In my quest to 'consolize' a switch into a Switchn't I wanted to remove the requirement for a battery.

Not much has been done to figure this out but I did find a thread on shmups in which user fwannmacher had over time figured it out after their battery failed.

First step, there are two test points next to the battery connector (on V1 and V2 switches, yet to confirm lite or oled) that are for the Sense line and GND. Putting a 10k ohm resistor across those pads makes the switch think the battery is fully charged, and will no longer try to charge it.


Next step, the switch requires voltage into the batt circuit or it will not turn on. A DC to DC buck converter from the 15V rail on the switch dock motherboard is a perfect solution for this.
Before connecting the buck converter to the battery input on the switch motherboard, I set its output voltage to 4.22v on my digital multimeter and then connected the output wires to the switches battery input.


Now with buck voltage output at 4.22v on meter I then dialed it in to 4320mv in Hekate (4.30v on meter), hekate has battery info under Console Info/Battery.
This screen unfortunately doesn't auto refresh, so I was making very minute adjustments on the buck converters adjustment screw, then closing and reopening the battery screen to check the new value.
(I got the value of 4320mv from a second fully charged switch I had on hand, but I recommend you check what your console is before beginning modification)



With all this complete the switch now boots completely without a battery, both into OFW and CFW.


Thanks to fwannmacher for their work. I just wanted to do a complete writeup thats a little easier to follow for people in the future and hopefully extending the lifespan of some switches.

 

[CaliousKai]

Question, Why do this?

 

[BaamAlex]

Question, Why do this?

Because its cool?

 

[Jayro]

Question, Why do this?

"Consolizing" game systems has been a thing for a very long time. I wanna consolize my Sega Game Gear and a GBA SP I have. People even consolize Capcom CPS arcade boards with great success, and retrofit them with anti-suicide chips and other cool things. Sure, the end goal of turning a portable seems cool, even if a little fruitless, but it's also a lot of fun learning things as you go.

 

[CaliousKai]

"Consolizing" game systems has been a thing for a very long time. I wanna consolize my Sega Game Gear and a GBA SP I have. People even consolize Capcom CPS arcade boards with great success, and retrofit them with anti-suicide chips and other cool things. Sure, the end goal of turning a portable seems cool, even if a little fruitless, but it's also a lot of fun learning things as you go.

valid point i portablized a saturn and that was tough but alot of fun

Post automatically merged: Jun 30, 2023

Because its cool?

a console without a battery loses the portability function (yeah "REEEEEAL Cool")

 

[BaamAlex]

a console without a battery loses the portability function

That's the reason why you consolize it...

 

[hippy dave]

valid point i portablized a saturn and that was tough but alot of fun

Pics/link?

 

[Compi]

This is perfect. I kinda always wanted a switch without a battery since I only play docked. Looking forward to this evolving even further.

 

[CaliousKai]

Pics/link?

U want me to take a photo? I followed this guide https://www.hackster.io/news/a-portable-sega-saturn-called-the-sega-uranus-1e87c472092e

 

[hippy dave]

U want me to take a photo?

Yes please.

 

[CaliousKai]

I replied in a previous post

 

[hippy dave]

I replied in a previous post

Thanks for showing me Ur anus, it's beautiful

 

[Nynrah]

Question, Why do this?

To be able to still use your Switch even when your battery is dead and you can't replace it anymore in the future. Lithium batteries aren't standardized like normal batteries, so you may not be able to replace it one day. In other words, your Switch may not be usable over 20 years unlike your NES, SNES or N64 and removing the need for a battery fixes that problem. The consolizing part is a separate thing, but that's one possible reason to do this IMO.

 

[WiiU-User92387]

Would be really cool if we could create a small "dummy battery" to install. Any chance of this happening? Something small enough to stick in the battery pack place and a wire coming out to plug it in?

 

[fwannmacher]

Would be really cool if we could create a small "dummy battery" to install. Any chance of this happening? Something small enough to stick in the battery pack place and a wire coming out to plug it in?

I have tried that before and the problem is that during the booting process there is a moment where the Switch will cut dock's supply. We could be able to do that by using capacitors as pseudo battery for that brief moment I guess but it is way over my little knowledge in electronics xD

 

[TheStonedModder]

Looks like someone else had a similar idea

 

[fwannmacher]

Looks like someone else had a similar idea

Looks interesting. But still uses the battery :-p

 

[fwannmacher]

My Switch "PRO" last revision. The screen is accessible by turning the system upside down

 

[ertaboy356b]

Without battery, how does the console retains 'time' as in the 'clock'?

 

[fwannmacher]

Without battery, how does the console retains 'time' as in the 'clock'?

It doesn't. So we have to use things like https://github.com/nedex/QuickNTP

 

[Nynrah]

It doesn't. So we have to use things like https://github.com/nedex/QuickNTP

This is a nice solution; more convenient than manually updating the time everytime you start up the system. Is there also something like this for the 3DS?