While we were between houses, I put my PS4 Dualshock and Gold wireless headphones in the wrong storage unit. The non climate controlled one.

Now, neither my controller nor my headset will charge. The PS4 is good (currently charging a new controller) but I want to fix my old controller and the headset. What's the best way to diagnose between the battery and charging port/circuit board? Or just change both on each item and roll on?

As a learning experience or hobby... fixing them might be awesome.

If you are looking to save money... just buy another, the time/supplies isn't worth it.

Might pop them open and see if they battery in the controller hasn't swollen and burst.  Check for corrosion.

This is the kind of thing I would do.  Two weeks ago I took apart my entire PS4 to clean it out and put new thermal paste on the CPU.  I did this because I was getting overheating warnings while gaming.

The problem has been fixed.

As for your controller is would be much easier to just buy new stuff.  But if you are like me, you like to take things apart/do things yourself; and save money at the same time.  I would take the controller apart and check everything out, clean it, reassemble and see what happens.  Be looking for things that stand out or seem out of place.

It's already broken so no harm no foul and you might very well fix it.

Crack them open, measure battery terminal voltage - see if within spec, ~3.2-3.5 volts

Plug in the charge circuit, measure battery terminal voltage, should increase if charge circuit is working.

My guess is your batteries will no longer hold a charge, so you'll have to replace them.

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

Eh, I wanna save money and I like to tinker. I just don't want to replace unnecessary parts. Though I've been known to do that on occasion.

Will do, though I don't suspect ambient temp (120* maybe in the storage unit) would be enough to swell a battery.
Humidity may have caused some corrosion on the battery terminals or the circuit board though, so I'll definitely take a look. Thanks!

Good advice, thanks!
Where do I prod for the ground on this thing? Just pick a random rivet?

Corrosion across the terminals or on a circuit board that shorts a battery out or cause a draw can kill or swell a battery.

Guys, I have to admit. I'm an idiot.

I tried every cable I could find to charge these things, no dice.

My wife bought me a new controller and a dual charging dock for my birthday, and I put the new controller on there to charge. All is good. I figured the dock looked dumb with just one controller on it so I put the "bad" controller on it as well and the motherfather started charging.

Dug around in our cables bin and found another random cable, stuck it into the 2nd USB port and connected my headset and that damned thing started charging, too.

At the end of the day, the mini-USB that charges my robot dick and my old work phone won't charge the PS4 stuff. And neither will the Rocket Fish cable that charges my old earpiece. But sure as shit, some random stubby Mini USB cable I've never seen before charges like a champion.

Thanks for the advice y'all, I'll keep it in my pocket for the future. In the meantime, I'm gonna download Ark and take a stab at it before bedtime.

I guess in GD I should start with more basic trouble shooting advice.

Like "plug it in".

Good job OP, at least you got it working