Soldering to XBox 360's d-pad

[Distortion]

I'm not the greatest solderer on the planet.  Regardless, I didn't have any trouble soldering to the face buttons on the XBox 360's wired controller.  With the contacts for the d-pad, on the other hand, I've been having a very difficult time.  I scraped, but couldn't seem to find any copper under the contact.  I managed to somehow get one of the wires soldered down, but haven't been able to get another.  I'm considering just hot-gluing the wire against the contact, but imagine that wouldn't be a very reliable solution.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?

[HaRuMaN]

Yes:



Also, take a look at my tutorial here:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64050.0

[Distortion]

Oh, this is perfect!  I've found a bunch of tutorials in various places, but none explained so well how to handle the d-pad.  I think I may have that attachment for my Dremel as well.  I'll give that a shot when I get home tonight.

[HaRuMaN]

 

[Distortion]

Managed to get this taken care of this evening.  The rotary brush made things tremendously easier.  I got better with the soldering as I went, but man, those d-pad contacts are brutally small.  As suggested, once finished, I went over all the contacts with a hot glue gun.  Well-invested $2.50.  As you can see in the pic, I had some troubles with some of the solders, and even with some of the hot gluing, but I've tested them all, including the guide button, and all is well.

I hot-glued the trigger pots in the neutral position.  I think I may order buttons for the right and left triggers, then put those together at a later time if I find a game that calls for them.  Since they have their own soldering posts, it should be really easy to do.  The RB/LB solders were the easiest of the bunch because of the posts.

[HaRuMaN]

Awesome.  Glad I could help. 

[ViciousXUSMC]

The irony that the two most important things I did in my recent dreamcast pad hack were both mentioned by HarmaN in his tut.

1.) Clean the PCB with Q-Tip & Alchohol after using the dremel, thats exactly what I did on the 2nd PCB and my guess in why the first one was so hard to work with.

2.) Place some solder on the PCB first rather than trying to solder the wire to it all at once, again exactly what I did.  The 2nd pad came out pretty pro with very little solder on each connection and great physical and electrical connection.

Other things that really helped using a clamp to hold it in place.

things I still need.

1.) More light, my house is so dark that a vampire would have trouble getting around.

2.) No kids around

3.) A new solder iron tip, the one I have is old, worn and even mis shapen now.

HarmumaN thanks for the tuts & tips.  You never answer my PM's though.

[Distortion]

I actually found it to be really easy to solder in the trigger functionality.  Since I hot-glued the trigger levers in place (after removing the triggers themselves) the potentiometer essentially functions as the resistor that I would have to put there if I removed the entire apparatus.  At that point, all I had to do was solder two wires to each of the posts.  As I predicted, having those posts there made the solders extremely easy.  My pushbuttons/joystick should be shipping soon from Happ.

[traycerb]

I actually found it to be really easy to solder in the trigger functionality.  Since I hot-glued the trigger levers in place (after removing the triggers themselves) the potentiometer essentially functions as the resistor that I would have to put there if I removed the entire apparatus.  At that point, all I had to do was solder two wires to each of the posts.  As I predicted, having those posts there made the solders extremely easy.  My pushbuttons/joystick should be shipping soon from Happ.

Not clear on the trigger/resister situation even after much searching.  (I have an early-model MS wireless)

From what I understand there are 2 options:

1) Desolder the pots for the trigger assembly and put on a 10k (?) resistor

2) Keep the pot on and put the trigger in the "off" position by keeping pot lever in the position raised furthest from the board, and then place a 10k (?) resistor.

Are either of these solutions correct?

And if so, which pins get the resistor (based on the below photo), and which go to the button?  (I've read rdc's tutorial and still not clear).

[HaRuMaN]

If you leave the trigger in place, you do not need a resistor, just wire RT1 and RT2 to your button.

The 10K resistor is ONLY when you remove the trigger pot.

[taternutz]

Is there an alternate spot to solder the up direction on a common ground wireless dpad?? It is the only connection left to make and I think I screwed it, all others came out fantastic and work

[SG Jaycurl]

Is there an alternate spot to solder the up direction on a common ground wireless dpad?? It is the only connection left to make and I think I screwed it, all others came out fantastic and work

I'm working with a similar problem, tater (left direction for me). It looks like we might be able to solder to one of the "via" holes. I'm at work where some sites/images are blocked, but I think this posting on another site sort've describes how to do the via hole thing.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=605873

I'm hoping to try this tonight. So, there may be hope for us, yet I'll keep you posted.

If that doesn't work, I'm stuck with the quandary of ordering one from Haruman (so I don't waste more money) and wanting to figure it out on my own. I'm stubborn like that.

[HaRuMaN]

Just an FYI, I've currently stopped hacking the common ground wireless controllers, as they've been giving me a huge headache.  About 50% of them fail testing, I have 6 of them in a pile, each with a wierd issue.  I've fulfilled all my orders for them, but that's a $300 hit to my profits.    Unless, of course, I can figure out what went wrong.

[SG Jaycurl]

Just an FYI, I've currently stopped hacking the common ground wireless controllers, as they've been giving me a huge headache...

Aww, man. I'm sorry to hear that. If a pro like you has a tough time, that doesn't leave too much hope for a schmuck like me!

[HaRuMaN]

Just an FYI, I've currently stopped hacking the common ground wireless controllers, as they've been giving me a huge headache...

Aww, man. I'm sorry to hear that. If a pro like you has a tough time, that doesn't leave too much hope for a schmuck like me!

When I have some more time, I'm going to investigate.  I know its not a soldering issue, it's something else, possible heat or static related. 

[SG Jaycurl]

Okay, soldering pros. I suspect that I have either a technique or equipment problem. I'm trying to wire to a via and I've got the via scraped away to the point that I can see the shiny copper ring.

I'm using a 15 W iron and whenever I try to add solder, it seems that I slightly melt a thin layer of the coating on the PCB right near the via, and it covers up the via. Something similar happened with a directional pad contact, which got me to this point in the first place.

Luckily, I haven't ruined the via and I've been able scrape off the material and get back to the copper. But, before I went further, I thought I'd ask if you have any guesses what I might be doing wrong.

I am a noob to soldering, so maybe the answer is "Put down the soldering iron and back away slowly," though I'm the stubborn type who likes to learn new things and do it himself.

Thanks for any help you can lend.

[SG Jaycurl]

EDIT: Sorry - found the answer I was looking for.

[SG Jaycurl]

Is there an alternate spot to solder the up direction on a common ground wireless dpad?? It is the only connection left to make and I think I screwed it, all others came out fantastic and work

Hey, Tater.

I was able to successfully solder to one of the via holes for a direction. In my case, it was for the left direction, but for up it should be similar. Scraping off the covering over the copper connection is a little slow-going, but I actually found it no more difficult (maybe a bit easier) to solder to than the tiny d-pad connection point.

I don't have access to this site from work, but there's a post on the x-box scene forums by RDC that shows the trace paths for the various buttons. I think for "up," the trace might go straight up from the d-pad solder point, and the via hole comes pretty quickly. Again, I used this thread to help me solder to the via hole:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=605873