Hardware Gamepad charging LED flashing and screen pulsing when charging

[mashers]

I docked my Wii U Gamepad today and it was doing this:



The quality of the video isn't the greatest, so I'll describe it. The charging LED is flashing approximately twice per second. With every flash of the charging LED, the screen seems to pulse brighter.

I removed the charging cable from the dock and connected it directly to the Gamepad and it continued to do the same thing. If I remove the charging cable, the Gamepad returns to normal. If I turn the console off and connect the charging cable, the charging LED comes on and remains steady.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Coolsonickirby]

Why is it private?

 

[mashers]

Why is it private?

What do you mean?

Edit - oh, the video. I selected the wrong option when I uploaded it. Should be fixed now.

 

[Coolsonickirby]

The video

Edit: oh nvm

 

[mashers]

The video

See above - it should be visible now. I meant to choose unlisted.

 

[Coolsonickirby]

Try testing it with another wire

 

[mashers]

Try testing it with another wire

Oh, you think it could be the charger itself? I don't have another one to test with unfortunately

 

[duffmmann]

Oh, you think it could be the charger itself? I don't have another one to test with unfortunately

My gamepad's charging cable has been around the block, its got electric tape covering an exposed wire in the charging cable. When connected directly with the gamepad, there are no issues, but sometimes when I connect the cable to the charging cradle, the LED will flash and screen will pulse as well (though not nearly as quickly as yours seems to be going). I'm certain that this is due to my cable starting to slowly crap out on me. Not much of an issue yet, but in the future I may have to replace the charging cable.

 

[smileyhead]

Change the battery or the cable. It seems like a charging issue.
The brightness rises and the LED lights up when the GamePad is plugged in.

 

[mashers]

My gamepad's charging cable has been around the block, its got electric tape covering an exposed wire in the charging cable. When connected directly with the gamepad, there are no issues, but sometimes when I connect the cable to the charging cradle, the LED will flash and screen will pulse as well (though not nearly as quickly as yours seems to be going). I'm certain that this is due to my cable starting to slowly crap out on me. Not much of an issue yet, but in the future I may have to replace the charging cable.

Change the battery or the cable. It seems like a charging issue.
The brightness rises and the LED lights up when the GamePad is plugged in.

Thanks guys. I'll try to borrow a charger from somebody else and see if that solves the problem.

 

[Ryccardo]

Yeah, really sounds like the charger is overloaded so the voltage drops too low, so the gamepad rejects it, so the load drops, so it gets back up, .....

It's the norm with cheapass usb cables

 

[SomeGamer]

Do you have the brightness on 4 or above (so 5 )?

 

[mashers]

Hey guys

Turns out it was the charger after all. I had previously extended the gamepad charger cable as it was too short and the connections were still fine. I exposed the contacts and put a multimeter across them and it measured a steady 5v, but interestingly when I put a load on it (by connecting it to the gamepad) the output pulsed at the same rate the charging LED was flashing.

In the end I just cut one end off of a USB cable, wired it on to the gamepad charger plug, and it works perfectly plugged into a transformer with a USB socket.

Thanks for all the responses!