Xbox 360 Black Play and Charge Kit
Complete with a charging cable and rechargeable battery pack, the Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit is all you need to juice up your Xbox 360 Wireless Controller?even in the midst of battle.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Works on or off, but batteries got HOT
This charging cable is a USB plugin for the front of your XBOX 360.
You CAN use it when the XBox is turned off, but you have to plug in the controller first, then hit the power. The XBOX 360 then goes into the low power mode and charges in that mode.
Start a download and then powerdown…
It works great if you are going to download some large demos anyway, set the controller to charge and let it power down sometime during the night when the controller is full.
You can also buy the battery packs themselves and use them with this cord. So I only bought 1 of these and then the battery by itself to save a few bucks.
My only concern with these is that the batteries get HOT while charging. Hot enough to warp the coffee table desktop I had it sitting on at the time. It happens with all 3 of my battery packs, so it must just be the charging system they use. I now rotate all my controllers upside down (face down) while they are charging and make sure they are on a spot that has good airflow (no charging next to the TV for example).
5 Stars Works!
This thing saves a lot of money on batteries, and it works with my white controller.
5 Stars Fantastic value for the money.
This is a great little unit. A must have with the wireless controllers as far as I’m concerned. The ring of lights on the controller start spinning to alert you that the battery is getting low, plug this in and you can keep playing while the batteries are charging.
Battery life is surprisingly long, even when playing heavy ‘rumble’ games that are a big battery drain due to the vibration motors getting such a workout.
Contrary to what some other reviews have said, this WILL charge the battery when the Xbox is off. You simply need to plug the cord in while the Xbox is on, then turn it off. I do this all the time. Plug the cord in, and the red light shows it is charing the battery. Turn off the Xbox and go to sleep or just come back several hours later. (The red light at the controller end will go off when the system is off, but don’t worry about that. It’s still working) Turn on the unit and sure enough, light is green showing that charging is complete and looking at the dashboard shows a fully charged battery.
One reviewer stated that the Xbox fans will stay on if you turn the unit off with the cord plugged in. His conjecture was that it was draining the battery in the controller instead of charging it. Why would they possibly design it to do this?? (Not to mention they would surely say something about this odd behavior in the documentation!) No, the fans stay on if your Xbox is too warm when you turn it off… Much like the electric fans in many automobiles that will stay on for several minutes after turning off your car. In other words, it has nothing to do with the charge kit. It’s simply your Xbox trying to extend it’s lifespan by cooling itself down rather than letting all that excess heat hang around inside. If you ever hear the fan stay on after you turn off your Xbox, you don’t have proper air circulation around the unit.
Another reviewer stated that it is necessary to pull on the cord to disconnect the controller. Maybe I have a newer version of the play and charge kit, but the end of the cord that plugs into the controller has a large base that makes it easy to remove. No cord pulling necessary.
The only negative aspect I can think of with this unit is that the cord doesn’t have the breakaway like the standard corded controllers have. So if someone trips on the cable while it is charging, damage to your Xbox or the cable connections could result. (At least I’m assuming the corded 360 controllers have the breakaway like the original Xbox controllers had…)
1 Star This actually kills the batteries!
When I first got my 360 in 2006, I picked up 2 of these, and used them often. When I had the controllers plugged into the system with them, I noticed something.
A lot of times, after I turned off my console, the fans on the console would keep running if I had one of the play and charge kits plugged in. I thought it was just continuing to charge the controller. Little did I know, it was actually draining them.
In less than 6 months… neither of the batteries I got with the play and charge kits held a charge at all. These are bad news and a waste of money. The Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit is a much better investment. I have been using this since then and have had no problems with it at all. Not to mention it charges the batteries much more quickly.
It’s a little more expensive, but well worth it.
5 Stars Excellent!
First off, it’s wonderful to not have to change batteries out. Second, you can plug the usb cable into a computer and have it charge from there. So if you have your laptop near by, plug in the USB end to it, let it become “recognized” and poof - you’re charging without being limited by the cord.
I love my rechargeable pack. I’ll buy one for every controller I get.
