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Switch charging time is 3 hours, non-removable battery
- Thread starter ggx2ac
- Start date
Okay, serious question, I just realized AC adapter that comes along with the package might cause me some minor trouble:
Since I live in Croatia I may have to automatically buy some sort of universal plug replacement Day 1 amirite? Basically I need to have this:
Alternatively, I can also charge it while on stand?
Is there a good reason for you to get a US/Japan import? If you buy locally or import from a country that uses your type of plug, the Switch will come with the right kind of AC adapter:
Otherwise, yeah, if the Adapter is indeed universal and you want to buy a US Switch, you'll just need a type A to type C plug converter, which are pretty cheap.
Opticability
Banned
Is USBC compatible with Apples Lightning charger?
Oh yeah, looking it up Croatia is on the higher voltage so you'd need to either have a step down converter or hope Nintendo did like the U where it was actually 220 compatible.
Not without a converter, no. edit: I don't think Lightning has enough juice in it's spec to power anything. That's a USBC thing.
You could power a Switch with the newest Macbook's USBC power brick, or even power it with a TV that has USBC ports.
edit: i THINK but am not sure -at all- but if the USBC port is fully functional on the Switch, you should, IN THEORY, be able to run both video and power over the USBC cable to a TV that supports USBC.
This. Honestly I'll probably just charge it while docked first. As for the adapter? No idea what replacement to get.
This is a standard power socket for most European countries. No idea how many volts.
Edit:
Thanks! How will I know if it's compatible - good old user manual?
This. Honestly I'll probably just charge it while docked first. As for the adapter? No idea what replacement to get.
This is a standard power socket for most European countries. No idea how many volts.
220. It actually says right in the filename, lol
It's why you guys can have neat stuff like electric kettles while we can't because of our wimpy 110v.
It will probably say somewhere in the documentation/manual if it's 220 compat out the box, yeah.
Regarding the charger - I know that the one included is probably intended for the dock. If I wanted another one could I just use something like this with an existing USB charger?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N40GDF6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N40GDF6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
This. Honestly I'll probably just charge it while docked first. As for the adapter? No idea what replacement to get.
This is a standard power socket for most European countries. No idea how many volts.
Edit:
Thanks! How will I know if it's compatible - good old user manual?
This should work perfectly if the brick is dual voltage.
Okami Haundo
Member
Forgive me but I don't have the time to read this whole thread. the "AC adaptor" that comes with the Switch is quite large and I don't wanna pay MSRP. I know Switch uses USB C, but what kind of USB outlet plugs would be sufficient to charge this? Don't wanna invest in one that'll trickle power in, especially if I'm playing while charging.
ElectricKaibutsu
Member
I feel better.So come into this thread I read the OP, see the 3 hours charge time, think "that's pretty reasonable", and see that they're using a 4310 mAh battery, which is on the top end of what I would have expected. Good stuff.
And then I start reading the replies... holy hell. I know neogaf has a reputation for over-reacting to things, but this thread is just straight up nuts. Go outside, take a walk, have a breath of fresh air, and when you've calmed down you can come back and we can actually look at the facts.
You're back? Great, nice day outside, isn't it? Okay, now let's talk batteries.
Battery Size
At 4310 mAh, Switch has by far the highest-capacity battery of any gaming device ever made. Here's what's currently out there:
3DS / 2DS - 1300 mAh
New 3DS - 1400 mAh
(New) 3DS XL - 1750 mAh
PS Vita - 2200 mAh
That's about twice the capacity of PS Vita or almost three and a half times the capacity of the 3DS or 2DS.
Now, you're surely saying "but X phone or Y tablet has such-and-such a capacity, Nintendo must be able to fit more in there!", but I'm willing to be X phone and Y tablet aren't actively cooled. A typical phone or tablet these days is basically a battery with some electronics and a screen attached. For a phone the battery could account for 60-70% of the internal volume, and it can be even higher for tablets.
Nintendo doesn't have the luxury of dedicating so much internal space to batteries, because it has to fit a fan and heatsink in there, which likely occupies as much as half the space between the screen and the rear of the case. Have a look at this rear-view photo of the Switch:
The blue box I've included is pretty much the best-case-scenario for how much space Nintendo can allocate to the battery in Switch. If you look at the fan vents at the top and bottom of the unit you can see where the heatsink and fan are going to sit (and I've been pretty conservative with the red box for this, as I'm not even including the area around the third vent to the lower right). Then on the left we've got space taken up by the game card slot, microSD slot, kickstand, and likely part of the logic board (which will overlap the cooling system).
There's no space for a bigger battery. The reason I say 4310 mAh is at the top end of what I would have expected is because there's just nowhere to put anything bigger. A 4310 mAh battery is basically Nintendo squeezing as big a battery as they possibly can in there. Quote me on this, when we see teardowns in March there isn't going to be some big gap where they could have put a bigger battery. They've squeezed in as much as they can without increasing the physical size of the device.
Charging
Regarding the "Switch doesn't do quick charging" claim, let's first do some basic maths. A 4310 mAh battery, assuming a standard 3.7V, comes to 15.95 Wh. For that battery to charge from 0 to 100% in 3 hours, then at an absolute minimum, it would have to be charging at a rate of 15.95/3 = 5.3W. Standard USB 2 provides 2.5W of power, so it's physically impossible for Switch to charge so quickly without some form of "quick charging".
However, as several people have already pointed out, batteries don't charge at a flat rate from 0 to 100%, they charge more quickly for the first ~80%, and much more slowly for the final ~20%. It's quite likely that Switch's peak charging rate is anywhere from 10-15W, which is, once again, far more than a standard USB 2 charger would provide.
Finally, we have Nintendo's FCC listing for Switch last month, which gave us these little nuggets of information:
See that bit where it says that the (USB-C) AC adaptor can output DC at 15V? That, folks, means that the system uses USB Power Delivery Revision 2.0 Version 1.2 or later. Or, in layman's terms, quick charging.
So, unless Nintendo have broken both the laws of thermodynamics and some regular human laws by lying to the FCC (although I'd imagine they'd get into more trouble over the former), Switch is most definitely capable of quick charging by any definition.
Regarding the total charging time of 3 hours, this is pretty typical for a gaming device. The 3DS takes even longer at 3 and a half hours for a full charge, while the PS Vita takes 2 hours and 40 mins. And in both cases we're talking about far smaller batteries than Switch has.
People also need to keep in mind once again that li-ion batteries are much slower to charge for the last 20% or so. This is why phone manufacturers always give specs like "charges to 80% in an hour", and leave out the fact that the remaining 20% takes another hour. Anantech provides some useful charging graphs in their smartphone reviews (e.g. OnePlus 3T, Honor 8), and if you look through them you'll notice a trend that charging to 80% typically takes only half the time of charging fully to 100%. This is going to vary a little bit depending on the battery and charging tech used, but it's usually around that ratio.
Translating to Switch, what we're probably looking at is the device charging to 80% battery in 90 minutes or so. Which, for me at least, is pretty reasonable. Yeah, they probably could have got it down to 60 minutes by using a more expensive battery, more expensive power ICs and a more expensive charger, but I doubt I'll ever be in a situation where that's the difference between my Switch having a usable amount of charge or not.
TLR
- Switch's battery is far bigger than any other gaming device
- Switch's battery is as big as they could possibly fit in there given the active cooling
- Switch definitely uses quick charging (source: FCC & James Clerk Maxwell)
- Switch probably charges to ~80% battery in about 90 minutes
EatinOlives
Member
It's considered both a portable and a console depending on what argument there seems to be. The excuses range from "show me another tablet that puts out Switch's visuals!" to "well it's not a tablet or portable, it's a console!"
It's the worst of both worlds in many respects. I get it if it personally doesn't bother you, but I don't believe you can't genuinely see where people are who are bothered by it are coming from.
230 v in Europe, and 120 v in the US, actually.
And charging isn't going to be a problem. This thing has USB-C, after all.
Toadthemushroom
Member
If you're trying to make a fair comparison about battery life and expectations across devices and use cases, why are you only quoting a 2.5 hour play time, when battery life is quoted at 2.5-6.5 hours? You'll get significantly more time playing Puyo Puyo Tetris with a friend using both Joy-Con devices (which have 20 hour battery life each), and Nintendo's quote of 3 hours for Zelda, with the ambient light sensor setting auto brightness, seems quite fair. Especially when you consider that the 10,000 mAh 12" iPad Pro gets you 5 hours of gameplay under load (20% battery drain every hour).
Thanks for the input.
jts
...hate me...
The battery life isnt a far cry from original Vitas battery life.
I am considering it's better for portable gaming than mobile devices where a phone will struggle to push past 2-3 hours of KOTOR.
Commuters who already play games on the go and have a USB battery pack for their various tablets/phones etc that can recharge it even while they are playing games, watching films etc?
I spend 3 hours a day on trains, and with an Anker power bank (they are about £25) have never had a device run out of power.
Battery life is nowhere near the issue it used to be considering that most people carry devices that need charging and so various solutions were made available.
No problem
It beats mobile gaming no doubt yes. I just wonder if the majority if players will just leave it docked, and ocassionaly play with it around the house in another room maybe now and then. Ala wii u
i HeaR MusiC
Member
Dat hyperbole
Toadthemushroom
Member
So come into this thread I read the OP, see the 3 hours charge time, think "that's pretty reasonable", and see that they're using a 4310 mAh battery, which is on the top end of what I would have expected. Good stuff.
And then I start reading the replies... holy hell. I know neogaf has a reputation for over-reacting to things, but this thread is just straight up nuts. Go outside, take a walk, have a breath of fresh air, and when you've calmed down you can come back and we can actually look at the facts.
You're back? Great, nice day outside, isn't it? Okay, now let's talk batteries.
Battery Size
At 4310 mAh, Switch has by far the highest-capacity battery of any gaming device ever made. Here's what's currently out there:
3DS / 2DS - 1300 mAh
New 3DS - 1400 mAh
(New) 3DS XL - 1750 mAh
PS Vita - 2200 mAh
That's about twice the capacity of PS Vita or almost three and a half times the capacity of the 3DS or 2DS.
Now, you're surely saying "but X phone or Y tablet has such-and-such a capacity, Nintendo must be able to fit more in there!", but I'm willing to be X phone and Y tablet aren't actively cooled. A typical phone or tablet these days is basically a battery with some electronics and a screen attached. For a phone the battery could account for 60-70% of the internal volume, and it can be even higher for tablets.
Nintendo doesn't have the luxury of dedicating so much internal space to batteries, because it has to fit a fan and heatsink in there, which likely occupies as much as half the space between the screen and the rear of the case. Have a look at this rear-view photo of the Switch:
The blue box I've included is pretty much the best-case-scenario for how much space Nintendo can allocate to the battery in Switch. If you look at the fan vents at the top and bottom of the unit you can see where the heatsink and fan are going to sit (and I've been pretty conservative with the red box for this, as I'm not even including the area around the third vent to the lower right). Then on the left we've got space taken up by the game card slot, microSD slot, kickstand, and likely part of the logic board (which will overlap the cooling system).
There's no space for a bigger battery. The reason I say 4310 mAh is at the top end of what I would have expected is because there's just nowhere to put anything bigger. A 4310 mAh battery is basically Nintendo squeezing as big a battery as they possibly can in there. Quote me on this, when we see teardowns in March there isn't going to be some big gap where they could have put a bigger battery. They've squeezed in as much as they can without increasing the physical size of the device.
Charging
Regarding the "Switch doesn't do quick charging" claim, let's first do some basic maths. A 4310 mAh battery, assuming a standard 3.7V, comes to 15.95 Wh. For that battery to charge from 0 to 100% in 3 hours, then at an absolute minimum, it would have to be charging at a rate of 15.95/3 = 5.3W. Standard USB 2 provides 2.5W of power, so it's physically impossible for Switch to charge so quickly without some form of "quick charging".
However, as several people have already pointed out, batteries don't charge at a flat rate from 0 to 100%, they charge more quickly for the first ~80%, and much more slowly for the final ~20%. It's quite likely that Switch's peak charging rate is anywhere from 10-15W, which is, once again, far more than a standard USB 2 charger would provide.
Finally, we have Nintendo's FCC listing for Switch last month, which gave us these little nuggets of information:
See that bit where it says that the (USB-C) AC adaptor can output DC at 15V? That, folks, means that the system uses USB Power Delivery Revision 2.0 Version 1.2 or later. Or, in layman's terms, quick charging.
So, unless Nintendo have broken both the laws of thermodynamics and some regular human laws by lying to the FCC (although I'd imagine they'd get into more trouble over the former), Switch is most definitely capable of quick charging by any definition.
Regarding the total charging time of 3 hours, this is pretty typical for a gaming device. The 3DS takes even longer at 3 and a half hours for a full charge, while the PS Vita takes 2 hours and 40 mins. And in both cases we're talking about far smaller batteries than Switch has.
People also need to keep in mind once again that li-ion batteries are much slower to charge for the last 20% or so. This is why phone manufacturers always give specs like "charges to 80% in an hour", and leave out the fact that the remaining 20% takes another hour. Anantech provides some useful charging graphs in their smartphone reviews (e.g. OnePlus 3T, Honor 8), and if you look through them you'll notice a trend that charging to 80% typically takes only half the time of charging fully to 100%. This is going to vary a little bit depending on the battery and charging tech used, but it's usually around that ratio.
Translating to Switch, what we're probably looking at is the device charging to 80% battery in 90 minutes or so. Which, for me at least, is pretty reasonable. Yeah, they probably could have got it down to 60 minutes by using a more expensive battery, more expensive power ICs and a more expensive charger, but I doubt I'll ever be in a situation where that's the difference between my Switch having a usable amount of charge or not.
TL
- Switch's battery is far bigger than any other gaming device
- Switch's battery is as big as they could possibly fit in there given the active cooling
- Switch definitely uses quick charging (source: FCC & James Clerk Maxwell)
- Switch probably charges to ~80% battery in about 90 minutes
Nice one. Should be added to the OP.
Damn. Thanks for the heads up guys. Now I know when it says fully charged at 100% I'll wait longer before unplugging.
They touted that as a feature in the conference.
Awesome, thanks for that! I haven't been able to follow it as much as I'd like
I know I'm late to this but I want to nominate Thraktor as an early candidate for post of the year.
Of course, if Switch wasn't a hybrid and therefore didn't need active cooling, it could have a much bigger battery. Just one of many compromises they had to make.
Personally, the battery isn't an issue at all, and the whole thing looks like a fantastic handheld to me.
Of course, if Switch wasn't a hybrid and therefore didn't need active cooling, it could have a much bigger battery. Just one of many compromises they had to make.
Personally, the battery isn't an issue at all, and the whole thing looks like a fantastic handheld to me.
Devilinthiscity
Member
That's a bummer for those who are planning to use this as a portable. I'm not buying one at launch but when I eventually do get one it will most likely never be undocked. I could see Nintendo eventually releasing a revision with better specs like they did with the new 3DS though.
I have to ask: what is the probability that they'll improve the battery within a year? Quite a few people here believe that they'll already make a revision for casuals within that time span.
Mysterious
Banned
Wait why do you need an AC adapter? Does it not come with one???Okay, serious question, I just realized AC adapter that comes along with the package might cause me some minor trouble:
Since I live in Croatia I may have to automatically buy some sort of universal plug replacement Day 1 amirite? Basically I need to have this:
Alternatively, I can also charge it while on stand?
It's rather confusing, as there are a bunch of different marketing terms, and then there's USB Power Delivery, which is the actual standard, but is never used in any marketing. Qualcomm's "Quick Charge" is the most common branding, but it's actually not compatible with USB-PD, which means phones using it often won't be properly cross-compatible with fully compliant USB-C chargers, and in the worst case Qualcomm "Quick Charge" chargers could actually damage USB-C devices or vice versa. Fortunately the next version from Qualcomm (which should hit phones this year) is actually compatible with USB-PD, which should simplify things.
I stand connected on both counts, I wasn't really considering the more niche gaming devices.
If a game like Zelda runs for 3 hours on Switch from a 4310 mAh battery, then that means the power draw should be about 5.3W. In theory, if the battery pack was able to provide 6W (to err on the safe side), then you should be able to run the Switch off it.
However, it's a little more complicated than that. Switch's power supply provides 2.6A at 15V (i.e. 39W). [Note: that 39W isn't all going to charging Switch, but it's quite likely that the power supply is intended to both power Switch and charge it at the same time (i.e. while docked), and also power the dock and any USB accessories attached to the dock.] The pertinent number here is the 15V, whereas most battery packs seem to output 5V.
Switch will almost certainly charge from a 5V supply, but there's not necessarily any guarantee of how quickly it will charge, and it's possible that it would charge at less than 5W, meaning you wouldn't be able to play purely off the battery pack. Alternatively, it may charge perfectly well from a 5V supply, but at the moment there's no way to tell.
Basically, I'd recommend waiting a couple of weeks after Switch comes out before buying a battery pack. We're likely to get plenty of reports on which battery packs work well with Switch and which don't, which will help you make a much more informed decision.
Okay, serious question, I just realized AC adapter that comes along with the package might cause me some minor trouble:
Since I live in Croatia I may have to automatically buy some sort of universal plug replacement Day 1 amirite? Basically I need to have this:
Alternatively, I can also charge it while on stand?
The US Switch charger is universal (i.e. operates from 100V-240V) so it's a safe guess that all the other regions will also get universal chargers.
Alternatively, because it's a USB-C power supply, you could use any USB-C power supply that provides 15V at 2.6A or more (i.e. 39W or more). Ironically, though, given how much people have given out about Nintendo's accessory pricing, the official Switch power supply seems to actually be the cheapest USB-C charger around that meets these specs (although I admit my search has been far from exhaustive).
Mammoth Jones
Member
Doesn't impact my use case as long as I can get a really long USB-C charging cable. Doubt I'll ever take it out my house. Just room to room.
Damn shame though. Don't know how you can call this a portable with a straight face.
Damn shame though. Don't know how you can call this a portable with a straight face.
Mechanized
Member
Can the switch be charged outside of the dock?
Mammoth Jones
Member
The amount of over reacting people with the Switch is amazing, remembers me of the post-Wii unveil times.
I got this Anker power bank a year ago for ~45€. It has two USB ports and it's 17000mAh. I'm sure it'll work just fine with the Switch as it does with my iPhone 5S...
I mean to be fair I blame this more on a lack of progress w/ battery tech. Economics and physics just limit things in this area.
But I'd prefer a larger battery and larger "portable" as a result.
Yes. That's my intention.
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Yes. The tablet has a USB c charger port.
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
No. Current batteries don't charge linearly like that. It will probably go like 0-80 in 2ish hours with the last hour to go from 80-100.
So it will charge while playing as long as the charger or battery pack gives enough power (equivalent to the stock a/c adapter). It will just charge slower than if it were in sleep mode or powered off while charging.
Okay, then call it a tablet.