yeah we heard of it nyko is taking one out to charger 4 controls at a time.

It is safe to charge as long as you do not HUB and branch out into to many USB ports.  Using the FOUR ports on front, it was designed to charge ALL four controllers at once, but they only charge when the PS3 is on, and the CABLE provided is WAY TO SHORT when sitting in front of a 60" LCD!!.  If you add a HUB to one of the ports, you would be pushing it, and you then should use a seperate power supply for that HUB.

Has anyone tried connecting their SIXAXIS to their Motorola charger?

Motorola have been using a mini-usb connection on the side of their phones for a while now. Any one have tech specs on the charger's output and the controller's required input?

Vaydur wrote:

yea wut gives with the short ass cable? sony nvr fails to amaze me

Yeah, I know, when I saw that I was a little miffed!  Good thing it was usable out of the box, because I was not going to sit on the floor 5-feet away from my TV.  I do not see how everyone else manages to get things done, and Sony piddles around with this stupid stuff.  Even the Xbox's wireless controller chargers have a cable as long as the wired ones.  So, here we have Sony, a 600.00 machine, and a 5 foot charging cable...  Nice, real nice...

sry dont care enough to get a psp to impractical.

Any 5V source with a plug that fits the conroller will work to charge, HOWEVER, you need to watch what the current (amps) output of the 5volt source is.  The thing can only handle 5V at so many milli-amps (mA).  If you put a 5V with 1 full amp or more than what the specs are, you risk a few things.  1; The batteries exploding under the high current.  2; Damage to the charging circuit of the controller, and more.  If the charging voltage the 5, then, then actual votlage is usually 3.3 to 4v.  Charging voltage is generally 1.5V higher than what is requried for running the device.  Like with a CAR?  12V battery, you have 13.5V to 14.9V charging voltage.  The VOLTAGE itself is not the real danger, it is the current.  5V at lower mA just means a slower charging rate, but the device WILL CHARGE because the input voltage is 1.5v higher than operating voltage.

Like, with Rechagable AA, and AAA batteries, and so on?  Ever notice that those RECHARGABLE batteries are only 1.2 volts?  Yep, take a GOOD LOOK at the battery, it says 1.2V at like 850mAH (or other)   I have only seen, ONCE, a recharagble AA system actually be a 1.5V device, not 1.2 as 95% of them are.  That is wy they do not last long, they are 1.2V output for 1.5V devices.  The mAH is almost twice as high as non rechargable batteries to make up for the voltage loss, the mAH means it can withsand the max current draw at that rate for 1 hour.  Still, they kind of suck. . .

Last edited by Powerslave (2007-02-01 08:39:19)

I use my camera to USB cord, and it works just as good and its way longer.

Powerslave wrote:

Any 5V source with a plug that fits the conroller will work to charge, HOWEVER, you need to watch what the current (amps) output of the 5volt source is.  The thing can only handle 5V at so many milli-amps (mA).  If you put a 5V with 1 full amp or more than what the specs are, you risk a few things.  1; The batteries exploding under the high current.  2; Damage to the charging circuit of the controller, and more.  If the charging voltage the 5, then, then actual votlage is usually 3.3 to 4v.  Charging voltage is generally 1.5V higher than what is requried for running the device.  Like with a CAR?  12V battery, you have 13.5V to 14.9V charging voltage.  The VOLTAGE itself is not the real danger, it is the current.  5V at lower mA just means a slower charging rate, but the device WILL CHARGE because the input voltage is 1.5v higher than operating voltage.

Like, with Rechagable AA, and AAA batteries, and so on?  Ever notice that those RECHARGABLE batteries are only 1.2 volts?  Yep, take a GOOD LOOK at the battery, it says 1.2V at like 850mAH (or other)   I have only seen, ONCE, a recharagble AA system actually be a 1.5V device, not 1.2 as 95% of them are.  That is wy they do not last long, they are 1.2V output for 1.5V devices.  The mAH is almost twice as high as non rechargable batteries to make up for the voltage loss, the mAH means it can withsand the max current draw at that rate for 1 hour.  Still, they kind of suck. . .

Maybe I can take my limited technical knowledge and translate the above, then others can tell me if they think what I said is right or wrong...

It seems to me that when you charge a car battery, the recommendation if you want the charge to provide a better result, you are better off doing a trickle charge vs. a fast charge and the trickle charge uses the same voltage at a lower amperage. AA and AAA NiMh rechargeable batteries have charger units that as far as I have seen, don't have that choice, but I am guessing different manufacturers specs differ so finding the lower amp rated charger would be a plus. Of course, with the SIXAXIS provided with the PS3, this isn't an issue, but I assume 3rd party controllers are or will be available with AA or AAA batteries vs. internal USB charged batteries.

So what Powerslave was really getting at, I think, is that since USB cables are capable of delivering higher amperage rates, one must be careful to stay within the range of amperage that will be both effective and safe. Overheating from too high an amperage is a danger.

The question is, what amperage is the PS3 console output rated for? How much lower than that could one go and at what rate would that result in the charge not working?

I have noticed some people saying they can use their iPod or Razr AC chargers with mini USB connectors to charge their SIXAXIS while others cannot. Since there are different models of each of these, I suspect the chargers have different specs evan within the same product line resulting in the different results. It seems that the SIXAXIS may be smart enough to prevent electrical input outside its acceptable specs.