Hacking Should I go ahead and buy a Japanese Wii U?

[shinkodachi]

What's Qi charging?

Heard of inductive charging or wireless charging? Essentially, there's a pad/mat on which you can place a compatible product and it'll charge without connecting cables, etc. This is not Qi specifically, but the idea is similar:



So imagine if Nintendo made a mat like that, long enough to hold four Wiimotes. You'd just place them on the mat and they'd be ready to use the next time you play. No swapping batteries, no plugging in anything.

 

[shinkodachi]

My concern was the time it takes to charge something, not the method. Unless this is super fast or something.

A modern smartphone can be charged in about 2-3 hours on a pad like this with current tech. In other words, it's very fast. A Wiimote doesn't have as much of a requirement for battery capacity as a smartphone, so I'd imagine it'd quick charge in 60-90 min. Nintendo actually has something like this available, but it's expensive and charges only one Wiimote at a time: https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/us/p...alse&productId=prod130005&categoryId=cat10002

 

[shinkodachi]

Any time at all is my concern. Swapping batteries takes like 5 minutes, and Wiimotes have good battery life anyways. The GamePad... does not.

Swapping batteries requires you to have fully charged batteries to begin with. And unless you're using rechargeable cells, which take a good 3-4 hours to fully charge normally, you're not being very economical about this.

 

[thorasgar]

Folks invest in some Sanyo Eneloop batteries! By now I must have 60 of them. (50 AA, 10 AAA) They are a "hybrid" and keep 80% of their charge after 6 months and are perfect for wiimotes. I have a 4 port LaCross Smart charger and a pencil box I keep them in right in the TV cabinet. My 4 Wiimotes and balance board have never seen any other battery.

They cost a bit more than regular rechargeable but last forever. Bought most of them over 6 years ago and they are still going strong.

Kelton2, you need to work on your process it it takes you 5 minutes to switch out a couple of batteries on a wiimote.

 

[shinkodachi]

Folks invest in some Sanyo Eneloop batteries!

I second this suggestion! I have Eneloops myself and they're still going strong after two years of use. Truly excellent rechargeable NiMH cells.