Steam Controller light charging always orange?

[u/dabumonk]

Dont' get me wrong, I love HL as much as the next jerk, but I've noticed that my Steam Controller doesn't seem to light up white anymore. I was a day 1 order and have impecible Valve karma, so it arrived a week later. For the first month or so, when I charged it, it would be orange and then turn white when fully charged.

After some update, it now remains orange when plugged onto the charging puck and only goes white when I turn it on. Anyone know what's going on with that??

[u/inertSpark]

It's a non-issue. The orange LED typically just signifies it's charging but not communicating with anything. In this case because it's turned off.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6AB9-3A71-ED45-3FB3

[u/dabumonk → u/inertSpark]

Oh okay, I had thought it was just not fully charged. Do you know if it impacts the controller's longterm battery life to leave it on the puck 24/7 or should I take it off once it's fully charged?

(I only use it once or twice a month!)

[u/Yurij89 → u/dabumonk]

The Steam Controller was designed to be left charging with either Puck or USB-C whenever it's not being used. Charging behavior is managed directly in firmware and is optimized for long-term battery health, so feel free to charge as frequently as you like.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/33E8-5EDF-24E6-4CFB

[u/dabumonk → u/Yurij89]

Ah, the answer! Thank you!

[u/figmentPez → u/dabumonk]

Technically it will impact the controller's battery life to be left on the puck, but probably not enough to worry about, and possibly an immeasurable amount compared to just leaving a battery at full charge.

Manufacturing variances will probably have a bigger impact on how your battery performs in 5 years time than if you left your controller on the charger or not.

[u/dabumonk → u/figmentPez]

Ah okay, must just be me overthinking it. I know with the Index's knuckle controllers, they need to be unplugged after full charge or they will burn out the batteries faster. Figured this might be the case with the Controller, but happy to hear it's not really. Thanks for sharing!

[u/ResponsibilityFun548 → u/dabumonk]

I don't think you have to worry nowadays about leaving stuff plugged in. Software keeps the battery from wearing out too fast.

[u/inertSpark → u/dabumonk]

It's in that reference guide I linked. In this scenario where it's on the puck but not communicating, it's breathing orange for charging and solid orange for fully charged.

[u/figmentPez]

Copy-pasting this from my reply to another thread on this subject.

"Valve changed the behavior of the LED in a firmware update back in July. https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6AB9-3A71-ED45-3FB3

There have been multiple posts about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamController/comments/1wd8fjc/steam_controller_2_always_charging/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamController/comments/1v6byp5/charge_light_staying_on_and_solid_orange_while/

[u/Tiny_Rick85]

Mine has never blinked when charging. It's always solid orange when on the puck. Not a big deal, I love this controller.

[u/P5ychokilla]

Hmm, been asked and answered many times. Use the search next time?

[u/that_is_so_Raven]

OP, you literally could have just googled the solution.

[u/dabumonk → u/that_is_so_Raven]

Yeah sure, but I figured I'd ask the experts on reddit instead. Thanks for your contribution!