How To Light Up Your xbox Controller Dongle
This is the result you will get from successfully completing this tutorial:
The great thing about this mod, is that if you totally screw everything up, the only thing you need to replace is the
short cable that connects the Xbox controller to the Xbox.
Parts Required for the job:
- Xbox Controller Dongle
- A very small flathead screwdriver (for prying)
- An LED. 3mm LEDs work the best, as you are working in a tight space.
- A resistor. 100ohm worked for me (code Gold-Brown-Black-Brown)
- Wire snippers
- Soldering Iron and solder
Step 1.
This is the hardest step of all; the rest is a cakewalk. You have to pry the two halves of the dongle shell apart so you can get at the insides. Get the flat-head screwdriver in that little crack and pry! It may sound like it is breaking but it is really tough so don't worry about. This is what it should look like when opened:
Step 2.
Take off the clear plastic thing that is covering the metal. You will then see a metal tab that looks like it can be bent back. Bend it back and it looks like this:
Use your wire snippers and clip off that part you just bent back. Don't worry...it's unimportant.
Step 3. LED Installation.
To prepare your LED, firstly solder the resistor onto the positive leg. The result should look like this:
^negative.........^positive.
It would even be okay to have the resistor leg a little shorter; there is not a lot of free space inside the dongle.
Now, take a look at the inside of the controller dongle. You should be looking at something like this:
The red wire is the +5v power, and the black is ground. On most controllers, there are 4 black wires. If yours has
4 black wires, the one farthest from the red is the ground wire.
Solder the positve leg of the LED (the one with the resistor on it) to the red wire.
Solder the negative leg of the LED to the ground.
Soldering here is fairly easy - the solder points are nice and big and already have solder. AliKaz figured out a way to go
solderless, but I prefer soldering to get that firm, 100% connection. Here is what you should have after your solder job:
I found that if you bend the LED forward, as opposed to back, it fits much better in the dongle. Make it like this:
And now you are done! Plug it into your Xbox and test it before closing, then close your controller dongle (snap it
back together) and you are set!
Tip: Put little bits of a clear plastic bag inside to distribute the light.
