Topic: 3DS Street Pass and Battery Recharging

EDIT:

The use of the charging craddle with 3DS in sleeping mode anytime not in use (As prompted in the manual and advertising) means it would recharge even when still fully charged and least 3 times daily (reaching the 500 recharges for battery performance endurance decrease earlier) what concerns me is that in the long term, battery wont endure 10 hours in street pass with intermitent gaming periods out of home, like when visiting family or a weekend road trip. Could this happen???

Isnt it better for battery if I just let it die and only then fully recharge?
or does the craddle works in a way that permanent use wont affect the battery?

Believe it or not, it's not a good thing to let a battery almost go dead (this goes for most rechargeable batteries). It actually puts more wear on the battery than just putting it in the cradle when not in use. In the long run, just drop it in the cradle when your not using it. Also, using street pass doesnt eat up much battery life. I carry mine with me for 6 hours at a time, and it still shows a full battery. Hope this helps!

streetpass surprisingly doesnt eat my battery neither. i open it at 7 oclock every morning, i walk with it, play 40 minutes (DS game) in the bus then it stays in sleep mode, streetpass+wifi on until 5 oclock. when i open it up, the battery is still full.
after 2 days like this, i finally put it back on the charge, and the battery isnt close to be fully drained. it still has 1 bar on the little graphic.
playing a 3ds game in the bus would probably require me to put it on charge every night.

you know what. there is a note application, i keep on tracking stuff in there. like a battery charge counter hahaha everytime i charge it, i change my note.
havin a big family, i rarely play for long periods of time during the week, so the battery weakness doesnt affect me much yet, i still plan to find a powerpak+ eventually when i buy real 3ds games (launch titles are weak!)

so the streetpass and sleepmode isnt what will drain your battery at all. and yes, dont let your battery die, charge it before that. its the same with every rechargeable batteries. Even your car's battery !

Thank you, I wasnt sure about letting die the battery. As for street pss eating minimal battery I already knew it, I think I didnt explained myself correctly, what concerns me is that even though sleep mode eats few battery it still keeps using battery causing it to be recharged more often than my past consoles or even 3 times daily using the craddle, to the point which in the long term, battery wont endure 10 hours in street pass with intermitent gaming periods out of home, like when visiting family or a weekend trip with friends. Could this actually happen???

That sounds reasonable, but Wouldnt use of craddle anytime not in use, and even in full charge also damage battery?

this is pretty technical. it needs more research on how batteries work rather than focusing only on the 3ds one.
google my friend. I will have to roam around a learn stuff hahaha
But you surely make an important point.
What I also wonder is when you play with your 3DS plugged in an electrical outlet. when the battery is full, is it using only the electricity from the outlet or is it using the battery while charging it at the same time.
Does it mean youre smashing your battery's life ?

but again, i dont really care for the battery life, as it is only 15$ for a replacement. not all that bad, rather standard for a recheargable battery.
http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDi...
15 bucks for a year or 2 of battery life isnt that costey. What i hate is that it drains so fast. If they unveil an rpg like dragonquest, I fear the worst. DQ9 and DQ7 gave me 200hours+ each (DQ7, 215 to be precise)
the game itself should come with a battery ! Lol

Never had problems with lithium batteries for my electrical apparels at home. lithium batteries are constant compared to NiMH (i hate those) But my lithium ones last a full week in my digital camera, which i use everyday.

I think you are right, after all I have always been a worrywart, and even if Nintendo store doesnt ship to my country, I think I can always count on eBay, though dont forget to post here again if you have battery endurance problems anytime soon. I also mailed about this Nintendo yesterday, i'll let you know if they get back to me!

nice. keep in touch about this, im very curious, and might not be the only one.

also, seeing Nyko got this powerpak+ thing already at the 3Ds launch (or so they say, i never saw it anywhere yet, and my local store cant seem to find one for me neither. strange), you can bet they will upgrade it soon enough. Nintendo might enter the boat too, and maybe some other companies will try to market things like these.
with all the fuss about the battery life and battery low power, the evidence is that there is an easy market for stronger battery, stronger way to enhance the longevity of gaming time (else than the direct outlet connection) Gaining money this way is a key.
And who knows, maybe they planned this along.... geez

let it grow, it's been out last week.

I am researching on it, do you know the exact li-ion type of battery? Anyone? (smart, cobalt, LiFePo)

If you're at home, just power it off completely (and stick it in the cradle, of course) when you're done. It's not going to give you any Play Coins just sitting there, there aren't going to be any StreetPass oppurtunities, and you can just get any SpotPass updates the next time you use it.

You are right, but it would still count towards the 500 recharge limit and a possibly hurt by being all the time charged.

... anyone have seen/knows the exact li-ion type of battery on 3DS? Anyone? (smart, cobalt, LiFePo)

We should really make a sticky thread about charging and battery tips.

The charging circuitry won't allow the battery to overcharge, so you can (and should) leave it on the charging cradle as often as you're able. And you can leave it in sleep mode; Nintendo made it with that intention. That's how you get SpotPass updates. The idea is that you never necessarily have to turn the console completely off, as you can leave it in sleep mode indefinitely, which maximizes your potential for receiving wireless communications.

The "500 charge limit" is just a general estimate given to all rechargeable batteries. The point they're trying to get across is that the battery won't hold its full capacity forever. The number 500 is not a solid limit, and you should probably forget about it entirely. You'll extend the life of the battery by continually charging it and not letting the battery drain completely.

That sounds like wonderful news for all of us, but I can resist to politely ask you, how can you back up this? One possibility that I was researching is that Li-ion LiFePo batteries are the only ones that can stay charged most of time with no damage. This is why I am asking if someone knows the class of Li ion battery 3DS has, with a smart LiFePo being the best.

But I admit it, you and Samholy got me 90% convinced, I;ll just wait for Nintendo's reply (if they actually reply me)

I'm not an expert, and unfortunately I can't give you a reference for this. I've just read and learned about it in the past. The further you drain a lithium battery before recharging it, the more wear it puts on the battery. So keeping the battery full will extend its lifespan in terms of how long it will hold close to full capacity. Continually running the battery down close to empty and recharging it will shorten its lifespan.

That being said, don't be afraid to enjoy your console. If you want to make use of its full battery time, go ahead. It will still last for quite a while, and if it ever gets to the point where its not holding enough charge for you anymore, you can just buy a new battery.

I should also add that draining the battery down to %30 before recharge isn't as bad as draining it down to 0%. So it's a good idea to charge whenever you can and not run the thing until your console shuts off and you corrupt your save file, but still enjoy your system and its portability.

Alright I don't know much about batteries but I thought I remembered reading something on apple and so here's the link: http://www.apple.com/batteries/

and here's the specific quote that I want to point out on the page:

"A charge cycle means using all of the battery’s power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge. For instance, you could listen to your iPod for a few hours one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so you may take several days to complete a cycle."

Now I suppose not all batteries actually work this way and maybe it's just the type Apple uses but I wonder if it just isn't this way for most rechargeable batteries these days and only Apple will point it out. Well they point it out if you search their site for it anyway. I tried just finding this information on a product and it didn't seem to be listed with the product, or even how many charge cycles it takes before they start to decrease.. although it probably is 500 as most devices seem to be.

Ok I've done a little research online and found this link as well: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lit...

Theres a table if you scroll down just a bit that basically says that the number of discharge cycles for a lithium ion battery depends on the depth of discharge (dod).
There chart reads like this:

100% DOD = 500 discharge cycles
50% DOD = 1500 discharge cycles
25% DOD = 2500 discharge cycles
10% DOD = 4700 discharge cycles

So the more you discharge the battery the less discharge cycles. I believe they mean every time you plug it in as a discharge cycle.
Take the info as you like. I've gotten overly interested in how these things work now so I think I'll continue to do some more reading.

@LunarJade: Interesting, I think this backs up moosa's statement I questioned, Thanks! (Convinced to use the craddle)

I don't want to get the power pak+, as it makes the 3ds heavier and looks ugly. I'll wait till an offically licenced battery pak comes out.

I contacted customer support for this with 3 different e-mails on Saturday, to this moment only one has been answered, and it only directs me to the specs sheat (which I had already consulted and says nothing regarding this) I didnt expected much more from Nintendo's CS, and LunarJade's info and source already convinced me on using the craddle, I just wanted to let you know Nintendo's "official" stand on the issue.

The point of leaving it completely off is that it won't use up any more electricity or charging time once it's fully recharged.