Preserving Your Joy-Cons: A Guide to Prevent Battery Drain and Damage

Maintaining the longevity of your Joy-Cons is essential, especially if you have a habit of leaving them unused for extended periods. Often, you may find that they are out of charge just when you wish to play. The reason behind this is that Joy-Cons cannot be fully powered off; they can merely be put into a low-energy state.

This low-energy state keeps them in constant communication with your console, leading to unnecessary battery drain. Consequently, Joy-Cons that sit idle for a long duration will end up completely drained of their charge. This scenario can significantly harm the batteries, causing them to lose some or all of their capacity and, in some cases, leading to physical damage of the Joy-Cons.

With a new Nintendo device on the horizon, the thought of having unusable Joy-Cons due to battery deterioration can be quite alarming. However, you need not worry about your controllers becoming obsolete after a few years of neglect, as there is a solution. Joy-Cons can actually be powered down, but achieving this requires specific external software.

A Resetera user has put forth a suggestion for the Nintendo Switch Controller Shut Down program, which is designed for this purpose, along with a video tutorial explaining its functionality. This program effectively resets your Joy-Cons to their original factory state. It is crucial to emphasize that this method is only compatible with official Joy-Cons; using it for other accessories may lead to damage.

If preserving your Joy-Cons is a priority for you, keeping this recommendation in mind could prove beneficial in ensuring their longevity and usability in the future.