- One Redditor said they “almost started a fire” with the Steam Controller’s charging puck
- This happened when their metallic smartwatch strap came into contact with the puck’s exposed pins
- It caused a short circuit and “started to sizzle” – even though Valve warns about this in the manual
One Redditor warns that they “almost started a fire” with the Steam controller charger when it made contact with their metallic smartwatch strap.
This happened when charging the smartwatch close to the puck, where the watch strap accidentally touched the Steam Controller’s charging puck at the “exactly wrong angle”.
The Redditor explains: “So my smartwatch’s metallic strap accidentally touched the puck’s exposed contacts and started sizzling due to a short circuit.”
They also added that they consider this to be their own fault, and as several of the other Redditors’ posts on the thread point out, Valve warns about this in the Steam controller manual.
There is a section in the health and safety booklet that warns that the charging puck contains a magnet and that: “Magnetic parts may attract metal objects. To reduce the potential risk of sparks and resulting property damage or possible personal injury, ensure that the wireless adapter and the charging puck and controller are free of metal objects before connecting.”
Analysis: reading manuals is basic
The problem with manuals, of course, is: who reads them? Many don’t – it’s just human nature not to bother – but this is quite an important amount of information to skip.
Even if you’re reading this, there’s a chance that other people in your house — or even visitors — won’t be aware of this potential problem at all and may put something metallic down next to the charging puck without realizing what might happen.
Which begs the question: should Valve have designed the charging puck better? That point has been raised in the Reddit thread, and the original poster notes that Valve’s hardware isn’t the only device to have this problem. They note that the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller has a similar visible pin design, but that the charging station has a raised edge around the pins that makes it more difficult for accidental direct contact.
Valve could have made a similar move, or, as others suggest, used some sort of ‘handshake’ to ensure the controller is the connected device before sending power from the puck.
We’ve asked Valve for comment on this issue and will update this article if we hear back from the company.
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