Topic: 3DS Battery - Affected by MicroSD card? Easy to replace?

[Khushrenada]

Allow me to bring some brief life to this forum and test the technical wizardry of our forum population. I've noticed in the past week that my 3DS battery life has become incredibly short. I seem to get about an hour of playtime with it before it's flashing red and shot. I know I used to get much more with it. The problem is my 3DS playtime has been sporadic so it's hard for me to recall if I noticed the battery life becoming shorter up over time.

Yet, when I think about some of the playtimes I had with it a couple months ago in May, I know I was still able to get a couple hours out of it at least since I'd be playing Smash Bros. on it while watching playoff hockey and that was with the 3D effect and volume at full. This is for a NEW 3DS XL system bought at launch so it is about 3 and half years old.

The only recent difference I can think of is that I had to replace the microSD card in the system since my system memory was finally out of room after all these years of playing the 3DS. I transferred all the files onto the new card and put that into the system to carry on. When I was first booting up the system again, it seemed to take a bit for the system to process and read files on the menu. I was worried that maybe I did something wrong or wondered if it was just taking a moment to re-establish these links. For the most part, since that initial change, I feel like everything loads faster or that it isn't as slow as the first time the home menu loaded but that could just be me becoming use to the way things are now. It's got me wondering if my microSD card isn't as compatible as the system installed card and so it is taking more power to read files off of it. Yet, I would think that if I was playing in a game that the system is reading from the game cartridge then that shouldn't be the case but maybe I'm wrong there.

Is it just a case where my battery may be tired? Is it easy to replace the battery or acquire a new one? Could the microSD card be an issue? Is there another factor I should be considering and am missing? I don't like having to play the system with it constantly plugged in. It really takes the portable out of portable system.

[UncleBob]

Super-late to replace the battery.  Take the back cover off, pop the old battery out, pop the new one in.  Remember when cell phones commonly had user-replacable batteries?  Basically, that.

I cannot answer your question regarding the SD card, as I've had the same one in mine since launch. :/

I can say, my original 3DS got to where it was dead all the time.  I assumed it was the battery just aging.  Then, one day, I was messing around with it and popped the cover (a plastic, Marion themed thing) off of it - the back of the unit was bulging out where the battery was all puffy and ready to explodey.  Called Nintendo to buy a new battery, they had me mail everything in, checked it all out to make sure there wasn't something wrong with the system, then sent it back with a new battery installed.

[Mop it up]

The NEW 3DS XL released back in February 2015, so you would have had it around 2 years and 5 months if you bought it at launch.

From what I remember, these kinds of batteries are good for about 500 recharges before they start to wear out and the battery life shortens. Have you charged it that many times yet? Extreme temperatures and other factors can also wear out a battery faster.

[Khushrenada]

Probably. I usually leave the system in sleep mode and have it plugged in most nights so that it has a full charge the next day. It's rare that I've turned it off so I'm not sure how the recharging process works. I've still got my original launch 3DS and although I haven't played it in a few months, its battery life hasn't dropped to as short a play cycle as the NEW 3DS XL and I use to leave it on in sleep mode and charging in its cradle through all the years I've had it. It's only in the past few months year that I haven't really been charging it or keeping it on as frequently yet it had lasted this long without needing to be changed.

I guess it just surprises me because even my DS systems still have a good battery life to them. This is the first time I've had a battery wear out so quickly in the DS family.

[Khushrenada]

So, I ordered in a new battery from Nintendo and have installed it. I noticed that the old battery felt slightly thicker or was a little bit more curved than the new one which was very flat and smooth. I noticed on my recent trip that the airline asked if I had any dangerous goods in my luggage including lithium batteries which the 3DS uses. I wonder if air travel is having an adverse effect on lithium batteries. I think it relates more to the recent Samsung phone battery issues than anything else but maybe there is a growing problem with them.

[UncleBob]

I don't think it was the air travel - the buldging is exactly what mine did.

[Mop it up]

The bulging happened to a friend of mine too. I'm not sure what causes it, but I think it's something that can happen to these types of batteries when exposed to certain conditions.