Nintendo didn’t want us to know this…

[@TheRetroFuture]

Hey! I am in the middle of 3 big projects all of which are currently on hold. But I promise you they are on the way! Hold tight! In the meantime I hope this video is something interesting. There is next to nothing about these online so I hope this has been something to entertain & educate whilst I’m getting something much cooler out together for you!

[@James_D.]

Can‘t wait! 😆

[@Lionswordleo]

Mk cool

[@Tazerboy_10]

😀👍

[@tommythrowback]

I absolutely love your channels. Your videos really help cheer me up if I’m having a bad day. Keep up the great work!

[@1up_Gaming]

Thanks again for the shout out, really appreciated ☺️☺️👍

[@retrogamingxp]

Well, here's a bit of a surprise for you, Elliott. This is not a German kiosk. Based on the power plug you've shown it's actually from Switzerland. Nice find!

[@borisyeltsin6606]

This comment needs to be higher

[@arcaderdude]

@@borisyeltsin6606 its literally #1

[@arcaderdude]

@@borisyeltsin6606 wait nvm that mufhtbjudt be my yt

[@borisyeltsin6606]

@@arcaderdude At the time of my comment it was over 48 hours old with only two thumbs up. Glad to see my reply could help boost its engagement :)

[@yesmmmmmmlbutnotmaniagames8030]

Make the comment even higher!

[@Mymatevince]

Hahaha, that is my mate Mike from 1up Gaming. Was a nice surprise to hear you mention him. Interesting little trick from Nintendo on the resistor to deter theft. Nice one Elliot 👌👍👍

[@1up_Gaming]

Thanks for shout out ☺️☺️ Wondered why I’d jumped nearly 100 subs in an evening 😂 Soooo close to that illustrious 1,000 mark now. Glad to see it all working ☺️

[@DJKC]

@@1up_Gaming what's up Mike. Wondered if you'd seen this 👌

[@cyberguy4567]

@@1up_Gaming just subbed I love repair content

[@Todija]

@@1up_Gaming poor grammar got me clicking on your channel to realize you're legit 🤦‍♂

[@1up_Gaming]

@@Todija 😂😂

[@Rinabow]

This was a particularly fascinating watch for me, because about 6 years ago, I used to work at Nintendo's repair center, and alongside repairing broken 3DS systems sent in by customers, I also produced dozens of kiosk units like this one. as I watched, I already knew that the things you tried at the start with the battery weren't going to do anything because the power issue is an entirely intentional feature of the motherboard as a theft-prevention measure, since the 3DS is never intended to be taken away from the kiosk. However I was never actually told what the physical difference was between the kiosk unit and a standard one, so it was actually quite fascinating to finally learn this so many years later. As an interesting side-note, the motherboards themselves were outsourced from multiple different companies, with the 3rd letter on the serial number (outside of America) denoting which one. I never paid attention to this when I worked with them 6 years ago, but I was expecting these kiosk units to be specific to one of the motherboard types, but yours was foxconn, and the video you referenced seemed to be mitsumi. The difference in motherboard is only noticeable when working with the rarest "S" type motherboard which is visually different to most others, and has a few physical quirks, like the IR reader being built-in instead of detachable. We usually stocked those at the repair center, but I've only ever seen these motherboards once outside of there. Either way, I think I'm the only person who will ever appreciate how cool and funny it is that I own a New 3DS with a serial number starting with "YES"

[@1up_Gaming]

Have taken hundreds of them apart, never seen one with a built in IR sensor, thanks to your info I’ll be keeping an eye out in future ☺️

[@Rinabow]

@@1up_Gaming Yea, those motherboards are extremely rare, but they're visually quite distinct due to being on a darker board, and having almost no text markings. Perhaps I should share a photo of my board?

[@Bobbias]

@@Rinabow of the aren't pictures of that board out there already them absolutely. Hell, even if there are you probably should :)

[@Comfy_Snorlax]

I think your comment is one of the most interesting and coolest things I've read about these consoles. Thank you for sharing!

[@stukpixel4471]

Hey! I worked for Nintendo Support for a while. If you worked at MINILEC or United Radio I was probably responsible for setting up and sending you a handful of repair orders at some point. On our side we had measures in place to check serial numbers during repair setup to make sure customers didn't have dev or display units. If they somehow did have them we would have them swapped for proper retail units upon delivery to the repair center. Small world!

[@8_Bit_Bear]

I imagine that excluding that resistor was a security feature for the kiosk units. People could steal the 3DS but then they would be left with one that only works while it's charging, making it almost useless.

[@rocktheworld2k6]

If the kiosk units were specifically designed to only work with the charger I wonder why they bothered putting a battery in as well.

[@8_Bit_Bear]

@@rocktheworld2k6 probably just to still complete the circuit. Excluding the battery and resistor might be enough for the 3DS to not work. But idk for sure.

[@foodhatesme]

@@rocktheworld2k6 some devices simply won't power on without the battery as it requires the battery to complete the circuit.

[@kyoudaiken]

1. the resistor was not missing, just at another place 2. yes, some devices don't turn on when the battery is absent

[@MajorOutage]

@@foodhatesme but they designed it from the beginning with this option so why not make it bypass the battery completely. Or they could have put in a dummy battery to bridge those contacts instead of a real one. Really odd decision.

[@nicktheslayer95]

Timing the screwdriver turning with the beat like that was dope af, I love that attention to detail.

[@Joesgamesntech]

*dolphin music*

[@TheWanderingTaco]

@@Joesgamesntech ah yes.

[@lasskinn474]

you could also _make_ an unit into a kiosk unit with that though? so now if you're paying premium for a kiosk unit, you kinda have to check if that solder flow is factory or not.

[@ZackXa]

My thoughts exactly

[@Mickdoodle1]

serial number and software on the ds would tell the story very fast

[@lasskinn474]

@@Mickdoodle1 would if you had nintendos data, maybe. Theres another guy in comments saying importers did the mods basically to make them into kiosk units. On ebay they're mostly sold with the kiosks, but if you had a loose kiosk without the unit you could make bank by doing the mod.

[@robotnikkkk001]

=YUP,IT'S POSSIBLE TO TURN EVERY 3DS INTO KIOSK VERSION =BUT WHY

[@Anthony-uz5tj]

@@robotnikkkk001 for profit to sell them to collectors for way more then you buy the 3ds for its super scummy but im sure people do it.

[@joemck85]

The fabric and cruft you found in the circle pad is two slip rings. There are supposed to be a total of 3 slip rings in there. There's the one between the circle pad "button" and the shell that was intact. Then the two destroyed ones help the plastic not catch on or scratch/damage the electronic stick assembly below it.

[@ataraxis890]

The resistor was not "in the wrong place". It's just another configuration, there is a reason why they left the other one out while designing the PCB. I am sure someone already mentioned that, but anyways. Nice that you left it as it was.

[@herrfuchsig]

Kinda like jumper settings on old hard drives I imagine

[@ataraxis890]

@@herrfuchsig I assume the resistor here is just a 0 ohm jumper too :) good example!

[@harryr2431]

I was thinking this the entire time

[@kirkwright8954]

I think “in the wrong place” in this context is just shorthand for “in a different place than it usually is in commercial units.”

[@janX9]

​@@herrfuchsiggood example.

[@Zisch4Bumm]

As an german electrician i can say that the system is from switzerland. I can tell from the plug on the cord! :-)

[@derek7808]

yes Switzerland and Liechtenstein are the only ones using the type J plug, i noticed it immediately :)

[@Zisch4Bumm]

@@derek7808 Yes, thanks for the technical explanation! ;-)

[@NichOlas-gu5oc]

​@@derek7808 also Brasil, but the prongs size isn't quite the same. So yeah, Switzerland. And looking at the color scheme of the shop, it was most likely a MediaMarkt.

[@marksmithwas12]

Imagine not knowing what the kiosk 3DS looked like, and analysing a retail motherboard and wondering what those particular pins were for. It makes you wonder what other unoccupied pins do

[@splitmare]

yeah! i uhh may try buying some broken units and doing that haha

[@niino4329]

That piece of fabric would normally be a small disc between the case and the circle pad, similar to that other piece of plastic foil. The fabric would sit between the foil and the stick.

[@tannerdeal]

The resistor isn’t in the wrong place, Nintendo put it there as an anti theft measure

[@0011peace]

someone with eletronics knowledge might figure it out and more the resistor

[@Yumegipsu]

When he says 'wrong' I'm pretty sure he just means 'different from the retail unit'.

[@winnerwannabe9868]

I was thinking the same thing

[@acertainshape]

He knows.

[@caramelflann]

Isn't that the reason for the words "Nice try" being in the thumbnail?

[@Davo_1991]

6:51 YOU DIDN'T EVEN CLEAN THAT GROSS GUNK BEFORE YOU SLAPPED THE NEW MEMBRANE PAD ON IT WTF?!

[@TMS9918A]

I remember when the original NDS kiosks first showed up in stores. Someone stole the stylus and someone else had tried playing Nintendogs with the frayed steel cable that had originally held the stylus. That touch screen was totally destroyed.

[@Kabosu_Doge]

🥲poor ds

[@3v068]

This was intentional. Game companies do this with kiosk versions to prevent people from stealing them and using them at home. Nintendo did this intentionally.

[@someguystudios23]

If i were to try and steal a kiosk unit (stealing is bad kiddos) i’d take the whole damn thing, not just the console part. The “coolness” of a kiosk unit to me is the fact that its an entire kiosk, not just the handheld portion.

[@3v068]

@@someguystudios23 for real. Having a kiosk itself would be cool as fuck.

[@mokey345]

Goes through all this work to figure out why it doesnt work, and try and fix it. *proceeds to leave it as is*

[@c0mpu73rguy]

If anyone’s wondering about the music used during the repair, it’s 368 by Dyalla.

[@Furby.1987]

btw the power plug from the Kiosk we seen is one from Switzerland (where we also speak german) but not german - cuz they got a different power plug :)

[@mikuoctoling]

Yes, Swiss plugs are different 😊

[@Bigd7775]

I like how you cleaned the rubber on the buttons but left the buttons nasty as before...

[@5bars3g36]

So many people have said this and this is an older video by now but the fabric is a protective buffer between the various bits of plastic to keep them from scraping on each other and causing progressive damage, which is part of why it was so chewed up compared to the rest of the assembly.

[@t0talschad3n]

Thats a swiss plug, it came from a swiss "Media Markt" it seems. They are basically identical stores in Germany and switzerland. Source: German geek living in zurich

[@hoth2112]

Based on the little bit of electronics knowledge I have, that resistor is like part of a sensing circuit. Its placement, determines the power source it's checking for. In the standard unit, the resistor bridges the connection between the sense pin and the battery, so that when a battery is inserted the sense circuit allows the device to be turned on. With the Kiosk unit, the resistor is instead moved to the other position which is connected to external power, with the battery there only to complete the rest of the circuit. So that if external power is not connected, the sense pin sees no power, and doesn't allow the system to turn on, and if external power is disconnected, will automatically shut off the system the same as if the battery had run out of charge. Pretty clever, TBH!

[@kohakkanuva3224]

great to see that even in these troubling times for you, you're still able to push on and keep doing what you love! Keep it up, elliot!

[@thewiiguy]

I didn't knew that the Nintendo 3ds had a blue screen of death.

[@ebg100]

The German store in the photo's looks like a "MediaMarkt". It's a large electronics chain.

[@pieroCD]

I was thinking the same, it has presence here in Spain too.

[@barrycrombie1690]

Think it was the Swiss Mediamarkt as I saw that awful 3 pronged plug we all love so much 🙄

MediaMarkt exists in some other countries too. The 3DS didn‘t came from Germany, the plug at 0:21 definitely is a grounded Swiss plug (the grounded plugs in Switzerland are different to Schuko plugs)

@@barrycrombie1690 definitely, it was a 3-pin plug and not the EU/China style 2 pin plug.

[@Echo3_]

I would have never thought about it that way, but yeah you can say “ this is a kiosk version and the interesting fact about these, they can’t be played unplugged “

[@RickTheGeek]

I wonder if the different resistor location changes other things in the software as well, or if there are other resistor jumper locations to set such things as region codes for things like different radio frequencies or to enable a unit to be a developer unit etc. Interesting note: on SNES demo kiosk units there was a locked switch that could trigger a game reset after a selectable number of minutes, or could let it play forever. The idea I guess was to get kids to “move along” and not hog the machine when others were waiting

[@denzel_theasian]

6:05 Really poetic honestly. You found out what was wrong with it and chose not to change anything about it and you still love it anyway

[@DimT670]

More so because its a display piece and changing this would ruin the collector value. Its essentially BUT THE PATINA but for 3ds.

[@TheTurnipKing]

6:14 He doesn't have the actual kiosk. It makes more sense to set it up as an actual DS. It's likely that the resistor isn't actually in the "wrong" place. It's very probable they designed the board with that in mind. There are usually labels that say "this DS won't work if removed from the display" to discourage theft. This is probably how they achieved this. The idea, at least in theory, is that people don't steal them, have them work and have it get around that the units are actually perfectly working.

[@MrRobarino]

He literally shows you the actual Kiosk he owns at the beginning of the video, you genius.

[@jenkinsbruh6684]

You can tell by the plugs we saw in the other video, that this was standing in switzerland

[@JAPALIE]

0:21 - Thats a Swiss Type J Power Connector

[@RC32Smiths01]

Fantastic and fabulous insight here on another build. Never ceases to amaze, Elliot.

[@Djbiohazard1991]

6:49 That macro shot of a clean rubber pad being put over some filthy buttons. Man, that's such a bummer.

[@ToxicMothBoi]

I remember here in germany in some stores they actualy used Glue to keep the charger in place and even had a plastic clip the 3ds would slot into so you could pick it up but it was tethered to the kiosk. Maybe those were normal ones seen as they glued them to that plastic and glued the charger in place. Other places ive seen them with a massive thing glued to the backside (covering the charger, ir etc.

[@Rogue_Orange]

A charging cable powering the system works the same way with the Factory Unit DSi, they call it Kiosk Mode. 😅

[@rosebud_ink]

I’m taking a bet the kiosk units have that resistor like that as some sort of anti-theft. If it doesn’t power on when disconnected from the kiosk, it’ll (theoretically) deter people from stealing it.

[@rmf99fr]

You're right, I wonder if they do this stuff with the Switch now? 🤔

[@aethelierproductions]

with that logic you shouldn't even repair the joystick then..

[@nan.a323]

now here's the question: if it can't work without the charger, why have a battery at all?

[@ChilleUK]

Lol I have a few of these from UK booths. I have a kiosk Wii U too. That doesn't allow wireless controller, the controller is plugged in via an ethernet cable

[@MrSoulBack]

6:50 did you just put the membrane back onto the dirty buttons? i'm shocked 😱😂

[@nathanpaulyoung]

THANK YOU. Glad someone else saw that.

[@Seumo]

Hi! The plug you replaced is not a german plug (SCHUKO) but a swiss plug. So this thing probably did not stand in Germany but Switzerland. Just FIY.

[@ellabub5748]

Interesting. I fix up 3ds consoles but mainly work with the 'new' consoles, and I've worked on a New 3ds (non-xl) kiosk unit. The nice thing about the new consoles is that there are more separate parts that are easily swappable, making repairs easier. The culprit that differentiated the kiosk unit from a standard unit was actually the power board, not the motherboard itself. I'm sure the same principle applies where it's just one differently placed capacitor on the power board, but it was much easier to just swap the part out for a standard one

[@TheRetroReveal]

love your videos, got out of handhelds way before the ds (im 34) but recently got back into gaming. your videos are crazy informative and entertaining. glad you make these buddy,

[@SirKingCora]

I'm not too shy when it comes to repairing certain electronics. My Cosmo Black 3DZ needs a new circle pad, but I'm quite intimidated by this particular repair. If I do attempt it, I'll use this as a loose guide though. You're prior vid about modding the GBA helped me immensely. Maybe this will too? Keep up the good work Elliot!

[@m2pt5]

Out of everything in the 3DS that requires significant disassembly to repair/replace, the circle pad is one of the easier ones. (Plus you can order 3D printed ones in all sorts of different colors, with different surface textures, or even made of metal.)

[@SudiPaddi]

*you’re

[@SirKingCora]

@@SudiPaddi Tell me *you're a virgin without directly telling me *you're a virgin.

[@alessioram6631]

@@SudiPaddi grammar nazi inbound

[@jmacosta]

This a rather simple one tbh. Just one week ago I decided to swap the joysticks and buttons from two Zelda 25th anniversary edition 3DSs to make sure that I'd keep the better one in the best condition possible. If you don't go as far as the buttons, you'll be fine.

[@cospanx]

One technique I used when comparing boards is to take a picture of each put them into a paint program on different layers and use the subtract layer feature. It's tuff to get them aligned so you can use grid mats for the background. The differences tend to pop out

[@Evercade_Effect]

Geeked out over this and happy you left the battery not working as it was intended.

[@Mainyehc]

Ahhhh, that wasn’t a German store; judging by the three-pronged plug, that one came from Switzerland. ;)

[@joshknight1620]

@6:51 why did you put the just cleaned membrane right back onto dirty buttons? You usually clean them? Whats up with that?

[@silversonic1]

It's hardly the wrong place if it's meant to be there for kiosk purposes. Edit: I thought the pad was supposed to be grey.

[@apollolux]

The audacity of someone like Elliot to want a Kiosk New Nintendo 3DS to stay working like a Kiosk New Nintendo 3DS _and_ provide a sweet and satisfying disassembly/cleaning/reassembly video with chill music to us viewers! ;)

[@thicccrusade2302]

Is it meant to be like a show piece in store? Anti theft feature would be easy to do with an external chip at the end of a cord that only the store would have. Without it the device wouldn't work. Other could be a firmware on timer that would delete itself after the end of the day.

[@ypoora1]

If you look closely at the board you'll notice that on one side of those resistor pads, they are commoned together. On the other side they go off different ways. This is probably a factory installed "mode switch" purely for theft deterrent reasons; after all, why steal a 3DS if it won't do what it's supposed to? It might be interesting to take a normal 3DS board and wire a 3-pole switch up to it, you might be able to switch kiosk mode on and off on the fly. That would be a fun experiment!

[@jonshouse1]

Much more likely to be zero ohm link used as a pulldown for GPIO lines rather than a "resistor in the wrong place". This kind of thing is pretty standard when you make a single PCB but want to force differing roles from the factory.

[@Zauney]

looks like the kiosk might have actually come from switzerland (at least the original power plug at 00:22 is a swiss one 🤔)

[@TrevelyanOO6]

That plug is clearly Swiss not German. In fact only Switzerland. The closest similar one is an ISO standard that no country uses. Although I hear Brazil added it to mix of all the other socket types you can find there.

[@skybladedx3804]

According to nintendo you are a wanted criminal

[@AmauryJacquot]

so that's how they prevented theft...

[@cidkramer]

You missed an opportunity to take the actual buttons out to clean them..

[@bronzehawk3646]

what if all the smartphones and computers applied this method of demo devices only running by cable lol stealing would be down to 0

[@Dippedinsilver1974]

Yeah, that was pretty gross inside. I can only imagine how many grubby little kid hands were playing that thing. Very interesting about the resister. I think it's awesome that you kept it the way it was made. Thanks for the video!

[@SlayerRellikALT]

Lol ok

[@Seraphicat]

I had great appreciation for loopy for installing the capture card onto my 3DS and after seeing the numerous ribbon cables that needed to be removed and reattached, I have a newfound appreciation for what he did.

[@Leclaron]

The resistor is probably related to the charging circuitry, if it’s plugged in and constantly charging and discharging the battery the lipo cells will eventually wear out, expand and potentially explode. All bad things for a theoretically unattended and ideally rarely serviced unit.

[@MrRobarino]

The DS automatically stops charging the battery once it is full. If you actually owned a DS, you would have known that. The risk of a battery constantly charging, overcharging, or blowing up is nearly zero.

[@Sonikks]

Anti-theft device probably, very interesting!

[@ktvx.94]

It's incredible what dedicated enough people can do

[@brett9000]

I like that you left it as it is but still took the time to figure out why it wont run from the battery. I wish I could solder as I have a gamegear I would like to fix but it needs all the caps changing and after bad news medically this year I cant work so I cant afford to send it to somebody to fix for me or even afford a soldering iron to be able to learn to solder.

[@ericd4mation]

Does it work without the battery even installed? If it can't use the battery anyway, leaving it in there seems like an unnecessary risk for a spicy pillow in the future.

[@Fulminin]

What i'm curious about is if the 3DS is designed to only work while plugged in why would they bother putting a battery in it. Its always gonna be getting power from the wall.

[@snrrlax]

Imagine how many different peoples skin is under those buttons. Not just one person, hundreds. Maybe thousands.

[@Davo_1991]

You looked so hard for the fix, at the start you wanted to know why it wouldn't work without a power cord, and now you 180 on that and just want to leave it after all that investigation...........

[@hoodieblue9305]

So the store in the images is a german store chain but you can find them over most of europe. Im dutch and there are 2 in my city alone. The origin of this console could be from all over

[@calelkestifer3570]

so if it's made to work only when plugged into the wall, then will it work without a batter in it at all?

[@blitz-o-byte]

you said the control stick was supposed to be white, and while you are technically correct- its only the outside -the rubber- that is white (or light gray if you prefer) - my turquoise 3ds also had that come off it kept coming off when playing super smash so i just , took it out and a month later it crumbled to bits when i touched it , it was so disgusting

[@LegendBegins]

Nice obscure find! Might I suggest linking to the 1up Gaming video that helped you out in the description?

[@keaton718]

Does Nintendo really not want us to know about this? Hideki Konno probably doesn't even remember it.

[@Okeana_Aster]

Honestly, when I see people disassemble their 3ds, it makes me stress because of how careful and precise they have to be. I know for a fact that if I tried this, I would most likely break my console forever.

[@princessponee7916]

Look at all the dead skin cells on the old pad.

0:08 it came from Switzerland, not Germany. The grounded plug at 0:21 only is used in Switzerland and in a slightly different shape in Italy. The store was a MediaMarkt, which is a large electronic store chain.

[@kakashi99908]

My circle pad on the 3DS I bought as a kid worn out so I tried replacing it and ended up destroying a ribbon cable or too as well as poking a screw through the shell. It has been sitting in a bag since I hope to come back to it one day once I get better at repairs.

[@MobCat_]

Not a normal resistor, It's a 0 oem jumper resistor. Basically used as a hardware setting switch, but permanent and can be placed by a pick and place machine.

[@JimNichols]

If it is a kiosk unit then there are no "wrongly placed" components as it is a kiosk unit made to play from house power not on battery.

[@TheRetroMess]

Good on you, mate. Preservation should have boundaries. You fix things, you don't Monkey Christ them.

[@Lost_Kappa]

Serious question, the kiosk unit with the resistor position being different, does it need a battery installed to be used with a power adaptor?

[@eDoc2020]

I would expect so. If they're putting in a different SKU motherboard I would imagine they could just as easily leave out the battery.

[@melsbacksfriend]

The Pro Controller for the Switch doesn't have enough ribbon cables. The 3ds has too much. The Switch itself has just the right number.

[@daeronsingollo4131]

Thank you for the nice video, although all the ribbon cables frighten me for my stick replacement in the future. 😭 Good luck on recovering. ❤️

[@MathiasWolfbrok]

So does that mean that the Kiosk unit can work without the battery in? I remember the 3DS battery being mandatory to boot the system even if it was plugged into an outlet

[@GregAtlas]

The resistor probably isn't "in the wrong place." It is likely set up that way on purpose because they didn't want people taking the kiosk units home with them. It's basically a toggle switch.

[@bastian_5975]

The thing in the joystick was so bad I at first thought it was thermal paste and just put in a strange spot... I didn't realize it was connected to the joystick until it was all cleared away

[@FriedTendi]

Does it work if you plug it in with just a regular power brick or does it have to be the kiosk

[@pieroCD]

Hello Eliot! It's understandable boths his and your approach, I agree with yours and absolutely respect his as well. Maybe If it's a ds I would play with I ask to change position of the chip or whatever. I like your videos.

[@k9ine787]

Why record a whole video on why it isn't working just to leave it as is anyway?

[@dirzz]

There was info about this resistor in kiosk versions on the internet for a long time, I forgot where I found the info - reddit or gbatemp, but I've changed my New 3DS XL kiosk version to normal one that way 2 years ago. Also replaced top screen, touchscreen and joystick. Works just fine :)

[@SickleWeasle]

the display models probably have a pin de-soldered that only allow the unit to be powered by the charging cable, and doesn't allow for a battery connection.

[@DownandOutNYC]

Does it even need the battery in the unti while plugged into the kiosk unit? I'd be worried about that battery going bad (in a bad way) if it was constanly being charged to full voltage, though I suspect that isn't the case seeing how old such a unit would be. I was even surprised the battery even worked in a different unit, which makes me think the battery was left at a storage charge all those years.

[@SchardtCinematic]

I'm assuming they did this to help prevent theft. If someone shoplifter the kiosk unit. They would only be able to use it plugged in all the time. Which takes away alot of its portability.

[@meta0269]

They might have just done this to prevent the battery being permanently maintained at 100% charge.

[@mewfeuille]

There's another utility here that most people aren't considering. It's an anti-theft measure, yes, but it also prevents the battery from degrading and swelling and causing a safety issue in a store unit that's meant to be on all the time and touched by customers.

[@android01978]

Nice. Those kiosk units are full of human slime! I wonder if the fabric around the joust could be to absorb fluid if something gets spilt on it. Surprising they don’t do that with retail units as it would be a very simple thing to do and could with up the water rather than leaving it to flow to the rest of the circuits. You would still want to pull it apart and replace the fabric if it got wet but would give you a chance at least.

[@Blaoerry]

That looks like a swiss plug, rather than a German one fwiw.

[@damian9303]

Does it still charge the battery even if it can't power from it?