The Wii has more than its fair share of charging solutions available. Countless products from different manufacturers that all perform the same tasks similarly and in almost identical fashion makes it easy to get lost when shopping for a decent controller charger. There have been many attempts at making excellent chargers, and only few have succeeded.
One of the first worthy chargers was the Nyko Charge Station, but the required controller back had a rubber grip on it that, while comfortable, makes the Wiimote incompatible with a lot of peripherals, and the traditional charging method requires users to remove the protective rubber jacket in order to dock, and featured an overly bright and painful blue LED light to signify controllers were charged. After about a year of use, they just quit working.
An increase from two controllers to four lead me to purchase a similar yet vastly superior Energizer charging dock that ditches a lot of problems I experienced with the Nyko. It doesn’t use gripped controller backs, so your controllers work with your favorite useless tennis racket peripherals, employed softer LED lights that don’t make your eyes bleed, and is all around more reliable. Still, though, you need to remove the protective jacket and the lights are still too bright. I’ve even had to get up at night to take the controllers off the dock because the LED lights were keeping me awake.
I am now on charger number three, as my Nyko Station has completely quit working. I was originally just going to buy another Energizer Station, as it has yet to give me any problems, but while browsing the shelves I stumble upon the Energizer Flat Panel Induction Charger. For those of you who don’t know what induction is, think of it as wireless charging.
It works by simply inserting to included controller pack into the back of your Wii Remote and laying the controller on the charging system. The battery pack is not padded and is completely flat, with no exposed copper leads on the underside. This means no more struggling to get the controller’s leads and charging station’s leads matched up perfectly, instead you simply lay the controller on the flat panel and it will be magnetically pulled to and secured where it needs to be.
The physical design is simple, yet very pleasing. The device is rugged and solid, designed with metal as opposed to cheap plastics. There is also no empty space inside, which helps keep it compact. The lights are placed at the top of the unit and, since it’s flat, don’t point into your eyeballs and burn your retina while they are on. They are very small anyway, so they emit very little light. They are both shaped like Wiimotes in jackets, with red signifying a charge is in progress and green means you’re ready to go.
The greatest thing about this charger is, like I’ve already said, the fact that it work with any variation of the controller. You can have the protective condom jacket on, a Nunchuck or Classic Controller plugged in, Wii Motion Plus inserted, or even have the controller inside of the Mario Kart Wheel or a useless tennis racket and it’ll still work. And with no use of copper leads, I don’t see this thing ever getting worn out and in need of replacement.
Final Words:
The Energizer Flat Panel Induction Charger may not be the cheapest charging solution available, costing about $30 bucks, but it is definitely the best I’ve experienced. Wireless charging makes for convenient and care-free use, the physical design is solid and aesthetically pleasing with no outstanding deficits or quirks, and with no copper leads needed for charging to work I doubt this thing will ever quit working. Like I said, this is easily the best Wiimote charger I’ve ever used. Highly recommended.
Pros
- Solid design
- Works with all variations of the Wiimote
- Wireless charging
- Works flawlessly
Cons
- A little more expensive than traditional chargers
Score: 9.0/10 (Outstanding)
I just might have to get on of these. I have the Nyko, and Im having the same problem as you with it not working. The contacts are cheaply assembled and wear out really easy.
Where can I buy one of these?. What it’s the official name of the product?
@ Flagstaad
I found mine at Walmart, and have only seen them there. There is also virtually no web presence for them for some reason. The Full name on the package is (take a deep breath) Energizer Power & Play for Wii Flat Panel 2X Induction Charging System.
I just bought a 4x flat panel recharger for my 3 Wii remotes — just like the 2x above except with 4 places for remotes. It was $49 at Walmart, but since it included 4 rechargable battery packs, I figured it wasn’t too much at all.
The one thing I don’t like is that you apparently HAVE to have the battery pack in a remote to charge it. If you simply lay the battery pack on the recharger alone, the red light flashes. So I have one battery pack I can’t use.
But I love that I don’t have to remove the motion plus adapters or the jackets every time I want to put it on the recharger. And the magnetic ‘attachment’ means that things stay in place if I touch the charger.
I have bought 2 of these and both times when I place the battery packs on my controllers on one of them all the lights just blink then it will read either player 1 or 2 then when u are playing with it, it will start blinking all the lights and stop working. It only does it with one controller if I switch the battery packs then it does it to the other controller. If anyone might know how to fix this problem I would be very greatful.
Also if I put regular batteries in the controller that is just blinking it works just fine.
Crystal,
I we have the same problem. Have a ticket into the company who works this product, PDP (not energizer as branded), and if they do not respond we are going to return/exchange.
Eup and Crystal,
Just bought the Energizer pad for two controllers. It looks and works great. However, one of the controllers will not stop blinking lights when it is not in play. Once I turn the system on and press A it works fine. The blinking lights are anoying
I live in Germany and the voltage here is 220 volts. Question: Will this product work with 220 volts?
Any help would be appreicated.
Hello guys,
I also wanted to have completely with pleasure the induction device where one can put 4 Wii Remotes on it, here in Germany this does not exist yet and I also do not know really when it will appear here. Where can I buy this then?
About Amazon.com I have already tried it, however, anyhow it does not work, I am registered with Amazon.de.
How does it look with the volt figures?
can somebody help me?
If so then answer please to the following mail:
usama_chaaban@web.de
This is a piece of SHIT and when I come on the website to get a number to call the office hours are closed! What The Fuck. When my children try to play with the wii controllers they automatically shut off!
I was also having the same problem that a number of people are complaining about. I thought about sending them back, but PDP wanted $8 (over 1/4 of what I paid just 3 months ago). So I removed the two screws that hold my batteries to the plastic controller back and replaced the green generic batteries with real Energizer NiMHs (2 AAAs). So far, they’ve been working (one month now).
*Please note, I do not have the “battery packs” pictured under “Includes” on the side of the box, but 2 standard batteries covered by a white sheild that is screwed to the controller back.
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It keeps disconnecting from the wii!
I found that my battery pack that would cause the red flashing light had one of the two batteries in it installed backwards. Check this if you are having problems.
Whenever I try to charge the batteries the red light starts flashing after about fifteen minutes. I tried opening the pack to see if something was wrong but I can’t find anything. Can anyone help?