Adding Wireless Charging to the Nintendo Switch Lite Is Surprisingly Easy

One of the upgrades Nintendo didn’t add to its new OLED Switch was wi-fi charging, however as YouTube’s Robotanv found, a minimum of with the Switch Lite, making the console Qi-compatible was a reasonably trivial hack with minimal soldering and about $14 price of added components.

Robotanv has been upgrading devices with the comfort of wi-fi charging for about 9 years now, courting again to 2012 after they cracked open an iPhone 4s and made it appropriate with wi-fi charging pads. Apple didn’t formally add wi-fi charging to its smartphones till the iPhone X in 2017. Given how small iPhones was, performing that improve on the iPhone 4s required some very delicate and exact soldering, however doing the identical improve for the Nintendo Switch Lite seems to be a a lot simpler course of.

USB-C is an open normal, which meant that it was comparatively straightforward to discover a Qi wi-fi receiver appropriate with how the Switch Lite fees. Robotanv opted for an inexpensive MyMax receiver which might be discovered on Amazon for about $14. After stripping the receiver’s USB-C connector all the way down to its naked wires, and eradicating its charging coil from a protecting pouch to make it as skinny as potential, Robotanv was capable of shortly solder the receiver to a few simply accessible extra take a look at pads Nintendo had included for the console’s energy pins.

No modifications have been wanted for the Switch Lite’s again cowl both, Robotanv merely taped the Qi receiver to it, reassembled the console, and when dropped onto a wi-fi charging pad, the energy began to circulation. YouTube commenters have raised considerations that the added Qi {hardware} might limit airflow throughout the Switch Lite wanted for cooling, however Robotanv hasn’t seen any efficiency points with the console because the improve. Fully charging the Switch Lite takes about three hours, and it comes off the pad a little bit heat afterward (as do most smartphones) however in any other case, the hack seems to have labored completely. But when you plan to strive it your self, observe the recommendation of one other YouTube commenter and disconnect the Switch Lite’s rechargeable battery earlier than doing any soldering with the ability connectors.