Project Leo: Sixaxis + Wireless 360 dual mod

I’ll keep in mind for an option to allow it to remember the last system it was synced to. That way when your at home, you don’t have to keep replugging to resync, but when out at tournaments, you’ll be able to switch it to tournament mode where you’ll have to plug it in first to be able to turn on and sync.

So far, what you’ll need is the sixaxis board, the common ground wireless 360 board, this custom board, a lithium ion battery from the sixaxis (I have some 18650 cells that have more capacity that I could also sell). Might need a 360 play and charge cable, but I’m still working on that part. Using that cable is the only way I was able to get the 360 pad to auto-sync.

You won’t need an axisadaptor since the board will have a ribbon connector too. I could make two version of the board. One that would have all the stuff necessary to wire up a dual mod and a simpler board that would just make the sixaxis common ground.

I was debating whether or not to add screw terminals to the board, but they would be the most expensive component on the board. I guess since one would have to do some soldering throughout the project anyway, screw terminals won’t be necessary. My target goal I’m aiming for is $20-$30 a board.

Any ETA on when the board would be ready?

Well, I could design a simple prototype board that would be like the axisadaptor, but actually make it common ground. I could have all that ready to ship at the end of the month.

You would have to deal with how you wanna use it in a dual wireless mod on your own though. I will offer help of course, but how you deal with switching between systems and battery setup would be ultimately your decision.

I think I’ll just make a small batch of 10 of those boards and see how you guys like it. Then I can improve on it according to your opinions.

fyi, I have about 50 sixaxis boards and 30 lithium ion batteries ( I have about 10 18650 cells if you’d rather want to use them). I can sell them for cheap if you need one to use. Lets just say I got extremely lucky with an ebay auction.

Put me on the list for 2 of that small batch and can u send me a pm with the price of the sixaxis board and battery

yea i would defiantly like the board and could probally use a six axis board i have all the xbox stuff one could ever need from my left over parts from the rapid fire days.

so i would need a switch still to switch between the 2 boards im still trying to figure it all out. keep me updated when there ready

thanks

one other thing as for screw terminals i dont mind soldering and prefer it but it up to you. i know others would like them so who knows whatever is easiest for you

Ok, apparently the play and charge cable isn’t needed to auto sync the controller. You can just connect the 5v,D-,D+,Gnd wires of a usb cord to the corresponding spots on the controller board. I could of swear that didn’t happen when I was first testing around. Oh well, at least its not a bad thing. I’ll make the changes in the guide.

I’ve decided to not bother with the bare basic quick design and will just start with the full fledged board. I’ve gotten everything figured out now and will make it as painless as possible to use the board in a dual wireless setup. All you will need to have is this board, a cg wireless 360 controller, a sixaxis controller, and a lithium ion battery.

As far as controller switching and accidental controller power on’s are concerned, I have that covered as well. To switch between the system, it will have the same concept as toodle’s imp board. For one system you just plug the usb cord in like normal and power on the stick, and for the other system you will have to hold down a button.

As for making this mod a no hassle for tournament play, it is not possible to turn on the stick unless it is plugged into the system. The only problem that could happen is if you plug it into one system but forget/failed to have it switched to the correct one. However, that is dealt with by resetting the sync of the controller when it first powers on. With those safeguards in place, there would be no reason this wireless mod not be tournament legal.

that sounds great just let me know it is ready

so every time we turn on the console we have to plug the stick? could we do a setup with a switch?

Not quite understanding what you are asking. Are you asking to add the possibility of turning on the arcade stick without having to plug it in first?

Here’s a little sneak peak of the pcb board design so far. The top part is the common ground mod and is pretty much finished, just need to double check that everything is error free. The bottom part is unfinished. all the chips will be SMT except the PIC because I wouldn’t have a way to flash them if they weren’t DIP.
The size of the board so far is 3 inches by 1.6 inches

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/gocontourgo/Project%20Leo/LeoPrototype.jpg

looks like your coming alone pretty good, will the six axis connect via a ribbon or will we have to wire it up. either way works great and nice work on the progress.

it will connect with a ribbon. I’m trying to think of a way to remove the usb charger from the design since the sixaxis already has that capability. I think I already have the solution in my head, byt I won’t be able to mess around with it until after the season’s beatings tourny.

yeah thats what i meant… BTW cant wait to get my hands on one of these PCBs

Wow. This certainly has possibilities. I’ll definitely keep my eye on this thread when I build my next stick. I’d love an easy way to do a lighted wireless PS3 stick, so the common ground board sounds about right. The ability to wire up a wireless 360 is just icing on the cake (don’t have a 360, but it would be nice if I go to my buddies house who does).

As for the Lipo batteries, they shouldn’t be too hard to come by. I’m in r/c cars, and 1 cell lipos (3.7v) are becoming more common with various capacities. And they’re not that expensive, either.

A little bit more redesign to try and compact everything. Current size is 2 inces by 1.4 inches. I’ll be receiving the components in a day or two, but I haven’t ordered the flat flex cables and connectors yet (will order them today). I’ll send the design in a day or two to get produced, giving me some time to check through the design making sure there’s no errors.

I’d like to hear some of your opinions about the design so far. Since I will be soldering the components myself, The component labels are probably not that important for you. Should I get rid of them and make the board just a tiny bit smaller?

Also, on the edges, currently the xbox button signal wires are to be hooked up on the outside, while the joystick’s buttons are to be hooked up to the inside. Would you prefer it the other way around?

Note, that the triggers on the 360 pad won’t have to be messed with. You just need to wire the left and right trigger signal to the board and just one of the trigger’s common line to the board (labeled TC). You can remove the pots if you want to, you’ll just need to neutralize the triggers with a 10k ohm resistor on the 2nd and 3rd pins(like in my picture in my first post).

For anyone who wants to use this board, remember that a dual wireless mod is tricky and difficult. This board will only get over the first hurdle. You will still have to figure out how you want to power the boards and how you will want to switch between systems. I have gotten some success with combining toodle’s imp board with a load switch for the usb power and battery, but I still need to do more testing with it.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j138/gocontourgo/Project%20Leo/pcbdesign.jpg

The board looks good, I say leave the labels in case you want to sell it as DIY kit, that way you wont have to solder every single one of them yourself.

I doubt there will be many people who will want to solder surface mount components. Especially this many. It would also be a smart idea, if I sold it as a DIY kit, to add extra components incase one loses or damages some.

Looks good! Did you decide on whether to use the screw terminals or will the wired need to be soldered to the board? And call me brain dead (this has been a LOOOOOOOOONG work week) but I can’t make heads or tails of the PS3 labels (the 360 labels seem to make sense).

If anyone is interested in higher capacity batteries for their wireless stick, try here:

Should be more than enough for a wireless light mod. Speaking of which, how would you wire a light mod for this board? My brain is just not working right now to figure anything out!

And add me to the list when the boards are ready.

No screw terminals. There are several reasons why, but the top reason is that they are too expensive and they would defeat the whole purpose of using surface mount components to keep the board small.

For the button labels, think of it like Toodle’s cthulhu board. You know how it has the button spots on its two sides? P1-4 is punch 1-4, P1-4 is kicks 1-4, Hm = Home, Sl = select, St = Start.

As far as a light mod goes, It should be like done like any other led mod. I’ll try to led my dual wireless stick and see how it goes.

I placed an order for the ffc connector and ribbon already. Should take a week to get those. I should have the boards in two weeks.

I’m thinking about 3 different pricing groups.

  1. $25 (*plus shipping) for just the **Leo board
  2. $25 (*plus shipping) for just a sixaxis board + lith ion battery
  3. $50 (free shipping) for the Leo board, sixaxis board, and a lith ion battery.

*I don’t know how much the shipping will be, but I can guarantee it wont be more than $5.

**From now on, the common ground mod board will be referred to as the Leo board.