Nyko Energy Pak for the Wii Balance Board
If there is one thing that is always prevalent about playing the Nintendo Wii, it is the way the controllers go through batteries. I remember one time when I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princcess, and I went through six AA batteries in three days.
Ever since I got a Nintendo Wii, I have been going through batteries like candy, and it is the same case with the Wii Balance Board for the WiiFit series. This balance board takes about four of these batteries, and I have been going through those pretty well. This is why I am glad that Nyko has made an Energy Pak designed for the Wii Balance Board. The purpose of the Energy Pak is to provide power to the Wii Balance Board that doesn’t require batteries, but uses power from an AC outlet.
The Nyko Energy Pak comes with a battery compartment that fits right into the area where the 4 AA batteries go in the Wii Balance Board. The Energy Pak plugs into a charge indicator that plugs into the battery cover, and then an AC cord to plug into the wall.
You might think that is a lot of cables for one particular product, and I am inclined to agree. I’m not sure why Nyko uses two wires to do the job of one, but I’m guessing that the white box that you see in the picture needs to be there as some sort of capacitor. By the way, the cord has an outlet on it, so plugging it into the wall means that you don’t have to sacrifice a perfectly good outlet to use this device.
The charge indicator has the typical light on it that is green when fully charged which is terrific for 30 hours. It also has the yellow (almost charged) and the red light (needs charged). What is an easy-to-use product without the indicators of a traffic light?
The Energy Pak is sort of a trend that I am seeing amongst gadgets these days that require ordinary batteries, such as the Charge Base IC. All that is required of the user is to plug something into the wall, and then it will charge through that manner. Keep in mind, these sort of chargers don’t last forever, and they will eventually drain out. I didn’t have the time it would take to drain out the power of this particular battery.
You should be able to get the Nyko Energy Pak for about $19.99 on the Nyko site. It’s a pretty good price, considering the price that you would probably end up paying for batteries.
