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Do I need to worry about third party Switch docks bricking my console?


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My Switch dock is in my game room. I've thought about getting another one for the living room for the rare occasions that my wife and I might find time to play a game together at night. However, for how often it'll get used, I'd rather buy something cheap. So two questions:

1. Is there still a legit concern about third party docks bricking systems?

B. Can you recommend a cheap dock?

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Homebrew Team · Posted

I agree with @ChickenTendas, the safe route is to only use OEM products for anything electrical.  That said, I backed the Genki Covert Dock and have been using it for two weeks now.  It is not cheap though.  I don't have any technical 3rd party testing, or any long term personal testing, however it has been okay thus far.  At your own risk I guess:

 

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I can't find the article, but I heard about this question/issue about a year ago.  From a reputable source, the answer was "it shouldn't affect it" because it's suppose to just be a USB-C port, but due to some slightly improper engineering, the resistance on the power line was either high or low, but barely within the correct value for USB-C.  This meant that a well engineered dock should be ok, but since most/all third party docs make money by cutting corners, a dock could still be within "USB-C" spec, but still cause issues overloading the system.

Please note, I have a novice understanding of electronics. I know ChickenTendas mentioned this being a voltage issue and if his details are from a solid source, they are likely correct. But, I distinctly recall reading that when third party "lookers" dissected and analyzed these things, they found that Nintendo made a minor mistake and they simply engineered all of their other components to both comply with the device error, while at the same time operating within the USB-C spec as power cables and such, without breaking the spec.  Meaning, you can use a Nintendo charging cable on your iPhone, but you probably wouldn't want to use that iPhone cable and charger on the Switch.

I don't think it was intentional, or failure by design, but it was probably a minor flaw kept for the sake of convenience.  You basically have to buy an OEM dock if you want to be 100% sure you're not going to brick your device.

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