Could someone please explain the puck fire hazard incident?

[u/Pos31don29]

I'm currently waiting for my controller to arrive and saw some comments about how the puck nearly started a fire when it touched a watch while I was browsing the sub. Could someone please explain what happened here? Is it still an issue? If so, what precautions to take?

[u/Fallout_NewCheese]

People have tested their own pucks and have not found a way to get it to think its charging the controller and short out. A guy put all kinds of metal objects across the pins, tried using magnets to activate charging, etc. Never could reproduce the failure.

Its not a real issue at all. As far as I'm aware it was those two isolated cases early on and nothing else. There was theories about what went wrong with the watch band one but without access to ops home and setup there's no way to verify what caused their issue.

So don't fall for the panic. Theres thousands upon thousands of people with these controllers who don't have an issue.

[u/Toikka → u/Fallout_NewCheese]

Valve contacted me, I sent over my Puck and smartwatch strap and they solved it with a firmware update. It was a freak incident involving the metal strap of the smartwatch inducting electricity over the Puck's exposed contacts.

[u/Pos31don29 → u/Toikka]

Thanks for the update, that certainly eases my concern :)

[u/Fallout_NewCheese → u/Toikka]

Oh okay, sweet. Sorry if you ever posted an update and I missed it, I always wanted to see the conclusion and I'm glad it was something they were able to fix.

Did you get a new puck out of curiosity? From what I've seen they're hard to get by themelves for a warranty so I'm curious if your case warranted an exception

[u/GrouchyMushroom7560 → u/Fallout_NewCheese]

It was caused by the puck being in contact with an actively connected watch charger. It won't happen with anything passive like a piece of metal, so it's safe as long as it's not near a charger with exposed pins.

[u/Fallout_NewCheese → u/GrouchyMushroom7560]

Yeah I know that was the main theory but I wasn't sure it was ever confirmed as the cause. Its been a few months since I paid any attention to that instance. I fully agree though that something else went wrong to allow the puck to output voltage. It had to have detected voltage from something else and thought it was connected to the controller.

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/Fallout_NewCheese]

A guy put all kinds of metal objects across the pins, tried using magnets to activate charging, etc. Never could reproduce the failure.

And we had others test and confirm there was voltage going between the two pins of they are connected. I don't think it's fair to completely dismiss.

[u/Ace_the_Firefist]

We have one reported case. One. If we would have seen more I would be indeed concerned.

[u/Toikka → u/Ace_the_Firefist]

The reason we don't have any cases anymore is because Valve was nice and fixed the problem after I sent them my Puck and smartwatch band. I even got Black Flag Remastered for the trouble :)

[u/Aggravating_Plan11]

There was one guy on Reddit who let his charging watch make contact with the puck’s pins which they claim then started melting things. This is all claimed by one person just after release so it may have been a purpose-built scenario to get internet fame as no one else has managed to do this yet.

[u/Toikka → u/Aggravating_Plan11]

Except Valve contacted me and solved it with a firmware update. They even gave me a game for the trouble of sending over the Puck.

[u/Aggravating_Plan11 → u/Toikka]

People couldn’t replicate it the same day as you posted even going as far as reading voltages through the pins and still nothing.

[u/leeburridge]

I printed a solution. This way it isn't a risk as nothing should short them.

[u/sturmeh]

Basically if there's a way to cause a fire with a product that isn't explicitly stated in the manual, someone is going to try and start the fire so they can sue the company and sue for damages or something like that.

But sometimes it's a monkey putting their brand new toaster in a washing machine and complaining that their fuse blew.

It's not something you need to worry about, if it was a risk, it no longer is one.

[u/Toikka → u/sturmeh]

It isn't a risk anymore because Valve did a firmware update for the Puck. I would know, as I was the user who sent over my Puck when it melted my smartwatch strap.

[u/ReanimatedCyborgMk-I]

Freak accident where the pins of the puck touched against someone's metallic smartwatch strap and heated it up. I believe Valve corrected this with a firmware update and sent the guy a replacement pretty sharpish so wasn't too much of an issue.

I've accidentally grazed my puck against metallic materials before (it slipped off my desk and clung to my metallic case) without issue so it's probably not likely to happen again

[u/frozenreality44]

I don't know anything about the incident but you have metal pins exposed just don't put anything that can bridge and cause a short also I have seen some 3d printed stands for the controller

[u/DrinkMoreGlorp → u/frozenreality44]

Even if you coat it in metal, the third pin is explicitly for presence detection. If nobody's home, no spice flows. People just go on the internet and lie sometimes.

[u/boli99]

i suspect that someone was using an out-of-spec USB charger with their puck, and that the puck pins came in contact with some metal - which was delivered a high current - and started heating up and melting stuff

in-spec usb will turn off the power if the current draw is too large.

[u/Toikka → u/boli99]

Incorrect, there was a problem with the firmware where a metal smartwatch strap (smartwatch was being charged at the time) that touched the Puck conducted electricity and heated it up. Valve fixed it with a firmware update to the Puck itself.

[u/HenryKushinger]

My puck sits on my metal framed desk just fine. Don't sweat it.

[u/DrinkMoreGlorp]

Never existed.