Earlier this year i had made my own stick, and it started off as a fun little project but as time passed it has been acting up a little here and there. What i did was i combined 2 brawlsticks, 1 for Ps3 and 1 for Xbox360. I saw a post on here on how to do it so i did it. What i did was connect all the power wires together, then connected all of the ground wires together. For the data I have it on a DPDT (Double pole double throw) switch, so i can switch from Xbox360 to Ps3. All of the buttons have a wire coming from the buttons, and grouped together for the 2 boards. I sautered everything together for a nice tight fit except for the data wires which have some female quick connects to put onto the DPDT switch. I have both of the boards with the home buttons and the turbo mounted on the stick so i can see which side is on.
Now for the problems. When i play on PS3, sometimes when I am mashing buttons it will randomly pause the game. When i play on Xbox360 it will randomly turn the turbo on the PS3 side on, and it will just mess with my buttons completely. Not sure what the problem is and need some help. I have also tried to disconnect the data wires going to the PS3 side when i was playing on Xbox360 and it still turned on the turbo of the PS3.
I hope to find out what the problem is, but if not I am looking into just getting a PS360+ and calling it a day. I would much rather fix this problem than trying to buy something to make it work. Im open to suggestions and will keep updating as I go along.
Take clear pictures of your wiring; it’s hard to troubleshoot with just a description.
Sounds like there might’ve been an incorrect connection somewhere between the two PCBs.
Sounds like you went a little Rambo with your soldering and there are some shorts. Time to get a multimeter out and start probing the board, especially any areas that look a little sketchy.
Some nice high-quality pictures (as FreedomGundam mentioned) would help a lot too.
This picture shows the DPDT switch, the 2 wires on the left hanging off are the data for the Ps3 side. Kind of hard to see much in there, but the red wires are all soldered together, and next to that the ground wires are soldered together.
If you need more pics, let me know. Everything that is soldered is wrapped in electrical tape. The green tape in the last pic on the side was an attempt to make a shield for the start and select wires.
My dad has a multimeter I can borrow, but what would I be looking for? Continuity? I have a little bit of knowledge of electronics and how they work, but not with troubleshooting.
I gotta admit, it’s a little hard to see the exact connections…
Is it always the same behavior? ie, is it ALWAYS the PS3 Start button that’s being pressed when you mash on PS3, and is it ALWAYS the same buttons getting turbo turned on the PS3 when you play on 360? Sounds like there might be something really weirdly shorted between the two boards.
You didn’t need to connect ALL your grounds; you’d only need to bridge one ground wire between the two sets of PCBs, since they’re both common-ground.
Although it seems like you specifically wanted both turbo panels available to you, you probably could’ve gotten a cleaner and simpler setup using only the PS3’s turbo panel, the 360 PCB, and a single terminal block. By the same token, I’d recommend getting heat shrink instead of using electrical tape. Much cleaner and longer-lasting.
To troubleshoot:
Depending on your answer to my question #2 above, you could probably try to disconnect precise cables to see if you’re still getting similar behavior; ie, disconnect the the 360’s start connection, and play PS3 to see if you’re still getting the pausing.
To clean up (my recommended path):
Start by removing one terminal block; you really don’t need both. Seeing as how you’re comfortable with soldering, you should cut the ribbon cable coming from the PS3 PCB, and solder the wires to the terminal block from the 360. That should eliminate a large chunk of the possible connection errors you currently have.
Answer to 2, it always happens the same. Not sure which turbo buttons light up on the ps3 side, but they just go haywire.
I dont really need the turbo panels, as i never use them. I just used them basically to see which side is on.
Ill try to solder the wires to the terminal block sometime this weekend. I have work and have to work on my car, so hopefully i can squeeze some time to tinkering with this project.
I tried to do this as simple as possible, without much thought, but maybe i did too much without trying.
Thanks guys, Ill update you as soon as I get around to fixing and testing it.
Been really busy lately with christmas shopping and work, but i did try to use the xbox usb cord instead of the PS3 usb, and it seems to be working good for now. I played a first to 15 with my friend and it did not act up yet. Hopefully ill get to play some more and make sure that was the only problem.
If i was doing this from scratch, what would you guys suggest with the parts that i have, basically 2 brawlsticks, and a DPDT switch? Not really sure how i would only use 1 turbo panel because i still need the home button from both panels.
While the PS3 PCB is all self-contained in the Turbo-panel, the main guts of the 360 PCB is actually in the other (rectangular) PCB, with the Turbo-panel being used pretty much solely to control the Turbo functions. You don’t actually need the 360 Turbo-panel to use the 360 PCB.
There’s a contact point somewhere on the underside of the PS3 PCB that you can solder a wire to for Guide, and connect it to the Home contact on the Brawlstick PCB. Likewise, you’d have to connect/splice all the button and D-pad signals between the two PCBs as well.
The DPDT switch would be installed just the normal way and swap between the D-/D+ signals of both PCBs; though I’d highly recommend getting an Imp v2 board to have a “switchless” switching mechanism.
