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Oculus GO Use when Plugged In?

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
I think a number of people are worried about Oculus' recommendation of not using the GO whilst "charging" . I am not sure if that extends to plugged in whilst the battery is fully charged, but let's assume it does. The 2.5 - 3 hours battery life comes as a bit of a downer if say a movie lasts 3 or more hours (and there are plenty of those in recent times). One of the GO's biggest selling points is viewing movie content, but seems to stumble with the battery limitation. Also for those on long haul flights/journeys, having to charge the device back up to full can take up to 3 hours which is a bit of a shame. Some people are likely to opt for an external portable USB charging unit to keep the device topped up or recharged when in the field.

Now I posed this question on Reddit which was kindly answered by Oculus tech communications officer Lisa Jaloza who reiterated not to use GO whilst "charging". No other reasons were provided.  But it's the reasons why that is important here. Are Oculus simply being overly cautious or is there a real danger of diminishing the life of the battery far quicker when using it this way.

There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence as of now where people have used the GO whilst it's plugged in/charging with seemingly no ill side effects. However, we don't know if there is risk over the longer term to the battery life or potential hazard of something much worse. 

@cybereality Please can someone at Oculus answer this question in greater detail rather than saying a blanket response. I think this is quite important and if there is no real risk to users then surely they can be the judge of whether they want to use it whilst plugged in. 

That said, PL has just offered a tear-down showing the 2600mah battery inside making a good case for modification to a better battery.




System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
61 REPLIES 61

chuffedfox
Protege


I will ask again.  Where did Oculus say not to use the Go headset while charging?


Have you not read the first post?

LZoltowski
Champion

UBSERD said:

I might be rolling the dice but I’ve been playing with my Go using a Aukey 30000 MHP battery. It has a fast charge usb and it never gets hot and the battery stays at 92% minimum even running games like Republik VR.  I played nonstop today for three hours and my eyes are hurting LOL.  Not because of any heat but because you shouldn’t be in VR for all that time anyway. Battery when done was still in the 90s in Go.

 Another plus is once the battery charges the device completely it shuts off ultimately saving the battery in your Go, especially if you charge overnight like me. I hate leaving it like that overcharging because it has no natural shutoff once the battery is full.

 I’m not recommending anybody else doing what I’m doing but it hasn’t caused any issues in a decent climate. I would not recommend going outside in the hot sun during the summer days and trying this because the heat will have nowhere to go then you may be in trouble. I am not condoning doing this, just adding my two cents to the topic.

Me too!! AUKEY products are great, works like a charm, no heat at all. Hours and hours of fun.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black
ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) 

Be kind to one another 🙂

merv60
Protege
  There's a thread in Off Topic asking how long people have spent in VR in one session. Don't know how many were using Oculus Go, but there were replies saying anything from 45 minutes to 14 hours.  :open_mouth: I gather there isn't a plug-in charger for the UK, so is it charged by USB? Can I charge it via my TV, the same way I charge my Kindle?

LZoltowski
Champion

Mervatar said:

  There's a thread in Off Topic asking how long people have spent in VR in one session. Don't know how many were using Oculus Go, but there were replies saying anything from 45 minutes to 14 hours.  :open_mouth: I gather there isn't a plug-in charger for the UK, so is it charged by USB? Can I charge it via my TV, the same way I charge my Kindle?

Im using this charger, works great
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A42R46G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black
ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) 

Be kind to one another 🙂

merv60
Protege



Mervatar said:

  There's a thread in Off Topic asking how long people have spent in VR in one session. Don't know how many were using Oculus Go, but there were replies saying anything from 45 minutes to 14 hours.  :open_mouth: I gather there isn't a plug-in charger for the UK, so is it charged by USB? Can I charge it via my TV, the same way I charge my Kindle?

Im using this charger, works great
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A42R46G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

   @L@LZoltowski Thanks for the link, but can you do what I asked, use the USB charger via my TV. It looks like I'll already have to buy a smartphone to go with the OG, so could do without any more expense. Cheers.

Anonymous
Not applicable
If it charges you kindle it should do the Go but it may take a lot longer as it will probably be limited to a max. of 0.5 amps and the recommended current for the Go is 2.0 amps.

On the plus side if you do buy a smart phone it will most likely have a USB charger with it .

merv60
Protege

geebee666 said:

If it charges you kindle it should do the Go but it may take a lot longer as it will probably be limited to a max. of 0.5 amps and the recommended current for the Go is 2.0 amps.

On the plus side if you do buy a smart phone it will most likely have a USB charger with it .

   @geebee666 Thanks for that, sounds good. I would probably use the OG during the day, so could charge via the TV from early evening until I turn it off, that may work.

Anonymous
Not applicable
@LZoltowski hell yeah man. I bought it originally for the Switch and that thing will keep it charged for 15 hours without needing to plug the battery in. Freakin sweet! Now it Is a Go accessory for me. 2 hours of gameplay just isn’t enough honestly especially with a three hour charge time.

This remedies the longevity completely but for all those who may try this, again not condoning doing this, just don’t download games while charging and wearing the Go. It will get warmer than usual. After the downloads are complete the temperature will go back down to normal. Try at your own risk but so far all is good.

Anonymous
Not applicable
I notice actually that the Go gets even warmer when charging in a wall socket with it on. The Go hardly gets hot at all when using the Aukey battery pack. 

burning_airline
Expert Protege




I will ask again.  Where did Oculus say not to use the Go headset while charging?


Have you not read the first post?


Yes, I read the first post.  Where in that post does it say where Oculus says not to use the Go headset while charging?  I mean as a new user, is it in a manual someplace?  In the tutorial?  How does Oculus convey this information to Oculus customers?