Author Topic: Xbox 360 controller LED swap, question (SCREWED IT UP, pads ripped off :S) (Read 12266 times)

Max_Kreeger · « **on:** December 15, 2008, 04:15:25 AM »

Hey guys,

I checked the tutorial section to see if there's anything about which LED's are in the ring of light on the controller but couldn't find anything. So a quick question for you guys. Before I open it up. Which LED's does it use ?

Thank you
Max

Modded Matt · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2008, 05:01:47 AM »

they are SMD type. you can buy them from us here https://acidmods.com/ShopUSA/ this shop is supported by this site please show you patronage, and I am sure will help you through it.

***EDIT****
sorry I looked back and the led's are not in the shop anymore. there has been some issues in the past few weeks with the site and the shop.
Mike, will these still be offered from the WI shop or are they discontinued??

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2008, 05:13:45 AM »

What size? I hope they are 0603..

802Chives · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2008, 09:52:01 AM »

yup, they are 0603 size leds. Pay attention to forward voltage, and make sure to get the lowest forward voltage leds you can find as the wireless controllers only have 3V to play with, and many common blue leds are 3.4V

redryno1221 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2008, 05:22:13 PM »

https://www.acidmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=19039.0
here's a tut that i made a looong time ago...search plz...

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #5 on:** December 16, 2008, 12:17:54 AM »

Quote from: 802Chives on December 15, 2008, 09:52:01 AM

yup, they are 0603 size leds. Pay attention to forward voltage, and make sure to get the lowest forward voltage leds you can find as the wireless controllers only have 3V to play with, and many common blue leds are 3.4V

Ok, well the LED's I'm getting are blue and they are 200-250mcd. What will happen if they are above 3.4v ?

802Chives · « **Reply #6 on:** December 16, 2008, 05:59:37 AM »

if the forward voltage is too high, the LEDs will be dim or wont turn on. No harm in trying them though.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #7 on:** December 16, 2008, 06:14:34 AM »

Anyway around that(the dimming) ? Just to let you know the controller that I'm going to do it to, I use the charger cable thing instead of the battery. So will it still dim if its getting power from the 360, and will the 360 pick it up like it does the 12v fans and have a period and ban me. (sorry for my noobieness)

Thank you
Max

802Chives · « **Reply #8 on:** December 16, 2008, 11:27:01 AM »

I believe that it would still be dim when the Play N Charge cable is pluged in. The only practical way around the LED forward voltage is to find the ones with the lowest forward voltage. I know there are some blue ones out there that work as I have seen many controllers that use them.

Don't worry about being banned for a controller mod, I believe that PNC is USB powered so the worst that will happen is the machine will disable the USB powerbus if too much current is drawn(500mA). That being said if you are simply replacing LEDs there is nothing to worry about. If you are adding leds, you will need to add a ton of them to get over the 500mA threshold.

The 360 being banned by using 12V fans is almost an urban legend. One person, maybe 2, have reported this happening, but I suspect there was more to it than a 12V fan. IMHO the reason the people got banned is that they were messing around with firmware files that flagged M$ to look deeper into those particular cases. Since the files that they were messing with arent easily monitored by M$ the easiest way to punish them was to look a power consumption and Ban em that way. Long story short, the banning of 12V moddified xboxs is very real, but I dont think that it is something that M$ actively monitors in order to give out bans. I ran a box with an added 12V fan for months and never had any issues, also there are people with 3-5 additional 12V fans that have never had an issue. So the possibility does exist, just the probablity is very low that this would happen.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #9 on:** December 17, 2008, 12:19:51 AM »

Ok, thanks. Well these are the features and specifications of the leds:

FEATURES:

* Long lasting (Last up to 100000hours)
* Low Power Consumption
* Intensely Bright
* Low Forward Voltage Operated
* Instant Light (Less than 100ns)

SPECIFICATIONS:

* Source Material:InGaN !
* LENS Type:Water clear
* Emitting Colour: BLUE
* SIZE:1.6 x 0.8 x 0.8mm 0603 SMD SMT LED 0603
* Luminous Intensity-MCD: 200-250mcd
* Reverse Voltage:5.0 V
* DC Forward Voltage: Typical: 3.0 V Max: 3.8V
* DC Forward Current:20mA
* Viewing Angle:120-140 degree
* Lead Soldering Temp:260°C for 5 seconds
* Intensely Bright

I think they are suitable. If not could I just lower the resistance by about 30 ohms?

Thank you
Max

802Chives · « **Reply #10 on:** December 17, 2008, 07:52:17 AM »

I think you may be alright as it says typ forward voltage is 3.0V However if they come in on the high end of that spec you may see what I speak of.

On an Led swap, I am unaware of a resistance that you can play with. If you are installing them and not replacing them, then your limiting resistor will controll the intensity of ur LED. However, if the forward voltage is not exceeded you will be doing nothing with the limiting resistor that will make the LED light up. Lowering the resistance will give you more light out of a properly biased diode(as long as it is still runing within 20mA spec), the key bieng properly biased which means exceeding the LED forward voltage.

Go ahead and give it a try, I think you will be fine with those specs.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #11 on:** December 17, 2008, 11:39:23 PM »

OK thank you, well the LED's are arriving in about 7-14 business days so looks like I'll have to wait. In the meantime I'll give the controller a new paint job. When the mod (including the LED's) is all done I'll post it in the 360 section. See what people think.

Thanks again for all your help and advice
Max

P.S. For my future mods that I want to put on youtube would I be able to use the acidmods intro video ? Like with the lightning then it says "acidmods.com" *lightning* "where consoles evolve"

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2008, 06:48:57 AM »

Hey guys,

Sorry to bump this back up, but before my LED's arrive. I went to practice removing the 0603 LED's off my PSP (I'll also be swapping them) but I ran into a problem. My soldering iron was either too big or I'm just s**t, or both

. I couldn't get the LED's off without destroying them and to make things worse the tip of my soldering iron had patches where it just didn't take solder. So I need to get a new one. Do you guys have any tips on how to remove and solder on the 0603's and what size tip would you guys recommend ?

Thank you
Max

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2008, 09:43:32 AM »

If you got your iron from Radioshack and it's the 15w one, it should be okay as my tip is not really that small but I still managed to get some leds off. My method, although it may not be the best, is I just alternate from the two pads/ends/whatever of the led and I just keep going back and forth quickly until I melt the solder. Then the led sorta just comes off.

SN!P3R · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2008, 10:47:12 AM »

do your self a favor, dont melt the leds off LOL. just use an exacto knife and with moderate pressure, just rip the lil' bugger off.

802Chives · « **Reply #15 on:** December 20, 2008, 11:18:25 AM »

The trick is adding solder. add more solder, and then use the alternating sides method with ur iron. I would not recommend using an exacto knife as there is a possibility you can damage ur pads on the pcb board. Also some people have luck breaking the led in half and taking one side at a time off.

I know when I take out surface mount resistors I often just heat up one side and lift with tweezers and break other side of the resistor that is still attached to the pad. then I drag iron on the other pad with the pieces still in it and clean it up. Cant recommend this method with LEDs as I have not tried it.

SN!P3R · « **Reply #16 on:** December 20, 2008, 11:38:34 AM »

his idea is good as well, but on my PSP slim, i had luck prying the wifi and memstick leds and the power light by using a knife.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #17 on:** December 20, 2008, 05:32:20 PM »

lol, thanks for the tips. But I can't even get my soldering iron near the pads without the sides of it touching the mobo or the LED. I got so angry I destroyed the tip.

Is there a recommended tip size I should get ?

Thank you
Max

Ch4rL13 · « **Reply #18 on:** December 20, 2008, 06:15:43 PM »

Quote from: Max_Kreeger on December 20, 2008, 05:32:20 PM

I got so angry I destroyed the tip.

anger management is what you need.

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #19 on:** December 20, 2008, 06:30:12 PM »

Lmao... it really doesn't matter if you touch the mobo as long as it's not touching any components and it's not for too long. Also, do you want to keep the led for future use? Because if you don't care, then you could just melt the top off, and then do the alternating side method.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #20 on:** December 20, 2008, 06:32:43 PM »

I would like to but it seems impossible with the tip I had. Its too big for one and the tip wouldn't take on solder. It would melt it and then just go into a blob and drop off. I tried cleaning it, nothing worked. It was time for a new one anyway :P

Containm3nt · « **Reply #21 on:** December 25, 2008, 06:18:22 PM »

Anyone notice that when you do an LED swap on a CG controller, the LEDs get less power than the Matrix version? Ive used the exact same LEDs and PnC Battery and the Matrix controller lights the LEDs better than the CG on all four LEDs...

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #22 on:** December 25, 2008, 08:14:04 PM »

What do you mean by the matrix version ? What does CG mean ?

lol I fail...

Containm3nt · « **Reply #23 on:** December 25, 2008, 09:05:51 PM »

Matrix was the original controller circuit board design M$ shipped, and CG stands for Common Ground, you can find out about them better in the Controller section, you will need to if you plan on doing just about any rapid fire mod...

Just search around or PM me for links.

Its just weird that the CG has less voltage going to the LED ring, or it might just be mine???

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #24 on:** December 25, 2008, 09:22:19 PM »

So the matrix board is the "old board" and the CG is the "new board". Correct ? Thats what it said in the rapid fire tut...

Containm3nt · « **Reply #25 on:** December 26, 2008, 12:16:14 AM »

Yup, that's right. I wound up having both, so I could do the LED to middle trigger rapid fire mod on the "old style" Matrix board. Its an easy mod, just as difficult, if not easier than the LED swap.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #26 on:** December 26, 2008, 12:36:29 AM »

I reckon easier lol, those little LED's are a b***h to swap. What size tip do you use for your soldering iron ?

Containm3nt · « **Reply #27 on:** December 26, 2008, 01:15:31 AM »

Whatever size was on the Radio Shack 15w iron. Yeah it was a pain, i ripped up three out of sixteen traces. I did both of my controllers. I'm ready for UPS to get back to work and ship my my 360, its been in the service center since about the beginning of December...

I love the overheating problem, but that's off topic, sorry...

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #28 on:** December 26, 2008, 02:15:37 AM »

Damn! I have no idea how you managed with the 15w. I went ape

at mine for two reasons...1.) It wouldn't take on solder and 2.) It melted EVERYTHING else around it EXCEPT the solder. Sooooo I stabbed the concrete :P. Hopefully getting a new tip tomorrow and I can try again. This time with a little bit more patience. Yeah I bought my 360 second hand, from a friend. It had just come from repairs. Still holding up good. Hope it stays that way....

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #29 on:** December 26, 2008, 11:49:07 PM »

S**T! I was swapping the LED's and I ripped away BOTH pads. I know I'm supposed to scrape away the green stuff. But where do I scrape it away from ??????

Thank you
Max

Containm3nt · « **Reply #30 on:** December 27, 2008, 12:47:44 AM »

Quote from: redryno1221 on December 15, 2008, 05:22:13 PM

https://www.acidmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=19039.0
here's a tut that i made a looong time ago...search plz...

Read the tutorials, they tend to

...

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #31 on:** December 27, 2008, 01:23:55 AM »

I can't, there's not enough space. I done all the other 3 and now I can't do this one. ITS REALLY PISSING ME OFF

EDIT:

Its ok I MANAGED to fix it after like 3 hours. what happend is the trace also got ripped off up to the point where it starts to turn to the pads. So all I had was this:
___
___

But much closer (This is for the player 4 LED)
Anyway I made some new traces with 30 Gauge Kynar wire and then put some nail polish on top of it to stop it from shorting. HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE! Glad its over...pics will be up soon

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #32 on:** December 27, 2008, 02:02:16 PM »

Happy you fixed it. How'd you manage to destroy a pad? Also, as for your problems doing an led swap:

Just be patient. I find that blobing solder onto both ends of the led and then alternating sides helps a lot. After a while it comes off. 15w is actually the preferred wattage for modding, although more experienced modders have gone with higher wattages. As for tip size, if you just buy the 15w iron off of Radioshack for about 10 bucks, it should work fine. As I said, just be patient. When you say your iron doesn't take on solder, perhaps it's just time for a new iron. How'd you manage to melt everything around the thing? Remember. Don't try to apply too much heat if it's not working. Maybe 5 secs max, let it cool off if you failed, and try again. Remember to clean your tip often, use rosin core solder, and flux.

Good luck with future led swaps

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #33 on:** December 27, 2008, 11:20:59 PM »

I dunno, I got the LED off and then went to clean the pads and smooth them out so its not a blob and I slowly ran the iron over them and then it came off. I think I applied too much heat. Oh well, good lesson for the future.

Thanks again for the advice and info
Max

802Chives · « **Reply #34 on:** December 29, 2008, 12:19:12 PM »

oh boy now uv done it........haha isn't learning fun? Ok so remember all the talk about the MATRIX v. CG controllers, the first thing you need to do is identify which one you are working on(srry if u already, too lazy to find out). Go to the controllers thread a look for the stickied topic with how to identify. From there, there are some hi-res images on the internets that you can look and see where the traces go. I will link you when you reply with ur controller type

basically you should be able to see with a magnifying glass where the traces run on the board, so the images arent nessecary. when scraping the "soldermask" (green stuff) be really careful and make sure to scrape it until the copper shows through shiny. your best bet is finding the corresponding "via" (round hole where trace ends and transfers to other side of the pcb). once you have the bare copper just solder some wire to jump out the broken trace.

Gameroms uses a fiberglass pen that is made for lightly removing stuff like, soldermask try finding one on ebay if you are not confident with ur scraping skills as that is the hardest part of this repair.

Max_Kreeger · « **Reply #35 on:** January 01, 2009, 03:09:41 AM »

Thanks for the detailed response. The controller PCB is one of the first ones..so the old MATRIX ones. Its ok I've already had a look at the pictures.

lol this has been a long thread hope it helps anyone else who runs into the same problems

Max

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Author Topic: Xbox 360 controller LED swap, question (SCREWED IT UP, pads ripped off :S) (Read 12266 times)