PCB burning upon plugging in. NEED HELP (fire hazard)

Tech Talk
#1

I had just finished my month long arcade project last night and was playing some street fighter. I lost connection to the xbox even though it was still plugged in. I looked underneath and smoke was pouring out. I unplugged it immediatly. Just now, I plugged it into my PC so I could test what has been damaged. The very second I plugged it it, my thumb on the pcb got a blister. What the hell could be causing this? I played for hours straight and had no problems, but the one time it nearly caught fire, I had played for no more than 10 minutes.

Info: I’m using a Madcatz 4716. The case is wooden and I had hot-glued the pcb to the inner wall. Is it possible that the hot glue is shorting a 5V connection and causing abnormal current?

#2

glue is non conducting, you must have a crossed wire of something

#3

The controller I dissected is a Madcatz 4716 for Xbox 360

Some things to note:

  1. The right trigger uses the transistor method. The transistor is under the electrical tape.
  2. The resistors under the analog sticks are to neutralize them. I also removed the pots.
  3. The D-pad was bugging out so I removed it and soldiered wires directly to the signals. The white wire uses the ground from the guide button.
#4

use better wire. Looks like speaker cable. OBVIOUSLY SHORTING

#5

It is speaker cable. The only other thing I have is lamp wire (which breaks extremely easily). What is it about speaker wire that shorts and is there a quick fix?

#6

its tooo thick from looking at it. use better suited size wire like 22-26gauge wire. just dangerous that you could cross a power or ground

#7

What if I wrapped every partially-exposed contact with electric tape? Would that prevent any crossovers?

#8

Its possible. Hard to tell. My honest opinion is that you should go grab some 22 or 24 gauge wire, and re-wire it. That wire is far too large.

#9

Get some more suitable wire. And you should probably clean that board with some high concentration isopropyl alcohol. Dab some on the end of a q-tip.