Oculus Quest and Quests 2 are highly rated VR headsets made by the parent company Meta (previously Facebook). Specially Quest 2 gives a completely immersive gaming experience. Its motion controllers are wireless and support hand tracking.
With this, the cameras in the controllers follow the position and orientation of your hands. Every game doesn’t support hand tracking but it looks like the right step forward.
However, if you’re using your Oculus Quest Virtual Reality headset for some time, you may want to charge your controllers as they aren’t charged with the headset. Let us guide you on how to charge Oculus controllers for Quest and Quest 2.
Why Don’t the Oculus Quest 2 Controllers Have a Charging Port?
You can easily charge your Oculus Quest 2 VR headset by inserting any USB-C cable into the charging port on the headset. But why don’t the controllers have a port for charging? There are some reasons for it.
The main reason is that the touch controllers use very less battery during use. Many YouTubers reported that they played games with Quest 2 for a month and the battery life of the controllers was still at 100%.
Another reason is the design as a charging port on the controllers might not look appealing.
Although the controllers drain the battery slowly, the bad news for some users is that the controllers don’t have an internal battery, unlike the VR headset. The controllers work on AA batteries that aren’t rechargeable. So, at some point, you need to replace them with new ones.
Originally, the Oculus Quest 2 controllers come with a single AA battery for each controller. Use these methods to charge your Quest 2 motion controllers:
- Replacing the AA Batteries
- Using Rechargeable AA batteries
- Getting a Charging Dock for Charging the Controllers
1. Replacing the AA Batteries
If you’re in a hurry and just quickly want to charge your Oculus Quest controllers cheaply, you can buy 2 non-rechargeable AA batteries. The most common disposable batteries are alkaline batteries. Here’s how to replace batteries on your Quest 2 touch controllers:
- Hold the controller in your hand as you normally do and find a down arrow on the side of the grip.
- Gently slide it down to remove the cover that’s on the battery compartment.
- Pull out the battery and put in the new alkaline battery.
- Place the cover back on the battery compartment and push it up.
- Hold both the controllers in your hand to check if the cover is in place by feeling the grip of both the controllers.
- Perform the same steps for the second controller and insert the replacement battery to use your controllers with a full charge.
2. Using Rechargeable AA batteries
A better solution is to use rechargeable AAs for your Oculus Quest 2 touch controllers. For this, you need 4 rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. You’d use 2 batteries to put in the controllers and the other two to keep charged and ready to use when the batteries in the controllers drain. You can keep repeating this until the rechargeable batteries can’t hold a charge.
The common types of rechargeable AA batteries are NiMH (Nickel Metal Hybrid) and Lithium batteries (Lithium-ion). The mAh capacity of these batteries may vary depending on the type and brand.
- Hold the controller as you usually do and find the down arrow on the grip.
- Push the cover in the direction of the arrow to reveal the battery compartment.
- Remove the disposal AA battery and put the rechargeable fully charged AA battery in it.
- Put the battery covers back on.
- Keep the other two batteries charged by using the charger.
- After days or months, when the controllers need a battery swap again, take out the controller batteries and put in the ones you kept ready.
- Now, charge the batteries that you took out from the controllers.
3. Getting a Charging Dock for Charging the Controllers
Oculus Quest products are popular and the need for a charger that can effortlessly charge the controllers is established as well. This is why there are some charging docks, charging stations, or charging devices available that charge Oculus Quest 2 controllers.
These charging docks come with their own special rechargeable batteries that are charged when you place the controller on the dock correctly. This is the easiest method of charging your Quest 2 touch controllers but you need to splurge some cash to get this convenience. You can search on Google to find the right charging dock. Anker Charging Dock is the official charging station for Oculus Quest 2.
Follow these steps to use an Oculus Quest 2 Controllers charging dock:
- Look for an arrow icon or a small eject symbol on the controller and push it with your thumb in the direction of the arrow.
- Remove the cover and replace the disposable AA battery with the special rechargeable battery with charge contacts that came with the charging dock.
- Make sure to keep the electrical contacts (metal side) of the batteries on the outer side so they can charge when connected to the dock.
- Put back the battery compartment cover on the controller.
- Use your Oculus Quest 2 controllers as you usually do. When the battery is drained, simply put your Quest controllers on the charging cradle.
- Charging docks also come with a headset charging slot as well. So, you can place your Oculus Quest console on it also for charging.
With this, you can turn your non-rechargeable Quest controllers into rechargeable controllers.
Tips For Charging Your Oculus Quest 2 Controllers
- Keep Extra Batteries with You
- Use Rechargeable AA Batteries
- Store Oculus Quest Headset and Controllers
If you don’t want your controllers to stop working due to low battery in the middle of the night when you can’t get a new alkaline battery, then keep some spares with you.
In the case of rechargeable batteries, you should use spares as well if you don’t want to spend the next hour charging the only batteries that you took out from the controllers.
2. Use Rechargeable AA Batteries
Rechargeable batteries work much more on one charge than disposable batteries. If you buy a NiMH (Nickel-metal Hydride) battery pack and a charger, you may not need any other touch controller charging solution. But, if you don’t like to use a dedicated charger for AA batteries, choose Lithium AA batteries that you can charge using USB power.
However, we noticed that Lithium batteries self-discharge even when not in use. So, use Lithium batteries if you use Quest regularly. If you don’t, take out the batteries from the controllers.
3. Store Oculus Quest Headset and Controllers
If you’re planning to store your Quest headset for some time, don’t leave the batteries in the controllers. Because lithium batteries will keep discharging whereas alkaline batteries might leak and damage the battery compartment of the touch controller.
Moreover, taking out batteries is recommended even if you’re using NiMH batteries because they might discharge fully, which can damage the batteries.
Conclusion
Oculus Quest 2 controllers aren’t rechargeable right out of the box. You can simply use disposable AA batteries for them or use specialized charging stations for easy charging.
FAQs
How do you charge the oculus handsets?
You can’t charge the Oculus handsets as they come with a disposable AA battery each. You can replace the battery with a new one to recharge them. If you want the charge to last longer, use rechargeable AA batteries.
How do I change the battery in my Oculus controller?
To change the battery in Oculus controllers:
Hold the controller from the grip and find an arrow icon on the grip.
Push the cover in the direction of the arrow and pull out the battery cover.
Replace the battery.
Put
the cover back on the controller.
What batteries do Oculus quest controllers use?
The Oculus Quest controllers use an AA battery each. You can use three types of batteries:
Disposable alkaline AA batteries
Rechargeable NiMH batteries
Rechargeable Lithium batteries
How do I charge my Oculus Quest headset?
The Oculus Quest headset has a USB-C port on its left side. You can use a USB-C cable to charge the VR headset with the adapter that comes with Quest. When the battery is full, the indicator light will change from orange to green.