Hardware Wii U Gamepad dies very quickly

[Lumpy64]

Hey guys! I've been borrowing a friends Wii U and it has almost no battery life (20 min on 2 hours charge) and I was wondering if the fact that his brother dropped it a lot has broken it or the battery has just gone weird.

thanks in advance!

 

[V10lator]

From what you say I would guess the battery is old. Simply because of the exact timings (2 h charge lasts for exactly 20 mins). No guarantees on this through.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Simply replace the battery and see if that solves the problem.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Gamepad battery just sucks

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

I would hook up please.
I have changed the Battery for a couple of Weeks.
The Gamepad is charged with the Power Adapter directly.
(not with this Charging Cradle that was originally included with the Wii U Basic Pack).

I can not say the exact Charging Time (between 1 - 2 Hours maybe,I will check it on the next Charging Cycle).
I can use it for around 4-5 Hours depends on what I do.The Power Save Mode and Rumble are turned off and the Brightness is set to "2".

My Question please,is this normal that the Battery unloads itself when I am not using the Game Pad (for a Week for example).
This happend by the Way also with the original Battery.

Thank you for your Help.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

[…]
My Question please,is this normal that the Battery unloads itself when I am not using the Game Pad (for a Week for example).
This happend by the Way also with the original Battery.
[…]

The Gamepad is on standby all the time: "Listening" if the main console asks it to turn on.
That is a design flaw. I recommend disconnecting the battery when the Wii U is not in use for a longer time – else the battery will suffer from repeated deep discharge and fail early.
========

The only easy method to find out if something else is wrong with that specific Gamepad (given it only lasts 20 minutes when taken directly from the charger) is replacing the battery.

 

[Alexander1970]

Thank you.

The Gamepad is on standby all the time: "Listening" if the main console asks it to turn on.
That is a design flaw. I recommend disconnecting the battery when the Wii U is not in use for a longer time – else the battery will suffer from repeated deep discharge and fail early.
========

The only easy method to find out if something else is wrong with that specific Gamepad (given it only lasts 20 minutes when taken directly from the charger) is replacing the battery.

Oh,my "Brain"..some really good Friend told me this a long Time ago.
With "a little Addition"..

Thank you,Sinchen.

 

[Lumpy64]

Hey thanks everyone! I'll replace the battery if he doesn't want it anymore. Is it possible i can just run the gamepad off AC and never use the battery?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Hey thanks everyone! I'll replace the battery if he doesn't want it anymore. Is it possible i can just run the gamepad off AC and never use the battery?

If it behaves like a DS the Gamepad will not turn on without a battery (or with a completely dead battery).

Playing with AC adapter with very bad but somewhat working battery is fine.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Gamepad battery just sucks

The official larger capacity size battery for the Gamepad that they only released online does make it much more reasonable though.

 

[Hambrew]

Yeah, the Wii U Gamepad isn't exactly "futureproof"
Go check out iFixit for info on how to replace the Gamepad's battery.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Yeah, the Wii U Gamepad isn't exactly "futureproof"
Go check out iFixit for info on how to replace the Gamepad's battery.

Its not hard to change the battery, I did it a couple years back when I upgraded to the higher capacity battery, was really easy, you just unscrew the little back cover of the gamepad, unplug the old battery, and plug in the new one. Screw the back back on, and done.

 

[Alexander1970]

Thank you.

The official larger capacity size battery for the Gamepad that they only released online does make it much more reasonable though.

The Price is actual unfortunately not so "resonable".....
https://www.amazon.de/Wii-GamePad-H...eywords=wii+u+pad+akku&qid=1589992660&sr=8-15

 

[Madridi]

Thank you.


The Price is actual unfortunately not so "resonable".....
https://www.amazon.de/Wii-GamePad-High-Capacity-Battery-2550mAh/dp/B00EZPU0E2/ref=sr_1_15?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=wii+u+pad+akku&qid=1589992660&sr=8-15

That's not it's retail price. The retail price was somewhere around 25-30 .. So that listed price does not matter.
But yeah you might have to look more deeply to find one at a reasonable price

 

[Hambrew]

Its not hard to change the battery, I did it a couple years back when I upgraded to the higher capacity battery, was really easy, you just unscrew the little back cover of the gamepad, unplug the old battery, and plug in the new one. Screw the back back on, and done.

ifixit has replacement Gamepad batteries, and that was what I was implying OP go and get one. the process is still uber-easy.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Thank you.


The Price is actual unfortunately not so "resonable".....
https://www.amazon.de/Wii-GamePad-High-Capacity-Battery-2550mAh/dp/B00EZPU0E2/ref=sr_1_15?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=wii+u+pad+akku&qid=1589992660&sr=8-15

At that point, I'd opt to take chances with the unofficial 3rd party versions (I got a first party version while they were still more reasonably priced). No guarantee when it comes to these guys how good they are, but their prices are far more reasonable (likely because they're still manufacturing them, and possibly that they're of lesser quality) and supposedly they're of even higher battery capacity: https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-...rds=wii+u+2550mah&qid=1589992936&sr=8-2-fkmr2

 

[Alexander1970]

That's not it's retail price. The retail price was somewhere around 25-30 .. So that listed price does not matter.
But yeah you might have to look more deeply to find one at a reasonable price

And that is exact the Challenge.Not so common "Parts" (like the GameCube or Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor for example) is sold with such insane Prices in Europe....

 

[KleinesSinchen]

That's not it's retail price. The retail price was somewhere around 25-30 .. So that listed price does not matter.
But yeah you might have to look more deeply to find one at a reasonable price

Correct. But it does not help. At least in Europe the official Wii U GamePad High-Capacity Battery (WUP-013) is not available anymore. Only used and/or for an insanely high price. I don't think Nintendo of America still sells them.

Aftermarket batteries (with all potential quality problems) are pretty much the only option now. I got my WUP-013 two years ago via amazon.fr for 30 Euros.

 

[Madridi]

And that is exact the Challenge.Not so common "Parts" (like the GameCube or Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor for example) is sold with such insane Prices in Europe....

Correct. But it does not help. At least in Europe the official Wii U GamePad High-Capacity Battery (WUP-013) is not available anymore. Only used and/or for an insanely high price. I don't think Nintendo of America still sells them.

Aftermarket batteries (with all potential quality problems) are pretty much the only option now. I got my WUP-013 two years ago via amazon.fr for 30 Euros.

Yeah I know all that. I'm just saying that the quoted link that had a price close to 200, referring to it as it's price, is not accurate. That's not it's price. That's the price that seller is offering it for.

Yeah Nintendo is trying their best to bury anything Wii U related (If all those rereleases on the switch isnt evidence enough, I dont know what is). So 3rd party is the way to go, along with used ones maybe on ebay or something

 

[Lumpy64]

Is an aftermarket battery dangerous to the gamepads health?

btw thanks for all the replies!