I dont keep the base out/hooked up, prefer to treat it like a handheld
I might be misremembering, but can’t you put it to sleep? Hold the home button to bring up the menu, or use the power options on the home screen.
I tried that but it was still light black and showing a charging symbol. It wasnt off-black, it was on-black
I think you can also power the console off completely and still charge it.
This is not an official Nintendo source, but:
When your Switch is in sleep mode, it still consumes a small amount of power. This is necessary to keep the system ready to wake up instantly and maintain processes like downloading software updates. However, the power draw is minimal, especially compared to running a game. When completely turned off, the Switch consumes virtually no power. This theoretically minimizes stress on the battery during charging.
https://cyberpost.co/should-i-turn-off-my-nintendo-switch-while-charging/
