I'm not sure those safeties also account for battery damage they may just prevent the battery from melting down.

This could have also fixed by proxy the battery indicator issue, if the system was reading or reporting the wrong voltage and the function in the OS was reading that value then you would of course get an incorrect percent of power left and when the system died it would have been under the acceptable voltage and may refuse a charge because the battery was damaged.

 

[EyeKey]

Not necessarily, as I said in my previous post:



Rechargable batteries have a minimum voltage that they are not supposed to go under, if the system is set to go under that voltage it can damage the battery. One of two things could have been fixed, improper reporting of battery voltage internally or improper setting on when the system should stop the system and tell the user the battery is dead. If either of these were messed up on lower firmwares draining the battery to 0% on those firmwares could possibly brick your battery and sometimes if it reaches a low enough voltage have catastrophic results. Most batteries have safeties built in to prevent catastrophic failure but I'm not sure those safeties also account for battery damage they may just prevent the battery from melting down.

This could have also fixed by proxy the battery indicator issue, if the system was reading or reporting the wrong voltage and the function in the OS was reading that value then you would of course get an incorrect percent of power left and when the system died it would have been under the acceptable voltage and may refuse a charge because the battery was damaged.

Batteries have built-in protection from discharging them too low. So even if the software fails to shutdown when the battery is too low, the protection in the battery will kick in well before the charge is too low.

But at this point there is a possible software issue as I described in my comment.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Batteries have built-in protection from discharging them too low. So even if the software fails to shutdown when the battery is too low, the protection in the battery will kick in well before the charge is too low.

But at this point there is a possible software issue as I described in my comment.

Most batteries do. But it could still self-discharge below a safe charge level, if it discharged down to the minimum charge while in sleep mode for example (sleep mode drains the battery relatively quickly) but was still left to self-discharge for months afterwards.
In that case, one of two things will happen. Either the battery protection circuit or charging circuit will consider the battery as dead, and refuse to charge it ever again. Or it will try to trickle charge it up to a safe level before kicking into full speed charging.
Trickle charging is often able to save the battery, without any major harm to the battery, but it's not recommended by the manufacturers, so the Switch may not do this.
What can really kill a lithium battery is reverse charging, but that's only really an issue when there are multiple battery cells in series, and one of the cells is discharged completely but the other cells still have some voltage left in them. Then the internal chemistry of the depleted cell actually starts changing, causing permanent damage in the form of high internal resistance or even a dead short.

 

[kumikochan]

Most batteries do. But it could still self-discharge below a safe charge level, if it discharged down to the minimum charge while in sleep mode for example (sleep mode drains the battery relatively quickly) but was still left to self-discharge for months afterwards.
In that case, one of two things will happen. Either the battery protection circuit or charging circuit will consider the battery as dead, and refuse to charge it ever again. Or it will try to trickle charge it up to a safe level before kicking into full speed charging.
Trickle charging is often able to save the battery, without any major harm to the battery, but it's not recommended by the manufacturers, so the Switch may not do this.
What can really kill a lithium battery is reverse charging, but that's only really an issue when there are multiple battery cells in series, and one of the cells is discharged completely but the other cells still have some voltage left in them. Then the internal chemistry of the depleted cell actually starts changing, causing permanent damage in the form of high internal resistance or even a dead short.

Meaning they still used cheap batteries. My battery indicator on my Phone doesn't work at all anymore for like ages. It usually gets stuck on 0 percent for an hour before it drains completely and it is still going strong. They just cheaped out on batteries and that's that.

 

[EyeKey]

Most batteries do. But it could still self-discharge below a safe charge level, if it discharged down to the minimum charge while in sleep mode for example (sleep mode drains the battery relatively quickly) but was still left to self-discharge for months afterwards.
In that case, one of two things will happen. Either the battery protection circuit or charging circuit will consider the battery as dead, and refuse to charge it ever again. Or it will try to trickle charge it up to a safe level before kicking into full speed charging.
Trickle charging is often able to save the battery, without any major harm to the battery, but it's not recommended by the manufacturers, so the Switch may not do this.
What can really kill a lithium battery is reverse charging, but that's only really an issue when there are multiple battery cells in series, and one of the cells is discharged completely but the other cells still have some voltage left in them. Then the internal chemistry of the depleted cell actually starts changing, causing permanent damage in the form of high internal resistance or even a dead short.

Practically it shouldn't happen after such short period of time. I took a smartphone that wasn't in use for YEARS, the battery was completely drained, and I didn't have any issue charging it. (The battery was bad but it worked)

And it isn't the case that OP describing, from his description I understand that he regularly used it and didn't left it uncharged for months.

So it may be faulty battery but he should try my solution first, because there is definitely a software issue, and I am not the only one that had it. (But it is indeed seems rare)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Meaning they still used cheap batteries. My battery indicator on my Phone doesn't work at all anymore for like ages. It usually gets stuck on 0 percent for an hour before it drains completely and it is still going strong. They just cheaped out on batteries and that's that.

It might not have anything to do with that. I don't know what happened to OP's battery, but they seem to be the only one so far with this issue, maybe they were just unlucky and got a bad battery. Which doesn't necessarily mean the batteries are low quality, manufacturing errors can always happen. Hence why Samsung are now thoroughly testing each battery they make after the Note 7 fiasco.