Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@jump @Octane I know they degrade over time. But i read on internet of people complaining that this type of battery dies after less than 2 yrs. That's kind of ridicolous and the hate that this console is getting even BEFORE launch pisses me (can i say that?) off honestly. I mean: we almost don't even have the console in our HANDS (said almost referring to people who tried it at events or so), for not talking about our houses. It's really irritating

Seems Yooka-Laylee is definitely not getting a physical version for Switch.

It uses the same type of battery as most electronics these days...

@TheLZdragon Yeah, Li-ion batteries, and they last about 2 to 4 years, depending on the quality of the of battery. I think the average is about 1,000 charge-discharge cycles. I've had two phone batteries die after about two years of use. I've also had to manually replace my laptop battery after 2 years of use.

I've had smart phone batteries last for twice that long, though. Seems mileage will vary.

So here's a question:

What if you keep the Switch in its dock the vast majority of the time? Will that still tax the battery, especially if it's always at full charge in that state?

I'm not a battery expert, so 2 possibilities occur to me:

1. It actually degrades FASTER because I've heard it's not good to keep a battery in a perpetually charging state.
2. It doesn't really degrade, because it doesn't even get used.

Edit: I also just want to say that people seem to really be freaking about something that's probably not worth freaking out about this much. Yea, after close to the typical lifespan of a console you may have to pay Nintendo to get your battery replaced, but for me, that doesn't seem like a huge deal. And please don't just start shouting about the lifespan again. Can we stop jumping to conclusions about how long it's going to last until we get the final product and start to see battery failures? Every piece of tech is different, and none of us have had a Switch for the past 3 years to say for sure that its battery is going to play out in any exact way.

Example: My Xbox One's power source just died the other week after a few years, so I'm gonna have to pay for a new one of those. If it's not one thing it's another, and all tech devices come with caveats that are largely unavoidable.

since ive had my wii u i never unplug the gamepad. it runs off the wall supply.
every now and then i have to unplug it from the wall and plug it back in when the battery hasnt been charging since the only way you can charge the stupid gamepad is by having the system on. been doing it for years. i imagine the switch will work the same way...
i like ranch fritos

@rallydefault Not using the battery at all means that it'll slowly drain anyway. Not a big problem if it's a good quality battery. If it's something like the GamePad? That thing is completely drained after a day, even if you leave it at full charge. However, we already know that the dock charges the Switch when it's docked, so that means it'll keep charging the battery, unless there's a program that shuts off and activates the charge cycles depending on the charge.

@Octane I maybe wrong, but don't most modern electronic devices that are expected to be charged for long periods of time on regular basis, have some kind of software that deliberately prevents the battery from ever being fully charged to prevent damaging the batteries ability to charge? Or is that what you were saying. I'm also likely totally wrong.

28 Days until Switchmas.....

I haven't needed to replace the user replaceable batteries in my DS Lite, Original 3DS, 3DS XL, Wii U GamePad or Wii U Pro Controller. The only devices I've ever had issues with battery degradation have been phones. And when that happens? The phone is usually so old that it's less of an issue and more of an excuse to buy a new one.

I don't see the non-replaceable battery on the Switch becoming an issue.

@ogo79 I keep my Gamepad plugged in all the time now too,never used to but the battery was dying within an hour otherwise.The system definitely doesn't need to be turned on though or even on stand-by for the Gamepad to charge.

@OorWullie
why on earth have i been thinking this?
i could have sworn i read that somewhere, or maybe since i never unplug it i overlooked it.
ive always thought that was dumb anyways. but still...the light doesnt do anything when the wii u is not on so how is it charging if the light indicator isnt on?

@ogo79 Are you talking about the charging indicator on the GamePad?

@ogo79 It's probably just cause the battery isn't holding its charge with the screen being on.With my Wii U turned off,if I unplug the charger to use the socket for something else and then plug it back in later,the light on the Gamepad will come on briefly but as long as I keep it plugged in all the time,I never see the light once it's fully charged.With my Wii U turned on,the light sometimes comes on for a bit here and there.I think my battery is at best now 50% of what it was and I'm not sure if keeping it plugged in is making worse haha

In terms of battery life, I've had my 3DS since launch, and only had to switch out the battery for the first time 2 days ago (so it lasted almost 6 years).

@ogo79
That battery LED on the Wii U GamePad only comes on when there's power being drawn from the wall. When you turn on the Wii U the screen on the GamePad is on, if its in the dock it'll draw power from the wall whether it's fully charged or not. If the Wii U is turned off the GamePad also turns off. So when the Wii U is off the little LED will only stay on if the GamePad needs charging.

yup

i think i forgot to mention i always keep the gamepad off...

perhaps i have an everlasting battery cuz the light never has stayed on

@FragRed - I have definitely heard that about batteries. Back in the day, the standard was to not keep things plugged in longer than necessary to keep from overcharging the battery and to at least some of the time let the battery drain until it was completely dead. I've definitely heard that you don't need to do these things now to maintain battery life, because the tech has improved. That seems to be the case, because I certainly abuse my batteries in my devices and haven't had an issue.

Personally, I've never had major issues with smartphone batteries (My last phone - the 4S, I had for almost 5 years, and it was still going strong when I finally upgraded). I have a launch WiiU, and I haven't had any issues with the battery yet either (except for it doesn't last long enough in general), so I'm not too overly worried about the Switch. If you're really dedicated and electronically savvy, I'm sure there will be guides and toolkits that will allow you to change the battery yourself (I have opened up iPhones for non-battery related reasons, but I would feel comfortable changing the battery in one - it would just be a pita). Worst case scenario - as a retro console, it'll be a home console only so it can stay plugged in all the time - which isn't really the end of the world, as you'll probably have a shiny new switch2 to take on the go.

Batteries have come a long way since this: http://theocdgamer.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/game-gear-batt...