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I wish the Steam Controller used AA batteries (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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Based on the description on their site, the controller includes a built-in battery: "8.39 Wh Li-ion battery​, 35+ hours of gameplay... "

That was disappointing for me. Specially condidering the Steam Frame's controllers make use of AA batteries: "​One replaceable AA battery per controller, ​ 40hr battery life​"

AA Batteries might not be as convenient to use, but being able to replace them is a great advantage. All my Xbox360 controllers still work fine, but none of my PS3' Dualshock 3s.

The official docking station could be used to recharge (rechargables) AA batteries so the functionality could remain the same.

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[–] 61 points 10 months ago (20 children)

Yeah. AA batteries suck though! I'd be happy if they used 14500 cells or something. but the form factor was probably the issue, the controller is a chonk in the middle already with the flat battery pack

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  • [–] 32 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    People forget we had hot-swappable li-ion batteries decades ago in phones and DSLRs. They absolutely could’ve done that with no to minimal form-factor changes.

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  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Hot-swappable battery meaning without turning off the device?! Lol I've never seen that 😉 I get what you're saying though, but from what I've seen the battery is replaceable! It's retained with a screw but that's not a deal breaker imo. Using a standardized form factor would have been even cooler, but I think that would've been very difficult for space reasons

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Some laptops used to have that. They would have two batteries, one internal one and one hot-swappable external one.

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Nowadays you can get AA-shaped lithium cells. Anyways I hope free battery is easy to replace after 2 years.

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (3 children)

    According to reports it is. Not as easy as a hot-swapable one, but close. You just have to remove the back panel, pop it out and put the new one. No adhesive involved.

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    18650 is awesome, a good balance of weight to capacity. They are the standard cells used in laptops, vapes, small powerbanks, power tool batteries, and so on. They can also go into a fairly standard charger for AA and AAA batteries and give a lovely nominal 3.7V.

    That said, pouches are better for inside a device like a controller. The weight of a battery is significantly influenced by the casing. A pouch is almost entirely capacity, a cell like an 18650 or AA is largely the metal of the casing. If you have the pouch inside the plastic of the device you can save that weight.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    I think laptop batteries are usually thinner than 18650s? All the ones I've seen are, anyway

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Perhaps more modern ones, but the ones in my last and current laptops are both 18650s. 6 cells, 9 cells, you stack in series to increase voltage, parallel to get more capacity, so a 3s2p would have ~14V which is more than the required 12V for internal components, no boost converters needed. That said, now they do a lot of pouch batteries which are actually multiple internal pouches run in series to get the same sort of voltage but made with the chassis fitting them perfectly, no wasted space.

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