Hacking Testing battery drain between different flashcarts

[shtonkalot]

This recent thread about Supercard performance has been under attack from forum members (including myself) trying to figure out the difference in battery drainage between flashcarts.
Namely the Supercard and whether it sucks more juice than others.

I currently own an M3 and will be getting (winsunx prevailing) a Supercard mini-SD and EZ4-Lite delivered next week.

I plan to film these carts in operation on my DS Lite to observe the difference in battery usage.
I'm going to use a PS2 eyetoy as a webcam hooked up to my computer to record the time it takes for the DS to shut off.
At least that's the plan.

Does anyone know of some software that I can use to capture the webcam image? I hope to use something that will allow recording at a low framerate, like 1 FPS.
Also can anyone advise me as to what I should run on the DS's to test with? I was planning to leave a game intro on loop, but don't know what game.

The plan is to test only the difference between battery suckage on the carts I have, with the DS I have. I am willing to repeat the tests on my other two DS's if that is of interest.
I'm not looking to tell others what there flashcart / DS combo will do. I'm sure there will be differences.

I'm open to all suggestions though. If you are interested in the comparison let me know what you think would work.

 

[meangreenie]

Some test would be nice to look at and more definative, but..

..If you look at the SC MiniSD review at this site you will see the test has already been done for the SC MiniSD. This was done on the old style DS and the result was 5 1/2 hours running Nintendogs.

This is roughly the same as Nintendo claim for the old DS running an original DS cart. So despite the GBASTEMP SC miniSD review's conclusions about it's battery drainage you can clearly see it would of been virtually impossible to get any better result.

I can confirm the SC miniSD result and also tell you the EZIV is about the same.

My tests are only done by observation when my 2 boys play their DS. On long car journeys and family visits, both of them will run out of battery at @ the same time. 5 to 5 1/2 hours on an old style DS.

 

[kutis]

here's an idea...

make sure that it runs all under the same condition (except for the flash cart)

same ds, same mini-sd, same game, flashme (a passme device might work better with one cart than the other).

i'd suggest to run 3 tests.

first, as u said, a game, running on intro is fine, but i think this is more of a controlled test, rather than a real life test,.. this test is okay... pick any game just as long as the screen doesn't go dim after a few minutes of idle, coz -like all other digital devices- the screen takes most of battery life.

second, run movies.. with moonshell.. see how long until it shut off.. yea, this test doesnt seem that important, but it is closer to real life situation rather than the 1st one.

third (this is my fav), test how long does it takes from orange led to shut off, u need to play the ds in this test thou,... i prefer to test with games with major buttons action (like new super mario) rather than stylus (like brain age's sudoku), simply i think it is more controlled...

as for the video, maybe u feel like u need it as evidence or something, i suggest that u get one of those dv cam that record video with timestamping option.. it will make ur life easier

 

[shtonkalot]

Thanks for the input meangreenie.

However in the other thread (link in first post) you did say:
"Show me one real test, any test where the SC massively drains the battery in comparison to any other cart ? You will not be able to because one doesn't exist."
Well I haven't seen any well documented comparative tests between flash carts that show any results either for or against supercard.
Please if you (anyone) have links to battery comparisons for different devices post them here.
And it's not just about the Supercard. If I had more cards than the 3 mentioned I'd test them the same way.

 

[shtonkalot]

here's an idea...

make sure that it runs all under the same condition (except for the flash cart)

same ds, same mini-sd, same game, flashme (a passme device might work better with one cart than the other).

i'd suggest to run 3 tests.

first, as u said, a game, running on intro is fine, but i think this is more of a controlled test, rather than a real life test,.. this test is okay... pick any game just as long as the screen doesn't go dim after a few minutes of idle, coz -like all other digital devices- the screen takes most of battery life.

second, run movies.. with moonshell.. see how long until it shut off.. yea, this test doesnt seem that important, but it is closer to real life situation rather than the 1st one.

third (this is my fav), test how long does it takes from orange led to shut off, u need to play the ds in this test thou,... i prefer to test with games with major buttons action (like new super mario) rather than stylus (like brain age's sudoku), simply i think it is more controlled...

as for the video, maybe u feel like u need it as evidence or something, i suggest that u get one of those dv cam that record video with timestamping option.. it will make ur life easier

That's some great ideas, thanks!

OK I like the idea of keeping as much the same as possible, I can use the same mini-SD for the SC and M3 but obviously not the EZ4-Lite. Will be using my DS Lite for all tests and maybe re-run them on one (or both) of my old phat DS's. Both mightn't be a bad idea as one of them is a original version 1 firmware (before flashme) Japanese release, the other a much newer orig V4 firmware Australian release.

The 1st two tests are definately going to be used, I think the moonshell test is an excellent idea and should push the battery pretty hard.
I'm not so sure about your favourite test though, just because if the DS is being played it may consume different amounts of power at different parts of the game. It is probably the best in terms of giving an idea how long the cart/DS combo will run in use for others. But I want a real comparison test.

The video is not to prove anything (though if there are doubters...) but rather to keep an eye on the tests so I don't go Qrayzie

watching the DS for hours. (see thread linked at start)

 

[KidIce]

My tests are only done by observation when my 2 boys play their DS. On long car journeys and family visits, both of them will run out of battery at @ the same time. 5 to 5 1/2 hours on an old style DS.

Did I get the magic DS battery or what? I'm not saying you're are wrong, but I get quite a bit more life out of my DS battery then you do using a flash cart or no. Are you using passme's or are their DS's flashed, I'm curious? I suppose it could be the games I'm playing. Given the polys thrown around in Animal Crossing (what I've been playing the most of lately), I can't imagine that Nintendogs would make much more of a dent then AC in the battery.

 

[Lily]

If you get 5 1/2 hours on your DS battery (with a flashcart or without) something is definitely wrong with your DS - get a new battery!

 

[Tir]

I for one am hanging out for the tests, especially for EZ4L (though I'm 70% sure I'll get a G6L instead). Regarding Supercards, a friend was only getting ~3 hours battery on his phat DS with the firmware flashed with one that allowed higher brightness, obviously he wasn't impressed with that.

 

[freemaan]

Try this: http://celebris.net/~freemaan/uptimeds01.rar
Sorry, it doesn't have CF/SD support yet... if someone really need this, i can fix it tomorrow.

 

[shtonkalot]

Try this: http://celebris.net/~freemaan/uptimeds01.rar
Sorry, it doesn't have CF/SD support yet... if someone really need this, i can fix it tomorrow.

Try it... What is it!?

 

[meangreenie]

If you get 5 1/2 hours on your DS battery (with a flashcart or without) something is definitely wrong with your DS - get a new battery!

That's weird because the 2 DS's my boys have are the same battery wise as the 2 DS's my nephews have, and those were bought a couple of months ago. All of them are bad ??

Weird too that Nintendo themselves claim generally a 6 hour battery time with a maxium of 10 (when playing gba games ony, as only one screen is used)

http://www.nintendoids.com/nintendo-ds-tec...cification.html

 

[Net]

5 1/2 hours smees about right depending on what you what games you were playing.

If you were playing Animal Crossing, the battery would die pretty fast(and moreso if you were playing Online or with local Wifi, the thing is a battery muncher). The same goes for MPH.

Smaller games that don't have Online play or 3-D stuff will drain your battery really slowly. I've gotten 9+ hours from playing Trauma Center.

 

[shtonkalot]

My mate has bought a new battery for his DS. After only about 5 months of owning his DS (phat style), his battery life was down around the 2-3 hour mark. Not using any flashcart, only original gamecarts.
I'll chat to him soon and see what, if any other details he can give me.

Just wanted to point out that different peoples DS's have different battery span.

EDIT

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering his battery life is now "normal" (whatever that means

) after several months with the new battery.

 

[KidIce]

5 1/2 hours smees about right depending on what you what games you were playing.

If you were playing Animal Crossing, the battery would die pretty fast(and moreso if you were playing Online or with local Wifi, the thing is a battery muncher). The same goes for MPH.

Smaller games that don't have Online play or 3-D stuff will drain your battery really slowly. I've gotten 9+ hours from playing Trauma Center.

Nope, sorry, I've been playing AC at work and have left it running the whole shift and not seen a red LED. BUT... I'm not using any of the wireless features.

Are your kids playing wirelessly w/ each other by any chance, meangreenie? That would certainly drain the batteries a lot quicker. Hell, if they are then I would call 5 1/2 hours quite good even.

 

[Hero-Link]

:\ my ds battery dies somewhat around 5 hours as well... its pratically new! i'm using m3 minisd version, sucks that its eating my battery crazy, oh and i only play trauma center btw

 

[kutis]

I'm not so sure about your favourite test though, just because if the DS is being played it may consume different amounts of power at different parts of the game. It is probably the best in terms of giving an idea how long the cart/DS combo will run in use for others. But I want a real comparison test.

The video is not to prove anything (though if there are doubters...) but rather to keep an eye on the tests so I don't go QrayzieÂ

 watching the DS for hours. (see thread linked at start)

it's all good m8...

i'm thinking that we can see that result from the first 2 tests neway.

 

[Dirtie]

I think leaving Nintendogs running is a good test. It has 3d graphics, and something is always happening onscreen so it's not static, and of course there are sounds constantly playing the background. I plan to (eventually) test the battery life of my EZ4 miniSD.

 

[shtonkalot]

I think leaving Nintendogs running is a good test. It has 3d graphics, and something is always happening onscreen so it's not static, and of course there are sounds constantly playing the background. I plan to (eventually) test the battery life of my EZ4 miniSD.

I'll think about nintendogs, I was hoping though to have a game intro that involved 3D that would stay the same all the time.
I'd just like to rule out any changes betwen the test however minor. Maybe if I use the one save file from nintendogs on all three devices that would work..?

Is that possible? are the saves from M3, SC and EZ4 compatible?

I was thinking of using NSMB start menu screen, it has minimal 3D but will repeat and has music, sounds.
Only thing I've played lately that I can remember being suitable. Any suggestions welcome.

Also I'm going to use virtualdub for recording the webcam video. I think it's the best for locally storing the job.

 

[Jesper64]

Hey shtonkalot any results yet?

Also I've got a question regarding using an original DS game for sleep mode. If you're running FlashMe and a Flash Cart (in my case SC-SD) but keep a DS game in the slot so that it will go into sleep mode properly. Does this drain the battery anymore than not inserting the DS game. In my mind it shouldn't need to access the DS game card until it needs to go into sleep mode so therefore shouldn't affect battery life. Is this true?

 

[Tir]

Bumpo, still planning on doing the tests shtonkalot? Or have they been posted elsewhere and I missed them?

I'm quite interested in seeing if the SC's life is really as bad as some people say, what with the imminent release of the SC Lite and all.