If all the
extra accessories aren't making your Wii
collection a
mess, all the AA batteries you've thrown out have at least caused a lump in a landfill. To help out in the battery department, Sanyo has come up with the Eneloop charging station complete with a battery pack replacement pack for your Wii remote and a charging base that can support as many as four controllers at once. Remotes charge in a respectable 220 minutes and Eneloop will even charge sequentially so you don't have to wait an extra couple hours for your next Smash Bros fix. Available for $73 as an import item, but we wouldn't be surprised if this showed up on our shores for powerless gamers this fall.
UPDATE: Confused about why this is important? The new recharger uses a contact-free electromagnetic system so you don't need to remove your battery pack. Oh - it's also the first Nintendo-licensed recharger.
[Via
Akihabara News]
posted July 24th 2008 8:31AM
So, $73 for a single charger. It takes over 3.5 hours to charge and you only get 6.5 hours of use time. And it charges sequentially, which means one at a time. Awesome.
Have any of your heard about the InCharge? They have it for Wii and Xbox and apparently it charges inductively....? Not really sure how it works, but it could be promising... Here's a link, I'm thinking about getting one, but wanted to see if someone else has used them before. http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=8550189
Clearly not Motion+ compatible.
Or, you could get the Duracell Pre-Charged Rechargeables (also low self-discharge NiMHs) for half the price. Those hold their charge just as well as the Eneloops.
I've been a user of eneloop for almost 2 years now. had them in my wii for about 7 months. One thing I don't like about eneloop is when the power goes, it goes quickly. What I mean is with regular batteries, the power will gradually go down and you see the wiimote blink the number of charge the battery has left. With the eneloop, once you see the 4 blinking lights go down to 3, after one session of game play (an hour or two) will make the light go down to 1. Other than that, eneloop lasts long, keep its charge even when not in use for longer and i love it.
this is a characteristic of all Ni-MH (and even older Ni-CD). They don't fade like alkalines or the like, very gradually. It's more of an abrupt drop-off. Down to the chemistry of the batteries rather than a brand-centric-ism.
@Tekdroid, While I largely agree with your point, I don't know if you understand the meaning of "no hassle..." That's exactly the advantage these "proprietary" chargers have, they are no hassle. Switching out batteries -is- a hassle, albeit a minor one.
I guess I can't get my head around the fact that swapping batteries is a hassle compared to the do-nothing downtime while it charges. I just don't get it.
Not to mention the fact that when the battery dies after several hundred charges, yet more expense for a replacement, when/if you can find this proprietary batt pack it in a couple years.
In my mind nothing is more practical or convenient than a quick battery swap.
Wonder if they took into account the new 1:1 motion add-on gimmick/peripheral?
I forgot to mention that Nintendo DOES make an official battery charger, but it has a GBA model number. The original GBA had special springs to enable quick insertion and removal of a battery pack that fits under the battey cover. The included gang charger had storage for extras. The Wavebird Wireless Controller for Gamecube also had these springs as did the Wii Remote. It's was clearly for these packs because the plastic to prevent improper orientation is still there. They were only ever available in Japan.
I am sorry to say this, but the battery charger pack was clearly designed for the common user that doesn't play so much that he needs the battery recharged twice a day. If you seriously play long enough each day that resting your 4 controllers in the cradles while you sleep won't charge them up so you are ready for the next day, then you just play too much. There is no situation unless you are really that avid about saving money that would justify tekdroids constant ranting about changing the batteries each and every single time.
FYI, often Japanese companies charge a lot more for these types of products in their own country than in other countries. The eneloop basic 2 pack (AA-sized) with the charger runs like almost 2000 yen, whereas the same pack is like $10 in America. Another example, Sanyo sells digital cameras in Japan (HD1010) for like 120,000 yen MSRP, whereas the starting price in America for the same product is about $800.
I would stop the crying and whining, as this is a product that I will get, after I wait to see if it will come out in America for a cheaper price.
Oh yeah, and for you regular Wii users out there, this will be able to charge your batteries overnight, even if they start charging from like 85%, and because they are eneloop-based, that means that there is no memory-effect (what happens when you charge a battery without letting it get down near 0% first, soon it accepts the low-point you allow it to get to as 0%, essentially rendering the battery useless--another special point that eneloop resolves).
charging your battery daily reduces its life. It's not about using your battery so much that you need to charge it twice a day like you said, but more of a "oh, my battery has run down... replace with another now" rather than constantly docking overnight, which, again, *reduces* the life of the battery.
And again, why when plenty of people have AA chargers? Exactly. I see it as totally unnecessary.
One more note...
eneloop are good for up to 1,000 recharges, not just a few hundred as tekdroid mentions.
right, but other Ni-MH chemistry is around 500, which nearly everyone else is using. (Eneloop is pretty new in the scheme of things, even though it's been selling for a few years).
that "up to" figure is also under *very* favourable conditions ie. not likely in the real world.
Tekdroid, please, for the love of God, SHUT THE FUCK UP! You're making shit up and littering this thread with nonsense. It's very annoying.
There is no fucking downtime unless you play the Wii more than 6 hours in a single session, in which case, get a fucking life. You play, you drop the remote in the charger when you're done, it's fully charged the next time you want to play. And no, there is no fucking memory effect on these batteries, you can drop them in the charger all you want at any % of discharge without damaging them.
If you don't like the product, fine, but quit making up bullshit stories about why it doesn't work, when you have no idea what you're talking about.
of course you still have to remove the sleeve before putting the damn remote into any other device (wheel, club, gun, stick, shoe)
I only use Eneloops now camera, remote controls, radio, flashlights, etc. Inexpensive LED battery powered light and Eneloop rechargeable batteries are convenient and economical to purchase and use. A significant savings in energy is noticeable and portable lighting without cords is practical. I have found the best selection, service and prices on Sanyo Eneloop products at Depoteco.com where I found out about them last year. It is not like other rechargeables that have to stay in a charger to stay charged, so that it takes only a few chargers to service a lot of batteries. Since disposable batteries are SO unnecessary now they should have a deposit like containers. Eneloop batteries are designed to be recycled after a thousand uses. Which is better?
I love the concept, but it's the price ($74 for a single charging station) that gets me. I hope they come down in price. For now, I'll use my own Eneloop batteries and see how this plays out.
I want to know how well it works with Wii MotionPlus on.