Lighting Thumbsticks Tut, How to light your clear thumbsticks up Options

[satanicshrew]

You will need:
Soldering iron
4, 3MM LEDs
Wire (I used a CAT5 strand)
A dremmel or a drill
Sand paper


This is what we are going to do.


So drill out your holes for your LEDs.



Next sand down the angle dome on your led so it looks like this (this will diffuse the light better)


Next you want to solder your first LED. Then place it in position. It is important to have the LED head flush with the inside ring of your thumbstick housing. Hot glue her in place and hold it there till you can let go and it wont back out of its hole. Should look like this when you are done.


Now unravel your CAT5(if you are using it) like so.


From here on out it gets tricky to place the LEDs in place. You will need to strip the wire with out cutting it (it is less of a pain then trying to solder 2 wires to one tail). Then bend your tails really close to the head of the LED and solder it, place it. Now hot glue this one in place as well. It will look like this.

The next one.

Now you will need to notch out a piece of your controller so that your wire can pass though without getting bothered by your bumper button or effect its function.

Now the next LED.



Once everything is placed it should look like this.


Now you need to solder your wires to your source whatever that might be. Mine is the rumble motor.


And your done! Congratulations!
Hope you have enjoyed.

[ozzylow]

Thanks. Ill have a try at this on the weekend for my Borderlanos project. Where did you get the idea and figure it all out.

Couple questions

Can you take the power from the rumble motor, does that mean it does not work anymore or just run both of the connection

Do you need clear thumbsticks, could you still see the like with standard thumbsticks.


Could you take a picture of the power source so its easier for me and everyone else attempting this tutorial.

Thanks

[satanicshrew]

Thanks. Ill have a try at this on the weekend for my Borderlanos project. Where did you get the idea and figure it all out.

Couple questions

Can you take the power from the rumble motor, does that mean it does not work anymore or just run both of the connection

Do you need clear thumbsticks, could you still see the like with standard thumbsticks.
Could you take a picture of the power source so its easier for me and everyone else attempting this tutorial.

Thanks

I got the idea when I saw a mod that you could buy from a sight where they sell a kit for it but I didn't want to buy it because it cost like 17$ So I figured out a different solution



This will only turn the power on to the LEDs when the rumble pack is activated. So if you are shooting something or getting attacked the lights will turn on. Its a nice effect.

Yes you do need a clear based thumbstick for the desired effect. They are sold on Llamma.com or other site im sure.

I hope this helped!

[Weirdjerz3y]

Wow, Great Tut, Going to trying this out soon. I got smoke black thumbsticks, do im going to put white, to watch with the rest of the leds in my controller.
BTW, Ebay has many colors of clear thumbsticks.

[DiamondCut]

Damn looks so sweet, I wan't to start modding more controllers but no one will give me any business...

[DragonSlayer1987]

Very nice detailed tutorial thanks for taking the time to post this for everyone. Funny side note I completed a similar mod on my gears of war 3 controller. I used smoke clear thumbsticks and added a gears cog and skull guide button.
Having the LEDs light up when the controller rumbles is a nice effect. If I can add some info, solder to just one rumble motor like satanicshrew mentions not both, I have each thumbstick soldered to a separate rumble motor and they don't always light up at the same time when the controller rumbles.

[bidrug]

i was thinking in doing something similar, but I'm a n00b at elctronics... I can surely solder, I'm not afraid of modding, I just don't know how to really do it

My idea was to use a cell phone battery (and charging circuit), or some better batteries, get some clear ps3 thumsticks (i like'em much more than xbox ones) and do something similar but permanent...

This post has been edited by bidrug: Mar 1 2012, 10:11 AM

[Infamous Ob]

Wow. This is a very impressive Mod. I like it. In your picture with the Power Source, why is only the Positive lead shown? Where is the Negative lead? I think it will be more helpful to Modders who's trying to perform this mod

[ploggy]

I assume the negative is directly to the left of the positive ?

[satanicshrew]

Very nice detailed tutorial thanks for taking the time to post this for everyone. Funny side note I completed a similar mod on my gears of war 3 controller. I used smoke clear thumbsticks and added a gears cog and skull guide button.
Having the LEDs light up when the controller rumbles is a nice effect. If I can add some info, solder to just one rumble motor like satanicshrew mentions not both, I have each thumbstick soldered to a separate rumble motor and they don't always light up at the same time when the controller rumbles.

Thats really sick man! I was thinking of doing separate motors on my thumbsticks but i have really bad OCD with symmetric designs. Did you make the guide button your self or did you order it? If you made it your self could you send me a picture that would be awesome. I was thinking of making my own guide button as well but didnt really know where to start. Thanks by the way!

Wow. This is a very impressive Mod. I like it. In your picture with the Power Source, why is only the Positive lead shown? Where is the Negative lead? I think it will be more helpful to Modders who's trying to perform this mod

The Negative is right next to the positive. If your not sure on yoou controller just plug in your rumble pack and then match the motor leads.

[DragonSlayer1987]

Yeah I got the guide button off eBay. You can however make something similar using a decal. Just print the decal small enough to cover the top of the guide button then use a clear to protect it.
I think the process is more detailed than that but it is an idea.