Can we talk about batteries?
I love the PSP. It is my favorite handheld system above all the others I own: Vita, 3DS, DS, GBA, og Gameboy. I have pearl white 3001 with CFW and a bunch of aaamaaazzinng games. However, my battery is terrible. It will hold a charge for somewhere around 2 hours of gameplay, and then shutoff without much warning. The battery indicator doesn't tell the full truth, so I have to sort of guess when it's time to charge so I don't lose game progress. It also quickly loses charge when it's sitting in my drawer powered off. So, what are my options? I know I can gamble on an aftermarket battery, but from what I've heard they are pretty terrible, too. I know I can attempt a "big battery" mod, but I am hesitant for one reason: I don't have a soldering kit and have never soldered anything.
Posted May 8, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC
Forgot to mention: my battery woes are the reason my favorite handheld system just sits a drawer collecting dust, and this bothers me.
Give Insten or Ostent a shot bud - see if the seller has returns if the battery craps out within the return period, but they've been pretty reliable for me.
The other thing to do is look into a PSP battery mod - just takes a bit of courage using a soldering iron but you should be fine!
I play most of my PSP games on Vita anyway. The battery life is so much better.
I still pick up the PSP, just not when I'm planning on longer play sessions.
I'm willing to hack my Vita just to get all those sweet sweet PSP games again. Is there a tutorial you followed? Is it risky as far as bricking the system?
The one in the sidebar on r/vitahacks
Avoid youtube guides. The youtubers leave their outdated vids up and if you use a guide that doesn't match your firmware you can brick your vita.
You can try the Insten, Cameron Sino, or TFSeven 1200mAh batteries. Avoid Ostent as the internal circuit board looks lower quality than the others and misses the easy reset pads to save your battery from a crashed non-functioning state.
Also, all Chinese batteries will have the microcontroller crash when you attempt USB charging or leave the battery in during USB file transfers.
If you do want to try a minor bit of easy soldering, and no cutting of your psp's shell, you can replace the Sony battery's bad cell with another 1200mAh cell. You can take a cell from an Insten, Cameron Sino, etc, or you can wait until the Hobby King Turnigy 1200mAh is in stock. If you use an extended battery door, you can use a 2000mAh Turnigy (in stock) and tape.
I've hacked 3 and there's been no issues. You can basically just Google it. One of the first few results you'll find is a neatly organized comprehensive step by step guide.