[Dead]Price Plunge: Xbox 360 Black Play and Charge Kit by Memorex $3.99

Can I get any recommendations on these?

I've been seeing them for years but have never bought one.

I've always just used batteries and never had any trouble....even with ones from the Dollar Store.
 
Doesnt look like it has any reviews anywhere. I always welcome another battery and this one charges with USB2
 
Seems like a good deal, but I would prefer to stick with rechargeable batteries. I have to charge mine maybe once a week and I have a spare charged up to swap with.
 
[quote name='ooga']Seems like a good deal, but I would prefer to stick with rechargeable batteries. I have to charge mine maybe once a week and I have a spare charged up to swap with.[/QUOTE]

Which rechargeable batteries would you recommend?
 
[quote name='rey6eric']Which rechargeable batteries would you recommend?[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure what he uses but I actually use a Duracell rechargeable battery pack that came with 4 batteries and a charging dock you plug into an outlet. Here's a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-Valu...BVMU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336748784&sr=8-2

It is a bit pricey atm but these batteries last awhile. Even if you're doing long gaming sessions for about a week you'll have to switch batteries but if you game here and there you're looking at recharging these every 2-3 weeks maybe per month depending on how much you play. Also I've had these for a year now and they haven't faulted like MS's play and charge kit that I used to own.
 
I just bought a new charge kit recently. Wish I had waited. This seems like a solid deal.
 
[quote name='rey6eric']Which rechargeable batteries would you recommend?[/QUOTE]

I have some Kodak ones and I charges them once every 3 weeks or so of casual play. I have used them for over a year now with no issue. I also picked up a pack of 4 Duracel ones that were on clearance at target for $4 a couple of weeks ago, but have not had a chance to use them. They seem pretty heavy duty though.
 
This kit is guaranteed to be a POS. Rechargeable battery packs don't last long and often end up with little charge over a few months' time.

Buy some Sanyo Enerloop batteries and a good quality charger and you'll lots of use out of your controller before needing to recharge. I've switched to them from the battery pack options (tried numerous ones out there, they all suck) and never been happier with the use I get out of my controllers.
 
I use eneloops and a variety of other batteries, the only time you will have to change batteries within a week is if you are playing a game that uses a ton of rumble. Otherwise your batteries should last a month or 3 weeks without hitting the magical spinning lights on the controller.

But I do find that rechargeable batteries used in a xbox controller need to be discharged every so often or else the xbox will recognize it as almost dead and the controller will just disconnect even before you get the spinning lights shortly after installing the freshly charged batteries. To discharge your batteries you need one of the LaCrosse BC chargers from amazon, or another charger with a discharge function.

I also find the battery level detection on the xbox faulty, the batteries can die in a split second no matter what batteries you use, then your controller will disconnect before you even get the spinning lights so you really don't know when you have to replace the batteries until that happens.

I believe that all battery packs suck because of the fact that the xbox controller seems to like a fully discharged and then charged set of batteries the most. You can't discharge a battery pack, which is where the fault lies. If you could discharge a battery pack fully and then charge it up, I am sure they would be fine, since most battery packs are just 2 cheap rechargable AA's strapped together in a plastic housing. I know ni-minh batteries supposedly don't have a memory effect but it seems like they actually do.

So to sum it up, when you take the batteries out of your controller, put the charger on discharge, the charger will then discharge whatever is left in the batteries, then it will automatically charge them the same way as if you just started with the normal charge mode.
 
Anyone tried out the new Sanyo XX Eneloop batteries yet? I'm excited to test them out, but I'm not buying them until I really need to. I've read they're slightly thicker casing than regular Eneloops, which worries me since the white ones get easily stuck in a 360 battery case.

I currently use Lithium-Polymer inductive-charge battery packs for my 360 controllers. They weigh little more than an empty battery case and have no memory effects like NiMh. Only link I have is a permanently OOS page at Newegg.
 
Haven't tried the XXX eneloops yet, I don't even think those are sold to the America's, but you can easily import from the UK or wherever. I heard that they lose a charge faster because of the higher capacity, so you need to use them in something that is high power like a digital camera or a camera flash. I don't think they would be good for a 360 controller, which requires steady power over a longer period of time. I think you are better off with just regular eneloops for that use.
 
I used eneloops in my home phones last year and was very disappointed. They crapped out after a few months. Maybe they did not like the constant charging when they were seated in the base.
 
I think regular NiMh might be preferable for a cordless phone. Oddly enough I have never had a problem using the battery packs that the phones come with, which are just 2 AA's strapped together with soldered wires. Same as the 360 battery packs, but the 360 battery packs always seem to crap out on people no matter how they are used.

I also think another problem might be that the USB ports on the 360 might not actually have enough power to charge the battery packs. Some people report good results when the batteries are put in the microsoft quick charger which I assume is connected to an outlet with an AC Adapter. Still though, I can't imagine people getting 40+ hours out of these battery packs, as most people say battery packs last only 10-12 hours. That is a far cry from what you get with regular eneloops, which is likely 30-40 hours, plus the batteries can be discharged.
 
My battery packs started out at 10-12 hours and within a few months were down to 3-4 hours. Using the MS quick charger only, so there was no issue with insufficient USB power.

I switched to the 1st gen Enerloops and went up to 30-40 hours easily on the 360 controller, closer to 40 hours after the batteries had some time to get used to discharge/charge cycle. Just about everything in my house that takes a AA/AAA battery has an Enerloop in it.
 
Rechargeable batteries basically invade your life once you get them and a decent charger, every time I buy a new pack they always manage to find a home in something around here. I got the Duracell ones for $5 from Target and they are pretty good but they are regular nimh and not low self discharge like eneloops. They still last a really long time though. Duracell batteries seem to be really high quality even if they are just regular nimh.

Has anyone had a battery pack that actually worked without losing hours of playtime for more than a year?
 
Hey guys,

I was wondering which charger everyone uses with the Enerloops batteries. Plus, is $10 about right for the four pack. That's what amazon charges currently.

Thanks,

Jimmy
 
[quote name='jimmayhorn']Hey guys,

I was wondering which charger everyone uses with the Enerloops batteries. Plus, is $10 about right for the four pack. That's what amazon charges currently.

Thanks,

Jimmy[/QUOTE]

I bought a starter set of Eneloops from Costco a few years back and I'm still using the charger that came with it. The charger included was probably an older version of this.
 
[quote name='Sway']I bought a starter set of Eneloops from Costco a few years back and I'm still using the charger that came with it. The charger included was probably an older version of this.[/QUOTE]

I appreciate the quick response. That's a couple buck cheaper than the duracell brand I was looking at from xFatalFlaw's link above.

Looks like a winner. Now I have to add another $10 to get free shipping.

Thanks a bunch.:applause:
 
I am still using the basic charger that came with my Eneloops but keep thinking I want to upgrade to a smart charger. Is there any great need to do this other than discharging? I was looking at the following chargers on Amazon if anyone has used them and can offer recommendations? Any overheating issues? The 700 is the cheapest but I notice this complaint in many of the lower rated reviews.

La Crosse Technology BC1000
La Crosse Technology BC700
Maha Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne
 
[quote name='Palinn']I am still using the basic charger that came with my Eneloops but keep thinking I want to upgrade to a smart charger. Is there any great need to do this other than discharging? I was looking at the following chargers on Amazon if anyone has used them and can offer recommendations? Any overheating issues? The 700 is the cheapest but I notice this complaint in many of the lower rated reviews.

La Crosse Technology BC1000
La Crosse Technology BC700
Maha Powerex MH-C9000 WizardOne[/QUOTE]I have the LaCrosse BC9009, which is the predecessor to the BC1000. The BC9009 was an update to the 900, fixing the overheating issues that caused issues with the 900. The 1000 has some under-the-hood updates to the design which seem to make it a better charger. My 9009 hasn't had any issues and is a great charger for every battery I've run through it.

I'd go with the BC1000 without question over the other two options.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']I have the LaCrosse BC9009, which is the predecessor to the BC1000. The BC9009 was an update to the 900, fixing the overheating issues that caused issues with the 900. The 1000 has some under-the-hood updates to the design which seem to make it a better charger. My 9009 hasn't had any issues and is a great charger for every battery I've run through it.

I'd go with the BC1000 without question over the other two options.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the input! The BC1000 was my first choice but I wasn't sure if it was worth the extra cost.
 
I have the 700, its a fine charger, and does not have overheating issues at least that I know of. I believe the only difference is the fact that the more expensive chargers do more current, so you can charge at 1000ma with the BC1000. The 700 only goes up to 700ma but I have honestly never seen a need to charge or discharge at more than 500ma in fact I usually charge at the lowest ma which is 200.

If you have one of these chargers, the discharge feature is worth its weight in gold. You can also repair your old nimh batteries using this charger using the refresh cycle but be warned if you start a set on the refresh cycle it could take a few days to a week to repair a totally dead set of cells, but its worth it in the long run. You can put 2 batteries on the refresh cycle then after those have started put in 2 more batteries in the other 2 slots and just do a regular charge, which will start automatically when you insert your batteries. Yes I have successfully repaired dead out of the package cells with my charger. Useful if you are getting your batteries from a retail outlet where they have been sitting on the shelves for months and have lost all their charge.
 
Like i always say, you are better off getting rechargeable AA batteries. Same price at around, will last longer and are far more reliable.

nyway.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']I have the 700, its a fine charger, and does not have overheating issues at least that I know of. I believe the only difference is the fact that the more expensive chargers do more current, so you can charge at 1000ma with the BC1000. The 700 only goes up to 700ma but I have honestly never seen a need to charge or discharge at more than 500ma in fact I usually charge at the lowest ma which is 200.

If you have one of these chargers, the discharge feature is worth its weight in gold. You can also repair your old nimh batteries using this charger using the refresh cycle but be warned if you start a set on the refresh cycle it could take a few days to a week to repair a totally dead set of cells, but its worth it in the long run. You can put 2 batteries on the refresh cycle then after those have started put in 2 more batteries in the other 2 slots and just do a regular charge, which will start automatically when you insert your batteries. Yes I have successfully repaired dead out of the package cells with my charger. Useful if you are getting your batteries from a retail outlet where they have been sitting on the shelves for months and have lost all their charge.[/QUOTE]

I have the same model, no overheating here either. It's nice to be able to charge single cells and see the capacity after a full discharge/charge cycle. The only issue I've had with it so far is if a battery is under a certain voltage it'll just show up as null, in this case you have to jumpstart the battery. They show you a way using a paperclip an another battery in the charger but personally I just take 2 magnets from an old harddrive and put the negative ends of the good battery and the low battery on one magnet and set the other magnet across the tops of the batteries for a half minute or so.
 
The paperclip method works and it is not dangerous, I have used it a few times to jump batteries, after that you can refresh them as they will show up in the charger.
 
I use a combination of battery packs and rechargeable batteries. Because i have 2 Mics and 4 controllers, sometimes the 8 rechargeable and 2 chargers are not enough. Thats when the play and charge comes in. I can play wired while the battery pack and the rechargeable batteries get charged.
 
+1 to the recommendations of getting eneloops and a good charger. Stop screwing around with cheapo shit like this play&charge kit and get a good set of batteries and a good charger, and basically stop thinking/worrying about battery problems forever.

I too use the BC700 charger. I bought it back when it was just the 700 and the 900, and the 900 was not only more expensive, it also came with a bunch of (useless to me) cheapo nimh AA cells and also had the potential overheating issue. Since I didn't want to pay for extra crappy non-LSD cells, and was wary of the overheating issue, I went with the cheaper BC700. The BC700 works fine for me anyway since like others I don't see the point/need of charging at very high currents. I charge my eneloops at 500ma and it works fine. If you really need high current/rapid charging cells then maybe get the BC1000 but otherwise it's mostly a waste.

IMHO the biggest benefit of a charger like the BC700 vs. a "regular" charger is the fact that each battery slot is a fully independent charging circuit. Most cheap chargers only charge batteries in pairs, and unless you have matched your cells previously, your batteries may not be getting optimum charge because it is paired with a different cell and the charger does not control each slot independently. A good charger will have independent voltage monitoring and charging for each battery you put in it, meaning every battery you put in is going to get its optimum charge.

The ability to measure the capacity of each cell is also a bonus because then you can actually find matched pairs of cells that are similar in capacity. I have a total of 16 AA and 8 AAA eneloops (use them for xbox controllers, headlamp, flashlight, LED lantern, camera flash, etc) and I have gone through and found the capacity of each and matched them up with each other to find the closest sets, both in pairs and sets of 4. Now honestly for Eneloops which are high quality cells to begin with, there should be very little variation between cells (I think all my AA cells came in at around 2100mah +/- 50mah) but if you happen to get a bad one or one that is significantly lower in capacity to another, then you can identify and isolate it.

Having a stock of high quality Eneloops and a good charger, I find the whole system works just great and I never have battery problems. Need more power? Just grab a fresh set off the shelf (I usually have 4-8 spare ready to go) and you're all set. I know they're charged and since they're LSD, they will be pretty much full even if I charged them months ago. I know when a cell or cell(s) are dying out. I also got like 100 free energizer lithium AAs from a friend so I have a crapton of those too. I use them in my wireless mice because the lithium AAs are much lighter. Also I will use the lithiums if using my stuff in cold weather because lithiums are the best for cold weather.

It's always satisfying when I use my batteries up and then put them in the charger, because even though they are being charged independently, they will each finish their charge cycles within a couple of minutes of each other. A variance of 3-4 minutes over a 240 minute charge cycle (~4h at 500ma) is excellent IMHO and shows that the cells I use in pairs are very closely matched. I see similar behavior even when I discharge/charge them in the BC700, they follow each other very closely, both in discharge and re-charge. Having well matched sets of cells means I am getting maximum energy from each cell because they die out at the same time relative to each other, rather than one going out and the other still having unused charge.

As for the newer Eneloop XXs, I'd say they may have benefits being used in a 360 controller if you game regularly/often. Assume if you go through a set of batteries in about a week- that is not enough time for self-discharge to really make a big impact on your battery capacity, so you may be better off with the higher capacity but slightly worse self discharge of the eneloop XXs. But if you only change once a month, then there isn't going to be much difference or benefit.

As for the "inaccurate" reporting of battery charge in the 360 controller, I notice this too with my eneloops, and suspect that is because the 360's battery level indicator is calibrated to alkalines as opposed to nimhs. Alkalines have a linear discharge curve where the voltage slowly drops from 1.5V (nominal at full) as it is used up. NiMH cells start at ~1.4V nominal for fully charged, quickly drop down to about 1.2V, and stay there right until the very end when there is a sharp dropoff. So the 360 may not register the battery as getting "low" until the very very end where the voltage has left the 1.2V plateau region and starts nosediving. That is why you see it report as "low battery" and then 10 minutes later it goes dead on you.

Ultimately it doesn't bother me though since I always have a fresh set of eneloops on the shelf :). Basically as soon as I see the flashing ring on the controller, I just swap out for a fresh pair.

Ruahrc

P.S. people say the Maha C9000 is slightly better as a charger (seems to terminate more reliably at low charge rates, can accept "deader" cells, etc) but I prefer the interface and usability of the Lacrosse chargers because you can see the stats for all 4 cells at once, rather than having to cycle through them one by one. Also I like the slightly more compact form factor of the Lacrosse charger.
 
The Lacrosse charger can also be used as a normal charger, aka you don't have to use any of those functions at all, you can literately stick your batteries in and it will start charging automatically, great if you aren't a tech head. Even if you are just using the most basic function of the charger then you are still better off with this charger since it charges each battery individually. I think I could give my grandmother this charger and she would know how to use it, its that easy, and the charger says "full" when the battery is fully charged, so there is no doubt.

I am the person who takes a month to go through a set of eneloops in a 360 controller so I really don't need any other type of battery, the eneloops are fine.

Also another thing that hasn't been mentioned is the price, eneloops are cheaper than the batteries sold in the stores. You can't get eneloops in the stores around here, but you can get them at Amazon. Unless you can get a pack of random rechargeables for $4-5 at Target in this case the cost of paying more for a battery probably wouldn't be worth it, then really, its not even worth buying anything else, you are just paying more for an inferior product. Kmart here charges 12.99 for a pack of crappy die hard rechargeables for example... A pack of 4 eneloops runs something like $10 at Amazon. I don't think anyone on here wants to pay more for an inferior product.

If you are really desperate I heard the ray o vac platinum batteries sold at Walmart are not bad but eneloops are the best and cost the same as those so I wouldn't even buy those I would just go on Amazon and order some eneloops.

I like eneloops so much I actually ordered the limited edition color pack from Amazon.

As far as the inacurrate reporting of the battery level by the Xbox 360 I was using a set of batteries (non eneloop) with a game that used a lot of rumble and the controller just disconnected without even getting the spinning lights. I put the batteries back in and tried to use the controller again and the same thing happened, it just disconnected, this time I tried it with a different game, one that doesn't use as much rumble. Assuming the batteries were dead I put in another set and it was fine. But when I discharged that set of batteries the batteries actually still had plenty of charge in them. This leads me to believe that the 360 controller is quite sensitive when it comes to the way the condition of the cells are in when they are put in the controller. Aka they have to be fully discharged then charged before put in the 360 controller or else you will not get maximum battery life out of your batteries. If you are just using your batteries and then taking them out and charging them when the spinning lights come on that is not enough, they have to be fully discharged first then charged, or else the 360 will remember the point where they were not fully discharged sometimes leaving you with a battery that only has half capacity, to the 360 that is. It doesn't help that the 360's spinning lights seem to come on way before the batteries are actually close to dying. The eneloops have worked fine with my controller and did not disconnect before the flashing lights came on and even when the lights came on I was able to change them out a while later without suffering any consequences.
 
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