Why do the lights on my 360 controller 'dance' ?

furnace

furnace

furnace

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Every now and then the lights on my 360 controller dance, rather than just displaying the 1 light, it shows lights 1&3 then 2&4, and it goes between those two for a few seconds...

But on the 360 itself it's fine (not doing any dancing) and the controller works fine too.

I've probably missed something but figured I'd ask in case the controller's gone duff!
 
Ah right, well when I press the middle button and the panel comes up on the screen, it says I have half the battery left... I'm not going to start changing batteries when they're only half gone!

I was actually really surprised that the controllers weren't rechargeable out-of-the-box :( You have to buy (yet another) add-on for that
 
Yup it means the batteries are low, either change or charge em'.

EDIT: i dont change them right away, theres usually still a lot of playtime in them.

The play and charge kit is worth it plus at least with the 360 you have multiple ways of supplying power to the controllers. I couldnt play my ps3 the other day because i left the cable at my friends house.
 
furnace said:
Ah right, well when I press the middle button and the panel comes up on the screen, it says I have half the battery left... I'm not going to start changing batteries when they're only half gone!
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The dashboard meter and the controller are notoriously unreliable, basically you should just play till the batteries/pack are dead and then charge them back up.
 
Its basically Microsofts controller mini-game. What you need to do is play online racing games while the controller is flashing, if you win the race, you win. But if your controller turns off and you lose.. you lose..

I purposefully play with low batteries most of the time, simply because it ups the excitement.. just imagine playing Bioshock and your batteries die.. frantically trying to change them before a splicer steals your limbs.. :p
 
uh if the batteries die the controller turns off and 360 pauses saying pls insert controller 1 or whatever....so hardly that frantic :p
 
.:MBK:. said:
uh if the batteries die the controller turns off and 360 pauses saying pls insert controller 1 or whatever....so hardly that frantic :p
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Ah yes, never actually done it with the Bioshock demo. But i did do it with Forza, as said before, the lights/indicators really arnt worth listening too. Just play till the batteries died.

Unfortunately in online races the other people dont stop when your controller does.. so it is frantic!
 
.:MBK:. said:
uh if the batteries die the controller turns off and 360 pauses saying pls insert controller 1 or whatever....so hardly that frantic :p
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Online it's a right pain in the ass though.
 
slambo69 said:
Yup it means the batteries are low, either change or charge em'.

EDIT: i dont change them right away, theres usually still a lot of playtime in them.

The play and charge kit is worth it plus at least with the 360 you have multiple ways of supplying power to the controllers. I couldnt play my ps3 the other day because i left the cable at my friends house.
Click to expand...

I have 2 play and charge kits but never use them now. I bought the standalone charger (takes 2 batterypacks and charges them) so I always have at least 2 full battery packs.
 
It gets on my wick that they start flashing with 50% left in the batteries. I have to bung the play & charge in because having those lights flashing just at the bottom of my vision does my nut in :mad:

I've become acustomed to no cables now so I treated myself to a quick charge kit. Might add a third rechargable into the mix at some point so even when playing 2 player I've always got a spare to hand.
 
If the lights rotate then the controller is either resyncing itself, or as said the batteries are low. However the low batt notification is kinda unreliable.
 
Kainz said:
If the lights rotate then the controller is either resyncing itself, or as said the batteries are low. However the low batt notification is kinda unreliable.
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They always will be with rechargeable's though won't they? They output a steady 1.2v until they run out don't they whereas standard alkaline batteries start at 1.5v and slowly decay in voltage. The charge level is based on the alkaline characteristics isn't it?
 
Kreeeee said:
They always will be with rechargeable's though won't they? The charge level is based on the alkaline characteristics isn't it?
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Not a clue tbh mate, never looked into how the 360 gets its charge level info.
 
Kainz said:
Not a clue tbh mate, never looked into how the 360 gets its charge level info.
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It's how pretty much all devices bar those specifically designed with rechargeable batteries in mind (i.e. mobile phones) work if I'm remembering correctly.
 
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