I am using the play and charge kit with my 360, and the lights on the controller start dancing when the batteries hit 3/4 charge (according to the indicator on the dashboard).

This is extremely annoying, and seems far too conservative.

Is there a way to adjust the sensitivity of this setting, and does the system start too adjust as the batteries break in?

It's the on-screen power indicator that's not accurate, I've found.

I've found that when the lights start flashing I have anywhere from 5-10 hours of play left--it depends on how much rumble the game I'm playing uses.

I think it's conservative on purpose so that people don't bitch about having a controller die in the middle of a multiplayer match or something like that. With 5+ hours notice there's no excuse to change the battery out :)

Yea it's the on-screen thing that's inaccurate. I've had that telling me I have 1/3rd charge left and then have the controller die on me in 10 minutes.

Me too. I thought I was the only one. it starts flashing about 1/2 way on minne. Very annoying

It is the opposite for me on my controllers. When it starts flashing, I usually have 1 -3 minutes to switch out my batteries before my controller goes dead.

Good thread, this has been a pet peeve of mine for a while. I change my battery (rechargables, so not as bad for the environment) as soon as the controller begins to blink. Believe it or not, I find the spinny lights on the controller actually catch my eye and distract me when playing. I hate getting fragged for no good reason. The battery life lasts 10+ hours after the blinking starts?! Jeez, that's a lot of unnecessary charging I'm doing! It'd be nice if there was a setting to adjust that or turn it off completely.

Very annoying. Mine starts blinking hours too early.

i use Energizer AA rechargeables, and my controller will always show 3 bars until it goes down to 1 bar and starts flashing, and when that happens i just swap out the drained batteries for fresh ones from the charger. i don't think that i've ever actually seen my controller show 2 bars ever, it's either 3 bars or 1 bar and flashing, even when i was using regular AA batteries when i first got my system...

Well the problem with this thread is that different people are using different batteries. Some are using a MS rechargable battery pack, regular alkalines, aftermarket battery packs, or rechargable batteries. So you could possibly expect different results with different batteries. I use the MS pack and mine starts blinking when I have about 7 hours of gameplay left. It can be annoying to see it constantly blinking but it forces me to check the dashboard indicator. And I've never had a controller die in the middle of a game because of that constant reminder.

Well the problem with this thread is that different people are using different batteries. Some are using a MS rechargable battery pack, regular alkalines, aftermarket battery packs, or rechargable batteries. So you could possibly expect different results with different batteries. I use the MS pack and mine starts blinking when I have about 7 hours of gameplay left. It can be annoying to see it constantly blinking but it forces me to check the dashboard indicator. And I've never had a controller die in the middle of a game because of that constant reminder.

I've had my controller die in the middle of games all the time BECAUSE of that constant reminder. If my controller starts telling me the batteries are low when I have 7 hours of juice left in it I'm going to completely ignore that warning. After all why break out the play and charge when I can keep playing wirelessly for 7 more hours? Problem is once that 7 hours turns into 10 minutes I don't realize because I can't remember how long the things been flashing at me.

I have the MS rechargable packs. Started playing Dark Sector (slow day, don't ask :P with the controller flashing. FINISHED DS (well, all but the last boss anyway) with the controller still flashing! No matter how you cut it, 8 hours of gameplay with extensive rumble is FAR too long for the indicator. I want to be able to dial down the flash as well.

I usually have about 30 minutes or less of battery life left when my controller starts to light up like a Christmas tree. The onscreen indicator is usually way off on my console - Will show 33 - 50% charge left immediately before the controller dies.

I know for me, the controller starts flashing pretty far in advance. Seems like as it gets closer to dying though, it actually starts flashing more frequently. When it first starts flashing, they are staggered probably every couple minutes. When it starts spinning every few seconds I know I have probably 10 minutes or less. This is with a play and charge kit.

I use the offical microsoft packs......
I've noticed the controller stops rumbling at a certin point, anyone else noticed this? Annoying when the controller still has hours of wireless left.

I've had controllers die in offline multiplayer matchs as it doesn't really when it dies since the game pauses (thinking COD4, Halo 3)

I tend to keep mine plugged in 90% of the time anyway. O__O

Cords don't bother me. Especially with a generous one like the 360's wireless controller. o_O

As your rechargeable batteries age, the time remaining gets less and less. Used to be, I still had several hours left when the flashing began, but now it's more like 15 min. I swap out battery packs at the first opportunity after the flashing starts.