This is the less permenant / less technical way to mod a wireless controller with multiple colors of LEDs. You can currently use any 3mm LED of any color that will operate on a 3V Forward Voltage. The LEDs are wired to the battery coils for the AA battery pack so there is no soldering to the actual board. The circuit can easily be removed from the controller at any time. The play and charge does not illuminate the LEDs. The play and charge battery pack only supplies 2.4V. A switch can be added to the circuit before the resistor in order to turn the LEDs completely off when the console is off. Opening the controller case voids your warranty on the controller only.
SUPPLIES BASICS
- Soldering Iron - 15W Can be purchased as a kit from rat shack
- 30 AWG Wire Strippers - Not necessary but will help out a lot
- Resin Core Solder - Comes in kit if you get it at rat shack
- 1/16 -> 1/8 shrinkwrap and shrinkable tape - Necessary
- LEDs - All same color or specifications. Up to 3V Forward voltage
- Resistor - Calculated based upon LEDs. Lookup Resistor Calculator
- Sponge - Not necessary but helpful
- T8 Torx Skrewdriver - sold with controller case
- 30 AWG hookup wire - 28 or 30 AWG is a must as the wire has to navigate the inside of the controller case.
ALSO
- See-Thru controller case
- Wireless xbox 360 controller
- 2 AA batteries
LINKS
Soldering Iron - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062758&cp=&sr=1&origkw=soldering+iron&kw=soldering+iron&parentPage=search
Wire Strippers - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062784&cp=&sr=1&origkw=wire+strippers&kw=wire+strippers&parentPage=search
Shrink Wrap / Tape - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104090&cp=&sr=1&origkw=shrink+tubing&kw=shrink+tubing&parentPage=search
LEDs - http://www.theledlight.com/5mmcoloredleds.html
http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm
Resistors - http://www.action-electronics.com/resistor.htm
Hookup Wire - http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=45_70
Controller Case - http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,225.htm
How to disassemble the controller:
1) Use the torx bit that comes with the smoke case you have purchased from decalgirl.com to remove the 7 torx skrews. Six surround the controller shell and one is located under a tiny barcode sticker at the base of where the battery pack plugs into the controller. Refer to the picture below to find the 7th hidden skrew. Removing the sticker that covers the skrew voids any warranty on the controller.
2) Press down on both trigger buttons as you separate the two sides of the controller, making sure the side with the buttons in it is facing down.
3) Gently remove the controller board and rumble motors without allowing them to hang on the wires connected to the board. Place the board and rumble motors on a clean / non conductive surface such as plastic / rubber.
4) now remove the rubber button padding that cover the xbox and abxy buttons. Also remove the padding for the dpad button. It is not necessary to remove the entire dpad button.
That's it. Controller disassembled.
Pictures downloaded from Llama.com controller disassembly instructions
SOLDERING / MOD TIPS
There are a few things you need to know about soldering before you attempt to try it for the first time.
1) Before soldering with LED / Resistor leads you should practice on some spare wire. This will help you to learn the correct way to heat the wires / leads and solder. Your going to want to use the broad part of the tip to heat the wires not the, actual tip.
2) It is beneficial to clean the wire and leads with sand-paper before attempting to solder. This helps create a rough surface, creating a stronger solder joint.
3) It is also important to tin the object to be soldered and the tip of the iron before soldering. In order to tin the gun you simply heat the resin core solder on the tip of the gun. To tin the wire or leads you heat the object and let the solder flow to it.
4) To solder you first heat the objects you want to solder together and then flow the solder over the joint. Melting the solder over cool wires / leads will yeild you poor solder joints. A poor solder joint appears dull with a sort of black film surroundiing it.
5) It's considered good technique when soldering to make joints with the objects you wish to solder together. There are many types of solder joints and methods for doing this. The method that I use most often is to make loops with the wires and leads, connecting the loops and soldering them together. This creates a greater surface area for heating and soldering. It also strebgthens the joint and increases conductivity. Even making a single loop and running the wire / lead through the loop to solder them together is better than laying the objects next to / on top of each other. Avoid the next to / on top of method whenever possible.
6) Make sure when you purchase solder you get a resin core solder than contains flux. If the solder does not contain flux you will have to apply it to the joints before soldering to ensure a clean solid bond between the solder and the metal you are soldering to. Flux helps solder flow properly.
7) It's best to solder on a wooden surface in case the gun is to fall over. The solder will occasionally drip and fall on the surface you are working on. The possibility of the gun falling over is increased as it is attached to a plug in the wall.
8) It's considerably dangerous to solder without wearing gloves and eye protection, especially when wires are involved.
9) It is helpful to have a bench press or some heavy obect available when soldering. Since I do not have a press I usually use a can of veggetables, works great lol. This will hold one of the obects to be soldered, helping mostly during the heating phase as the objects will not shift positions.
10) Between joints you should use a sponge to quickly clean the tip of any solder / debri that remains.
11) Do not solder too close to the LEDs. Most manufacturers say between 3 and 5mm from where the leads enter the LED casing. Stay at least a quarter inch from the body of the LED to be safe.
12) Lay out all pieces before soldering the first joint. In other words, run the wire through the controller case to determine the length. Leave about a quarter inch of wire extra for the loops on both sides. I will include design layouts and a step by step tutorial, so you will see this process in the pictures.
13) Avoid bright colored wire as it will show up more underneath the case. Use alternating dark colors for power and ground.
14) The direction the resistor faces is not important. You must run the positive wire from where the pack coil is positive. The LEDs must be wired all positive leads together all ground together. This will be further illustrated. The ground wire is wire to where the pack coil is negative.
DETAILED TUTORIAL
Set up all of your equiptment. Here are some pictures of my setup for reference.
I've found an old table seperater to use as a soldering surface.
Plug in your soldering iron now to give it time to heat up.
The first step is to remove the 7 torx skrews from the back of the controller. The six obvious skrews are located around the back of the controller. The seventh hidden skrew is located under a sticker and can be found in this picture:
Now remove the back of the case with the buttons facing down:
Now remove the board and the rumble motors. Place the motors on the board gently and lift the board out of the case. The joysticks must pass through the case as they are attached to the board.
Lastly remove the rubber padding for the xbox abxy and dpad buttons and the bottom and top pieces that are sandwhiched between the back and front of the case. The top bumper buttons and the bottom piece.
There's a bit of strategy that comes into play here as there's numerous ways to do this mod. I've found there are several locations to place the LEDs s well.
The way that I suggest you start is buy simply bending the LED leads, keeping track of the positive (longer), so that the LEDs will fit in the locations you wish to place them in. You will have to trim the leads accordingly. Here are some pictures of what I'm taking about:
After laying out and trimming LED leads, it's time to start soldering the circuit together.
Some key points to remember. Tin the gun before you solder by melting some solder on the tip and cleaning the tip with a sponge. Clean leads and wires with sandpaper before tinning. Tin leads and wires before soldering them together. Don't use an abundance of solder, just enough to do the job. Make loop joints.
Run the wires first and cut them for close to exact length. Make sure to shrink wrap or tape all leads and solder joints to avoid any misfunctioning of the controller due to contact with the board.
Use 30 AWG wire by the left thumbstick or the LB button may hit the wires. 28 guage works well for the rest of the mod as it adds support for the LED placement. It may take several attempts to get the LEDs right where you want them. Put the case together without the skrews and try the LEDs to see if they are in a good position. If not, take it apart and bend the wires / leads to get them in place and try again. Take your time.
Here is where you run the wires. You will connect all the positive leads of the LEDs to each other and then to a resistor. all the negative leads will also be connected. This routing pattern allows for easy access to the coils at the back of the pack:
Here's the finished circuit in the controller before final taping and wrapping. The resistor is wrapped and located at the middle right hand side of the picture next to the dpad:
Now you place the board back in and run the wires under the board, in the spaces outlined in this picture:
Put the back of the case on, running the wires through the hole in the back of the case, being careful to get the springs and the supports for the springs in the case correctly. When the case is together, trim the wires to a length that they can reach the oppossit spring and desheath the wire. Now push the wire into the opposite spring near the bottom of the coil. The positive goes in the terminal where the positive AA touches, the negative where the negative AA touches. Like this:
And here's what you get if you wired everything properly and none of the joints have broken upon installation:
Happy modding!
Rock on llama.com
Christopher
