Vader Battery Tray

A small Windows tray application that shows the battery state of a Flydigi Vader 5 Pro without trusting the often incorrect generic XInput battery value.

Download

1. Open the latest release.
2. Download the ZIP asset from that release.
3. Extract the ZIP to a permanent folder.
4. Double-click VaderBatteryTray.exe.

No installer, administrator access, custom driver, or account is required.

Optional launcher script

VaderBatteryTray.cmd is a convenience launcher for a source checkout. It starts VaderBatteryTray.exe when that file is already present; otherwise it runs build.cmd first and starts the resulting executable. For a normal release download, simply run VaderBatteryTray.exe directly.

What it does

• Shows controller battery and charging state in the Windows notification area.
• Reads the Flydigi HID GET_INFO response for the supported controller.
• Presents controller and Dock readings as the shared qualitative levels Critical, Low, Medium, High, and Top.
• Provides copyable, redacted diagnostics.
• Exposes an optional local Rainmeter bridge on 127.0.0.1.
• Can optionally synchronize the controller lighting with battery state.

The application does not collect telemetry or connect to the internet.

What's new in 1.3.0

• The local status API (schemaVersion: 5) adds dockControllerConnected, a cache-only signal that mirrors Space Station Service's ChargerInfo.IsControllerConnected from Dock EF evidence, with its own timestamp, sequence, and source fields.
• The physical dockState field stays independent and conservative: active Dock EF publishes docked; inactive EF publishes unknown, since a fully charged controller can remain physically seated while Space Station reports its controller-connected signal as false.
• The raw Dock field9 and an active-session flag are now exposed as diagnostic evidence alongside each dock-state observation. None of this changes battery, transport, charging, or controller-connection fields.

These additions are aimed at the local API and Rainmeter integration; tray behavior is unchanged from 1.2.0.

Controller lighting

Right-click the tray icon and open Controller lighting.

• Sync color with battery enables or disables direct lighting control.
• Brightness accepts values from 0% to 100% and defaults to 25%.
• Moving the slider updates the percentage immediately and sends one preview after release.
• Reset saved settings returns to disabled lighting and 25% brightness.

Lighting control is experimental and disabled by default. It does not send lighting commands to an off controller merely enumerated by the Dock. For a controller actively responding to GET_INFO while docked, it can apply the battery color only when Dock Sync, Intelligent Start, and Power Display are all confirmed disabled. If any of those Dock features is enabled, or their heartbeat state is unknown, the application leaves docked-controller lighting to the Dock firmware. Close When Shutdown is diagnostic only and does not affect live lighting ownership.

At 20% or below while an awake controller is discharging, the application leaves lighting control to the controller firmware so its native red low-battery pulse remains visible.

Advanced users can override the saved settings when starting the process:

VADER_TRAY_LED_CONTROL=1
VADER_TRAY_LED_BRIGHTNESS=25

Environment variables take priority over the tray settings and are clearly identified in the menu.

Start with Windows

Run Install Startup Shortcut.cmd from the application folder. To undo it, run Remove Startup Shortcut.cmd.

Supported environment

• Windows 10 or Windows 11, x64.
• Flydigi Vader 5 Pro using the currently supported HID interface.
• Flydigi Dock 2 for the optional observed Dock battery and firmware-setting integration.
• Controller and Dock raw values use different representations. The tray maps both to qualitative levels while keeping charging, charged, and discharging as independent power states.

Other Flydigi models and firmware revisions have not been tested exhaustively. Unknown or contradictory data is reported as unavailable rather than being forced into the approximate display scale.

Build from source

Windows includes the .NET Framework compiler used by this project.

Set-Location .\VaderBatteryTray
.\build.cmd
.\build_led_protocol_test.cmd
.\VaderLedProtocolSelfTest.exe

The build has no NuGet or third-party package dependencies. Building does not open the controller HID interface. Running the tray application does.

Rainmeter

An optional skin is included under rainmeter/RainformerHWi/Controller. See RAINMETER_BRIDGE.md for the local API and setup details. Copy the RainformerHWi folder to your Rainmeter Skins directory, then refresh the RainformerHWi\\Controller skin.

Technical documentation

Developer and verification material lives in docs/: the architecture, Dock EF battery-state observations, validation notes, and the release process. The repository documentation describes current behavior; historical handoff material is kept outside the working repository.

Related projects

• flydigi-dock2-signalrgb: a SignalRGB add-on for the Flydigi Dock 2. It is a sibling project covering the same Flydigi ecosystem, maintained separately from this repository.

Help and contributions

• For a problem, open a bug report.
• For an idea, open a feature request.
• Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting code.
• Security concerns should follow SECURITY.md.

License and disclaimer

Released under the MIT License.

This is an independent open-source project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Flydigi. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.