PS4 controllers need sufficient battery charge to operate effectively. Taking good care of your Dualshock controller will keep it durable and sustain its battery. There are also several ways you can help prolong its battery life.
Some of the most reliable ways you can prolong your Dualshock controller’s battery life include; changing your controller’s shutoff time, dimming its light bar, and reducing its speaker volume. These methods will significantly reduce battery charge usage and help prolong its lifespan.
This section discusses these methods in detail and enlightens you on how to execute them properly. Keep in mind that some of these methods could fail to work controllers with underlying problems. They are ideal for newly acquired DualShock controllers with no history of battery breakdown.
Change Your Controller’s Shutoff Time
Changing your controller’s shutoff time is one of the ways you can prolong its battery life. In most cases, you use your PS4 for purposes other than gaming. For instance, when streaming on Twitch or watching movies on Netflix, you don’t have to keep your Dualshock controller powered on. Keeping the controller on while not using it could affect its battery life.
Therefore, you need to set your controller to shut off within the shortest time possible when not in use. This will go a long way in preserving its battery life. The process of adjusting the shut off time on the Dualshock controller is easy — go to the console’s settings menu, and select power save settings. At this point, you will see different options that let you save power both on your console and controllers. Adjust the settings to limit power consumption and help sustain your controller’s battery life.
Dim the Light Bar
Another way you can prolong your Dualshock controller’s battery life is by dimming its light bar. The front-facing light bar is one of the unique and most innovative features of a Dualshock controller. This light bar changes colours according to your preferences and allows the console camera to track the number of controllers connected. Even though the light bar plays an important role, it significantly drains down your controller’s battery.
While it is impossible to turn the light off, you can dim it significantly to reduce battery charge consumption. To do so, go to settings and select the sound/devices option. Scroll down to light bar brightness level and select it — you will see three options; bright, medium, and dim. Your controller’s light bar is bright on default, but you can change it to dim.
What worries most gamers is that changing the light bar could result in connection problems as the console camera can fail to recognize it. However, this shouldn’t worry you because the console camera will still recognize the DualShock controller even when the light bar is set to dim. Therefore, there is no need to keep the light bar bright when you can set it to dim and help prolong its battery life!
Reduce the Speaker Volume
Reducing your controller’s speaker volume will also help prolong its battery life. Apart from the audio system or television noise, a DualShock controller is equipped with an in-built speaker. The speaker is often used in certain game cues and novelty sound effects. For instance, when playing Destiny 2, your controller will produce sounds regularly while you fight, alerting you faster than the audio system.
Even though this speaker is fun, it is too loud and often shortens the controller’s battery life. This is why you need to reduce its volume significantly. To do so, go to settings and choose the “sounds” option. Under it, you will see an option labelled “volume control.” Please select it and reduce the controller speaker volume to zero. This will go a long way in prolonging its battery life.
Summary
Released in 2013, a PS4 console comes with a DualShock controller, a console, a USB cable, a power cable, and an HDMI cable. All these parts are ideal for the effective functioning of a PS4 console. However, if you only have DualShock controllers without PS4, you can still charge them.
This is possible because you can use a USB cable to connect your DualShock to another power source like a PC. Generally, it takes approximately two hours for the Dualshock controller to charge fully. Keep in mind that this time is based on a case where the Dualshock controller is entirely out of charge.
