Add Any Extra Button To Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Options

[Kevlar218]

I have done the bumper button mod and swapped the triggers on my wireless controller, but I am very annoyed playing graw and cod2 when I have to hold down the trigger to snipe. What kind of button would I need to make the trigger have a constant on or off effect when it is pressed. That way, I can just click it and it goes into snipe mode and I have that finger free. Then click out of the mode when I'm done. Thanks again.

[Kevlar218]

Ok I reread the post and I kind of understand what you are talking about RDC when modding the triggers to push buttons. Do you know of a tact switch that will fit into the wireless controller? I don't know much about switches and people are talking about mouser.com, but it is huge and I dunno what I'm looking for. I did the trigger swap and that requires bending the middle pin of the trigger up on the side, connecting a wire to it, and routing it to the opposite hole on the board. So when connecting the tact button I will be using a wire from each opposite side trigger post, instead of directly connecting to the board, but that shouldn't matter right? Let me if you have any certain buttons in mind, it would be greatly apreciated.

This post has been edited by Kevlar218: Aug 30 2006, 08:21 PM

[RDC]

Yes you can add a push button so the trigger stays "on" when the button is held in or a switch and make the Trigger stay "on" when the switch is flipped, then act normal when it's off. There is most likely a small enough on/off switch as well that you could install so it would "lock" in place when you pressed it in, then "unlock" when you pressed it again.

All you have to do is wire up the new button or switch from the Wiper to Ground of whatever Trigger you want to use.

Yeah Mouser is a pretty big place to go looking for something, I'll nose around in the book and see what I'd use for all of those types of switches and get back to ya.

[RDC]

MOMENTARY PUSH BUTTON (have to hold it down)

http://www.mouser.com/search/productdetail...tualkey68800000


SWITCH (toggle on/off)

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail...tualkey63300000


LATCHING PUSH BUTTON (stays on or off when pressed until pressed again)

This switch will most likely be a pain to find in the size you'll probably need, but it's also the kind you'd most likely want to use. That all depends on where exactly you wanted to mount it in the controller also, since some places offer tons of room compared to other spots. I'll have to do some more looking and see what I can find, let me know where you may want it installed so I'll have a reference for the size it should be.

[Kevlar218]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I am really looking to add a latching push button, but like you said, it would be hard to find one small enough. Um, I don't really know where to install it. Where the black and white buttons were on the old S controller could work. Somewhere on the bottom would also work, as I've seen in the other pictures. If you could find one, that would be great. I could always fit a toggle switch in there if I got rid of a rumbler. I just don't know where I'd put it without it being in the way and it wouldn't look very clean.

This post has been edited by Kevlar218: Aug 30 2006, 11:22 PM

[RDC]

The toggle switch I picked out at Mouser will fit in there almost anywhere, that thing is small.

I'm sure there's a latching switch small enough to fit in there somewhere. It's kinda hard to nail one down even with the measurements of the switch, since the insides of the controller aren't nice and square at all. If you pull a Rumble motor out you'd have a ton of room to stick in just about anything, but I wouldn't want to go there unless it was the only option.

There are a few at Mouser that should fit in there one way or another, but without actually getting one and seeing it's kinda hard to tell exactly. What ya want to look for is either a "Latching" switch or a "Push-Push" type of switch abut as small as you can get.

These may work, but don't hold me to it since I don't have any of them to see how I'd go about mounting them.

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail...tualkey68800000

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail...tualkey68800000

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail...tualkey68800000

[Luweeg64]

As far as soldering, what gun do you guys recommed, I was gonna pick up a ColdHeat, but jeremy advised aganist it, and also, would it be possible to put the wire throught the VIA and then solder on the back of the board?

[RDC]

As far as soldering, what gun do you guys recommed, I was gonna pick up a ColdHeat, but jeremy advised aganist it, and also, would it be possible to put the wire throught the VIA and then solder on the back of the board?

Not soldering gun, Soldering Iron, or Pencil, you could torch a hole right thru the board with a soldering gun, not to mention those things like to burn themselves up over time depending on how they're used.

You wouldn't want to use the Cold Heat on anything in a 360 controller, I wouldn't use it on anything period. If all ya need is a Soldering Iron for this or that pick up a 15w to 30w one at Rat Shack for around $10, that will do ya for most little projects. If you're serious about doing a lot of soldering work you'll want to invest in a good Hakko or Weller Soldering Iron or Station with adjustable heat and might toss up to $100 or so on a decent one.

As for messing with the Via you for sure don't want to go sticking the wire thru it, ya can't anyway without clearing it out, and doing that will most likely result in tearing it all the way out. I don't see why you'd want to soldeer it to the back really, you'd still have to scrape down the same amount of trace around the Via to solder the wire to and you'd just be making more work for yourself and running the veryhigh risk of tearing up that Via then having to reapir it.

[Luweeg64]

Not soldering gun, Soldering Iron, or Pencil...

That's what I meant. . . lol

If all ya need is a Soldering Iron for this or that pick up a 15w to 30w one at Rat Shack for around $10, that will do ya for most little projects.

All I plan on doing is small little controller mods, and as far as Rat Shack, do you mean Radio Shack?

As for messing with the Via you for sure don't want to go sticking the wire thru it, ya can't anyway without clearing it out, and doing that will most likely result in tearing it all the way out. I don't see why you'd want to soldeer it to the back really, you'd still have to scrape down the same amount of trace around the Via to solder the wire to and you'd just be making more work for yourself and running the veryhigh risk of tearing up that Via then having to reapir it.

My grandfather is an eletrician, he thinks it'd be easier to do it that way, just string the wire through and touch it on the back, and it should make contact, then snip the end, as he thinks it'd be pretty hard to solder it right to the front, we also found some wire that actually fits through the via without any clearing (if you hold the board up to a light, you can see right through the Vias.

Thoughts?

[RDC]

Yes Rat Shack is Radio Shack.

If the Vias on your board are clear you're lucky, most aren't.

You still have to scrape down the trace around the Via to have something to solder to, so either side you solder it to you walk the razors edge doing that part of it.

30AWG Wrapping wire (Kynar wire) will go right thru the Vias if they're clear, as will any 30AWG or smaller wire.

Soldering it to the top might be a tad more difficult than soldering it to the back, since the Vias on you're board are clear you can do them either way, just be careful scraping them down. Have a read here (both pages) for some pics I've taken on trace repair, there's a few in there on getting wire attached to the Via that should help ya out some.


If ya tell me what buttons or buttons you're trying to duplicate and if it's a Wired or Wireless controller I can show ya where to solder the wires and avoid most, if not all, of this Via scraping and soldering in the first place. There are several places to attach the wires instead of on those things.

[FILTHY J NASTY]

Does anyone know how to do that rapid fire mod?

[Luweeg64]

If ya tell me what buttons or buttons you're trying to duplicate and if it's a Wired or Wireless controller I can show ya where to solder the wires and avoid most, if not all, of this Via scraping and soldering in the first place. There are several places to attach the wires instead of on those things.

I'm gonna duplicate the X, Y, A, and B buttons.

And as far as where to solder to. . .

This is A :


This is B, Y and X :
Running a single wire from the common ground that splits to connect to the 3 buttons, and then running 3 wires back.

All in total, 6 solder points on the Vias. 2 for A, and 1 for the B,Y,X-common ground, and 3 more for the B, Y, and X buttons themselves.

My only question is how much around the Vias do I need to scrape. I mean size wise, I know that you have to scrape until you see the metal, but how big of a point will I need?
Correct?

*EDIT* Oh, by the way RDC, excellent posts about how to repair those traces, and beautiful pictures.

This post has been edited by Luweeg64: Nov 2 2006, 03:45 AM

[ProChief CXVII]

nice tut

[RDC]

Thanks.

The tutorial shows how to scrape down a Via properly.

The Diodes in your diagram aren't necessary, or are those supposed to be just arrows?

I wouldn't go soldering onto those points. You'll have the wire on the top of the board and putting it back together will be sort of a pain.

You can hit all of those spots on the back of the board and only have to deal with 2 Vias. Be careful when soldering the wires on to the SMD Diodes, you shouldn't have any real problem hitting them with the iron and some 30AWG wire if you're careful.

X = Blue (solder wire to bottom leg of D8)

Y = Yellow Via (at the bottom)

A = Green (solder wire to top left leg of D10) and Dark Red Via (in the middle)

B = Red (solder wire to top right leg of D10)

X,Y,B Common = Orange (use the solder joint at the bottom for 1 wire split to 3, or all 3 of them)





The Trigger may or may not get in your way some, it's removed from this picture as is the Thumb Stick. I'd remove the Trigger just to be safe and to give ya all the room you'll need to do the soldering. It's held in by 3 solder joints for the POT (other side of the board) and then it just clips off of the board.

[Luweeg64]

The Diodes in your diagram aren't necessary, or are those supposed to be just arrows?

Yes, they were just supposed to be arrows.

X = Blue (solder wire to bottom leg of D8)

Y = Yellow Via (at the bottom)

A = Green (solder wire to top left leg of D10) and Dark Red Via (in the middle)

B = Red (solder wire to top right leg of D10)

X,Y,B Common = Orange (use the solder joint at the bottom for 1 wire split to 3, or all 3 of them)

I'm guessing that you had that picture from something else, due to traces that you had colored but didn't mention. So, I'd solder to here:

And as far as removing the trigger, I'm guessing that unclipping it just wont' work, and that these are the solder points you were talking about: