If you are talking about the USB crimp connectors, yes, technically you can - but honestly, I think it’s unnecessary. You can still solder your connections to the bottom face… Whether you cut out the face or not is up to you. To save space and tuck it away neatly, I recommend that you do, but only if you have a good, steady hand with a Dremel.
Is there any reason that you are averting using the auto-detect feature? In a typical Cerberus setup, the incoming USB cable is directed to the Cerberus, which has D+ and D- output lines that go to the XBox360 PCB (vcc and GND to the 360 board should be shared between the two). Of course, you’d have to setup parallel connections to the buttons so that both pcb’s can detect the signals… Anyway, the only time the Cerberus passes control to the 360 PCB is when it detects the XBox - otherwise, the Cerberus gains control first.
Anyway, it’s up to you. I highly recommend the Cerberus no matter how you choose to install it - I have a full board installed on a TTT2, and recently cut down a partial board for a “stealth” install that I’m planning on another Mad Catz stick. It literally IS the size of a quarter once it’s cut down.
Oh are those crimp connectors, I did not know thank you. I would cut just the quarter size piece out but I am going to use the other solder points to make it even easier to dual mod and the board will still be pretty small and flat once I remove the housings and the crimp connectors and will essentially give me 3 differents spots to solder to for the signals
As for auto correct, I just dont really like the feature to much tbh. I appreciate and actually like that the feature is there for people that want it but not for me personally.
I dont really like dealing with software based switching when I can just hardwire it to a dpdt and always be on the system I want. I am just glad that the programming isnt always looking for the xbox data lines as well or something and that the cerberus will be fine as a stand alone board.
It was between this and the madcatz sfxt tekken ps3 pad because of the player leds but since I will essentially get an easier dual mod out of the cerberus, I will go ahead and spend that 10 more and also support someone from tech talk
Yep - after stripping about an inch of the outer cable shielding, you just lift the connector lid, insert the wires as indicated on the board until you see the tip of the wire in the square window, then clamp down until it clicks back in place. The connector cuts into the insulation, making contact with the wire.
A great design decision by Phreakazoid, IMHO! Makes installation that much simpler (and solder free!) when stacking a full board onto a TE Xbox360 pcb.
I recently got a partial connector version of the Cerberus thinking I would install in a different stick, but I decided I want to dual mod my Madcatz V.S. Stick. So the install won’t be as easy as place it on top of the Madcatz PCB. How would you guys suggest I go about this dual mod?
Could I purchase the connectors for the Madcatz pcb board and solder them on the bottom of the Cerberus? So the two boards would fit together nicely. Or just find the solder points on the Madcatz board?
Hi @Phreakazoid, since you obviously know the configuration of the MCZ PCB, I thought I’d ask directly from the source, hehe…
I have a cut down Cerberus, and I’d like to perform a “stealth” install underneath the PCB of a SCV stick. Would you be able to share the pin layout of the board so that I can solder the Cerberus points to the pins on the underside? Most of the buttons are already printed on the top side of the PCB, so all I really need is a positive ID for the LED pins. Any help that you (or anyone else that might have that information) would be much appreciated.
Edit: hahahah I dont know why I thought you said VS board. Anyways just take a look at the turbo panel and follow the traces from the leds to the ribbon cable back to the source pcb and you should be good.
It’s cool, @sikwidit… The Cerberus seems to be pin compatible with pretty much all of the TE-S sticks, Pro’s and the VS, so the PCB’s must all be at least pin compatible.
Looking at my board below:
I can see on the cable along the bottom bottom of the picture has pins USBvcc, GND, D3,D4,D5, and D6 in that order. I take it that this must be the LEDs… So 1-4 run from D6 down to D3?
Yes those are the leds but I honestly forget which end is one and which end is 4. If you take a look at the trace from the p1 led on the turbo panel and follow it till it connects to the ribbon cable you will be able to see if it is D3 or D6 since it is written next to the solder point.
If you dont want to open the turbo panel you could just solder the p1 led point on the cerb to the D3 and quickly plug it into a ps3 and check which led lights up on the turbo panel. If it is the 1 player then D3 is obviously player 1 if it is the 4th player then D3 is 4th, if that makes sense.
Thanks, @Phreakazoid! Actually, the buttons appear to all be labeled on the PCB, running along the two left ribbon connectors as I have it pictured above, and Back/Start are also labeled - the two pins on the left of the center ribbon cable up top. Since the LEDs weren’t clearly marked, that’s where I had my doubts.
Looking at the picture of the PCB again, it just occurred to me… Should the RStick/LStick pins (the first two pins, bottom left corner of my picture) be connected to the RS/LS pads on the Cerberus to maintain the turbo panel’s DP/LS/RS switch setting in XBox mode? Will the Cerberus respect these switch settings when running in PS3 mode? If i can get that last doubt cleared up, I think I’ll be ready to grab my soldering iron!
Sweet!!! I think that all of my questions have been answered and my doubts eliminated… Thanks, @Phreakazoid and @sikwidit! I’ll be sure to post an update with pics of my completed mod.
I recently got the connector version of the Cerberus pcb for the BlazBlue TE Arcade Stick and when I plug it into my computer it says unrecognized device and doesn’t do anything else. Any ideas where I went wrong?
D+ and D- are the two USB wires that handle the data signal. (Green and white, respectively). What they were saying is that you should double check that you wired these correctly, as it’s a common mistake to inadvertently wire them up backwards.
