As a bit of a PSA - you might want to ensure you're rather careful with Valve's new Steam Controller charging Puck. Keep anything conductive away from it.
There's a pretty big Reddit post that's appeared from user Toikka, who notes they accidentally left a metallic smartwatch strap laying around that went on top of the Steam Controller charging Puck and started "sizzling" that "Almost started a fire". Which…does not sound like something that's particularly safe. However, to be clear here, part of the issue is that this particular strap was attached to a watch that was actually on charge. So there was some cross-over happening here.
Picture the Redditor showed below:
I'm sure to some that this might seem like a "well, duh" moment. Don't leave things laying around chargers. Especially if they're also on charge. But, we're human, and humans can be pretty stupid or just generally clumsy. We also have children, pets and — you get the idea, accidents can definitely happen so this seems like something worth being clear about regardless.
As for overall safety - Valve are likely not the only hardware vendor to have this issue, as there's quite a few controllers out there that have a similar sort of charging pin system (like the 8BitDo Ultimate series).
Luckily, I still had the Steam Controller box and manual left here. So I dug into the manual, and Valve do actually have a small and pretty clear safety notice on this:
But, who actually reads this kind of small-print? My bet is only a very tiny minority of people, especially for something usually as simple as a game controller. Ideally, Valve should look to add a much more prominent warning (like in the Steam client) - just to be a bit more on the safe side.
I've emailed Valve to provide a comment on the safety of it and will update if they reply.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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But, who actually reads this kind of small-print? My bet is only a very tiny minority of people, especially for something usually as simple as a game controller. Ideally, Valve should look to add a much more prominent warning (like in the Steam client) - just to be a bit more on the safe side.Oh please, take responsibility, its magnetic, it has electricity......
Liam Squires-Hand 6 hours ago
Quoting: BumadarI think you vastly overestimate how many people understand that at all.But, who actually reads this kind of small-print? My bet is only a very tiny minority of people, especially for something usually as simple as a game controller. Ideally, Valve should look to add a much more prominent warning (like in the Steam client) - just to be a bit more on the safe side.Oh please, take responsibility, its magnetic, it has electricity......
It's hard to say from pictures, but that metal strap seems to have been quite conductive. There should be some safety shutdown when a short is detected across the pins.
I wonder if there's some extra details we're not aware of, or if it really is that "dumb".
Quoting: KlaasIt is bad design to have exposed pins that carry a current.All external battery chargers/dock (for cylindrical, prismatic, random battery packs and whole devices) have exposed pins. Sound way to close to alarmist BS...
Quoting: Cley_FayeIt's hard to say from pictures, but that metal strap seems to have been quite conductive. There should be some safety shutdown when a short is detected across the pins.Puck it self just connector/plug like barrel jack or any other? All "intelligence" are in charging bricks. Good stuff have all safety features: shorts, wrong polarity, current surge protection etc. More important what was connected to other end of Puck... PC/laptop and similar USB port are low power, except USB C power delivery ones.
Last edited by mindedie on 22 May 2026 at 4:42 pm UTC
Quoting: mindedieAll external battery chargers/dock (for cylindrical, prismatic, random battery packs and whole devices) have exposed pins.No, they don't. There are some, but most that have exposed conductive surfaces only have ground connections on the outside. Take a look at the cylindrical connectors of olden times (okay this one can have the positive on the outside depending on polarity), all types of USB-plugs, Molex, the power part of SATA, etc. are safer by design.
This is pure laziness. Even if you limit the current (which obviously you should) you have to assume as a designer that that mechanism can fail (and it will wither by aging or by production error).
Quoting: KlaasCharging BL-5C batteries, right now, dock/slot pins are nice and exposed. Looking at camera pack, AA, AAA, 18650, 21600, 6LR61 chargers... kinda same, exposed. If shorting pins with something conductive, charging brick (stops) start blinking for errors...Quoting: mindedieAll external battery chargers/dock (for cylindrical, prismatic, random battery packs and whole devices) have exposed pins.No, they don't.
Molex... try using (detachable) molex cables from one manufacture PSU on different manufacture or even same manufacture, just different model.
Mohandevir 2 hours ago
Caldathras 2 hours ago
Quoting: vic-baykeep your room tidy, pay attention to your electric equipment and nothing bad will ever happen, unless a cat or a mouse chews on wires.Or a rabbit, LoL. Long, long ago my girlfriend's dwarf bunny chewed partially through the monitor cable while I was using the computer. The screen went from full colour to shades of green. The rabbit survived. She changed his name to Merlin.
Merlin liked to play with my brother's Siamese cat. He would sneak up behind the cat and bite its tail then run away, expecting to be chased.
Last edited by Caldathras on 22 May 2026 at 6:45 pm UTC
Philadelphus 1 hour ago
However, to be clear here, part of the issue is that this particular strap was attached to a watch that was actually on charge. So there was some cross-over happening here.The strap has to be electrically isolated from the internals of the watch, so whether the watch was charging or not shouldn't have a bearing on causing a short with the puck. (Though that likely would've exacerbated a potential fire, for sure.)
We can debate the hardware design, but what's done is done at this point. I wonder if Valve can update the puck's firmware to detect shorts and cut the current.
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