Charging your Xbox controller: these are five ways!

Unfortunately, wireless equipment cannot yet be charged by means of oxygen, so you often have to do something with it. Here are five ways you can charge your Xbox controller.

Back in the days of the PS3 and Xbox 360, there was a lot to report in terms of new technology, but there was one thing where modern technology really made a difference. Instead of a miserable wire to connect your controller to your console, the controllers of the new game consoles now worked completely wirelessly! This is no different with the PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series, but wireless also has a few drawbacks.

charge Xbox controller

Unfortunately, as mentioned in the intro, you can’t charge an electronic device remotely, so your controller must always be powered by some power. How this should be done is not always obvious. We have five ways for you to charge your Xbox controller. Please note: these methods probably work the same for PlayStation, although the real-life experience of the undersigned is only with Xbox.

With a cable

The first way is, well, very simple. Just start playing with a wire in your controller again. In the back of every Xbox controller there is just a port (micro USB in the case of Xbox One or older, USB-C in the case of Series X/S) where you can plug a cable and you can connect it either with USB-A in your computer. Xbox plugs, or to a wall outlet. It’s not really charging your Xbox controller, you just have constant power: that’s nice. It is also nice that there is a considerable chance that you already have such a cable, so it will not cost you anything extra. The lack of freedom due to wired is something that is a step backwards compared to years old Xboxes. But it does work and it’s cheap!

Xbox Play & Charge

Microsoft itself sells a solution: the Play & Charge kit. This allows you to provide your Xbox controller with a battery that you can charge with the cable. It’s a mix between wireless and wired: you can go wireless for a while and when the battery is empty, you plug it in with the same cable as the wired solution. A disadvantage is that the battery life is not always as long as promised and in practice you often play wired games.

Batteries

This solution is also free for at least the first two weeks: simply charge your Xbox controller with AA batteries. You get a set of batteries in the box of your new Xbox. The advantage is that it couldn’t be simpler and you never have to deal with cables. The disadvantage is that it does cost you a set of batteries every so often: the battery life is often a week or two, for the avid gamer even just a few days. Just calculate how much money you spend on batteries each year.

Rechargeable batteries

There is also a solution for that: you can also charge your Xbox controller with rechargeable batteries. Then you don’t have to buy them new all the time. The advantage is all of the above solution without having to keep buying new batteries, but the disadvantage is that you cannot use the controller while the batteries are charging. A solution for this is to buy an extra set of batteries and rotate the sets.

docks

The latter solution is similar to rechargeable batteries but is slightly more practical. A so-called dock that can charge your Xbox controller. How most work is that you put a rechargeable battery in the back of your controller that is compatible with the dock station (which you do need to provide power for a while). When you don’t game for a while, place your controller on the dock and it charges. Most docks provide about 10 hours of battery life before you need to charge. Also here you can’t play and charge at the same time, but check how often you game for 10 hours without breaks and here you can always buy an extra set and charge it alternately. Docks from different brands are available from about 20 euros, for a really good one or one that can charge two controllers at the same time, you often lose about 30 euros or more.