Add Any Extra Button To Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Options

[RDC]

First off, thank you to all that have contributed to the extra button tutorials. I have a bit of a problem though, and would really appreciate any help offered.

I've added A,B,X, and Y buttons on the bottom of the controller. B,X, and Y work fine; however, A doesn't.

Testing the circuit with a multimeter shows behavior as expected, infinite resistance until either the original button or the new button is pushed - then the resistance goes to approx. zero.

When connected to the Xbox though, A simply doesn't work. Neither the original or the new button do anything when pressed.

Any ideas?

If you're getting a reading of 0ohms when you're pushing the controllers button the there's a problem there, it shouldn't drop any lower than 24ohms or so. The new button you have installed will give a reading of 0ohms when pressed though.

What's most likely happened is you've got yourself a cracked trace or messed up a Via somehow in the process, those are about the ony things that would keep A from working. Where did you attach your wires for the duplicate A button at?

[vverz]

If you're getting a reading of 0ohms when you're pushing the controllers button the there's a problem there, it shouldn't drop any lower than 24ohms or so. The new button you have installed will give a reading of 0ohms when pressed though.

What's most likely happened is you've got yourself a cracked trace or messed up a Via somehow in the process, those are about the ony things that would keep A from working. Where did you attach your wires for the duplicate A button at?

Ack I thought this would email responses, glad I checked finally.

I should mention that this is on a wired controller. I apologize in advance for my amateurish soldering.

I tested all the other buttons and they all behaved the same way; when pressing the new buttons it goes to 0ohms, when pressing the original pads they all go to around 55ohms. The controller is not assembled at this point and I'm using the rubber pad to press it, so the higher resistance makes sense since I'm not pushing it as hard as I could with the plastic button.



This post has been edited by vverz: Jan 25 2007, 04:51 AM

[RDC]

Anyone that's soldered anything to anything else has something in their past that looks like that, and I'm sure there are some that probably can't do that good, but I would suggest a little more practice before having at another controller though.

You couldn't get it to drop to 0ohms even if it was all together and ya stood on the original controller's button, that black coating you see there has some resistance to it, as does the pad that makes the connection.

It looks to me like you've pretty much blown that Via there above the A button. Because of where you have the A buttons alternate wires soldered I can see why neither would work in this case. You'l need to fix that up before anything, and I just about guarantee that's the problem right there too. Have a read HERE for trace repair, there's a section about fixing a torn up Via in there too.

You should switch up to a lot smaller wire too. I use 30AWG Wrapping Wire (also called Kynar Wire), you can pick it up at Rat Shack and a few places online as well.

This post has been edited by RDC: Jan 25 2007, 05:57 AM

[vverz]

Anyone that's soldered anything to anything else has something in their past that looks like that, and I'm sure there are some that probably can't do that good, but I would suggest a little more practice before having at another controller though.

You couldn't get it to drop to 0ohms even if it was all together and ya stood on the original controller's button, that black coating you see there has some resistance to it, as does the pad that makes the connection.

It looks to me like you've pretty much blown that Via there above the A button. Because of where you have the A buttons alternate wires soldered I can see why neither would work in this case. You'l need to fix that up before anything, and I just about guarantee that's the problem right there too. Have a read HERE for trace repair, there's a section about fixing a torn up Via in there too.

You should switch up to a lot smaller wire too. I use 30AWG Wrapping Wire (also called Kynar Wire), you can pick it up at Rat Shack and a few places online as well.

Okay, repair the Via: where should I pull off the board to connect that to? That pad area there is very short, and yes, it looks like I lost that pad. I tried to fix it by connecting a little further down on the trace to the button section itself, but where do I pull what the Via was connected to - on the other side?

- Edit: I'm guessing D5 from this post?. I wish I had searched more before starting the mod. I was following a tutorial, but it had me scraping the masking off the vias. It would have been much easier to pull the points off of your other locations.

This post has been edited by vverz: Jan 26 2007, 03:50 AM

[RDC]

Okay, repair the Via: where should I pull off the board to connect that to? That pad area there is very short, and yes, it looks like I lost that pad. I tried to fix it by connecting a little further down on the trace to the button section itself, but where do I pull what the Via was connected to - on the other side?

- Edit: I'm guessing D5 from this post?. I wish I had searched more before starting the mod. I was following a tutorial, but it had me scraping the masking off the vias. It would have been much easier to pull the points off of your other locations.

You don't pull from the board anywhere to fix the Via, the Trace Repair Tutorial has a perfect example of what ya need to do, it's on page 2. You need to clean out the Via, scrape down the other side of it, run the wire thru it, solder it to the back side (were the Via is still good) then solder it to what's left of that trace that goes to the A buttons contact.

If you attach your duplicate buttons wire to the D5 there you're duplicate button will work, but the A button will still be dead, you need to repair the Via for that to get going again. I'd personally use the TP42 spot to attach the wire to, but either will work and you wont have to mess with the Trigger if you attach it to D5. You need to remove the Trigger anyway to get to all these spots, desolder the 3 joints that hold the POT in, then it just unclips from the board. Just BE CAREFUL. The Via repair you're attempting, soldering onto a SMT part and desoldering something correctly are leaps ahead of what you've been doing on that thing and may be capable of. Not trying to sound like a jerk, just tryin to keep ya from getting in any deeper than ya already are.

This post has been edited by RDC: Jan 26 2007, 06:12 AM

[vverz]

That's okay, I've obviously screwed this up enough. I have done soldering in the past, and a very small amount of board level work - cap replacement throughout arcade monitors, modded the original xbox, etc; it's just this particular one that is being a real pain.

As for this, a controller without an A button isn't much of one at all. Hopefully this will fix things up.

This post has been edited by vverz: Jan 26 2007, 06:13 AM

[vverz]

Everything works now. Thanks RDC!

[RDC]

You're welcome.

[spankymcgee27]

Hey, is the solder point for the right trigger the middle of the 3 solders next to the trigger housing? if so then to hook that up to an added button would i just connect that to one side of the extra button then connect the two sides of the extra button together?

[RDC]

The points and correct way to add an extra button for the Triggers, as well as all of the buttons, are in the Tutorials section, Wired or Wireless Controller Button Solder Points.

[refresh]

Ok I really need help, I wanna add 4 buttons. One for x,b,y and a. I am decent at soldering but how do you solder in the little holes? Does the solder just stick to them or do you need to scrape them? Thanks. I need an answer fast!

[RDC]

Look in the tutorials section for the "Wireless Controller Button Solder Points". I have pics of all the better places to attach the wires for your new buttons, you don't have to mess with any Vias or masking removal at all for any of the buttons except Guide in those diagrams.

[refresh]

Does anyone have a pic of one of the buttons that jeremy used next to a dime or something? I really need the demensions but a pic next to a dime would be 10x better. I need it as soon as possible. Thanks in advance!

[RDC]

They're 6mm x 6mm x 7mm. This one has the ground lead on it (the one on top) and it's not used or can just be clipped off, but aside from that is identical to what the 6x6x7mm tact swich is. The base is roughly 6mm x 6mm x 4mm not counting the length of the leads.



This post has been edited by RDC: Apr 5 2007, 01:39 AM

[refresh]

Gotta love macro! Thank you so much man. I am gonna order a switch for a crouch mod and i will start it when that gets here. Thanks to you to jeremy for all the work. Thanks again!!!