How Long Does Nintendo Switch Charge Last

The battery is crucial to consider while buying a handheld gaming console. Apart from a gaming experience, it is also important to know how often you will be charging the console. Everyone hates gadgets that work amazingly well but have poor battery life. The same rule applies to handheld consoles.

The Nintendo Switch is probably the best handheld console out there. Users love it for its portability, features, functionality, and so much more. But a big question lies here: How is the battery life of a Nintendo Switch? Does the battery of the Nintendo Switch degrade with time? Stick with us, and you’ll get to know soon.

As the Nintendo Switch is loaded with Lithium-ion batteries, the life of the console’s battery will eventually decrease over time. After about 800 charge cycles, the battery life of your console may drop by about 80%.

Even though the Nintendo Switch has proved to be the highest-selling console during the lockdown periods, buyers still wonder if the battery life is good enough or not. This is because battery life can greatly affect the portability of the Nintendo Switch.

In this guide, we’ll provide you with every detail regarding the Nintendo Switch battery life. So, walk with us through this short guide, and you’ll have your answer in no time.

Contents

Is it Okay to Charge the Nintendo Switch Overnight?

The Nintendo Switch comes with a lot of built-in security features to protect the device from any sort of harm. So even if you have the Nintendo Switch plugged in to charge all night, it won’t do any harm. The battery will stay safe and won’t be damaged due to overcharging.

Although overcharging used to be a problem some time ago, we’re in an era where our gadgets can be protected from such harm. So, you can rightfully assume your Nintendo Switch will work perfectly well even if you leave it on charge overnight. You must make sure your charger is strong enough.

Otherwise, it’ll drain the power instead of charging it. You must ensure the non-dock chargers you use are capable of quick and efficient charging. However, make sure to use the dock whenever you find it viable. Using the official charger and the dock are the best option to go for. However, you can easily charge your device with its official charger when you shift to handheld mode.

You must know that keeping it in there for days may degrade the battery dramatically. Therefore, you are advised to be cautious of it and not leave it on charge unnecessarily. You may leave the Nintendo Switch on the dock for as long as you like, but make sure the dock is Nintendo Licensed. If you leave it on an unauthorized dock, you might be severely damaging your device.

You must also be highly cautious while using random AC adapters and USB cables. If the cable or adapter does not give out the right amount of power, your device may get damaged. You can use the official charging dock while playing in the tabletop mode. Overnight charging while in sleep mode will have the slightest effect on your battery.

How Long Does It Take to Charge the Switch?

The Nintendo Switch is quite efficient when it comes to charging. However, some improvements can be made in the future. It may take up to 1.5 hours for the Switch to reach 50% battery life. So, you can assume charging the Nintendo Switch to 100% will take about three hours. The results will be similar if you use the official charger and official dock. However, results may vary for users using third party gadgets to charge their devices.

How Long Does a Nintendo Switch Charge Last?

While using the console in handheld mode, the battery life of the Nintendo Switch varies from model to model and also depends on what you’re playing. While playing light games, you can expect the battery life of the Nintendo Switch to last for about 4 to 7 hours. If you consider the battery life while having a GPU intensive gaming session, you can expect a battery life of about 2.5 to 4 hours. This means you’ll have to recharge your console every 3 to 4 hours later.

If you are using an older model of the Nintendo Switch, the battery will only last you about 2 to 3 hours maximum. This was the reason why Nintendo has released version 2 (v2) of the standard Switch. Nintendo has also released a patch note where the battery life of each Switch model is stated officially. Let’s go ahead and see what it says.

Nintendo Switch model HAC-001, product serial number starts with XAW → the battery life is 2.5 to 6.5 hours.
Nintendo Switch model HAC-001(-01), product serial number starts with XKW → the battery life is 4.5 to 9 hours.
Nintendo Switch Lite model HDH-001 → has 3 to 7 hours of battery life.
Nintendo Switch OLED model HEG-001, product serial number starts with XTW → the battery life is 4.5 to 9 hours.

While switched off or put into sleep mode, the Nintendo Switch will take around 3 hours to charge completely. If you use the console while charging, it will obviously utilize more time to charge to 100%. The battery life of the Switch will vary depending on the software functions and the software applications running on it. If you take a look at it, the Nintendo Switch can give you up to 5 hours of gameplay on the go.

Considering other handheld gaming gadgets, 5 hours is pretty impressive. However, this can still be less for some people. You should know that a bigger battery can affect portability as the console will get heavier. This may make it more troublesome to carry around.

You can take the Switch Lite as an example. Even though it has a 10% smaller battery, people still prefer it due to its high portability. This console is very light weight and easy to carry around. Moreover, larger batteries can produce more heat, creating cooling problems for the console. Consider a mobile phone with a large battery. If you play heavy games on it for half an hour, you’ll feel the phone burning up.

How Long Does a Nintendo Switch Charge Last in Sleep Mode?

When put into sleep mode, the battery of your Nintendo Switch will only drop by 10 – 15%. If there are no games and updates running, you can expect the battery to fall only by 15% within 2 hours. As the Nintendo Switch is powered by a lithium-ion battery, you can expect the battery life to decrease with time. This is perfectly normal as all batteries are consumable items and will eventually lose health with time.

Turning Switch Off Vs Sleep Mode

The battery of your Nintendo Switch will only cut to half or one-third of your normal use when you put it into sleep mode. If there are no updates running in the background, or no games are being played. As stated above, you can expect the battery to be drained only by 15% in 24 hours.

How much battery will you consume if you leave a fully charged Nintendo Switch in sleep mode overnight?. Well, if you get 88 hours of sleep and put the Nintendo Switch into sleep mode when fully charged, you’ll only have 70% battery left by the time you wake up. As you can see, you have wasted 30% of the battery for no reason.

On the other hand, if you turn your Nintendo Switch off, you’ll be saving a lot of battery life. Therefore, it is better to simply power it off whenever you’re putting your Nintendo Switch away for a longer time. This way, your battery will not be used unnecessarily, and you’ll be able to save up a good amount of charge. On the other hand, if you keep using your Switch during the day from time to time, we recommend you put it into sleep mode rather than switching it on and off repeatedly.

Some Final Words

Users all over the world will most probably prefer the Nintendo Switch as their go-to handheld console. All the praise is due to the brilliant value this console offers. Although the Switch has a decent battery inside, we think it could be upgraded to something even better.

Taking the console with you on the go for the whole day can be troublesome as the battery might run out before your day even ends. As for now, the average lifespan of the Nintendo Switch battery is 5 hours. This could prove to be enough for some and too less for others.

Hopefully, Nintendo will work on improving its battery life in the future. Your battery also needs to be taken care of. So, if you want your Nintendo Switch’s battery to last longer, you’ll have to put in some effort from your side, too, to try not to overburden it. Hopefully, this article will have been of help to you, and your queries regarding the Nintendo Switch battery life have been answered. We wish you all the best.