Xbox One Controller 18650 battery, with onboard TP4056A, Mk I

thingiverse

Human: *SIX MONTHS LATER EDIT* So, I've had mine running solidly for six months with only two issues, so I thought I'd share them. Problem one: No low power warning from the Xbox. This one's cost me a couple of games of Blackout and a few other easily avoidable deaths. Simply put, a protected 18650's cutoff voltage is around 2.9v, which your Xbox controller will register as perfectly acceptable (I think 1.2V triggers the low power warning) and then your controller just dies. And you get shot while you're fiddling around trying to jam a USB cable in there, and your party moans at you. So the fix for that one I've got running now is to check my battery with a multimeter every other day, and charge it once I see the voltage output drop to 3.4V. Now, I recognize that not everyone has a multimeter, so I'm working on a MKII version with an inbuilt 18650 battery meter. It'll mean a bit more soldering, but it'll be worth not randomly dying. Problem Two: The TP4056A gets hot. And not in a fun way. So, this is one I haven't found a solution for. The charging IC on a stock TP4056A will get noticeably hot when in use. I've measured the heating with a cheap multimeter thermometer, and got a peak of 58C for about thirty minutes. At first, I assumed that was because they charge at 1A, and that if they charged at a lower current, the heat would drop. So, I dug out the data sheets and swapped out the charging resistor, but that had little effect on the actual heat generated by the chip. I then tried adding a small heatsink, but that didn't do much either. As I said, I'm working on a MKII version, so I might swap the TP4056A for another charging module, if I can find one that heats up less. Adafruit make a few decent modules, but they're not cheap. Anyway, as a stopgap, all I can suggest is that anyone with this charger unplugs their charger from the controller before charging, to give the TP4056A some decent air to vent the excess heat. *edit over* First post to Thingiverse, so, apologies in advance if I'm not doing something right. I have an Xbox One. The controller is still designed to use disposable batteries. That sucks. The official rechargeable battery packs are either Nicad or Ni-mh, and after six months of use have a battery life of around 12 hours, tops, which also sucks. 18650 to the rescue!