Wiimote gets another charger / battery pack combo

It looks like those that just can't stand swapping AAs have yet another option to keep their Wiimote powered, with Thanko's descriptively-named "USB Charger for Wii Remote Control" joining similar offerings from Brando and JoyTech. Like the JoyTech unit, this one gets its juice from a USB port, either on the Wii itself or any one you can spare on your PC, with the former taking about three and half hours to charge, according to the company, and the latter knocking the wait time down to just just two hours. Once it's topped off, the battery pack will supposedly give you a full 30 hours of use. At $29 Thanko's charger is a bit cheaper than JoyTech's, although you'll need to pick up a pair of 'em if you want to keep both your Wiimotes charged at all times.

[Via coolest-gadget.com]

[Jeff @ Apr 5th 2007 2:30PM]

I'm confused. If you power the charger off the Wii's USB port, won't it only work while the Wii is turned on? And, if the Wii is turned on, isn't the Wiimote considerably more likely to not be in the charger?

Just asking...

[KP9000 @ Apr 5th 2007 3:08PM]

Unless it's unplugged, the Wii's USB ports are always active. This product seems to be very useful. I might have to pick one of these up.

[tiuk @ Apr 5th 2007 2:51PM]

Pretty sure even in standby the USB port is still powered.

[Dan @ Apr 5th 2007 2:43PM]

Wow, this one doesn't look too bad, might have to pick a couple up.

[Paul @ Apr 5th 2007 2:50PM]

since the wii is never truly "off", just in standby mode, it is possible that the charger can still draw power from it.

[Emo @ Apr 5th 2007 3:29PM]

Well, what if you have 4 wii remotes? Do you need to go out any buy a USB hub to plug into the console?

Hmm..

[Bert @ Apr 5th 2007 3:55PM]

The Wii does power the USB when 'off' (I power my palm with it), at least with WiiConnect24 ON. I have not tried it without WiiConnect24.

Emo, at best what will happen is that the wiimotes will take twice as long to charge, since the power (supposed to be +-500mA per port IIRC) is divided between the wiimotes. At worst, if it's an inteligent charger, if the power level is too low it will not charge.

I think there could be something possibly putting a tap on the power supply, wedge it in between the Wii and the power connector. There should be 5 or 12 vols in there somewhere. That is sure to be always on.

Haing already been in the habit of charging batteries, having a few more to do for the wiimotes is not much, but if I didn't have any rechargeables, this would be interesting.

[Otsego @ Apr 5th 2007 6:07PM]

hmm i could charge my Wiimote with my PS3...

[39cents @ Apr 5th 2007 7:36PM]

i think you can find this on thankos homepage. akihabara news had an interview with some bigwig there and he showed that you can attach two or more of the chargers together.. the clip into each other.
the thing that i dont like about it is the price actually. i mean.. $30 for just one? nyko has a better one. it has slots for two wiimotes. and the battery pack has a rubber grip to it. best of all its the same price! $30!

linqage ----> http://nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=102

[jde @ Apr 5th 2007 8:22PM]

I've had a dual wiimote charger from Nyko for a while now. Plugs into the wall, rather than USB, so if the Wii doesn't power USB while completely off, you can still charge your wiimotes. Costs the same as one of Thanko's single chargers, too.

http://nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=102

[laptop @ Aug 20th 2008 10:38PM]

We tested each of the flashlights by http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/420.htm using the two test batteries. We then labelled each flashlight with the battery brand name and put the different batteries in each marked flashlight.