Nintendo Switch Won't Charge? Here's What To Do

David Liu -

Updated: June 2019

Oh no! Your Nintendo Switch won’t charge. For some reason, the Nintendo Switch itself can power on (if you have any remaining battery left), but it seems that your charger isn’t working at all.

It will last roughly 3 hours without charging (from a full battery). If your Nintendo Switch is not charging, however, try these steps:

  1. Power off the console, then unplug the AC adapter from both ends. This resets the AC adapter.
  2. If this doesn’t work, make sure that you are using the official Nintendo Switch AC Adapter. The model number should say HAC-002. Whilst chargers from overseas can be a lot cheaper, you need to keep in mind that they may sometimes be more unreliable than AC Adapters which are officially supplied by Nintendo.
  3. Connect the AC adapter the console and then directly to a wall outlet. This eliminates any chance of e.g. your power board being the issue.
  4. If your Switch is charging correctly, one of two things will happen.
    1. A) If your Switch has completely run out of battery, then the screen will still be black except for the top left corner. After about half an hour, try turning it on again. 
    2. B) Otherwise, you should see a small power symbol (lightning bolt) next to the upper right corner of the screen. This can take about 30 minutes.

If your Nintendo Switch’s screen is still completely blank and doesn’t show any of the above: 

  • Try holding down the POWER button for 12 seconds. This forces the console to shut down if it hasn’t already, which can sometimes appear as a black screen. Then, power it on again.

If that still doesn’t work: 

  • You should try to test the console in TV mode.  Connect the AC adapter directly to any wall outlet, then connect your HDMI cable directly to the TV screen.

If that still doesn’t work: 

  • Try with a second Nintendo Switch AC Adapter.
  • If it works now, then you have to replace the original AC adapter. You can either buy a second one via the button below, or you can contact Nintendo for support.

[su_button url=”https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Switch-AC-Adapter/dp/B01N7RUZ49/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=nintendo+ac+Adapter&qid=1554643797&s=gateway&sr=8-3″ target=”blank” background=”#f64201″ size=”10″ center=”yes” text_shadow=”0px 0px 0px #000000″]Buy Nintendo Switch AC Adapter from Amazon[/su_button]

If that still doesn’t work: 

Then this means that the Nintendo Switch console itself isn’t working. Since your Nintendo Switch wont’ charge, you should bring the AC adapter, dock, and then go here to Nintendo’s Online Repair set up to confirm the warranty status of your system.