May 2021 has arrived, and we still have with our Nintendo Switch 2017 non-stop streaming on our Twitch channel. During this month, the heat started to get more and more constricted in the room where we do live shows, making June, July and August unbearable! But not only for us, but also for our hybrid old lady… even causing it to shut down due to overheating! And that’s part of its safety measures to not age: if the console detects that the temperature rises beyond reasonable, it turns off for our own safety… and for yours!
We currently have it easier. not just because we have a Nintendo Switch OLED, which dissipates the temperature much better than the previous model, but because now we work and broadcast with air conditioning. And our Nintendo Switch OLED appreciates it. Take, for example, what happened in our first Road 96 stream (starting at 27 minutes and 43 seconds)… and there are games that also make our console hotter than others! For the direct continuation of this series we put frozen water bottles around the dock XD (separated so that humidity is not an issue).
Nintendo Japan wants you to play cool
Nintendo’s Japanese Twitter account posted a series of tweets where they recommend do not subject our console to high temperatures, if what we want is for it to work properly. In the following tweet, in fact, they recommend playing between 5 and 35 degrees, also advising not to block or obstruct the ventilation grilles of our Nintendo Switch (the ones marked with arrows in the image itself).
If you use the Nintendo Switch in a hot place, the temperature of the main unit may become high. Use in a place of 5 to 35°C.
Also, if the intake and exhaust ports are blocked, the temperature of the main unit may rise. Improve the air around the intake and exhaust ports. https://t.co/bgS883YDWX pic.twitter.com/0c86fcgxnV
– Nintendo Support (@nintendo_cs) July 11, 2022
In the following tweet, Nintendo comments on how its console can go into sleep mode if the temperature gets too highadvising that, if we play in TV mode, we install it in a place that does not retain heat.
If the temperature of the main unit becomes too high, it can automatically sleep to protect the main unit.
When playing in TV mode, install the Nintendo Switch dock in a location that does not retain heat. https://t.co/GN31dkjcUn– Nintendo Support (@nintendo_cs) July 11, 2022
What is also needed is that a little maintenance of your Nintendo Switch is also a way to prolong its life. If the the ventilation holes are blocked, the console can become very hot, compared to if I had them clean. In a final tweet, they recommend removing particles and dust from the vents, as well as anything blocking or covering them. Indicates that you can continue to clean it with a vacuum cleanerbut never think of taking it apart!
If there are foreign objects or dust on the air intake/exhaust port of the main unit, remove them with a vacuum cleaner.
For your safety, do not disassemble the main unit. https://t.co/tBvIHBryPr
– Nintendo Support (@nintendo_cs) July 11, 2022
Our bonus tip: only use the Nintendo Switch for gaming
One thing Nintendo doesn’t explain is that in addition to a passive heatsink, your Nintendo Switch uses an active radiator. That is, unlike previous portables, that of your current console It has a fan that tries to expel hot air, as well as bringing in fresh air from the outside, to keep the heart of our console as fresh as possible. What happens with these types of heatsinks is that they have a useful life, including an estimated number of rotations. That is to say: when the fan “dies” you will struggle to operate your Nintendo Switch, and believe me: if you keep using it, the fan will die one day! It is clear that if one day you stop using it, and it is still “ok”, it will remain so. It might not even happen to you.
Indeed, at our house we had a console, also from 2017, whose radiator stopped “dissipating” because the fan ended up no longer working, and this is not the only case we have experienced! In our community, there have been cases. On the other hand, the console we were talking about at the beginning (the one with streaming), except for power cuts due to excess heat, continues to work. Needless to say it had far fewer hours of use than the console that “died”.
Why can my Nintendo Switch heatsink fan stop working?
Your Nintendo Switch fan may stop working, either because of a manufacturing defect, because it is clogged with an excess of dust or other particles, or foreign bodies that clog it, also because of a blow, or because its lifespan has already taken many turns (cymbal noise), either because the sum of all or part of these factors. In the case of the console we talked about, the one that stopped working, had lived 2 or 3 playable lives if we compared it with the others we had at home (in relation to the number of hours played with it). And with zero videos, trailers, livestreams and the like. His whole life was spent playing games!
That’s why we recommend using your Nintendo Switch… for whatever you want! That of course. But, if you want the life of your Nintendo Switch to last longer than what it was designed for (running games and playing with it), we recommend that you watch YouTube videos or directly from Twitchetc., use PC, TV, mobile or tablets, etc., instead of your console. We insist: you can do whatever you want with it, but… wouldn’t it be better if this useful life was just for playing?