Adding Two USB sockets to your XBOX
Want to add a professional looking USB socket to your XBOX? Here’s what you’ll need for this quick and relatively simple mod:
1) Antec Easy USB available at COMPUSA for $10. If you can’t find this or aren’t based in us, go to any computer hardware shop / repair shop and they will stock usb hubs.
2) Soldering Iron and solder
3) Electrical tape
4) Drill or Dremel tool
5) Hobby knife
6) Glue of your choice (epoxy is best)
7) Scissor that can cut sheet metal such as Wiss snippers
I found the Antec Easy USB for $10 at COMPUSA and thought it would be perfect for the project because it includes a tiny circuit board with 2 USB sockets and a wiring harness to make the mod easier.
1) First thing to do is take out the USB circuit board from the case and put the case aside since we won’t be using it for this mod. Here’s what the USB circuit board looks like:
2) Open your XBOX. CAREFULLY remove the front panel from the XBOX. The right way to remove the front panel from your XBOX is to first remove the yellow wiring harness that connects the front panel to the motherboard. Next you’ll want to pry at the corners to remove the panel from the rest of the XBOX case. This will take some force.
3) Now, you’ll want to try to figure out where to mount the USB circuit board. Here’s where I mounted mine. This location required me to snip the sheet metal with Wiss metal snips. Pretty much any place you mount it will require some snipping. I used a drill to make holes in the front panel, and then used a hobby knife to slowly shave the area into a perfect square the USB socket can fit through. I then used Super glue to hold it securely in place.
4) Next, comes connecting the wiring harness for the USB sockets to your XBOX controller ports. Here is a simple diagram of what color wire goes where:
6) After splicing, soldering and insulating the wires, you’re done! Put everything back together and fire up EVOX and test your USB keyboard on both ports to make sure it works.
