Wireless Controllers Question

[Dave A]

You don't need to shake the controller violently to charge it if it's kinetic, just hold it and play like normal. When you hold the controller it's constantly moving, your never perfectly still your arms aremoving and shaking whenyou play. It doesn't have to be large movments to make a kinetic charger work, if the controller was flat then to charge it quick you'd need to shake it but just from playing normally you'd probably be charging it more than draining it. As for solar power you seem a bit off on that as well, you'd need a light absorbing panel, but you could have that on the back, you don't need a lot of light, even if the TV is the only source of light in the room it should be enough for a good quality panel to absorb. A controller doesn't require a lot of power to work so you don't need to create much for either of these methods to work..

 

[Driftster]

Well let's see..

We can do the solar idea..

And make the controllers hideous looking..and flimsy..

and have the solar panels crack..and look like horse schiet.
.
or kinetic engery...That is so "effective" you're slightest hand movements will charge it..

So it'll cost an arm and a leg.....


And LED flashlight doesn't take much to work either..

but that thing is a pain in the azz to get going

 

[Dave A]

no kinetic energy is cheap as piss to implement. Solar power wouldn't make the controler ugly, it would just a thin panel on the back where the wire would go in on the DS2, it may crack though if you bang it against anything hard. Kinetic charging is not expensive at all, I have a kinetic mobile phone from Japan thats never ran out and I can't tell you specifics about it's production costs of adding the kinetic charger, but you're looking at the whole phone costing £1.87 to produce, a pad with the same kinetic charger would cost probably half of that to make. Kinetic products don't always cost the consumer a lot either, I have a kinetic torch that cost £4.99, theres expensive kinetic watches around, but they'reusually prestige brands and all their watches cost a lot ect.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)

What about putting kinetic energy and solar power together? If some people are so concerned about the TV light giving too little to power up the control, having kinetic energy can at least help to charge the battery.

 

[Driftster]

well...aslong as it would come with say 2 batteries..


so i can throw one in the blender to shake it up while i'm plying

 

[Dave A]

You wouldn't need both, either would produce enough energy to keep the controller powered when your using it. The only problem with solar power is what Driftster mentioned, Solar panels arn't strong and a panel the right size to fit on a pad won't be durable, if you drop your pad it'll probably crack. I can't think of any problems with using kinetic energy, it's cheap, won't affect the design of the pad as much and it'll produce more than enough energy to keep the pad powered.

 

[crimson_menace]

Well since the PS3 is going to have Wireless controllers , how is the battery working hours thing going to work? if you know what I mean , I don't wanna stop playing something and wait for the battery to charge , don't know if this was discussed before on here if it has I'm sorry

Or maybe... they went uber-cheapo, and used Pelican technology and are using battery power!

I hope and dream about that PS3, and regardless, the faster it gets here, the better!

BTW: Pelican is an offbrand 2nd - hand perriferals manufacturer, for those who don't know.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

They should make the ps3 controllers kinetic aswell as battery powered......your always going to be shaking it around whilst playing....why not harness that power (swing arm = dynamo) to charge the battery even if its only going to provide a little extra power......

.......guess it would be too expensive to inplement......but it would be a cool feature!

That's good in theory, but it would be way too bulky (rechargable batteries are big, not to mention needing space for kinetic charger?), and not very efficient. Kinetic flashlights have to be shaken a lot to get going. I tend keep the controller fairly still when playin (especially in GT4 menus), so it wouldn't be practical for most.

 

[chinko]

you feel like its still, but its actually moving, just very very slowly. so kinetic charging is a bit naff. im all up for solar powered ones, i can leave it in the sun or something then

 

[Kent]

A bit off subject here but I thought it might be interesting to someone.

The Nintendo Revolution is going to accept Game Cube controllers without an adaptor or anything like that.

Just plug in and play. 👍

Very good move. 👍
(learned a lesson from the PS1 -> PS2 jump I bet)

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

You're right, the controller does move around, and controllers don't take much power, but that's probably why just the batteries should suffice, why make it all complex with a redundant power type? It's a game controller, not a friggin' Mars rover.

Besides, if the controllers are anything like the Wavebirds, battery life shouldn't be much of a problem.
And for you 24h A-Speccers, if you see the controller getting low, you'll probably be able to pause the game, switch controllers, and continue playing. I'm sure there will be SOME way of doing it.

 

[Omnis]

I'd bet wavebirds will work with the revolution without even plugging in the wavebird's reciever. Plus, the "Gyromote" (as I like to call it) will have a tradition gamepad-like shell that you can house it in.

 

[Dave A]

You're right, the controller does move around, and controllers don't take much power, but that's probably why just the batteries should suffice, why make it all complex with a redundant power type? It's a game controller, not a friggin' Mars rover.

Which is exactley why kinetic would work or some other form of unlimited power supply. Batteries are the oldest, kinetic is far from redundant, solar power is great but the panels would be fragile and break when you drop the controller. They could use an of a selection of new burst wave type generating devices which would be modern and in keeping with the rest of the PS3 but that would cost more to implement.

You can get a sensitive enough charger for a cheap cost that wouldn't up the cost of a £20 pad that will keep the pad going as long as your using it. It'd be cheaper than batteries, and more cost effective for the consumer too, which in this instance Sony wouldn't bothered about unless they amnufactured their own batteries specifically for the pad, then they might go the batteries route.

The other thing is with kinetic engery, if they used say 2 small chargers for each pad, it would cost only slightly more than a larger one that would do the job but be small enough to fit in well. You could then tap the chargers into the motors that will shake the pad in games, that would be the most effective method of using kinetic energy asnd you wouldn't need to move the pad yourself at all, but your movments ofcourse will still charge it as well as the motors providing a huge ammount of charge.

 

[Arwin]

I think the option to connect them through USB to recharge them, or not use the battery at all, is perfect.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)

Will Sony release information about the PS3's controller sooner or later? I think there was something about Sony going to open up an event in February to actually allow the people of Japan to play PS3 demos.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

The other thing is with kinetic engery, if they used say 2 small chargers for each pad, it would cost only slightly more than a larger one that would do the job but be small enough to fit in well. You could then tap the chargers into the motors that will shake the pad in games, that would be the most effective method of using kinetic energy asnd you wouldn't need to move the pad yourself at all, but your movments ofcourse will still charge it as well as the motors providing a huge ammount of charge.

Using power to produce more power? You cannot create more energy than you put in using your system of generators/motors. (Mechanical energy input equals electrical energy output) You can certainly break even, but that leaves you back at square one, with just your motion giving energy. You'll need batteries to store the power. When I'm buying\modifying cars in GT4, the controller barely moves. Not like when I race, because then, yes I tilt it everywhich way. Ever use a kinetic flashlight? Gotta give it good shakes to give it any decent power.

The bottom line is you'll need batteries. Remeber, this all has to fit into something small, light, and comfortable for handheld use. And you still need room for the circuits, bluetooth transmitter, and rumble paks.

 

[Dave A]

No, if you connect motors to a kinetic charger the motors can easily charge the pad faster than the energy they consume. None of this would take up much space. Bluetooth transmitters can be tiny, kinetic chargers can be tiny, all of this can end up being smaller than a battery. I have a kinetic torch, do you have any idea what types of kinetic chargers there are, I also have a Kinetic phone from Japan and theres a big difference between the crap that gets shoved into a £4.99 torch and what goes into nice watches and other items. Basically a £4.99 kinetic torch is made cheap, the charge is cheap the torch is cheap. a decent charge will not affect the price of a £20 pad taking into account the ammount of profit Sony make on them as it is. A motor like the ones in the DS2 pads consume almost no energy to operate, attaching a kinetic charger to one will not increase the ammount of energy it consumes, yet the movement from the motor can produce more energy than the motor requires. You'd need a cell to store it in ofcourse, it'd all be pointless if you didn't have one, but that can be tiny too. The whole lot could be smaller than any batteries you'd need to provide a long supply of power.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

I guess you're right... I forgot they have kinetic watches. Those would have to last many hours of continuous running on a few hours of use, since you only really wear one during the day. They take virtually no power, but I guess the charger has to be incredibly small, too. So I can see how a cotroller that takes X times the power to run said watch, but can have a charger that's X times bigger, would work, especially with a cell. And you're right, if they can fit all that in a wristwatch, it could be smaller than a couple AAs Oh well.

 

[chinko]

A bit off subject here but I thought it might be interesting to someone.

The Nintendo Revolution is going to accept Game Cube controllers without an adaptor or anything like that.

Just plug in and play. 👍

Very good move. 👍
(learned a lesson from the PS1 -> PS2 jump I bet)

👍👍👍