Tracking a second controller
The first controller is detected on its own. A second one gets its own taskbar icon in two clicks, even when both are the same model.
Updated September 23, 2026 · Devices
BatteryOnPC detects your first controller by itself, with nothing to set up. When a second one joins it (a friend's pad, a spare DualSense, an Xbox controller next to a PlayStation one), it is read and its alerts reach you straight away, but it only gets its own taskbar icon once you give it one.
Why the second one waits for you
If every controller that turned up took an icon on its own, icons would change hands each time a friend's controller connected, and you could no longer tell at a glance whose controller was running low. So each icon keeps the controller it was given to.
While that controller is switched off, its icon may briefly show another connected controller, and it hands it back as soon as its own controller returns.
Giving it its own icon
- 1
Turn both controllers on
The second controller must be connected, over USB or Bluetooth, and already detected.
- 2
Open the add menu
Right-click any BatteryOnPC icon, then Add a device (beta) › Controller. The controllers that do not have an icon yet are listed there.
- 3
Pick it
Click it: it gets its own icon in the taskbar, next to the first one. In the window, the Devices tab does the same: Scan for devices, then Add on the controller's line.
If the menu says "No other controller detected", the second controller is not being read yet: check it is switched on and connected, then open the menu again.
Two controllers of the same model
Two DualSense controllers look identical, to you and to Windows. To keep each one on its own icon, BatteryOnPC uses the controller's serial number, which for a PlayStation controller is its Bluetooth address. When two controllers share a model, their names get a short suffix taken from that number, so you can tell them apart in the tooltips and in the window.
One limit: controllers read through XInput (Xbox controllers, and third-party controllers in Xbox mode) do not expose a serial number. Two Xbox controllers are told apart by their XInput slot, which can change from one session to the next.
Settings are shared
All controllers share the same notification settings: the Controller card in the Notifications tab applies to each of them. Mice, keyboards and headsets, on the other hand, each have their own card.
Removing an icon
Right-click the extra controller's icon, then Remove this device. Only the icon goes away: the controller is still read, and its alerts still reach you. BatteryOnPC always keeps at least one icon, since that is your way into the app.