Topic: New 3DS dying

I use my New 3DS to make music, and still carry it on my daily commute, but about two years ago it started crapping out on me. The red warning light would go on, and then the power would cut off very soon thereafter. Eventually it got to the point where there was basically no warning between the red light and the power going off. If I tried to save my progress there was a good chance the power would go out (I was lucky that I only lost data for a song I was working on once or twice). Or I could quickly put the 3DS into sleep mode and hope the angry blinking red light would last until I got home and to my charger.

After a while of that, I decided to try a new battery. I went for one of the cheaper ones on Amazon (as in, not official, but like 1/4th the cost), and at first it worked... but after a few months I'm back to the whole stressful "race the red light" thing. I've also noticed that the time I spend with the 3DS on before the red light goes on seems to be getting shorter (though sleep mode doesn't seem to drain the battery any faster than when the thing was in better health.

I'm not sure if anyone has had this same problem, but I'm open to any thoughts, suggestions, unrelated anecdotes about cats, or advice. Should I try another cheap battery, shell out for an official battery, or is it possible that it's a problem with the system itself, and I should just buy a new New 3DS and transfer over all of my data (which sounds... not fun or cheap)?

@kurtasbestos You bought a cheap battery. From my experience, that should be expected from cheap batteries. If you value your 3DS use, get a Nintendo battery.

@kurtasbestos It's not cheap & easy to make a high quality rechargeable battery. Nintendo's official batteries are high quality, and that's why your original 3DS battery lasted so long, and for so many charge cycles. If the price on amazon is amazingly cheap, you're probably buying garbage, unfortunately.

If you get another Nintendo branded battery, you should get the same performance you got when the 3ds was brand new. Nintendo's official online store here in north america sells Nintendo branded 3ds batteries for $14.99 ( about 1,700 yen), which is actually cheaper than the third party batteries on Amazon - $25-$30. Have you looked on Nintendo's official store site there in Japan? (your profile page says japan)

3ds batteries on Nintendo's store site here in North America
3ds xl: https://store.nintendo.com/battery-pack-new-nintendo-3ds-xl-n...
3ds: https://store.nintendo.com/battery-pack-nintendo-3ds-nintendo...

@gcunit @WoomyNNYes

Thanks for the advice. I've searched all over the Japanese Nintendo Store, but I can't find anything. They're around 4000 Yen (~$40) on Amazon Japan, which is probably why I ended up going with the cheaper one. I could go through the hassle of buying one in the US and having my poor mother ship it to me, but I'm not sure if it's even possible to send a battery overseas. I think I'll just shell out the Yen and hope for the best. I'm still a little worried since the problem with the cheap battery is the same problem I had with the original, but hopefully an official battery will actually work as intended. Thanks again.

@kurtasbestos Try ebay for battery's, they are priced about the same as Nintendo's own store and you can find new OEM battery's on there for all 3DS models. I got an extended gamepad battery for my Wii U on there and they worked out well. Just be sure to check the seller's ratings and make sure you're getting the version you need.