"Contactless" battery charger for Wiimote coming
Category: Wii, Posted: 07/24/2008 at 03:49PM CDT by Frank Ling, Editorial Director
Electronics manufacture, Sanyo, has announced that it is the first company to offer an officially licensed charger for the WiiMote, which we assume, means Nintendo will make sure the thing works before putting its stamp of approval on the device.
Other charging units, not licensed by Nintendo, have reportedly melted the cases of the controllers while charging. Not a good thing.
The replacement rechargeable battery pack for the controller uses eneloop cells, which draws its power from magnetic induction rather than electrical contacts. This will be great for all those WiiMotes that have those thick silicon case protectors on them--you won't have to remove it to charge your controller since no contact needs to be made with the battery pack and the charging unit.
The cost of a one-unit charger and battery pack will be about 5,550 yen ($51) or for the four-unit package, 20,500 yen ($191).
Considering that the cost of the four-controller charger would cost almost as much as a Wii, it might be more economical to just buy a bunch of rechargeable batteries and the associated chargers for less than $50.
The new charger from Sanyo will be available in Japan on August 25. Will we see it in other countries? Sanyo said, "Currently the product will not be sold overseas although it is under review."
[via techradar]
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I hear Sanyo's Eneloop batteries are one of the longest lasting.
Sounds cool, but my charger works fine (it's the one that doesn't melt your controllers), and it comes with a special battery cover, which I like better anyways. Plus, I never had those stupid bumper things mailed to me. That's alright, I hate them and think that they're only for use by idiots who can't hold on to a controller. I don't even need the straps for anything.
It is kinda cool to see that the induction form of battery charging is coming into fruition, I can't wait until I can charge my laptop with no wires!
you'll still need to be near a charger... or they should just make a forever wiimote like the forever flashlight I mean you're gonna be using it so it has to stay live...