There has been debate on whether or not the LED mod was achievable on the HRAP EX for Xbox360 since it was believed not to be common ground. This was my first attempt at wiring and I honestly still don’t know if this stick has common ground…all I know is that whatever I did worked. Nobody really helped answer any of my questions perhaps because no one is using this stick. But if anyone has any questions for me I’ll be happy to answer them.
Here’s a vid of the buttons in action and some photos:
Video:
[media=youtube]qOQEp_lmwBQ[/media]
Photos:
I tried to be as non-destructive as possible. I retained the QDs going to each button so in case some thing went disastrously wrong I could easily revert back to the original wiring. Also, leaving the QDs makes it easy to swap out for new buttons.
I have the same exact stick and I was wondering how easy it is to mod. I was told that you could just remove the buttons and replace them just like that; same as the stick as well. Is that true?
I’m not at all fluent in modding sticks so any help on this would benefit me. I just strictly wanted to change the stick and bttons with Sanwa parts without having to do any wiring and things of that nature.
the buttons should be easy to swap out, thoough on my hrap3 those quick disconnects were fucking tight TIGHT. the joystick on the hrap ex i think the wires for it are soldered on so its not as easy to swap.
I guess I might need someone to help me do the soldering part. Also, one more question. Would the same also apply to all Hori sticks, specifically FS3 and EX2?
no the fs3 and ex2 are much harder, the buttons are soldered directly to the circuit board rather than using wires and the case depth is just slightly not enough to accomodate the full length shaft of a sanwa jlf, though some people have simply cut a hole in the bottom or made a spacer to increase the space between the stick and the bottom panel. I think some people have also taken apart the jlf and swapped the shaft with the hori stick that is already in there.
The HRAP EX has quick disconnects. They are definitely tough to disconnect by hand. You need to take a flat head screw driver, wedge it in and just turn so the disconnect pops off easily. You can see in my detail shot of the buttons that the QDs are still there.
The HRAP EX (the one shown) has quick disconnects. I purposefully left them in for easy button swapping. You need to use a flat head screw driver to wedge out the QD. I wouldn’t recommend doing it with your fingers.
Oops…i thought my previous post didn’t get published.
It’s really easy to switch the buttons since they are quick disconnects. No soldering is required. I don’t know much about replacing the stick. It’s a seimitsu stick and I don’t have problems with it. Is it the square gate that you don’t like? If so, you can just replace the gate instead of buying another stick.
The buttons are factory Hori buttons which I replaced with seimitsu buttons. One tip is that the buttons on this stick are close to the stick mount so I would suggest getting non-threaded buttons. I used the threaded buttons that have a screw clamp and had to mod the buttons closest to the joystick in order for it to fit. The non-threaded buttons are like the hori and most sanwa buttons that just snap into place without a screw clamp.
As I mentioned in the original post, don’t be afraid of soldering. It’s definitely nerve racking the first time around. Make sure you practice on spare wire before you attempt at cutting and reconnecting wires. For practice, take 2 wires, strip the ends, twist the threads for each end, and solder them together. You can look at videos on youtube on how to solder.
Also, make sure you have desoldering thread in case you mess up and need to remove solder from the perf board. You also want to make sure that your solder iron has a pointy tip. Cheaper solder irons have dull tips which make precision work more difficult. This comes into play when wiring up your perf board since the wires will be very close together. You can go to radioshack and buy decent solder iron for about $12 or so.
Thanks for the info Moo. I’ll give it a try soon. I have a old EX2 with broken HAPP buttons so I think I’ll practice on that thing first before I go into my HRAP EX. If I can mod the more difficult stick, it should be easier to do the other, right?
I just need one competitive stick for the XBOX 360 just in case there are tournaments using exclusively XBOX 360’s. I think I’ll just buy a custom stick for the PS3 because I’m not too confident in my craftsmanship.
In theory yes, but it really depends on what type of mod you are doing. I don’t think there is enough room in the EX2 for you to be able to do an LED mod because you would need a barrier (terminal) strip, hex inverter and a good amount of wires. Also, the internal layout of the buttons to the pcb are vastly different than the HRAP EX. If you were talking about soldering practice then surely that should help.
A good mod for the EX2 would be to replace the buttons. I believe sanwa makes low profile buttons that might fit. Here’s a video on youtube of a guy totally stripping out a stick for the wii (EX2 style) and converting it for the xbox with sanwa buttons and joystick. This is a different level of complexity…you have to do a lot of drilling: [media=youtube]mjme2VLpIpw[/media]
I can’t properly screw in one of my buttons because it’s too close to the area the stick is supposed to be mounted, did you encounter the same problem?
My HRAP EX Stick with LS-32 Stick + PS-14-KN Buttons (lol, I’ve put in a 45mm Balltop as well).
!! Holy s***!.. Thanks a lot. Couldn’t think of that since I was annoyed with yanking the QDs with a screwdriver and screw in/back the top base. I’ll do it in a week’s time since I can’t be bothered doing all that again though.
