Hacking Varying battery life on two (mostly) identical A9LH new 3ds xl systems

[Jimmy6166]

hi there,

I've suspected for a while that one of my new 3ds xl units had significantly better battery life than the other, though they both have A9LH and Luma installed.

I wasn't sure to begin with, but after testing them both at the same time, the one with the 64gb card runs for a lot longer compared to the one with the 128gb card.

Could that be a reason for the difference in battery life? Or could me potentially stuffing up some part during the lengthy downgrade and firmware installation Be causing the battery drain?

 

[Temarile]

With a 128GB card you probably have more installed than on the 64GB one. That means the 3ds has more to do thus drains more battery. But then again I don't think it should be that noticeable. There is a homebrew app called 3dsinfo (or something like that€ where you can get the hardware specifics of your 3ds. It could be they have different screens ect. If you really want to test it, you should put identical sd cards in it and have them completely formatted. The brightness settings the same, Internet settings the same and then see which one dies first.

 

[Jimmy6166]

That's quite plausible too with the 128gb sucking more juice.

Thanks for the tip about the 3dsinfo homebrew app. I'll check that out and do a format of both cards to see.

Thanks for the response.

Cheers
James

 

[Jimmy6166]

They're both IPS screens, so I'm attributing the difference in batter life to the SD card capacity..

 

[dudemo]

I've noticed less battery life with larger SD card sizes as well. However, thinking back on it, my SD card was upgraded later in the 3DS's life, so it could very well have just been age.

Has one been used more than the other, or is one older? Does one have the option in Luma3DS to enable higher CPU and L2 and not the other one?

 

[evandixon]

Is the console that lasts longer newer? It's possible that the older battery, having been charged and uncharged more times, is experiencing normal battery wear.

 

[LongTimeLurker]

Is the console that lasts longer newer? It's possible that the older battery, having been charged and uncharged more times, is experiencing normal battery wear.

This is my theory too.

Try switching the cards in the systems. That should answer the question.

 

[Ricken]

This is my theory too.

Try switching the cards in the systems. That should answer the question.

^^This

Also try switching the batteries and making another set of tests in which the batteries are switched

 

[LongTimeLurker]

^^This

Also try switching the batteries and making another set of tests in which the batteries are switched

Haha probably a bit extreme, but the more data the better!

 

[Jimmy6166]

Thanks for the tips.

Both are brand new units and I downgraded them both at the same time.

Both have the same options in Luma activated e.g. Clock speed and cache.

Last night I left both models on sleep in a middle of a game and when I checked this morning, the battery is completely drained (flashing red) whilst with the other there is half battery remaining.

I'm going to put in the starting 4gb cards on both units and test the battery that way.

That way people will know whether it's worth using a larger sd card for the sacrifice of battery drain.

 

[Spaqin]

Try swapping the batteries. Maybe one is borked.

 

[dudemo]

I'm leaning towards a defective battery.

 

[Jimmy6166]

Well I've finished testing and the result is that both units have the same amount of battery life.


In the end, it looks like the higher capacity sd card used, the more battery drain, even if the console is not being used whilst in sleep mode.

That's a relief!

Now the tough decision. Swap out that 128gb card to the 64gb card???

 

[LongTimeLurker]

In the end, it looks like the higher capacity sd card used, the more battery drain, even if the console is not being used whilst in sleep mode.

That seems very strange to me. I didn't think SD memory really used any more energy with a higher capacity... Thanks for reporting your findings.

 

[The Catboy]

Just switch the battier. If you are getting the same results, it might be the SD card.
Then I suggest switching the SD cards, but not the batteries
If you are still getting the same results, then it might be 3DS itself consuming more battery life.

 

[astronautlevel]

Just switch the battier. If you are getting the same results, it might be the SD card.
Then I suggest switching the SD cards, but not the batteries
If you are still getting the same results, then it might be 3DS itself consuming more battery life.

Well I've finished testing and the result is that both units have the same amount of battery life.


In the end, it looks like the higher capacity sd card used, the more battery drain, even if the console is not being used whilst in sleep mode.

That's a relief!

Now the tough decision. Swap out that 128gb card to the 64gb card???

 

[The Catboy]

there's a post here!

I think you underestimate just how lazy I am

 

[YourHero]

Honestly not all battery are equal. One could have slightly weaker cells or just a single weaker cell and during stress testing, the difference was not enough for it to be thrown into the DOA bin. This type of thing happens with technology quite often. For example, CPU for PC. They are not all binned the same. Just because two CPU are able to equally run the same stock doesn't mean they can hit the same overclocks.

 

[Jimmy6166]

Just to be sure as I might had not been clear, but both consoles with the same 4gb starter card drained the battery on equal terms. Even whilst on sleep mode..

So significant differences in battery life is only observable when I use the 64gb card with the 128gb card.

The 128gb card has about 80gb worth of data. The 64gb card has considerably less..

40+ games vs about 10 games

So for me, it seems the 128gb card was the culprit or more that it's loaded with a lot more data which may be pulling more on cpu resources despite not being used? Maybe the home screen is more worked compared to the 64gb card where there are far fewer games..

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

Honestly not all battery are equal. One could have slightly weaker cells or just a single weaker cell and during stress testing, the difference was not enough for it to be thrown into the DOA bin. This type of thing happens with technology quite often. For example, CPU for PC. They are not all binned the same. Just because two CPU are able to equally run the same stock doesn't mean they can hit the same overclocks.

Could be that too. No way I can really test it, but I feel reassured that I didn't stuff up the whole downgrade and A9LH + luma process

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

It wasn't exactly the same though. The console which had worse battery life 128gb gb) had slightly better battery life when both had the 4gb card.

It was slower to reach the half battery signal point, but they both evened out in the end..

 

[YourHero]

Heres an idea. Swap the batteries. If they do exactly the same on opposite systems you have an answer.