Wii U - Questions: Gamepad range, storage solutions, other

mjmjr25

went home to be a family man
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Posts
2,865
I'm running into problems on two fronts with my Wii U.

Let me explain that as far as storage terms - SSD/HD/Flash/2.0-3.0...I really am like a baby. So please don't post, "Just buy this." Explain to me what it does and why it's the easiest option.

Easy is preferred to cheap, if a choice between the 2 must be made.

Question 1: My Wii U gamepad lasts about 2 hours before low battery light comes on. Will I benefit from a new battery?

1A: Does the Nyko battery booster thing do anything - is it a good buy? Claims to double your batteries life - if that's the case, it's easier to install and cheaper than new battery.

1B: If a new battery is wiser - OEM or 3rd party, does it matter much on these? Anyone have good experience with the 3rd party $12 ones?

Question 2: I lose my range if i'm more than 4' away. I used to get 20'. Is the gamepad shot, or if I change that tiny chip should that fix it? Anyone have success replacing that chip?

2A: If changing the chip - same question - anyone have success with the $5 hong kong chip over the $25 OEM chip?

3: I have a 32GB system which I now have to delete something to play something new. How EXACTLY do I add storage. I understand an SD card does not work. USB does - but it's sort of unclear which type. Can i use a plug and play USB, or do I need an external hard drive.

3A: If USB, do I want 2.0 or 3.0? Does it matter much on brand?

3B: If HDD, any particular ones I need? The one listed on the Nintendo support page all link to $150 models. If i'm spending that, and fixing the gamepad - i'd just buy a new system.

Thanks for any help...
 

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Posts
7,518
My battery is about the same, I'm going to buy the Nintendo high capacity battery. I've never trusted 3rd party batteries, you never know what kind of cheap Chinaman crap you're gonna get.

The WiiU ports are USB2.0, 3.0 will work but no speed increase obviously. Pretty much any drive should work, if it doesn't have an AC adapter you'll have to use a USB Y cable.

Edit: Rot mentioned he got like 200 WiiU batteries at his store this weekend, PM him for a deal.
 
Last edited:

ChuChu Flamingo

We have purposely, trained him wrong, ...as a joke
10 Year Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Posts
2,762
Does your gamepad sometime disconnect like it loses signal? It usually has to do with interference on the wireless channel of the Wii U tablet interfering with the wireless channel of your router. When that happens it switches the channel automatically.

If I remember correctly there is no way to set the tablet to use a specific channel, but you can set the channel of your wifi router 1-11. Maybe try setting it to 1, 6 or 11 to see if you get further range.
 

RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Posts
8,788
I'm running into problems on two fronts with my Wii U.

Let me explain that as far as storage terms - SSD/HD/Flash/2.0-3.0...I really am like a baby. So please don't post, "Just buy this." Explain to me what it does and why it's the easiest option.

Easy is preferred to cheap, if a choice between the 2 must be made.

Question 1: My Wii U gamepad lasts about 2 hours before low battery light comes on. Will I benefit from a new battery?

1A: Does the Nyko battery booster thing do anything - is it a good buy? Claims to double your batteries life - if that's the case, it's easier to install and cheaper than new battery.

1B: If a new battery is wiser - OEM or 3rd party, does it matter much on these? Anyone have good experience with the 3rd party $12 ones?

Question 2: I lose my range if i'm more than 4' away. I used to get 20'. Is the gamepad shot, or if I change that tiny chip should that fix it? Anyone have success replacing that chip?

2A: If changing the chip - same question - anyone have success with the $5 hong kong chip over the $25 OEM chip?

3: I have a 32GB system which I now have to delete something to play something new. How EXACTLY do I add storage. I understand an SD card does not work. USB does - but it's sort of unclear which type. Can i use a plug and play USB, or do I need an external hard drive.

3A: If USB, do I want 2.0 or 3.0? Does it matter much on brand?

3B: If HDD, any particular ones I need? The one listed on the Nintendo support page all link to $150 models. If i'm spending that, and fixing the gamepad - i'd just buy a new system.

Thanks for any help...

Question 1

My wii u gamepad battery sucks. It doesnt last that long, maybe a little over 2 hours. I tested the range by watching a movie on amazon and it didnt go that far. Mine topped out at about 15 feet. I dont really care all that much since I hardly play my wii u. Just bought it to play Wind Waker and Twilight princess.
 

heihachi

Krauser's Henchman
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Posts
944
Question 1: I'm no expert, but I think the Wii U gamepad just has terrible battery life. About 2 hours has been my experience with it for as long as I can remember. I think when it was brand new, I might've got around 3-3.5.

Question 2: Again, no expert, but in my experience the gamepad is just especially susceptible to interference. Are there other devices you've added to the room since you first got your Wii U? Are you playing Wii U in a new room? 4' doesn't sound normal, but my gamepad tops out at around 10'-12'

Question 3: I use a 500 GB Toshiba Canvio. <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J7YCHG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1>. They're about $50 for 500 gb, which is more than enough for Wii U, and use USB 3.0. It doesn't require external power, but it does use 2 usb ports for power (with a y cable). I've had no issues using this. Load times are good, no corrupt data or other headaches. Just have to format it and then you're good to go. Pretty easy to move data back and forth in the Wii U system menu too. I've heard USB works, but there might be some reliability/speed issues depending on what you use.
 

Karou

Gandalf Of Gibberish,
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Posts
5,684
I remember seeing nintendo recomending a powered drive to avoid losses or something.
my charging cradle is next to the couch so I just unplug it and get direct power when my crappy battery dies.
never had much trouble with range barring going around corners. I wonder if you have it in the entertainment center? maybe it would do better up behind the set? mines loud so maybe thats a reason not too? could help with interference maybe?
 

RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Posts
8,788
Im surprised Nintendo screwed up on this since they seem to always have great batteries in the ds handhelds. I don't touch any of my ds units for months and they turn on with the same battery they had when I turned them off. Amazing
 

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Posts
7,518
Im surprised Nintendo screwed up on this since they seem to always have great batteries in the ds handhelds. I don't touch any of my ds units for months and they turn on with the same battery they had when I turned them off. Amazing

Yeah man that's what's so mind boggling. When I do charge my tablet, by the time I feel like playing the wiiu again the fucker is dead. Even my GBA I can go months without touching and it's still fine and I don't even remember how old that thing is.
 

RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Posts
8,788
Yeah man that's what's so mind boggling. When I do charge my tablet, by the time I feel like playing the wiiu again the fucker is dead. Even my GBA I can go months without touching and it's still fine and I don't even remember how old that thing is.

Same shit with any of the Sony handhelds, they dont hold charge. I don't know who made the lithium batteries for the Nintendo handhelds but they really should be using those batteries for every handheld device.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2013
Posts
10,108
Yeah man that's what's so mind boggling. When I do charge my tablet, by the time I feel like playing the wiiu again the fucker is dead. Even my GBA I can go months without touching and it's still fine and I don't even remember how old that thing is.

I just leave the Wii U tablet on its dock 24/7. Always good to go. The battery has never run out on me but I rarely play for over an hour, two at the most.
 

mjmjr25

went home to be a family man
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Posts
2,865
Very helpful so far - thanks guys!

We recently added a new modem/router combo (it's what we have here, no cable or satellite, so combo it is). I wonder if that's part of the problem - sounds like it could be. I don't see any channels on the router - just the 4 ethernet ports. (this is all foreign to me). The Wii U connection is wireless. Any more suggestions or how I can change the channel the Wii U is picking up?

Sounds like this battery isn't as bad as it seems, but still probably worth a first party upgrade.

500gb would be more than enough storage for us - we don't really buy digital games, so that $50 solution seems manageable for sure.
 

ChopstickSamurai

I have earned the, right to PM Rot.,
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Posts
2,188
I just leave the Wii U tablet on its dock 24/7. Always good to go. The battery has never run out on me but I rarely play for over an hour, two at the most.

I leave mine on the charge dock too. I ponied up for the official extended battery and have been really happy with it.
 

JoeAwesome

I survived Secret Santa, It wasn't Easy.,
Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Posts
3,114
I think everyone's covered most of the info here, but I'll add you can turn off the game pad from the home screen (with a battery light still on, sigh). The stock battery sucks at holding a charge even when not in use.

I use a single usb hard drive, and sometimes get load errors. A y-cable would probably help. Nintendo discourages usb sticks probably because the external storage is constantly seeking.
 

JoeAwesome

I survived Secret Santa, It wasn't Easy.,
Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Posts
3,114
Very helpful so far - thanks guys!

We recently added a new modem/router combo (it's what we have here, no cable or satellite, so combo it is). I wonder if that's part of the problem - sounds like it could be. I don't see any channels on the router - just the 4 ethernet ports. (this is all foreign to me). The Wii U connection is wireless. Any more suggestions or how I can change the channel the Wii U is picking up?

Sounds like this battery isn't as bad as it seems, but still probably worth a first party upgrade.

500gb would be more than enough storage for us - we don't really buy digital games, so that $50 solution seems manageable for sure.

The channel is in the connection settings in the Wii U, IIRC. It shouldn't be the router's settings (accessed in a browser).
 

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Posts
7,518
We recently added a new modem/router combo (it's what we have here, no cable or satellite, so combo it is). I wonder if that's part of the problem - sounds like it could be. I don't see any channels on the router - just the 4 ethernet ports. (this is all foreign to me). The Wii U connection is wireless. Any more suggestions or how I can change the channel the Wii U is picking up?
The channel setting would be in the same place you configured your wireless password and general setup of the router (assuming you're not talking about specifically just a DSL modem, this would also have to be your wireless AP).
 

mjmjr25

went home to be a family man
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Posts
2,865
I think everyone's covered most of the info here, but I'll add you can turn off the game pad from the home screen (with a battery light still on, sigh). The stock battery sucks at holding a charge even when not in use.

I use a single usb hard drive, and sometimes get load errors. A y-cable would probably help. Nintendo discourages usb sticks probably because the external storage is constantly seeking.

This is an interesting post. Are you saying I don't have to use the gamepad? I HATE the gamepad truth be told, for everything except Splatoon. I'm not even embarrassed to ask this - i'm excited.

Second part - so you're just using a stock USB stick - can you provide a link to one or two that would work. I really don't understand differences in this stuff. Should I also get a Y-cable? If yes...what is that and can you link me to one of those as well?

What is "seeking"?
 

heihachi

Krauser's Henchman
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Posts
944
This is an interesting post. Are you saying I don't have to use the gamepad? I HATE the gamepad truth be told, for everything except Splatoon. I'm not even embarrassed to ask this - i'm excited.

Second part - so you're just using a stock USB stick - can you provide a link to one or two that would work. I really don't understand differences in this stuff. Should I also get a Y-cable? If yes...what is that and can you link me to one of those as well?

What is "seeking"?

Here's a y cable: <https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-External-Seagate-Toshiba-Hitachi/dp/B005M0ICG2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1498445377&sr=8-3&keywords=hard+drive+y+cable>

Basically, the weird looking end plugs into the HD, and the 2 usb plugs go into the Wii U. Having two USB plugs in the Wii U is what allows the HD to draw enough power. I think some drives might even come with these. If you read through the reviews for the cable, you'll see tons of people using it for Wii U specifically.

I think "seeking" means that the Wii U is accessing the usb stick, which probably counts towards it's overall read/write lifespan. But I really don't know.
 
Last edited:

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Posts
7,518

Karou

Gandalf Of Gibberish,
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Posts
5,684
a powered drive is recomended. besides then you can keep the stuff you use less on there and only turn it on then?


oh joe knows...
 
Last edited:

JoeAwesome

I survived Secret Santa, It wasn't Easy.,
Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Posts
3,114
This is an interesting post. Are you saying I don't have to use the gamepad? I HATE the gamepad truth be told, for everything except Splatoon. I'm not even embarrassed to ask this - i'm excited.

Second part - so you're just using a stock USB stick - can you provide a link to one or two that would work. I really don't understand differences in this stuff. Should I also get a Y-cable? If yes...what is that and can you link me to one of those as well?

What is "seeking"?

For the first point, that depends. Some games need the gamepad for all inputs, some for auxiliary information or uses. It varies from game to game if it's an absolute requirement (like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker) or not, but if it isn't, you might be able to use a pro classic controller, instead (like Bayonetta). Auxiliary can be as little as knowing what dice sides have been thrown in Mario Party 10.

As for the usb hard drive and seeking, the people have it, again. No solid state drives like a standard usb stick ("plug and play") because the Wii U will read/write so many times, it'll kill the stick because solid state drives have limits (not a small amount, mind you, but not intended to be constantly "seeking"). The usb y-cable is to supply enough power to a device, such as a portable hard drive, without using another power source.
 
Last edited:

mjmjr25

went home to be a family man
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Posts
2,865
Updating:

I swapped the connection range chip - was easy and so far am optimistic. I opted for the $5 ones shipping from China / made in China, over the $25 ones shipping from USA, but made in China (literally same thing, and was fine waiting 2 weeks to save $20 on this). A few days in and it works fine. Have extended my range back to 20-25 feet. Took less than 20 secs to connect the chip and about 2 mins to do the screws off/on.

Now for more problems:

I bought the Toshiba Canvio linked by heihachi earlier. I bought the Y cable linked by madman. Now i'm at a loss - these don't seem to be compatible?

The Y cable has a micro USB (think that's what it's called, looks like a kindle input) and 2 USB's.

The Canvio HDD has something i've never seen - if you look at pic 4 on the amazon link, this is what it is - the Y cable doesn't connect to this, not that I can see?
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canv...qid=1500075449&sr=1-2&keywords=toshiba+canvio

Any ideas?

EDIT: looks like the input on the HDD is called a "Micro B" - and my Y Cable has a "Mini USB", so maybe there's a Y cable with the Micro B and 2 USB's...

EDIT 2: this should work, yeah?
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-Exte...id=1500076569&sr=1-8&keywords=y+cable+micro+b
 
Last edited:

Westcb

Give an Azn, A Break Here!,
Joined
May 17, 2012
Posts
1,190
Updating:

I swapped the connection range chip - was easy and so far am optimistic. I opted for the $5 ones shipping from China / made in China, over the $25 ones shipping from USA, but made in China (literally same thing, and was fine waiting 2 weeks to save $20 on this). A few days in and it works fine. Have extended my range back to 20-25 feet. Took less than 20 secs to connect the chip and about 2 mins to do the screws off/on.

Now for more problems:

I bought the Toshiba Canvio linked by heihachi earlier. I bought the Y cable linked by madman. Now i'm at a loss - these don't seem to be compatible?

The Y cable has a micro USB (think that's what it's called, looks like a kindle input) and 2 USB's.

The Canvio HDD has something i've never seen - if you look at pic 4 on the amazon link, this is what it is - the Y cable doesn't connect to this, not that I can see?
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canv...qid=1500075449&sr=1-2&keywords=toshiba+canvio

Any ideas?

EDIT: looks like the input on the HDD is called a "Micro B" - and my Y Cable has a "Mini USB", so maybe there's a Y cable with the Micro B and 2 USB's...

EDIT 2: this should work, yeah?
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-Exte...id=1500076569&sr=1-8&keywords=y+cable+micro+b

That will do it. Without that Y cable the HD just won't get enough power. Of course depending on storage needs you could just get a flash drive and plug it in the back. I just put in a 64 gig and with it my spaces tripled which was plenty for me as I buy the full games and just use the onboard storage for the Eshop games. That humble bundle last year put a dent in it, I'm guessing they haven't done any other Nintendo humble bundles since though?
 

ggallegos1

Cholecystectomy Required.,
10 Year Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Posts
5,153
Updating:

I swapped the connection range chip - was easy and so far am optimistic. I opted for the $5 ones shipping from China / made in China, over the $25 ones shipping from USA, but made in China (literally same thing, and was fine waiting 2 weeks to save $20 on this). A few days in and it works fine. Have extended my range back to 20-25 feet. Took less than 20 secs to connect the chip and about 2 mins to do the screws off/on.

Now for more problems:

I bought the Toshiba Canvio linked by heihachi earlier. I bought the Y cable linked by madman. Now i'm at a loss - these don't seem to be compatible?

The Y cable has a micro USB (think that's what it's called, looks like a kindle input) and 2 USB's.

The Canvio HDD has something i've never seen - if you look at pic 4 on the amazon link, this is what it is - the Y cable doesn't connect to this, not that I can see?
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canv...qid=1500075449&sr=1-2&keywords=toshiba+canvio

Any ideas?

EDIT: looks like the input on the HDD is called a "Micro B" - and my Y Cable has a "Mini USB", so maybe there's a Y cable with the Micro B and 2 USB's...

EDIT 2: this should work, yeah?
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-Exte...id=1500076569&sr=1-8&keywords=y+cable+micro+b

That will do it. Try the cable out and it should suffice for what you need.

If you're going to play other games, I suggest a Nintendo pro controller, as they are a godsend. If you're curious about which games are compatible with it, check the link below.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wii_U_games_that_use_the_Wii_U_Pro_Controller

Also, I went with the first party extended battery and it helped tremendously with battery life. I was able to get around 5-6 hours on one charge, and helped with longer gaming sessions exclusively on the pad.
 

mjmjr25

went home to be a family man
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Posts
2,865
Cool - thanks guys - i've ordered one of those up; should be here Monday.
 
Top