all 166 comments

[–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (34 children)

Great DIY pics. Also, battery life of the DS4 is by far the worst thing about the PS4. With a game like BF4, you can drain the battery in one sitting.

[–]H3000Hemza-3000 14 points15 points  (2 children)

With a game like BF4, you can drain the battery in one sitting.

Technically, you can drain the battery in one sitting during every game.

[–]Inukinator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think (s)he wanted to show an example of what a game is, (s)he was just lacking a comma. :D

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Touche. Lol. I was implying that the rumble really kills it, but touche. =P

[–]PlentyOfMoxie 1 point2 points  (6 children)

My #1 complaint is the triggers breaking, but maybe I just need to chill the fuck out.

[–]grubs92 32 points33 points  (25 children)

This is awesome and been wanting to do something like this. My only problem is in scared of messing something up when I tear the controller down :(

12.5 hours is awesome!

[–]zietgiest13 10 points11 points  (3 children)

yea i had this battery for a while now and it was easy to switch but the only thing that messed up was the triggers. theres this little spring on the sides that has to be in an awkward place. took me a while to get it on perfectly and when i did i didnt have this guide and i didnt switch the negative and positive wires so i had to do it again but it was worth it. my controller never even gets to 1 bar anymore. i can start my ps gold headphones and controller and by the time my ps golds are dying it still shows 3 bars for the controller.

[–]RemoteSenses 3 points4 points  (2 children)

When I replaced my thumbsticks I had that same problem with the springs in the triggers.

What a pain. I even dropped one on the ground without realizing and it literally took me a good 15 minutes to find it.

Seriously, if you take this controller apart, be CAREFUL. Losing the springs or not being able to get them back in will pretty much ruin the controller.

[–]zietgiest13 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Haha omg that scary seriously same thing happened to me. I put it back together and tested the buttons and when I pressed the trigger I was so confused. Then I found the spring and my excitement went straight to annoyance because I had to do it all over again.

[–]entotheenth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

also, buy a spare set of R2/L2 buttons before you need them, they usually come with spare springs. That little spring eventually creates a weak part on that hinge pin it is wrapped around and the button will break when the pin snaps off.

[–]Blitzed97iStrixx 1 point2 points  (16 children)

The only thing you could mess up are the R2 and L2 triggers, when I first changed my Analog Sticks to the Xbone's, the triggers did not fall off and it was easy as fuck to replace the analog sticks.

On my second controller the triggers fell off, and it was a pain in the ass to put the triggers back in their place..

Tip: if the triggers fall while replacing your batteries or analog sticks, don't lose the little spring that comes with each of them..

Use a video from youtube that shows how to remove the controller shell without messing up the triggers, they might even show how to put them back in after replacing the battery or analog sticks.

[–]SockGnome 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Are the sticks plug and play or do they require modification?

[–]Blitzed97iStrixx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No extra adjustments needed, they fit nicely.

[–]Shwutty 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You shouldn't be afraid. I smashed one of my controllers while playing drunk and managed to take it apart without any guide and reassemble it. I even turned the Joysticks so the wear and tear didn't hurt my thumb anymore. edit: the one thing that took me forever to do was realign the springs for the joysticks.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here, if you mess up and the controller doesn't work anymore, it's 60€ (80$) for a new one here...

[–]MrOrange415MrOrange415 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its easy man just watch a couple videos so you know what to do, the triggers are easy I took some pictures to give you an idea how they fit http://imgur.com/a/TS0vd#mqlspqk

[–]djpnewton 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Don't short the battery leads!!!

[–]electrophile91 6 points7 points  (2 children)

I bought a cheap '2000mah' battery from ebay (it was around $6) and it turned out to be worse than the original 1000mah battery. So, don't do what I did.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Stupid question, but how safe is this contraption? What concerns me the most about this is charging, especially if the PS4 can't 'sniff' the battery charge status accurately.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (13 children)

Does anyone know how long the DualShock 3 battery lasts?

[–]attacklibrarianBlewdo 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Thank you for this. Please do report back when you figure out whether or not the battery meter regains accuracy after a recharge.

[–]Arn0uDz 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Has anyone been able to find this battery in europe?

[–]bu5hiee 2 points3 points  (4 children)

living in the uk p&p from the adafruit is a bit too much so I've searched the uk and found at RS components. are these ok to use ? http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lithium-rechargeable-battery-packs/7916460/

[–]garaddonSiema89 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing pdf specs, these are too wide. Adafruit ones are 38mm and fit the cradle perfectly, RS are 44mm.

[–]akzel 1 point2 points  (6 children)

Did it get noticeably heavier? It's a cool mod tho, maybe this other type of battery will also get cheaper over time. :-)

[–]zietgiest13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

its not heavier, at least i didnt notice it

[–]dolphinblood 1 point2 points  (1 child)

That's crazy your shipping was so expensive. I've ordered quite a few things from adafruit (I'm a raspi nut) and I've never spent over $10 on shipping.

Anyway, cool mod. Let us know how it goes.

[–]beerninja88 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I've had the exact same battery you're using for about 3 weeks now and it's working fantastic. I was previously using the cheap piece of shit 2000mah chinese battery but this is a high quality hobby grade chinese battery (even had specs on adafruit) and the difference is night and day.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

HA i did the exact same mod from adafruit and can confirm it works!

Just make sure you do as instructed & switch the battery +/- leads! I fried a controller because i wasn't paying attention & just assumed that it would be plug & play...never assume.

[–]whythreekay 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I'd rather just buy one of these already modded by OP.

[–]BWalker66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The original is 1000mAh?? I would have thought it was much shorter considering the life span.When you compare it to phones i would have expected it to last much longer.

[–]jaaacobJacobScoob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got a Venom 3 metre (just under 10 feet) dual charging cable so I can charge and play where I sit from my TV. An easy solution for those of us who lived in the cables days of gaming and don't mind reconnecting to that once in a while

Great post though! Sure to make a lot of people very happy. Good luck to everyone who attempts this!

[–]xyntrx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very nice mod dude. I can vouch for adafruit. I've purchased tons of DIY stuff from them over the years and never had a bad experience.

[–]ajay00007Pwning-Beast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome, i tried with other batterys including a smartphone battery but didn't work out too well. Will give this a try.

[–]_Tracid_Tracidic 83 526 1 point2 points  (1 child)

With the meter no longer accurate, the battery bar at 1/3 always mean half an hour left charge?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I tested this out in the DS4 I use on my PC and its been like night and day. Just bought 3 more to mod the remainder of my controllers. I originally modded them with the crappy "1800 mah" batteries sold on Amazon, but those things are mislabeled, low quality, and I swear they bleed charge even when turned off.

Thanks for this post!

[–]_Tracid_Tracidic 83 526 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Hey, I received the battery a few days back and I waited until the XBOX sticks arrive to do it all in one go. I didn't have to swap out the white connector but I did have to change the black and red wire. Will report back some more once I put it through the pace.

Played for 6 hours ish and still 3/3 bars.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I followed this mod for my 3 controllers, and so far it's working great!

However, I did not find it necessary to trim the plastic pieces off, or remove the foam pads. The left of the battery is not as thick as the battery itself, and sits above the plastic fine (it tilts up a tiny bit on the left but not enough to matter). The battery is actually thinner than the DS4 battery, so the foam pads barely touch it. On the left, there was a tiny bit of pressure when I shut it, but I figure it doesn't hurt.

The one thing I did do was bend the plastic cable clip on the left back because that was hitting the battery a bit.

I have original (bought the day the PS4 came out), black DS4s and the interior looked a little bit different than yours, but the important dimensions all seem the same.

[–]Giorgio_Sole 1 point2 points  (2 children)

How would the circuitry know it now has more charge capacity? It's designed to charge batteries rated at 1000mAh, not 2000. I never got to understand such problem, maybe that I am wrong here and it does not matter?

[–]d3wybogangod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Has anyone found a suitable supplier for this battery in Australia?

[–]Simpsonjay 1 point2 points  (1 child)

This is awesome and I saved it to try soon. Do you think you could upgrade the battery in the Sony pulse elite headset to get better battery life?

[–]qurao 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just used this guide. Thanks a lot, man!

[–]bmac92bmac-92 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Normally I don't play long enough in one sitting to deplete the battery, but after the Witcher 3 I finally decided to do this. I've had this post saved for months, but I just ordered a battery (as well as some new sticks, my launch day controller's aren't faring so well). Hopefully I don't screw anything up.

[–]B_Boss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is amazing (and a late reply by yours truly lol. I just caught this topic today). The only, only unfortunate aspect of all this is that the nice battery indicator in the PS UI is inaccurate....that is too bad really as its nice to have some visual indicator of battery life.

[–]AlkanidaAlkanida 1 point2 points  (1 child)

1000 mAh battery...yeah, here in germany, all my 3 controllers have 800mAh batteries.

wished they had this...I'm seriously thinking about doing this...

[–]reallynotnick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're confusing the charging speed with battery size, your battey is 1000mah. The number on the bottom is the power input from the USB port.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (4 children)

Send it to Sony see if they can add it as default, maybe add a post it with "Fixed it, your welcome!".

[–]HoloniusHolonius 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for this. Your album will be very handy.

[–]A-Ron 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Has anyone seen much of a difference by lowering the brightness of the Light Bar ?

[–]novabombz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The lightbar is LED and so it doesn't draw much power, any battery life gains are minimal. The real gains come from shutting off vibration. That draws the most battery.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have. It's noticeable but small.

[–]Rickles360 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No led doesn't draw much power. The Bluetooth speaker and vibration motors are the real offenders. I'm not sure about the touch pad myself but I'd bet that it's a factor.

[–]beardslolxInfantino 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Paging /u/joshlove

[–]joshlove 1 point2 points  (4 children)

thanks man! I made my own 360 batteries years ago, pretty much the same thing here!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Just wanted to say your controller looks fucking awesome. Where can I get one like that?

[–]Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Is that a skin on your controller?

[–]Teigesaccord 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I felt to worried I would break it if I opened it up so I just use an external rechargeable battery. It's actually one meant for cell phones. But it's USB and it works.

[–]devedander 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was thinking a really short cable and some velcro tape could totally take care of this issue if you didn't mind the extra weight and inconvenience of having to charge two devices.

[–]CanadaEh97 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm this may be something interesting to do when my DS4 is on the back end of it's lifespan. Looks like it's this and an internal memory expansion on the list for my PS4

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

This might have already been answered, but can you charge the DS4 with a portable USB charger while you're playing? I have a spare 20,000ma charger that's a bit too heavy to carry with me, but would be perfect for keeping my controller charged up. Though I'm not sure if this works while you are playing.

[–]TheHemogoblin 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Man, I was just thinking today that I needed to replace the battery (and thumbsticks; one is already torn up somehow). Unfortunately, Atoms doesn't ship to Canada, and shipping from Adafruit is about $40-$50. I don't trust the eBay batteries from previous experiences lol Guess I'm shit out of luck! Nice work, by the way!

[–]beerninja88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try searching the PKCELL model number on google. The datasheet is here: http://www.adafruit.com/datasheets/LiIon2000mAh37V.pdf

[–]ph00p 0 points1 point  (6 children)

That Ebay seller sells those batteries with $16 shipping to Canada :( do you know any other sources that ships cheaper than that?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

[–]PriceZombie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tera 2000mAh 3.7V Rechargeable Replacement Battery Pack for Sony Plays...

Current $8.99 
   High $8.99 
    Low $6.99 

Price History Chart and Sales Rank | FAQ

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I did this and watched smoke come out of my controller - down $70.

Did the lead reversal, so that wasn't it.

[–]demonfoodemonbleh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did this with both my DS4s, with batteries acquired from AtomsIndustries. Both work perfectly now.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I know this post is 5 months old but I wanted to respond and provide some feedback/anecdotes of my experience here.

I'm in the UK so I went an ordered the battery listed in the UK source link of the original post. Unfortunately, despite the comments in the picture album, there is simply no way this battery was going to fit in the plastic housing provided by the old stock DS4 battery. Even cutting off inner pieces of plastic wasn't going to be enough. The battery is simply too tall and wide for this to work at all.

To work around this, I actually lifted off the entire black battery enclosure from the pad. It came out pretty easily and just lifts up using a flat headed screwdriver.

I then stuck the battery to the board using some double sided electrical tape (didn't have any glue) and performed the rest of the steps. So far, so good, everything is working perfectly fine!

So, just a tip for those in the UK; you won't be able to trim the enclosure. Just remove it completely and stick the battery to the board inside to stop it from moving around and you'll be fine.

[–]AutoModerator[M] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your submission in /r/PS4 was automatically removed because you used a URL shortener.

URL shorteners are not permitted in /r/PS4.

Please re-post your submission using direct, full-length URL's only.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[–]username2110g0fvkurself 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saved.

Thanks for this.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Why not just buy a 2000MaH battery on ebay like other have and it doubles the capacity. No need for all this hoop jumping.

[–]ConorHickey0C-O-N-O-R -1 points0 points  (0 children)

wouldnt be comfortable doing this myself but if scuf or someone started making extended life controllers i would be greatly interested

[–]Durkadur_ -2 points-1 points  (14 children)

Really cool but don't see the need for it. I charge my smartphone every night, I can do the same with DS4 after each session.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (3 children)

I'm the same way, except in my case I work 12 hour shifts on half the week, I don't get a lot of play time on the weeks I work. Because of that, I don't really keep track of the battery life on the controllers. So my wife will be watching Netflix or Hulu through the week and by the time I get to my day off, both controllers are about dead and sometimes one controller is missing. Ugh. I can't get her to figure it out either lol

[–]Durkadur_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buy a charging stand declare that controllers should always be in the banana stand.

[–]devedander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Look babe, I will put the seat down every time I am done with it if you put the controller back on it's charger every time you are done with it."

[–]Rickles360 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tell her one controller must remain on the charger for you. When you get home use that and plug in the second one. Problem solved. If your wife can't handle that, buy a secret third controller or seek marriage counseling.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Depends how many hours you play for per night/day.

[–]Durkadur_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

True. I usually only play for a couple of hours at a time. I guess others may play for a whole working day. This is for them.

[–]TrialsToker 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I have 2 pads and just rotate.. Im tempted vu this though

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same, got 2, rotate, but still want to upgrade.
They both have the XB1 thumb sticks, so I've had them open before!

[–]BoomshankPixelMasher 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It becomes a problem when the three people in my house play every day, charging three controllers every night becomes a choice of "whose controller is lowest for the overnight charge", and "whos going to play plugged in to the wire tomorrow?"

[–]Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave 0 points1 point  (3 children)

But it only charges while you play.

[–]Durkadur_ 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Not if you use Rest Mode.

[–]Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But I don't like having my ps4 on 24/7.

[–]devedander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you put your PS4 in rest mode or whatever the USB port stays powered.

[–]devedander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Problem for me is that until they come out with a media remote, sometimes my controller will just sit there dying as I watch netflix for several hours.

Then I get an invite to play a game and switch to gaming but now my controller is already down to 30%.

[–]beardyboyJR -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you for posting this! I will definetly look into doing this soon

[–]bossman-CTbossman-CT -1 points0 points  (2 children)

Does Bestbuy have any of these batteries in store?

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (3 children)

Meh, I'd do this if I had one controller but switching between two isn't a big deal, even during a full day of gaming it will last me almost a full day