Chosen Solution
Ok I got a brilliant question for our techy community out there… The Nintendo Switch says on the back of it that the input is 15volts. On the power adapter it says it outputs 2 different voltages one output of 5 Volts @ 1.5 A and a second of 15 Volts @ 2.6 A. Now as I read it takes the 15 volts to actually charge the system and 5 Volts for something else. Then I read no 5 volts is the charging rate and 15 volts to like use it with the dock… Now any idiot would know that if you put 15 volts into a 5 volt charger is going to blow it up and if you put 5 volts into the 15 volt port its simply not going to work, and would actually probably be more damaging to the unit rather than just putting in the voltage it calls for. Then I see the car chargers are going to have 5 volts, so how is that suppose to charge a 15 volt system?? its like what the heck is going on is this system 5 volts or 15 volts??? Why is this so %#*@ confusing???? Now a normal USB-C connector would only seem to have 5 volts going through it not 15 volts… So someone help me make sense of this beast is it powered by 5 volts or 15 volts, and if its 5 volts then why does it say input of 15 volts?? PLEASE HELP
I am not sure what each voltage is for but I do know that Nintendo have made a branded and licensed Nintendo Switch car charger. I’d recommend getting one of those or at least finding out the specs for it. Hopefully that helps.
USB-C by default runs on 5V, like every other version of USB. This allows you to plug a USB-C charger into any device, without blowing it up. The Nintendo Switch however supports USB-C Power Delivery specification at 15V. When you plug it into the AC adapter the Switch pulls 5V but then asks the PSU “Do you support USB PD? I’d really like 15V 2.6A please.”. The PSU then responds saying “Here you go.” and switches to 15V. The Nintendo Switch only needs 15V when in docked mode as it uses twice as much power, its perfectly happy on 5V 2.4A playing BotW in portable mode, it still charges. It most likely charges quicker with a USB-C PD adapter though.
Regarding USB-C connectors, those are not rated for any particular voltage as they do also charge things like the Macbook/Macbook Pro, A lot of other Windows Laptops, The Chromebook Pixel, Cell Phones… and all of these are rated at different outputs. My best guess is that the system can be charged at 5V, but charges faster (and probably while playing it) at 15V. Kind of like you can charge an iphone with their 1 amp iphone charger but it also charges faster with the ipads 2.1 amp charger.
Folks. You are close to getting all the pieces of the puzzle. So let me explain. You need a USB Power Delivery car charger. But there are a couple of different power profiles supported by the USB PD standard. So you need to have a charger which supports the higher power output profiles to be able to charge while playing. That’s what we all want to do on those long trips right :). So 15 volts/2 amperes (30W) would not be sufficient if you play some of the power hungry games (i.e. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). So I would strongly recommend you using 45W+ power profiles. Here is a charger I found, just recently released: http://amzn.to/2kqKzkC You wont find many car chargers which give you more than 36W USB PD output (12V/3A profile) out there. The reason is that all the big brands are putting their bet on Qualcomm Quick Charge standards which is not compatible with USB PD hence doesn’t work on the Switch.
I’m guessing but… Isn’t it possible that the power adapter has 2 different outputs (5/15), because it’s so intelligent that it choose what voltage instead you are recharging only the Switch or the Switch and 2 joy-cons? Maybe it’s absurd but think about it… Switch can be recharged with any type of usb C, not necessarly his power adapter. But what happened if I decide to recharge Switch and the 2 joy-cons with only 5 volt? Probably it works but first it recharge the Switch and then 1 joy-con at time. What do you think?
I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m kind of surprised that nobody has said that the switch only takes 5 volts and 2.4 amps to charge while playing (though you can use less amperage if your not playing it) but the 15 volts is only to power the three USB ports on the dock. So In all reality. Any car charger will work as long as you have the USB type c cable. However if you do want to find a charger that will charge while playing, Nintendo probably has the best solution since most car ports are only 1-2.1 amps, so you’ll actually lose battery while playing intensive games like botw
Not really true. USB don’t take much power to run, and currently it doesn’t even support hard drives. The 15V is because it would take forever to charge at 5V. Will it charge? Yes. Even while playing Zelda? Yes, very slowly. But the official charger with PD can charge super fast while playing Zelda, and that’s why you should want PD. Not for USB devices.
In a vehicle, you would tend to not need the compactness of one small cigarette lighter adapter that can reliably power the Switch using USB-C Power Delivery at 18 watts. If you think outside the box a little, you can add a good quality power inverter, such as amazon.com/dp/B00153BH6M or amazon.com/dp/B001539B7O and then use the AC adapter that came with the Switch, or a good quality AC adapter known to be PD-compatible with the Switch, like amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX063QN You are also giving yourself the flexibility of an AC plug and not just a USB-C, so you can use it for other things as well. However, please understand that an inverter that plugs into the 12V “Cigarette” port can not pull enough current to power most power tools or anything that heats like a coffee maker, curling iron, hair dryer… And you can plug a power strip into the inverter’s outlet to plug in more things at a time, just try to keep it under 175 Watts or you will blow the cigarette lighter fuse in your car. Efficiency is an argument, certainly, if you’re living on solar cells and batteries you would not want to invert 12V up to 120V just to drop it back down again with a USB-C AC adapter :-) … I’m just trying to help people looking for solving the problem of taking road trips with their Laptop/Nintendo Switch/other electronics. Without going into a lot of technical detail, the GoPower brand ones I linked are very good, but a “Pure Sine Wave” inverter would be best, however the price goes WAY up ($148) and for the Switch a pure sine wave really isn’t needed.
Tried using the Nintendo charger. Works fine on the lcd unit but not on the docking station. Even tried an inverter on the docking station in the attempt to play on our 17" drop down tv. Sadly, can only get the docking station to work on the house mains. bummer. anyone got any ideas how to charge the whole unit in the car? ps, 12v power supply only has a 15amp fuse
