Is it safe to charge a 3DS using a powerbank?
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Isn't that a contradiction? No issues with power bank ←→ use official charger cable. As far as I know Nintendo didn't provide anything official besides the normal AC adapter.I've done it and I haven't had any issues over the years myself, you should be fine as long as you're using the official charger cable
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The question if charging the DS and 3DS family with USB can be considered to be "safe" comes up repeatedly.
My half-knowledge (at best) about this:
USB specifications from the depths of my wrecked brain: 5.00V +0.25V/-0.6V, max 500mA (900mA since USB 3.0, dedicated chargers and powerbanks or computer USB ports designed for charging MUCH more.)
The official charger provides 4.6V with max 900mA
As you can see here, USB devices must tolerate 5.25V per design. In practice I have yet to encounter any USB power outlet providing the nominal 5.0V when connecting a load. I did some very simple experiments in this regard a few years ago:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/o2ds-hardmods.549576/#post-8815636
It is very unlikely for a DS to fail because of using it on USB (either ports on a computer or a dedicated charger). The amperage of the outlet isn't important in my opinion. A DS will simply not draw 2A or whatever the charger provides. Some people think a strong charger with high amperage would cause problems. As if it was pumping electricity too fast into a device not able to handle this.
I don't think that is true. Responsible for the current is the charging controller of the device. A Li-Ion battery is charged in two phases:
A) Constant current until reaching an upper battery cutoff voltage
B) Constant voltage until reaching a lower cutoff current: The current is gradually reduced – the charging IC charges slower and slower maintaining but not exceeding the maximum voltage reached in phase A)
This shows us two things: The first one is that the last 20% of charging a Li-Ion (why am I typing "lion" all the time?) take over-proportionally long… and the second one is: powerful (amperage) USB charger can't force it's full power into the battery. The official one isn't able to force the full 900mA to the battery in phase B) either.Electricity can be compared to water to some extent. Keep in mind this is oversimplification and only some kind of metaphor and not scientifically accurate:
Voltage is pressure. Amperage is the amount floating per time. You can open the water-tap (charging IC) slightly to have it dripping or more to have it floating – the amount the water pipe (charger) could deliver isn't important. Too much pressure on the other hand will make you pipe, hose, tap or whatever burst.
My unscientific feeling, going into juristic domain, tells me that Nintendo probably internally made sure to support USB/5.0V. Even when printing "Only use specified charger, loss of warranty…blablabla", they must have known that cheap USB adapters would pop up for their proprietary connector. If the DS systems weren't able to handle 5V, they would have gotten thousands of warranty claims. Shooting them all down is hard to impossible: How to prove people used third-party chargers? That would have gotten expensive and resulted in negative press (unreliable products)
Mild overvoltage didn't blow up a DSi:
https://gbatemp.net/blogs/ready-for-overvoltage-dsi-charging-1-1mb-pictures.17944/
After thinking about all this I wrote above and not expecting any problems, I still come to the conclusion that I stick to the official charger, especially with DS in good condition. I mean: Why not use the one designed for the consoles?
Good luck and have fun!
Actually it's just a coincidence. The Switch notoriously gets fried by even reputable USB wires and wall worts because, in a twist of irony, Nintendo un-learned their lessons from the days of proprietary chargers (3DS and before), where even less-reputable, third-party chargers were 100% safe because they followed typical standards.
The Switch is actually really bad at handling power... quite scary. You'd think a 300$ device would have the basic power features devices literally 1/10th its price do, but...
You leave me speechless.
If that is true it is reason for a lawsuit in my opinion. I don't have newer devices, 3DS and Wii U are my last consoles, so I know virtually nothing about they new stuff. The Switch providing a USB-C connector is reason enough one can assume the usage of standard power supplies is intended. Hell, the new Game&Watch have USB-C power in and don't even come with a charger.
This is indeed a step backwards. Current devices should also accept some kind of abuse (faulty power supply for example, shortage due to bent pins or whatever).
I can only repeat myself: Many people report "no issues in years of USB charging" for DS or 3DS consoles and I couldn't find any problems myself.
What is more of a concern in DS consoles is wrong polarity on the battery connectors. Normally the battery can't be inserted wrong. When having the case open for repairs it is easy to push the battery in wrong orientation against the terminals.... which means *poof* since Nintendo didn't include an appropriate diode to protect the chips/board from this human mistake. We have had a few of these cases on the forum.
I am one of the many who have used USB for various DS and 3DS for years with no issue. GameStop has been selling replacement adapters for years that are USB based. With 100s of millions of DS/3DS out there and so many usb power cables, if it was an issue you’d have heard about it.
Just checking various 4.6V voltage regulators, the most narrow input voltage I saw was 2.7-5.5 volts. USB spec provides for a 5% tolerance on the 5 volts (low powered hubs can drop below that) so that should be well within what the 3DS can handle. If your concerned use the official adapter, but I don’t think it’s a problem.
Just checking various 4.6V voltage regulators, the most narrow input voltage I saw was 2.7-5.5 volts. USB spec provides for a 5% tolerance on the 5 volts (low powered hubs can drop below that) so that should be well within what the 3DS can handle. If your concerned use the official adapter, but I don’t think it’s a problem.
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Ah, I should have clarified, I used a power bank that had an outlet built in. So I could still use the official charger. Anyways your answer is far better than mine so...Isn't that a contradiction? No issues with power bank ←→ use official charger cable. As far as I know Nintendo didn't provide anything official besides the normal AC adapter.
=====
The question if charging the DS and 3DS family with USB can be considered to be "safe" comes up repeatedly.
My half-knowledge (at best) about this:
USB specifications from the depths of my wrecked brain: 5.00V +0.25V/-0.6V, max 500mA (900mA since USB 3.0, dedicated chargers and powerbanks or computer USB ports designed for charging MUCH more.)
The official charger provides 4.6V with max 900mA
As you can see here, USB devices must tolerate 5.25V per design. In practice I have yet to encounter any USB power outlet providing the nominal 5.0V when connecting a load. I did some very simple experiments in this regard a few years ago:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/o2ds-hardmods.549576/#post-8815636
It is very unlikely for a DS to fail because of using it on USB (either ports on a computer or a dedicated charger). The amperage of the outlet isn't important in my opinion. A DS will simply not draw 2A or whatever the charger provides. Some people think a strong charger with high amperage would cause problems. As if it was pumping electricity too fast into a device not able to handle this.
I don't think that is true. Responsible for the current is the charging controller of the device. A Li-Ion battery is charged in two phases:
A) Constant current until reaching an upper battery cutoff voltageB) Constant voltage until reaching a lower cutoff current: The current is gradually reduced – the charging IC charges slower and slower maintaining but not exceeding the maximum voltage reached in phase A)This shows us two things: The first one is that the last 20% of charging a Li-Ion (why am I typing "lion" all the time?) take over-proportionally long… and the second one is: powerful (amperage) USB charger can't force it's full power into the battery. The official one isn't able to force the full 900mA to the battery in phase B) either.
Electricity can be compared to water to some extent. Keep in mind this is oversimplification and only some kind of metaphor and not scientifically accurate:
Voltage is pressure. Amperage is the amount floating per time. You can open the water-tap (charging IC) slightly to have it dripping or more to have it floating – the amount the water pipe (charger) could deliver isn't important. Too much pressure on the other hand will make you pipe, hose, tap or whatever burst.
My unscientific feeling, going into juristic domain, tells me that Nintendo probably internally made sure to support USB/5.0V. Even when printing "Only use specified charger, loss of warranty…blablabla", they must have known that cheap USB adapters would pop up for their proprietary connector. If the DS systems weren't able to handle 5V, they would have gotten thousands of warranty claims. Shooting them all down is hard to impossible: How to prove people used third-party chargers? That would have gotten expensive and resulted in negative press (unreliable products)
Mild overvoltage didn't blow up a DSi:
https://gbatemp.net/blogs/ready-for-overvoltage-dsi-charging-1-1mb-pictures.17944/
After thinking about all this I wrote above and not expecting any problems, I still come to the conclusion that I stick to the official charger, especially with DS in good condition. I mean: Why not use the one designed for the consoles?
Good luck and have fun!
The Switch's power management chips fail at astonishingly fast rates. It's also not uncommon for the USB-C port to literally burn out, and for the battery to short or just up and die.
Or for the screen and/or backlight to up and die from the use of a third-party charger or dock.
The last one is the most common fault for a truly "not working/parts only" Switch and you'll find it mentioned a lot on any gaming forum like here, Reddit, GameFAQs, any repair YouTube channel (My Mate VINCE, Northridge Fix, etc.), and so on.
The Switch uses horrifyingly low-quality power management chips but also doesn't seem to be long-term stable or accept many USBs that aren't literally the ones it came with. Essentially the Switch is an antithesis to the ease and openness of USB despite using it. It's like making a fork of an open-source program, closed-sourcing it, and removing anything that people liked from the original program in the first place...
Screw the official charger cable, I just use a braided USB cable which is way nicer.I've done it and I haven't had any issues over the years myself, you should be fine as long as you're using the official charger cable
Simple answer: Yes
As long as the PowerBank provides no more than the max voltage the 3DS requires (don't have mine at hand rn).
The amperage will determine how fast the battery from the 3DS will charge, some batteries have a specific requirement in Amps and Volts when charging, while having a diferent one when providing energy to the device.
As long as the PowerBank provides no more than the max voltage the 3DS requires (don't have mine at hand rn).
The amperage will determine how fast the battery from the 3DS will charge, some batteries have a specific requirement in Amps and Volts when charging, while having a diferent one when providing energy to the device.
Last edited by CMDreamer,
You just need to make sure your cable has the 56k ohm resistor in it, otherwise it may damage your console. That's all.
All of the gaming stores sold GBA/DS (all models) chargers that were USB to the wall. So I'm sure it'll be just fine.
Said resistor was never required for any device before or after the Switch.
Said resistor is also invisible unless you buy two of the cable and dismantle and destroy one of them for verification.
It's still indefensible.
This being said, USB is generally more than adept at whatever the GBA/DS/3DS would need. Ironically, those were far more compatible with third-party chargers than the Switch, even though they required custom wall worts too. I had three failed official 3DS chargers in under a year each. The third-party one with no brand? Five years strong. Lasted the rest of my 3DS's lifespan. RIP that neck, such an awful design (clamshell with heavy top).
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There was when the Switch came out and it infamously didn't work with most wires before or after it came out because it needs a highly specific resistor that only it needs and nothing else.
Since this post was a question about charging the 3DS, I think all the commentary on the Switch’s power circuit is confusing people.
The 3DS should be fine to charge with a power bank. If there is an effect it would be the voltage regulator getting slightly warmer in handling the excess voltage.
The 3DS should be fine to charge with a power bank. If there is an effect it would be the voltage regulator getting slightly warmer in handling the excess voltage.
Are quotes disabled? There shouldn't be any confusion.
The 3DS gets quite toasty when charging anyway. It would be hard to tell if it's because of a power bank or not. If you're really concerned, avoid using it on charge. Now that generates heat. Like GPD-levels of heat.
Then you literally have nothing to worry about, charging from your powerbank will be no different than charging from an outlet because the powerbank is providing AC instead of DC, unlike DC, AC is more, to say, "flexible" in power demands, meaning that so long as the device you're plugging in doesn't exceed wattage/amperage your AC outlet can provide it doesn't matter which outlet you're using.
The reason for this is that your charger has a AC to DC converter inside it and it's handling the power delivery itself, your powerbank is just providing the power and doing nothing else.
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