Gentlemen, check your PSPs

[LDigital]

My psp1 1800mah seems fine but my psp 2000 1200mah battery is bloated. I presume that is a disposal job. Can’t be saved ?

[Lawfer]

My psp1 1800mah seems fine but my psp 2000 1200mah battery is bloated. I presume that is a disposal job. Can’t be saved ?

Interesting, the PSP 1000 battery is older too, how have you been using them in the last decade? As, in did you use your PSP 1000 battery alot and haven't used your PSP 2000 in a while or something?

[Taiyaki]

There's probably a reason this is largely happening with people digging their old PSPs out of the closet, the batteries could have been left sitting with zero charge for long periods of time and/or in adverse heat/humidity. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't expect this to happen to li-ion batteries stored properly with a 40-50% SoC, in so far as any old, used li-ion battery can be relied upon to hold up in the long run.

You would think so. My PSP was never taken out, always played from home, one time owner, stayed in the bedroom which has constant humidity and temperature control (not to mention it wasn't anywhere near direct sunlight), and yet it happened. It wasn't charged for around 6~7 years though.

That's what I'm saying though. Who knows how long that battery's been dead, of course it's going to degenerate in that state. You're supposed to store li-ion batteries with a partial charge, though whether that's feasible with the PSP might be another question. Maybe storing the battery outside of the PSP might keep it charged for a longer period of time.

I did store it with a charge, but I guess too many years without recharging didn't help.

[nmalinoski]

I have a PSP-1001 with a larger 2200mAh battery, which I haven't used at all for a few years now (The smaller original battery is in a box in the basement somewhere and hasn't been used in far longer). I did give it a partial charge before putting it in storage, but I also took it out of the PSP before storing everything.

When I got to it, the battery had no charge, and the PSP wouldn't turn on, but it wasn't puffed out or anything. Left it plugged in for a few hours, and it seems to be holding a charge and working fine. I haven't tried the original battery yet (probably won't hold a charge at this point), but I found it a couple weeks ago and it looked fine.

Edit: Went and found the original PSP battery and that one has inflated. :/ Oh well. Looks like I'll be trying to figure out how to recycle it.

[Sumez]

There's probably a reason this is largely happening with people digging their old PSPs out of the closet, the batteries could have been left sitting with zero charge for long periods of time and/or in adverse heat/humidity. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't expect this to happen to li-ion batteries stored properly with a 40-50% SoC, in so far as any old, used li-ion battery can be relied upon to hold up in the long run.

So what you're saying is, to delay this happening, we should periodically charge our batteries from various unused handhelds and wireless controllers, just to make sure they have a charge?

This might be common knowledge to people who are into tech stuff, but it might be good to get that stuff out there to everybody.

[Elixir]

It can also happen to 3DS consoles:

https://twitter.com/TOPO_dm/status/1291175977188503557
https://twitter.com/armi__/status/1288831915944841217
https://twitter.com/evasuran/status/1286946841003585538
https://twitter.com/kuronekomasters/sta ... 6391498754
https://twitter.com/yuugohan1105/status ... 3197187072
https://twitter.com/kamo_GO/status/1288071141869805568

I should probably check my PSP... I don't use it, but I don't want the battery corroding in a box somewhere.

[EnragedWhale]

I have a rolling reminder to charge every handheld, controllers and headset every 3 months. Don’t know if it’s a perfect system but I’ve had no issues so far.

[TORQUENDB]

Was expecting to find some bad news, but my US launch day PSP-1000 battery is completely fine, despite having practically no use in about 10 years. Battery was dead, but charged it up and it seems to hold a decent charge still. Not bad for a 15+ year old battery.

[Lawfer]

Was expecting to find some bad news, but my US launch day PSP-1000 battery is completely fine, despite having practically no use in about 10 years. Battery was dead, but charged it up and it seems to hold a decent charge still. Not bad for a 15+ year old battery.

Is it a 1800 mAh?

[TORQUENDB]

Was expecting to find some bad news, but my US launch day PSP-1000 battery is completely fine, despite having practically no use in about 10 years. Battery was dead, but charged it up and it seems to hold a decent charge still. Not bad for a 15+ year old battery.

Is it a 1800 mAh?

Yes. It's the only battery I've ever used in it.

[Unseen]

Was expecting to find some bad news, but my US launch day PSP-1000 battery is completely fine, despite having practically no use in about 10 years. Battery was dead, but charged it up and it seems to hold a decent charge still. Not bad for a 15+ year old battery.

I thought the same for my PSP-1000 battery, which was stored outside of the console. However, charging the battery (in a PSP-2000 that needed a system update) caused it to expand slightly.

[Triple Lei]

https://youtu.be/ibflo_vUQ0o

Video of me running a PSP without a battery. USB power only.

I got one of those universal 7-in-1 USB chargers (KMD brand), and here you can see it's attached to the PSP pretty tight; wiggling the cable didn't cut off the power. I don't suppose these would pair nicely with a power bank? I don't have one to test myself. If it all works out, that's at least one way to get around unreliable batteries, while also maintaining the PSP's portability.

Edit: Turns out that cable doesn't play as nicely with my other PSP-3000, cutting off harder cable wiggling...

[Fudoh]

but it doesn't appear to me like all official PSP batteries are incapable of holding a charge past two weeks yet.

that's an invalid argument. Of course the batteries will hold up ON THEIR OWN, but the point is, that they won't, when inserted in a PSP like 99.99% of all batteries.

[Fudoh]

all good. Wasn't my intention to sound harsh. Of course any kind of additional information is a good thing. I just had to laugh at the thought (taking care of a battery for years to come by checking it regularly and keeping it under strict handling rules), while my GBA SP actually powers up after sitting on the shelf for the same amount of time.

[Sumez]

I'd love to know more about this, but there's so much misinformation out there.

My two PSP's batteries are still fine.
I charged them both up fully, telling myself that will probably help preserve them. But does it actually do any help in the long run, or just delay the inevitable with another month or so at best?

And given what was just discussed - is it better to charge them up full and then leave them lying outside the PSP, to have them drain slower?

[evil_ash_xero]

Well, this is an annoying development. The batteries I have in both of my PSP 2000s are A-OK. However, I had a battery that wouldn't really fit to begin with, and it was cracked open.

Soooo.... what's the answer to this? Just charge them? That seems like a pain, and also isn't going to last that long. Maybe someone can come up with a replacement that won't explode.

[Lawfer]

all good. Wasn't my intention to sound harsh. Of course any kind of additional information is a good thing. I just had to laugh at the thought (taking care of a battery for years to come by checking it regularly and keeping it under strict handling rules), while my GBA SP actually powers up after sitting on the shelf for the same amount of time.

Can confirm that the DSi does this as well, unused and uncharged for years, you take it out, turn it on, turns on no problem, PSP is discharged after a month even if you just fully charged and didn't use it it just before that, ain't got nothing to do with worn out batteries or whatever (as a matter of fact my battery was from 2007 that came with a new PSP-2000, I am the original owner and haven't used it all that much and haven't used it since 2010 at all, yet I checked the battery after seeing this thread and what do I see, the battery has started bloating), it's just that's how PSP batteries are like.

Soooo.... what's the answer to this? Just charge them?

There's no answer, unless you feel like recharging your PSP every 3-4 weeks forever just to keep the batteries from becoming a bloated mess (but then it'll wear them out anyways), otherwise just remove the battery from your PSP so that it doesn't become bloated inside of it and break your PSP cover.

[jd213]

Looks like the unopened official Sony 1200mAh replacement battery I bought as a backup years ago has started to bulge as well:

[NormalFish]

Looks like the unopened official Sony 1200mAh replacement battery I bought as a backup years ago has started to bulge as well:

Hard to see in the photo, but that's unfortunate.

Of course this is inherent to the design, but it does worry me that there will be a point where PSP batteries simply aren't available.

Would be interesting to see a homebrewed solution of some sort, using a (physically) smaller battery and some converter PCB. All the second hand batteries at the moment have very low capacity which makes them poor replacements for the originals.

[Triple Lei]

I'm starting to think this is the only viable long-term solution for portable play:

Instructables: Power PSP Using AAA Batteries

I've been reading that this kind of mod can only be done with original PSP batteries (so no knock-offs). Makes me wish I held on to my bloated batteries...

[NormalFish]

I'm starting to think this is the only viable long-term solution for portable play:

Instructables: Power PSP Using AAA Batteries

I've been reading that this kind of mod can only be done with original PSP batteries (so no knock-offs). Makes me wish I held on to my bloated batteries...

I've seen mods that use smaller laptop batteries as well, and cannibalize the UMD drive to do so without an external pack. Theyre all destructive though, obviously. Some more permanent and elegant solution that fits in the PSP battery housing would be ideal but fuck knows if anyone with the expertise will bother. Doubly so with the Vita being such a strong alternative (until they become expensive due to rarity, i suppose).