Load percentages, temperatures, accessories and ways to save consumption among our recommendations.
Five years have passed since the Nintendo Switch hit the market and it hasn’t stopped breaking records. The Kyoto hybrid is already among the best selling consoles of all time, having exceeded 100 million units in the market. If you are wondering how much time the console has left, the Japanese company places it around half of its life cycleso it seems that we still have many years of enjoying the Nintendo Switch to the fullest.
That’s why we wanted to bring you a series of singles tips to extend the life of your battery, so that if you change the model before the end of the generation it is because you want to jump to a newer one, such as the Nintendo Switch OLED, and not because your battery is at its last. If, on the other hand, you are launching a new console, even better, because you can start take care of your battery from day one.
Surely you have ever heard that the best way to charge electronic devices is to charge them completely, allowing the battery to discharge completely and then start charging it. Well, this is not only an archaic and erroneous belief, but it is one of the practices that more will harm the life of your battery.
If you haven’t touched the console for months, make sure it has a battery and charge itIt is usually recommended to keep the lithium ion batteries (LIB)like the one mounted by the Nintendo Switch, always between 20% and 80% of your load. Actually, this is relatively difficult on the Nintendo console, since when playing regularly on the base, it is likely that the battery is almost always fully charged. Although when we make intensive use of the portable game, we must ensure that, as far as possible, loads are regular, trying to maintain a load of more than half and, of course, not letting it reach 0%. Making the battery drift between 0% and 100% constantly is the fastest way to shorten its life, taking away flexibility and affecting the number of charge cycles.
It should also be remembered that, if for some reason, you have not touched the Nintendo Switch for months, it is convenient that, at least, do some sporadic uploads and do not let it die without battery in a drawer, long periods with the console turned off with the battery depleted are very detrimental to its useful life.
A couple of weeks ago we talked about what your alternatives were in case you didn’t have the Nintendo Switch charger at hand and had to use a mobile phone charger. The USB-C charging port of the Nintendo hybrid has served to facilitate the connection with almost any type of current peripheral, but this also carries a series of risks.
Our advice is to keep an eye on the chargers that you are going to use with it, because although they apparently do not have to be a problem, those of worse quality can give you some dislike. Our recommendation is that you always use the official nintendo chargeror failing that, chargers licensed by Nintendo for the console or to charge the Joy-Con.
In the same way as with power adapters, charge your Nintendo Switch with any external battery (power bank) may not be the best thing to do for the life of your battery. Nintendo has licensed some battery models, like the ones it makes the anker brandand that guarantee a safe operation.
If you are going to charge the console with an external battery, you should also take into account the USB-C cable that you will use to do it: among the recommendations of the nintendo support We find that, ideally, we would use the official charging cable that includes the Pro Controller and the charging support for the Joy-Con (HAC-010), but in case you don’t have one of these, you can find cables licensed by Nintendo from third-party companies that they are safe and have a 56K Ohm resistor.
The temperature of your battery is another aspect that you must monitor to extend its life, although if you expose your console to extreme temperatures, this will not be the only component that may be at risk, so this advice is of vital importance: monitor the temperature that your Nintendo Switch is going to face, especially during loads.
Do not leave the console charging in the sun or in a place with high temperaturesIf we emphasize this recommendation, it is due to the very portable nature of the console and, in times of good weather, it is not uncommon for you to carry it around to enjoy playing on vacation. Although extremely cold temperatures can also damage the battery, it is more likely that the problems come from the heat. Pay special attention to the place where you leave your console, do not leave it in a car parked in the sun in the middle of a heat wave, much less put it to charge somewhere in the sun.
We know that it may seem obvious, but even if you are not playing the console, you should not cover it while charging it: the temperature will increase despite being off and it is not convenient for you to turn it into a small oven. So, do not cover the console in the dock while it is chargingDon’t even box it up.
Ideally, you should carry out the loads in a cool and ventilated space. Although you are very careful and like to always have your console covered and stored in its case, it is important that do not charge the console while keeping it in the case. Usually, the covers do not allow you to connect the charging cable, but even if you manage to do it, it will not be recommended.
If you find yourself away from home in a situation where the options to charge your console are not ideal, the only alternative to avoid crushing the battery may be to try save consumption as much as possible and thus stretch your gaming hours, if this is the case, here are some ways to get your battery to take longer to get closer to that 0% to avoid:
- Adjust screen brightness: In many cases, this can be excessive and lowering the brightness of the screen is one of the best ways to save battery. Also remember to disable auto-brightness.
- Choose the black theme: This is one of the options that we recommend for any of your devices. It will help you reduce the intensity of the brightness of the screen and thus reduce consumption.
- Turn off vibration: If you are playing on Nintendo Switch Lite, you should also take into account the battery that consumes the vibration and turning it off, you can save too.
- Activate airplane mode: If you are not playing connected to the Internet, nor are you using Bluetooth or NFC devices, you can activate Airplane Mode to disable them and not waste energy.
- Reduce the volume: Like any other element of your Nintendo Switch, playing with the volume at maximum also causes battery consumption that you can reduce by adjusting it to the minimum you consider necessary.
- standby mode: This option ensures that the screen turns off as soon as we stop using the console, something similar to what we are all used to on mobile phones and is another way to keep consumption at bay.
We want to end by reminding you that you should not be obsessed with the life of your battery either, fortunately, skipping any of these recommendations in a timely manner should not pose any serious problem for your console, although having some good consumption habitsIn the long run, it will greatly benefit its conservation. Remember that if you want more recommendations for extend the life of your consolein 3DJuegos you have available our 13 tips to clean your Nintendo Switch and the Joy-Con.
More about: Nintendo Switch, Batteries and Nintendo.
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