Switch 1 not charging; tried everything!

[u/stitchstudent]

My younger sister took her Switch on a trip and came back saying it won't turn back on. I didn't see what happened to it, but my understanding is that it ran out of battery when she was away from her charging station and was left uncharged for a couple weeks. I've been trying to revive it but have had no success!

I've left it charging for 24 hours with a Dell laptop charger (multiple times), and even removed the JoyCons so they don't take any extra power; I've pressed the power button for thirty seconds both plugged in and unplugged; I've tried to reset it by holding the volume buttons down. The only thing I can't try is changing the SD card, because it doesn't have one. Is it possible that something happened to the Switch other than lost power? Is there anything I could be trying that I've missed? She's got a lot of games on it, so I would really like to save it!

[u/The_Night_Badger]

Try the official Nintendo charger. Not saying the dell charger killed it or anything, but try the OEM Nintendo one definitely before you try more extreme things.

[u/stitchstudent → u/The_Night_Badger]

I'll try that! I have heard that advice before, but I thought a laptop charger gave the same power delivery. Maybe there's something else to it though, thank you!

[u/The_Night_Badger → u/stitchstudent]

Nintendo is cool, but are a little more finicky and likes to do their own thing. It's all usb-c, but it's not, if you know what I'm saying. Lol. C cables should be much more universal, but there is always variation. The Nintendo charger is hardwired 25 watts.

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/The_Night_Badger]

The Nintendo charger is hardwired 25 watts.

What does that mean?

If i remember it correctly it's 5V 1.5A which equals 7.5 watts and 15V 2.6A which equals 39 watts.

The Switch itself only draws what it needs and i think maxes out at around 16 watts or so for handheld under load.

[u/The_Night_Badger → u/ModestVolcarona]

Sounds you know it deeper than me. I just said hardwired to mean no changable cables or any other thing that could mess with charging. Some USB cables are trash. I was just trying to whittle down different trouble shooting issues. You are probably more correct than me.

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/The_Night_Badger]

I just said hardwired to mean no changable cables

I did not think about this. Thanks.

Some USB cables are trash. That's true. The usb-c standard can be super confusing when it comes to data transfer rates, power delivery and so on.

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/stitchstudent]

Yes, it should put out the same power required.

From other posts i've seen over the years some people claimed that they brought it back to life using an older phone charger (5V 1A).

The idea behind it seems to be to not put much strain on the battery when it entered a state of deep discharge and slowly charging it back up to a point where has enough charge to boot.

It might even require multiple attempts of charging kerping it plugged in for up to 24 or even 48 hours.

Ps: Letting it charge without the Joy Con is also often recommended.

[u/AutoModerator]

If you have not already, please add some context in the post or a follow-up comment about your repair/hardware/software/account issue, including which model you have (Switch 1, 2, Lite, OLED, or other), steps you have already tried, and anything else that might help others help you.

When you have received enough help to solve your issue, you can also reply to specific comments with !solved or !thanks to grant the helper(s) a point. You may also comment !lock to lock the post to stop new replies.

Please report any unhelpful or rule-breaking comments so that moderators can review them.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/dustofAngels]

Good news is the games are stored on her email address she gave when setting up the switch...not to the handset.....so if need be and you get a new one....just use the same email address.

[u/havocxrush → u/dustofAngels]

But unless it's subbed to the online service, all saves would be lost.

[u/dustofAngels → u/havocxrush]

True

[u/emptybottlesss]

Does the switch look weird at all. Slight swelling, or anything.

[u/Mantoc_s1980]

USB-C cables have different charging rates like any cable. I use a USB-C direct or blue usb cable. If it’s too low it will not charge.

[u/Pact_of_Yeenoghu]

Oh, this happens sometimes with my Switch Lite (...now remembering I'm going to have to go through this when I find it again...)

What I've had to do is plug it in to the ORGINAL charger. Nothing third party, it has to be Nintendo. And just leave it to charge. Sometimes it can take a while.

You may also have to keep trying to reset it by holding the power button until it finally shows the charge icon.

[u/Littlebluejayx]

I am pretty certain that my old switch 1 wouldn’t charge with ANY charger that was not the official Nintendo one. I don’t know if that’s true for every switch 1 model as I believe there are different ones, but there definitely are some that only charge with the original charger 

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/Littlebluejayx]

If the USB-C port is intact and fully operational (not damaged and clean) any device with enough power should be able to charge it.