When charging in sleep mode, either in the dock or directly connected to the AC adapter, the Nintendo Switch takes just over 3 hours to charge. One charge will last between 2.5 and 6 hours, depending on what application has been running. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will drain a fully charged Switch in about 3 hours. It can be played while charging using the AC adapter, but will charge slower and therefore take longer than 3 hours to reach a full charge.
The Joy-Cons, which charge while attached to the Switch, take about 3 hours and 30 minutes to completely charge, then offer around 20 hours of gameplay. Again, they charge faster when the system is in sleep mode.
The Joy-Cons will also charge from the Switch even when it’s in handheld mode and not connected to a power source. However, they won’t fully charge, and stop at a point, although we’re not quite sure where, until the Switch is connected to power.
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