Valve investigates Steam Controller Puck after user “almost started a fire”
Reddit user claims that they “almost started a fire” with their Steam Controller Puck
Valve’s new Steam Controller ships with a “Puck” that acts as a 2.4 GHz wireless receiver and as a magnetic charging dock. It is a vital part of the Steam Controller package, and now a user is warning that it is potentially dangerous. On Reddit, a user claimed they “almost started a fire” when their metal smartwatch strap hit the puck and touched its exposed contacts.
The user reported that his watch strap had heated up and started “sizzling”, causing visible damage to both the Steam Controller Puck and the strap. The user has claimed that Valve’s hardware team has been in touch and that they will be sending the items to them soon for their investigation. Valve has offered to replace his Puck.
The Steam Hardware team has been in touch and is investigating. I’ll send them the items soon so they can reproduce the issue. They’ll send me a replacement Puck.
It is worth noting that the user behind this post blames the incident on user error. They warned that users should keep their puck 1-2m away from anything metallic. Valve has not officially commented on the post or on this issue elsewhere on social media.
Valve’s Steam Controller Puck contains magnets, so there is a risk that it may attract metal objects. That said, this is an isolated incident. Unless more reports of similar issues emerge, Steam Controller users have no need to worry. Just try to keep metal objects away from its metal pins.
You can join the discussion on Valve investigating the user report of the Steam Puck contact issue on the OC3D Forums.
PSA: Watch out for the exposed contacts of the Puck! Almost started a fire due to metallic smartwatch strap
byu/Toikka inSteamController
