Tying together grounds for a padhack

Tech Talk
#1

Hey tech gurus. I recently bought a generic PS3 controller on eBay in hopes of maybe finding a cheap gem good for padhacking. Alas, the PCB ended up not having a common ground, but one shared ground for each side of the PCB (one for the dpad and L shoulders, one for the face buttons and R shoulders).

Just out of curiosity, I tied the two grounds together (just using loose wire), and tested all the buttons - they all responded fine from the new “common” ground". Anyone know if this is a good or bad idea for any reason?

It’s this one:
Dual Shock Game wired Controller for Sony PS3 PS 3 NEW - eBay (item 370426799240 end time Sep-30-10 07:42:30 PDT)

If anyone has any experience hacking it.

#2

Use a multimeter to check is those two ‘grounds’ (groan. There is by definition only one ground, ever. The word you should use is ‘common’. EE rant off.) are connected on the board where you can’t see. If so, then you have a single common line.
Or just test by connecting the signals on the right with the common from the left, and visa versa.

#3

OK, I was finding the same answer for this question, i found some data about common ground for xbox360 (from bencao74 and some posts from you Toodles), but its a little old. Do anyone know if have any other easier/clean solution, or without optocoppler/inverters, because them are hard to find here and expensive where have it.

Thank you.

#4

damn you created the thread today, and the link is already dead. haha

#5

well, it was that generic wired controller with a “deathstar”-like button instead of an X.

If anyone happens to be on this thread with the same question as me, here’s the definitive way to check if a controller is common ground (and therefore compatible with dual-mods): touch a wire to any signal and to the ground directly from the USB cable. If it’s common ground, it’ll trigger. Toodles correct me if I’m wrong?

#6

That’s correct.