How to fix controller trace???

[SwaGGyP11]

Okay so I have a CG2 controller and I tried to do the button relocation mod to move my B button to the back of my controller. I bought a pack of 4 momentary push buttons from radioshack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062543

and used a tutorial from SevenSins:

http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/threads/how-to-install-extra-buttons-on-a-cg-controller.449045/

I am using 30awg wire from radioshack.

I soldered one wire to ground on my controller and another to the trace for the B button as shown in the tutorial then soldered both ends of the wires to the button. I tried it out and the momentary button didn't work, but neither did the original B button!

So I followed some other instructions and tried to fix the trace by reconnecting the messed up trace to another via on the board (below the A button, to the left of the top pin) with my wire. I popped my controller back together and it STILL doesn't work.

Please help!

[Modded Matt]

post some pictures of your install. Are you sure you used a ground?

[SwaGGyP11]

I already messed with / rearranged everything but will post pics shortly.

[SwaGGyP11]

My button:


the ground:


and what I did to fix the bad trace:

[SwaGGyP11]

Even after attempting to rewire the B button it still didn't work...I'm so stumped.

[Modded Matt]

It doesnt work because the via is gone. If it was mine id salvage it for parts.

[SwaGGyP11]

Thanks for the info.

Because I'm going to salvage the parts and try again on a different board, is there any better way/tutorial for doing this?

[gmod]Please click modify to edit post , Please do not double post [/gmod]

[snowcolt17]

i dont see why you cant fix it, still?

30awg wire.

thanks to our friend RDC...

scrap the trace a little to expose the copper. use the trace repair pen from radio shack and then solder the 30awg wire to it. then to where the b button goes.

it isnt completely ruined... is it?

[Rodent]

i dont see why you cant fix it, still?

30awg wire.

thanks to our friend RDC...

scrap the trace a little to expose the copper. use the trace repair pen from radio shack and then solder the 30awg wire to it. then to where the b button goes.

it isnt completely ruined... is it?

good job snowcolt also will help if you use solder paste flux to clean the area and try tinning your work before start to solder anything.tin the area your soldering to and the wire , also make sure iron is plenty hot enough looks like cold solder joint in the pic above

[Modded Matt]

the problem here is scratching the traces. dont scratch, rub very gently. we only want to take off the green coating.

The circuit board is a fiberglass board with a copper overlay then masked in the green coating to keep it from shorting. you only want to take off the green until you see the copper. Radio shack makes a fiberglass pen that will help with this process.

look closely at the mobo, see all the dots, that is the point where the trace goes through to another layer of the board, you cannot damage them. see the lines, those are the traces that you can attach to. Each trace has a different function. you cant just pick one and jump to it, it must be the correct one.

Snow has pointed out where you can pick up the b button, but that trace/via is much harder than the one you already tried to attach to.  remember what I said about the green solder mask.

[Anonamous]

Expose what copper you can from the green trace that is connecting to the b button trace. Then on the back of the board you will find another via (tiny hole) that is directly underneath the via that connects to the b button trace. (You may need to remove the right trigger to get access to the button via) You simply need to solder a wire from the b button trace to the via on the bottom of the board and it should work again

[SwaGGyP11]

Thanks to everyone for helping...

So if I'm understanding correctly, my problem is that I'm scraping away too much?

And I still could fix it as long as I reconnect it accurately to the trace snowcolt outlined in pink?

Alright new problem...experimenting with various games, I have found out that it is not that my B button doesn't work, it is that it is constantly being pressed down as if I were just holding the button down the whole time, so it wouldn't affect anything new that opened up.

[mod]Please try not to double post, snow[/mod]

[SwaGGyP11]

Alright new problem...experimenting with various games, I have found out that it is not that my B button doesn't work, it is that it is constantly being pressed down as if I were just holding the button down the whole time, so it wouldn't affect anything new that opened up.

[Modded Matt]

reply #11: yes that is accurate
reply #12: like I said.... parts

[Anonamous]

Alright new problem...experimenting with various games, I have found out that it is not that my B button doesn't work, it is that it is constantly being pressed down as if I were just holding the button down the whole time, so it wouldn't affect anything new that opened up.

If you still have it connected to the button, remoe the wires. If not you may have scrapped and exposed the copper to the ground plane also. The connection would be bridged while soldering making it appear for the b button to always be down. I suggest cutting the b pad trace and then soldering your wire closer to the black b button pad.

[snowcolt17]

try to take the best pics of the traces up close.

[Johan1973]

From what I can tell of the pictures, it looks like you are using a soldering iron with to high an effect for what you are soldering. Try to use something that is more adjusted to fine soldering. It is only advice to save you further repair work in the future. The awg wire should not have the insulation melted that far along it due to heat. But this is nitpicking.

It has been my experience that the controller chips in the xbox controllers die very easily from even a tiny short. And that generally results in buttons stop working.