Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “DIY Hacks & How To’s: Video Game Controller Mod”.
Today, i’m going to show you how you can use an arduino to modify a video game controller and make pre-programmed combo buttons. There are a lot of different styles of video game controllers, but most of them have the buttons wired up the same way. The button is a normally open, momentary, switch one side of the switch is wired to ground. The other side of the switch is wired to a pull-up resistor and to the controller’s ic chip. When the button isn’t being pressed, the pull-up resistor makes the output of the switch high, but when the button is pressed, the switch connects to ground and the output is low. We can simulate the effect of the button being pressed by connecting an arduino to the switch’s output, pin and sending a low signal to the controller. The controller’s ic chip will register this low signal, the same as it would. If the button had been pressed so to modify the controller, we need to connect to the output pin of each button. On my controller, i was lucky enough to find large contacts at the output of every button, so i decided to make the connections there to make it easier. I also drilled holes in each one to make through-hole connections go through your collection of old computer cables and find a pair with matching end connectors cut the first cable so that there’s about three inches of wire coming out of the connector, then solder, one wire to The output of each button and one wire to the ground line on the controller using a dremel cut a slot in the housing. That’S just big enough for the connector block, apply glue to three sides of the connector position, the connector in the slot and clamp it in place until the glue dries once the glue is fully cured.
Close up. The housing now connect the second cable to the first one on the opposite side of the cable, separate and strip. The wires then add a diode to each of the button wires. This will prevent the buttons from accidentally shorting the output pins of the arduino. If they’re pressed while the output is high, insert the free end of the diodes into the digital pins on the arduino and insert the ground wire directly into one of the ground, pins of the arduino, now to add a button to activate it, connect one side of The button to an unused digital pin and input mode and connect the other side of the button to either the 5 volt pin or another digital pin in output mode set to high then use a 1k resistor to connect the input pin to ground now open up The arduino development environment and write some test code connect the controller to the console and you’re ready to try it out the activation button and the character should go through the pre-program commands.
As a test, i programmed mine to play a level of mario 2.. This kind of hack can be really useful for people with limited mobility. You can even use it with custom accessibility, switches such as foot pedals or mouthpiece switches.
Well, thanks for watching and check back next week for more diy hacks and how to’s you .