Poor Quality Controllers (or how my daughter destroys one a year)

cheapchips said:
I haven't soldered anything is 1991.
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Haha. I think thinking the same but for me I reckon the last time I used a soldering iron was in the 1980s.
That large reel of solder was not a good investment! :runaway:
 
orangpelupa said:
That's actually harder to self repair than with screws.

As that would mean it'll use plastic clips that need to be pried open and/or glues that need to be heated and replaced.

Btw the skill required to use Solder properly is on a different level and reach than unscrewing things or flipping flex cable connector locks.

At least in my region. Heck, I need to got to electric tools shop to buy Soldering tools. While I can buy (or borrow) screwdrivers on a bunch of places.

Screwdrivers also doesn't need special handling care to properly screw and unscrew stuff.

Sure, there are a lot of proper screwing and unscrewing etiquette, like for example, you should unscrew first then screw in, to find the right alignment, then you screw it in. Especially with plastic holes.

But even if you didn't, it'll usually be fine.

On the other hand with soldering iron, even the handling of the soldering iron itself need to be known. Even simple stuff like "don't let the hot head touch anything when not being used" is not intuitively known, despite it obviously should be known as it is a hot thing.


Anyway, the point is that switch joycon doesn't need soldering, to replace the sticks. One less skill needed.

With enough skill and tools, anything can be easy and quick enough to fix yourself. Including Solder reflow, and even reballing.

Some xbox 360 service expert even able to reball in minutes.

And this made me remember that it is so hard to find people offering Solder reball service in my region... Even for stuff that already have reball stencil.

Oh and also made me remember ps portal. Where repairability design is also need to be considered.

Not all people have thermal pads or heat gun and know how to properly use them.
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This is literally the kit I use on the controllers, It's not much more expensive than a low end screw driver set. . It would take about 5 minutes of watching a youtube video to learn how to swap out the sticks. Which is about how long it would take to watch a video on how to fix a joycon controller.
 
see colon said:
It's 14 points per stick. 3 for each potentiometer, 4 for the tac switch, and 4 for the anchors that hold the stick to the board. It's easy compared to some things, but it's also easy to pull traces off the board if you don't know what you are doing. It's not something I would describe as 'user replaceable".
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and yet here I am , a user that has done it with very little solder experiance.
 
eastmen said:
and yet here I am , a user that has done it with very little solder experiance.
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Right. It isn't impossible, or even hard. But it isn't a thing I think a "normal" person would be expected to be able to do. It's definitely a step up from something like a Switch analog where the module is connected with screws and a ribbon cable plugged into a zif connector.

I'm glad you did it and didn't break your controller. I've seen some things done by people who claim to know how to solder that would probably blow your mind.

That soldering kit you linked to is on sale for $15 right now also. That's a great price for what you are getting.
 
eastmen said:
and yet here I am , a user that has done it with very little solder experiance.
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Xbox controllers can replace the batteries by just swapping out some AAs. PlayStation controllers need you to disassemble the controller to replace the lithium ion pack. Do you consider the PS battery 'easily replaceable' and 'user serviceable', or is the Xbox way the 'user serviceable' option?
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Xbox controllers can replace the batteries by just swapping out some AAs. PlayStation controllers need you to disassemble the controller to replace the lithium ion pack. Do you consider the PS battery 'easily replaceable' and 'user serviceable', or is the Xbox way the 'user serviceable' option?
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Yes the battery in the ps controller is user serviceable and easily replaced. However I wouldn't consider it hot swappable.

I would look at something like the surface as non replaceable for the battery or nvme drive since you have to actually go through the screen and then find battery glued and the nvme soldered.
 
Basically eastmen is highly skilled.

Somtimes highly skilled people have a social circle with highly skilled too, and that affect their perception of the skill of commoners.

At least in my region and circle, eastmen soldering skill is already considered much higher than commoners

Edit: for example for me, heating glues and removing stuff that were glued togheter like disassembling a phone, are easier than soldering stuffs.
 
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Fwiw i'm always amazed how indestructible these things are. They seem to last nearly forever for me. Shrug. Even when I'm playing a ton of Destiny. I see colors I want on sale, but I cant justify it when I still have one in use and one new in box backup to work through.

Also Xbox controller are not too expensive on sale, I typically get mine for 30-35. I saw some special tiktok deal for the white Xbox controller for 25 in the past few days (required being a new tiktok store user).

The new Xbox controller the leaks showed will be more inline with the dualsense pricing though I'm sure.

I also have only experience stick drift once ever, and it was a long time ago. TBH I'm not even anticipating hall effect sticks that much for this reason. Usually I feel like something else on the controller will wear out before the sticks drift. At least for my experience with Xbox controllers.
 
Rangers said:
Fwiw i'm always amazed how indestructible these things are. They seem to last nearly forever for me. Shrug. Even when I'm playing a ton of Destiny. I see colors I want on sale, but I cant justify it when I still have one in use and one new in box backup to work through.

Also Xbox controller are not too expensive on sale, I typically get mine for 30-35. I saw some special tiktok deal for the white Xbox controller for 25 in the past few days (required being a new tiktok store user).

The new Xbox controller the leaks showed will be more inline with the dualsense pricing though I'm sure.

I also have only experience stick drift once ever, and it was a long time ago. TBH I'm not even anticipating hall effect sticks that much for this reason. Usually I feel like something else on the controller will wear out before the sticks drift. At least for my experience with Xbox controllers.
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IME it's a lottery. Probably manufacturing variance. Kinda like some PS5 got coil whine.

If you got controllers that are immune to drift, keep them. They are (probably) almost invincible.

That's probably why my Xbox 360 controllers are still going well.... Except for the wireless ones, their battery compartments are not making secure enough connection, I need to rubber band them.

As for joycon... my... Uh.... 5th... 10th?? Can't remmember how many times I've replaced the Joycon sticks, but they are now fine too, for quite a long time.

Fingers crossed, it'll last as long as my first set of joycon sticks, or longer. Because my country has banned any imports :( I can no longer order spare parts.
 
My DS4 controller has some wonky aim on the right stick. I ordered a new controller and it had really unresponsive thumbsticks, like needing a 20 degree tilt to get any response. So I ordered another one and that two has unresponsive thumbsticks, the right stick being fine moving right but insensitive moving left. I was not expecting the same fault twice from Sony official controllers.

It's not an issue for a lot of games but playing Apex, I need the full range of motion for sensitive motions.

Anyone bought any DS4's recently able to confirm their quality? Is there a widespread fault with them?
 
orangpelupa said:
That's probably why my Xbox 360 controllers are still going well.... Except for the wireless ones, their battery compartments are not making secure enough connection, I need to rubber band them.
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I've had to replace a few of the AA battery holders on my X360 controllers, which are almost 10 years old now and still going as well as they ever were.
I let friends use them who put alkaline AAs into them and they of course leaked and corroded the little spring/leaf contacts inside.

I no longer let maniacs put AA batteries in them, and make sure they only get fed a steady diet of NiMH rechargeable AAs, and I'm about 5 years on now from having to replace the battery compartments. They're nearly free on AliExpress if you're patient and can wait for shipping directly from China.

I just bought a 10-pack, and have been giving them out to any friends who ask: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005790140913.html
If it's the battery holder part that's wearing out and not staying firmly connected, some new ones might help. :)
 
Shifty Geezer said:
My DS4 controller has some wonky aim on the right stick. I ordered a new controller and it had really unresponsive thumbsticks, like needing a 20 degree tilt to get any response. So I ordered another one and that two has unresponsive thumbsticks, the right stick being fine moving right but insensitive moving left. I was not expecting the same fault twice from Sony official controllers.

It's not an issue for a lot of games but playing Apex, I need the full range of motion for sensitive motions.

Anyone bought any DS4's recently able to confirm their quality? Is there a widespread fault with them?
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I've bought DS4's brand new that have stick drift. But what you are describing with your replacements sounds more like you bought bootlegs. They make ones that look really close to official ones, and they sometimes come in boxes that are very close to originals. But they often use cheap sticks that are both more sensitive and have larger deadzones. Plus, they often "stick" on the 90 degree marks. Kind of like the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions of the stick have a deadzone of their own and require more than 1 degree of movement to move off those positions. Replacing the sticks doesn't usually fix this issue with the knock off controllers.

I've never tried dualshock tools, but you can look at how the sticks act using an online gamepad tester, like this one:

Hardware Tester

hardwaretester.com hardwaretester.com
 
I recently bought an 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller (because I use it mainly on Switch, but it's PC compatible with a 2.4GHz dongle hidden in the base connected via USB-C to your PC to charge the pad too), and it's really good. I did read many reviews before purchasing it, it has hall effect sticks and linear triggers (unlike the Wii U/Switch pads which have a button triggers).
There are also videos showing the internals, and it's really sturdy.
The 8BitDo Ultimate Controller doesn't have bluetooth (and therefore neither does it have motion control) but it's cheaper and physically identical.
[Originally forgot that Microsoft is using a proprietary wireless protocol for gate keeping.]

They also have an Ultimate XBox, but it's wired.
Read online reviews and check youtube, there are people there who solely reviews gamepads, you might find a sturdy one with hall effect sticks ^^
 
Shifty Geezer said:
If they're knock-offs, they're perfect! Boxes, detailing, inserts and feel.
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I work at a game store. We wholesale controllers, both official and 3rd party from official distributers, and sometimes we order things directly from factories in China. Once we purchased 50 PS4 controllers, and the pictures showed them a clearly 3rd party with altered symbols for the buttons and everything. When they came, they were in official looking boxes, standard Playstation buttons, warranty paperwork and everything. But no, they were not official. The boxes were very convincing, though. The controllers looked close. Close enough that I bet we could have traded them in at Gamestop and they would have taken them as official. But beyond some minor visual differences, the way the sticks perform is the biggest telltale sign.
 
I might be mistaken but I don't think Sony usually put a peel on the touch pad, lack of color printed on the front of the box (should be "Jet Black" in this case, and I might be imagining things, But Sony usually uses a bolder font ofr "Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc." on the bottom of the box.

The easiest way to tell is to look close at the home button, and the sticker on the back of the controller. Also, the screws that hold the controller together. No bootleg I've ever seen has quite got the screws right.
 
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