Xander

I've used the Quick Charge station with the Microsoft battery packs. I've had one battery pack die on me in four-or-so years of use.

Michael Corvin

Confirms my suspicions above. I wonder if it has to do with the Plug & Play kits that kill the batteries. I leave two on the charger at all times (since it came out) and haven't had a bit of trouble at all.

orangecrush

Duracell w/ white tops = Eneloop.

As for what I would recomend:
http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technol...dp_ob_title_ce

and

http://www.all-battery.com/batterysavingcombos.aspx

You can find coupon codes for all-battery as well. I recently got 24 AAA and 24 AA low discharge batteries for less than $70 shipped.

The reason I would recommend rechargeable AA batteries over the quick charge pack is that you can use the AA in tons of other things and they will last you well beyond your ownership of the 360.

AsmodeusVice

I actually having problems with my first 3 battery packs (I have 6 in all). I never use the play and charge cable, just the quick charger (all official Microsoft).

I can charge my older packs, but if I don't use them within a day of charging them, they'll lose their charge and even still won't last as long in the controller as the newer packs. (I'll have 3 of the 4 bars lit for the fully charged older packs) And sometimes they end up dying the same day I put them in the controller on game sessions ranging from 6-8 hours.

I usually keep 2 fully charged packs on tap and let them completely die before charging them (I keep hitting the guide button when the low battery shuts the controller off to eek out the last of the charge). The older batteries won't turn the controller back on after it shuts it off once.

I was actually curious as well if it's bad to keep them on the charger until you use them, or will it end up hurting the battery. I take them off as soon as the light turns green.

Maxflier

I always used the charger as well, never used the play and charge cable. I don't remember if mine was the official Microsoft one or not.

fujishig

I think all batteries lose charge after a while anyway, so it shouldn't be that uncommon for the older packs to perform worse than newer/unused ones.

I had two batteries that I kept in a Microsoft charger, and the time between four full bars and three bars decreased as time went on. On one of them, the connectors were also getting a little bad, I would have to make sure it was seated properly in the controller and sometimes clean the connectors or it wouldn't work.

loneranger

I run the Teknocreations InCharge battery packs with my 360 controllers. These are Lithium-Ion battery packs (just about any other 360 ones are NiMH) and it came with an inductive charging base. I've had the setup for about three years and they still work great unlike the Microsoft Play and Charge ones which seemed to last a year at best for me. Not that it really matters, but the controllers feel noticeably lighter with these packs. Unfortunately it seems that these aren't available anymore. On Amazon there is a product called Xbox 360 Power Base Inductive Charging Dock which is also Lithium-Ion.

Holly Martins

+1

Anyone know or have an educated guess about this?

There's gotta be somebody who wasn't sleeping or passing notes to big butt Bertha during Physics 101 on the forum.

"Bueler, Bueler, Bueler..."

loneranger

To get the most out of NiMH batteries, you want to use them until they are completely dead, charge them fully and use them right away. Leaving them on the charger won't hurt them as they are charged at very low amperage.

Holly Martins

Ahhh amperage is the key! I love it when you talk all techie and stuff.

Thanks LoneRanger. From now on I'm gonna keep one battery in the quick charge unit to switch out whenever I drain the active battery.

orangecrush

That kind of depends on the charger though. The super cheap ones aren't nearly as good as the ones that actually check the batteries levels when charging.