Tutorial: XBox S-Pad hack

[SpinaL-TaP]

Hi,

My aim was to hack a S-Pad without having to dedicate his use to my arcade stick.
What I mean is that after this hack the S-Pad is fully usable: there is only a connector (i used a DB25) in place of one memory card slot. I just have to plug my arcade stick on this connector to use it on XBox.
If you're interrested I will put pictures of the pad later.

I thought that maybe it could interrest people who are affraid of hacking a S-Pad for their own Arcade stick for XBox.

here is the tutorial (it includes the 2 versions of S-Pad PCB):

[ShinJN]

Sounds cool. Let's see some pictures.

[Cthulhu32]

I agree, I'd like to see some pictures of this whole thing going together. Great idea on keeping the s-video controller intact, the wiring might be tricky though to be able to close it up without ruining any of your connections.

[SpinaL-TaP]

ok :)

I took some pictures. Sorry but the jpeg compression makes it a little bit crappy.

The first one is the S-Pad with the modification.

The second one is the arcade stick which is an empty Virtua Stick (there is no more electronic inside: just the buttons which are directly sodered on the DB25 Cable).

The last one is the whole stuff fully connected ready to play ...


I hope that now you understand better the way it works (my english is not the best one...) .

[blue_J]

GOOD SHIT MAKES FOR MUCH NEATER WIRING JOBS ;` )

[TGC]

Does this pad work good without any lag or anything???

[SpinaL-TaP]

It works as good as it should :)
There is no lag at all as you play with the pad or with the stick plugged into the pad.

[TGC]

Originally posted by SpinaL-TaP
It works as good as it should :)
There is no lag at all as you play with the pad or with the stick plugged into the pad.

NIce...i may have found a pad that i can hack for sticks..using a common ground...

[Gaijinblaze]

I don't understand what you did.. :depress:

Such an amazing idea, though. But the only site that I know of which describes DB25s in some detail is <this page> (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jdpyle1/controls.htm) from TrackZ's site. Does anyone know a beginner site that can explain the basics of these cables? Sorry to hinder anyone.

Thank you.

[SpinaL-TaP]

TGC: you can use this hack with an arcade stick wired with common ground: on my schematic, just put the resistors before the switch and not between the switch and the ground. It's exactly the same :)

Gaijinblaze: DB25 is just a connector, you can use what you want. If you want to use a connector with less pins because you only have one wire per switch + one ground, just read the reply I just made above to TGC... :)

[TGC]

Wait a minute...you have to put a resistor in???

ERR? BUT WHY?

:lame: for me

[Quicksilver3007]

That is the most god like mod for an Xbox controller I have ever seen but I can't understand your circuit diagram at the right of your tutorial:depress: Can you explain it for the noobs such as myself.

[SpinaL-TaP]

TGC: the original XBox controller has X/Y/A/B button which are proportional analogic. The study of the S-Pad design lead me to use these resistors in order to keep the same behaviour than the original one. Maybe you can remove it, but I can't guarantee you won't destruct your pad by doing this (there will be more current when you push a button than normal)...

Quicksilver3007: Can you explain me what disturb you with the schematic on the right? I can help you but I need to understand your problem :)

[TGC]

Ok, say i have the typical like....project box setup.

Would i need to just put a resistor onto the port, then wire those sticking out onto the PCB.

Or would i have to put the resistor on the cherry switches (which would affect all other consoles)

I dunno about much electronics.

Also, how much ohms for those resistors???

[SpinaL-TaP]

TGC: Look at the schematic, the resistors values are all written :)
The only thing you have to do in order to use a stick with common ground connector is to put the resistors before the switch on my schematic (just swap the switch and the resistors on my schematic).
The switchs drawn on my schematic represent the switch you have into your arcade stick...
This means that you have to solder the whole wires on the pad, solder resistors on the wires coming out from the pad, then solder the connector.
So your actual stick won't change at all.

I expect you understand well what I mean cause my english is far from perfect :|

[Quicksilver3007]

I don't know what the hell I was thinking..... Thanks for clearing that up. I thought that your schematic meant that you were adding another switch in the wiring:sweat: But about the resistors are you just soldering straight from the resistors on the pad to the DB25 connector or are you inserting resistors on to a wire that is coming from the pad connected to another wire on the other side of the resistor to the DB25?

My bad I should really read the whole thread before I post something retarded:lol:

[SpinaL-TaP]

On the schematic, the switchs are those which are in your arcade stick and the resistors are additionnal ones (this is not the ones you can find on the pad).

I will put a picture of the whole thing soldered in order to make everything clear as soon as i get my cam back.

[Quicksilver3007]

Cool thanx Sp-T. The only question I have left is what specs would you recommend for those resistors ohms, amps, and what not.

[Shin Ace]

It's on the schematic, you just need to learn to read it. 4.7k ohm for the buttons, 33 ohm for the directions. Now look at the schematic again.

1/4 watt, 5% tolerance is standard.

[Quicksilver3007]

I understand the schmatic just fine but do they have those exact size resistors like 4.7 a Radioshack or do you just need a resistor in that general range like five ohms?

[Shin Ace]

4.7k = 4700 ohms
and yeah, if you can only find 5600 that would also work.

Find yourself a decent electronics store in your area and you'll see that resistors are worth about 5 cents a piece in packs of 25.

BTW, I've got a Mad Katz for DC that required the same treatment on the 6 buttons to obtain a common ground. Then I made a DC/USB system out of it. It was 4.7k ohm in my case too.

[SpinaL-TaP]

Quicksilver3007: 4.7k are really standard resistors values, it won't be find nor expensive to find.


Shin Ace: I recommend using 4.7k because as these buttons are originally analogic proportionnal on the XBox, there are voltage dividers (the more you push the more the lower the resistor value gets) into the pad that may be not enough low to register the push button if you try 5.6k or more...

[Quicksilver3007]

Awesome now that I've got all that straightened out lets see the pictures of the finished work Sp-T.:)

[SpinaL-TaP]

I wont post it before sunday (I need my cam :) )

[Quicksilver3007]

:depress: It's ok I can be patient until then. Sp-T are you by chance an electrical or electronics engineer like Shinace or a fellow hobbyist?

[NeoBlanka]

Spinal Tap how recent was the S controller that you bought manufactured? I just got done putting an LED in mine and I was checking to solder points but they are all entirely different from yours.

[SpinaL-TaP]

Neo Blanka: I just wanted to hack another S-Pad a few days ago and I found that the layout was not the same...

But I found the right soldering points.

I will put another pic of the controller with the soldering point as soon as I get my cam back (maybe tomorrow).

The good point is that the schematic won't change :)

Quicksilver3007: I'm an electronical engineer too :)

[Quicksilver3007]

This is kinda off the topic but for those that are interested if you mod an S controller to put an LED in it you don't need a 100 ohm resistor for the mod. I used a 5 mm 5 volt 30 ma 300 mcd blue LED and just soldered it straight onto the 5 volt and ground pins of the memory card.

Spinal Tap: Yeah I really do need to see a pic of the wiring because the way I figure it after you do the mod and you ever had to take it apart again then you would screw up the wiring by doing so.

[Farpenoodle]

I'm curious. Would be possible to remove the analog sticks and triggers on the controller? What extra wiring would be necessary is needed if so?

Also, on your diagram, what does 33R represent? Sorry if I seem n00bish but it's been awhile since I've touched electronics.

[SpinaL-TaP]

Removing the analog stick and the triggers without putting a resistor of the good value to replace it is certainly not a good idea (in fact it depends the way this part of the design works...). It would certainly make "believe" to the pad that a trigger or a analog stick is always on.
But you can always measure the resistor of the trigger and analog stick in off position, remove it and replace it by standard resistors of the good value. This way you won't have any problem.

On my schematic 33R means 33Ohm and 4.7K means 4.7KOhm.

[Quicksilver3007]

Yo Spinal-Tap how bout them pictures?:)

[SpinaL-TaP]

sorry guy, but i'm steal waiting for my digital cam...

[Quicksilver3007]

What recommendations would you make preparing the PCB for soldering?

[Dreaded Fist]

If I just wire the pad up with multiple grounds, will it still work?

[Quicksilver3007]

Yeah that's what I did but the pad that I have is different from the one in the example. There are no resistors on the back only small traces and bits of solder can be found to make a solid circuit. I tried to do it with two grounds one for the directional inputs and another for the buttons themselves.

All of the buttons worked fine with the connections that I made but I found that I had a problem once I put the pad back together. The X button no longer works. As you can see from the picture the orange, red, blue, and yellow wires are all very close together and opposite from the connection that X makes with the PCB on the other side. I think that I might have burned out the connection from the other side any other ideas are welcome. Yes I know that my soldering sucks too.

Dreaded Fist: yes you can use two separate grounds that way you won't have any resistors to mess but you will have more wires to deal with like I had.

[Quicksilver3007]

bump

[J-ride]

That is sweet, does anyone know how to hack the triggers on an X-box btw?

[Quicksilver3007]

Like on official S pads? There are three pins on the front of the pad connecting the triggers to the PCB you can solder to the middle pin for each one.

[J-ride]

So you just solder to the middle pin and the ground and thats it? I just wanted to make sure because its for my friends X-box.. :lol:

[Quicksilver3007]

yep that's it

[J-ride]

Thanks for the help!!

[Quicksilver3007]

no problem:)

[Quicksilver3007]

*bump* Can someone answer my question please.

[SpinaL-TaP]

Sorry guies, but lastly I didn't have the time to think aout that kind of stuff...

So 6 months later, the tuto is ok now with the 2 versions of S-Pad PCB. Look at the first post :)

[Quicksilver3007]

God damn dude I had given up hope, but you finally came through. :clap: :tup:

[Toodles]

Ummm, the picture on the first post seems to have disappeared, just when I need it. Does anyone have a copy?

[SpinaL-TaP]

You're lucky, I saw your post :)
I don't understand why it has been removed and I can't figure out how to upload a file now ...
You can find the pictures on a french forum: gueux.be -> forum (http://gueux-forum.net/index.php?showtopic=22553) .
The explanations are the same than here, so with the english explanation on shoryuken and the pics there, it should be all right :)

[Toodles]

Picture is all I need, now saved on my pc. merci beaucoup!

[Rud]

Hey great pictures! They helped me a lot! Does anyone know how to disable the analog sticks? I used a broken s controller pcb for practise/test and it worked out pretty well if I can disable the analog sticks (force them to always be neutral would work too) then I'd be done.

[Toodles]

If you're good with soldering, you desolder and remove them, then resolder the potentiometers back on. The way most people do it: hot glue to keep the sticks at neutral.