As much as we enjoy wireless controllers for our various home consoles, they inevitably bring about the issue of power. Although the official Nintendo Wii instruction manual says that you should stick to alkaline batteries for the Wii Remote, I’ve been perfectly pleased with my use of rechargeable NiMH batteries, each of which coming with a solid 2500 mAh of juice. I don’t have to keep forking out money for new batteries and Mother Nature loves me just a little bit more, because I’m not leeching dangerous chemicals into the landfills through one-use alkalines.
Following the same line of thought, I was going to take the exact same approach when I picked up Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board. The weight distribution-sensing Wii Balance Board requires four AA batteries to operate, so I thought that I had to invest in another set of NiMH batteries for it. Not so! Nyko was come up with a convenient and affordable way to keep your Wii Balance Board powered up, and thus, a way for you to get back in shape with Wii Fit without worrying about batteries.
The Nyko Energy Pak is a rechargeable battery pack for the Wii Balance Board. It functions in much the same way as the rechargeable battery packs that you may have found for the Wii Remote, not only replacing the AA batteries themselves, but also the battery cover. Not to mention, it has a pretty blue light to boot.
Feature Highlights
Among the major features on the Nyko Energy Pak rechargeable battery pack for the Wii Balance Board, you’ll find:
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack – up to 30 hours of play time per charge
- Unique AC port relocator allows easy charging of the battery pack
- Play and charge simultaneously
- Detachable AS cord for wire-free play
- Plugs into any wall outlet – faster charge than USB
- Battery pack conveniently charges while inside the Balance Board – no need to remove it once it is installed
- Convenient LED charge/battery indicator
The key advantage that the Nyko Energy Pak has over conventional rechargeable batteries is that you it can be recharged while it is still being used. If you happen to be in the middle of a Wii Fit session and the Balance Board runs out of juice, you can simply plug the Nyko Energy Pak into an available wall outlet and continue with your exercise routine.
After poking around on the Nyko website and reading up on the provided documentation, I found no specific mention of the mAh rating for the Energy Pak. In this way, it’s hard to make a direct comparison to regular rechargeable AA batteries. Even so, because the Energy Pak can charge while inside the Balance Board, it almost doesn’t matter.
What’s in the Box?
Nyko always does a pretty good job with packaging and the Energy Pak for the Wii Balance Board is no exception.
There’s not much in the package that you won’t need. Inside the plastic shell is a plastic tray. Inside the tray is the Energy Pak itself, an AC wall adapter, the AC port relocation adapter (more on this in a moment) and a Quick Start guide. The Quick Start guide is largely comprised of images, so even though the instructions are available in other languages online, you don’t really need them. This is pretty straightforward.
In terms of initial impressions, I’m quite pleased with the build quality of the Energy Pak itself. It’s not anything to write home about, but Nyko has seemingly used some good materials here. The AC adapter looks right at home with the Wii, boasting a gray and white color scheme. The 10-foot power cord is also white, giving you a very Wii-esque appearance. The AC port relocation adapter, however, felt pretty cheap and it didn’t take much to accidentally remove one of the panels. And that’s not the only problem with the relocation adapter. I’ll go more in depth with this in a second.
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Installation and Setup
If you know how to insert AA batteries into the Wii Balance Board, then you’ll be able to install the Nyko Energy Pak. The Nyko Energy Pak is shaped like four AA batteries all glued together and a battery cover is integrated with the batteries. To install it into the Wii Balance Board, you’ll need to remove the original battery cover. Installation requires Just inserting the Energy Pak as you would the regular battery cover, lining up the tabs accordingly, and snapping it in.
All in all, it’s a perfectly snug fit and, if you don’t look too closely, you probably wouldn’t even know that there is a battery pack there and not just the regular battery cover. The AC power jack is a bit of a tell, but you still have full access to the red “sync” button and the color still matches the bottom of the Wii Balance Board.
Before you dive into another Wii Fit-fueled yoga session, you’ll want to give the Nyko Energy Pak a proper charging. The initial charge took about three hours.
Unique AC Port Relocation Adapter
The AC port relocation adapter for the Nyko Energy Pak is simultaneously the greatest and the worst component of this package. The idea is that, by using this adapter, you can connect the AC adapter without having to flip over your Wii Balance Board. The port is effectively relocated next to the power button on the Wii Balance Board.
One end is plugged into the available port on the Nyko Energy Pak and then the other end is cleverly secured in place using two of the pre-existing holes in the base of the Wii Balance Board. The fit seems snug and the AC port relocation adapter has been shaped to fit the contours of the Balance Board. Great idea, right?
As useful and functional as this adapter appears, it comes with one rather major problem. Your mileage may vary, but I found that when I had the adapter connected and installed, the Wii Balance Board became inaccurate. This is because the relocation adapter makes contact with the floor, effectively taking on some of the weight that would otherwise be taken by the weight sensors in the four corners of the Wii Balance Board.
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Just A Little Off Balance
I tried shoving the AC port relocation adapter as far in as it would go and I still got gross inaccuracies. A rough installation caused my weight in Wii Fit to be “reduced” by 16 pounds. Depending on who you talk to, this might be a good thing. Giving the adapter a solid squeeze and push, I was only able to reduce this discrepancy to 9 pounds.
This may not be an issue with certain games, but for a weight and BMI-focused title like Wii Fit, this inaccuracy is inexcusable. I figured that I could solve this problem by eschewing the AC port relocation adapter completely and plugging the AC adapter directly into the Nyko Energy Pak. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to work. When I tried, the Pak failed to charge. Nyko needs to either make the relocation adapter thinner or find a way to abandon it. The latter may help to reduce the price too.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
All in all, Nyko has done a perfectly fine job with the Nyko Energy Pak for the Wii Balance Board. It performs precisely as advertised, providing a constant supply of power to your prized Wii Balance Board (is Wii Fit still hard to find in your area?), because you can charge the battery pack while it is still being used. This is incredibly convenient and the installation is absolutely seamless.
I have absolutely no qualms with the Nyko Energy Pak itself. Where I do have an issue is the unique AC port relocation adapter. The idea is a solid one, providing you easy access to the AC port without having to flip over your Wii Balance Board, but it causes quite a fair bit of inaccuracy with the Balance Board. I appreciate the contoured design (and the pretty blue light), but I am not willing to sacrifice accuracy for convenience.
If Nyko plans on updating this product, I feel that they should either make the relocation adapter a fair bit thinner or abandon it altogether. Aside from that, the Nyko Energy Pak rechargeable battery pack for the Wii Balance Board is a seriously solid product and it costs about the same as four name brand NiMH batteries anyway.
Pros
- Convenient and affordable
- Able to play and charge at the same time
- No modification required for installation
- A green energy solution
- Good build quality and aesthetics (except for the port relocation adapter)
Cons
- Relocation adapter causes Wii Balance Board to be inaccurate
- Relocation adapter has poor build quality
- Very specific application, cannot be used with other devices
Overall Rating: 7.5 / 10.0
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Nyko Energy Pak for Wii Balance Board Photo Gallery
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