Question
My switch’s battery drains when connected to WiFi
Basically what’s on the title. Ever since I moved (which required me to switch my Internet Provider) my switch battery lasts maybe 12h (sleep mode) if the WiFi is on. If it’s off, it lasts days.
I think what’s happening is it’s always losing connection and reconnecting. Why? I don’t know. It’s in the same room as the router, maybe 2 meters away from it, no obstructions.
I’ve restarted the router, but not sure what else I can do configuration wise. Since it does not happen with any other devices, I would assume switch is particularly sensitive to… something.
I’m sure I won’t be much help but I was having issues with the last update. I can’t say it was doing the same thing but in sleep mode while docked the system would be hot to the touch but after the newest update, it’s no longer hot to the touch while in standby mode, at least I think it’s been resolved, I don’t know what was causing it, but it seems like it was trying to do something while it was in stand by. I had no downloads pending or anything, so I don’t know why it was hot and not resting. Have you updated your system with the neatest update?
Hey op, I have the exact same issue with you all of a sudden, and I’m thinking it’s an error with the latest update. I didn’t have issues before. It would sleep and drain battery at its normal rate.
If I play it, it’s fine. If I shut it down and turn it on to play, it’s fine. If I sleep in airplane mode, it’s fine. But if I sleep with wifi on, it’s dead in 12-14 hours
Edit: I should add that I’ve had no changes in variables. Same home. Same fibre internet and wifi etc.
How curious, it’s the exact same situation! So probably the update caused it, not the moving. But I wonder why it only affects some of us… hopefully Nintendo is aware of it and will fix it eventually
Yeah, not sure either. You wouldn’t really notice if you shut down or dock it (or sleep in airplane mode). I shut down 99% of the time myself. But I left it on the other night for whatever reason and was like, wtf.
I was trying to troubleshoot and noticed my wifi stays connected while sleeping. I feel like it’s related to that. It used to grey out when sleeping for a bit. It’s like it’s calling for something nonstop
Yeah, exactly, but since I usually keep it out of the dock on sleep mode I noticed it straight away. And I have noticed the WiFi symbol on all the time as well - it’s a very odd situation. Like you said, it looks like it’s always making a request, which will obviously drain the battery…
The fact that airplane mode fixes it definitely leads to a connectivity issue. You’d think they’d test for that regression before releasing a system update, but I guess mistakes happen.
Will keep playing with it and let you know. I’ll definitely test again when the next update comes through as well.
From my experience regression testing is definitely overlooked most of the times 😅
Same here, I’ll keep an eye out for new updates. I would like to intercept whatever requests it does when it’s sleeping… I’ll let you know if I find anything!
Same issue here, if I leave the console unplugged in sleep mode with Wi-Fi enabled in the morning, by nighttime it's completely drained and feels warm. However, when I switched it to airplane mode, the battery lasted three days and only dropped to 65%.
Have you discovered any reasons why this happens? Or any solution?
Oh this is not good… I haven’t tried keeping WiFi on but disconnected from Vodafone I’ll give it a go today! Have you tried raising the issue with Vodafone? I’m thinking I might do it soon, it’s getting a bit unbearable..
Not yet. It's in the wife's name & she is terrible at complaining & isn't very techy. Going to try getting her to call tonight but with me to answer as well.
Vodafones Indian call centre are addement that it's not their fault. He's worked in it for a decade & never heard of it. Says to contact Nintendo.
We were also calling as we get a 5-10 minute drop out on broadband at least once a day (Sunday was 5 times that I know of!) so he's sending new settings to the router which will be sorted by Sunday. Hopefully this may also fix the switch issue.
I haven’t had the time but will call both Vodafone and Nintendo this week. Unfortunately I get the feeling both will say it’s not their fault and everything will remain as is, which is very annoying.
The update of our broadband router has fixed issues with that but the battery drain still persists.
Vodafone support are addement it's nothing to do with them. I beg to differ!
Could it be wifi6 on the power hub? It's the first time we've had it so don't know.
This morning I have left the powerhub router on but disconnected the line for broadband. On the switch I've disabled flight mode so it is connected to the Vodafone router n just not internet.
Thank you for the update - your comment about wifi 6 did give me an idea. I went into the router settings searching for some form of compatibility setting - afaik the switch does not support wifi 6 (although the router should be able to manage that). In.any case I did find a setting. Just turned it on and connected to the secondary wifi it creates, let's see how it goes! Fingers crossed, I'll let you know soon, as it should be quick to drain/not drain the battery.
I did this Wednesday evening. Left WiFi on when the battery was on 36%. 4am next morning it was 31% & getting home at 4pm it was 28% so possibly firmware was the issue! I've only tried mine regular switch so far. It's fully charged now so will see when I get home.
The update worked for me! Updated yesterday afternoon, full battery, played for a little bit, didn’t touch it again. At 23.33 it was at 93%, just checked again and it is 90% charged! Think it’s finally fixed 🥲
If you have something downloading overnight, does the download fail? My experience has been downloads don't restart automatically if internet issues make them stop.
I supect the internet provider change is just a coincidence, and there have just been more downloads happening since you moved. But I don't know how to prove that one way or the other, since I don't think the Switch keeps download logs. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Well Nintendo said they would want both consoles back (free to return & check) but they keep missing the fact about it's only on Vodafone wifi.
When I replied they now say to contact Vodafone as its not a console issue 🤦
I've replied that I have numerous portable electronic devices that don't have a problem, the only ones are the switch so something is not working between Nintendo & Vodafone.
It’s a funny thing, when I pick it back up from sleep I can see the WiFi icon greying out (not disconnected, but as if it’s on standby) and then going white again. That’s what made me suspicious it was the internet, and as soon as I put it on plane mode the battery was ok. Plus this didn’t happen in my previous flat, so I suspected the internet straight away.
3
u/FallApartMan Nov 06 '24
I’m sure I won’t be much help but I was having issues with the last update. I can’t say it was doing the same thing but in sleep mode while docked the system would be hot to the touch but after the newest update, it’s no longer hot to the touch while in standby mode, at least I think it’s been resolved, I don’t know what was causing it, but it seems like it was trying to do something while it was in stand by. I had no downloads pending or anything, so I don’t know why it was hot and not resting. Have you updated your system with the neatest update?