Energizer’s Induction Charging System for the Wii won’t hit retailers for another three weeks, but a magical fairy dropped one off at the CG office the other day. Inductive charging systems have been around for some time and chances are that you probably have an electronic toothbrush in the medicine cabinet that’s charging inductively as you read this. So it isn’t new, but I believe this is a first for the gaming world.
The kit is made for two Wiimotes and includes two rechargeable NiMH batteries that are integrated into battery cover replacements. The charging cradle allows for Wiimotes to be recharged with both Motion Plus accessories and silicone sleeves attached thanks to an open-ended design.
Energizer claims that the batteries will recharge from a discharged state in roughly 4.5 hours, which is surprising considering that other traditional exposed contact charging systems take up to eight hours. My Wii isn’t at the office so I can’t confirm or deny this.
It’s currently up for pre-order at Gamestop for $50 with a June 5th ship date. Look for a full review in a few days.
I opened my wireless induction charger and put the battery in the wii mote and put the jacket back on it. I set the wii mote on the right hand cradle and left it there. About an hour later I came back to find that the orange light was blinking. This is supposed to be solid. I double checked the instructions and they say to move the wii mote around on the charger until the light is red. It didn’t do this no matter what I did. I did manage to re adjust the wii mote to get the orange light solid again. So far it isn’t blinking at all. The orange light may be attibuted to the fact that the battery may have been half charged already. It would probably only be red if the battery were dying or dead. I picked this up for 5 dollars more after having to make huge accomodations for the Nyko contact charger that charged my batteries up fast and only gave me 3 hours of gameplay after advertising 25. This induction charger is 5 dollars more at gamestop. It may be harder to get that orange light to stay solid with that jacket on due to spacing with the silicone over the battery cover. The cradle will create a slight squeezing effect if you manuever it around the charger to get that solid orange light. It does work but you have to put a little more effort in for a proper charge if you want that jacket to remain on your remote. Looking at it now, the light just started blinking again so I don’t know what to make of this product. Cant find anything on the web for troubleshooting and the instructions don’t say anything about a blinking orange light. Customer service is only available during the week.