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Thread: How to fix an xbox controller cable?

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    ServBot (Level 11) Slate's Avatar
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    Default How to fix an xbox controller cable?

    I have 2 Xbox Controllers, Controller S, And both of them have breaks in the cords. I'd really like to fix them (Don't want to buy any more xbox controllers yet) So, how could i fix them?

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    Strawberry (Level 2) heyricochet's Avatar
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    Do you mean like the cord it self is obviously cut at some point? or did the controller just stop working and you're assuming its somewhere in the cord? Or, is it intermittent and you have to bend the cord in a certain direction for it to work.

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    Banana (Level 7) SkiDragon's Avatar
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    I'll assume that the break is near the controller. Cut the cord an adequate distance from the controller. Open up the controller, and solder your new cable end to where the old cable attached.
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    Quote Originally Posted by SkiDragon
    I'll assume that the break is near the controller. Cut the cord an adequate distance from the controller. Open up the controller, and solder your new cable end to where the old cable attached.
    On a related note, you can follow the same method to splice on a male USB plug and have a kickass PC controller. I did this to one of my xbox controllers. I bought a controller extender that replaced the ripaway part, cut the old ripaway in half and spliced on a usb plug. When I want to use it on the PC I plug it into the usb ripaway doodad, and on xbox I plug it into the controller extender

    It's EASY.

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    SkiDragon: Thanks for replying, I'll attempt to fix the controllers soon.

    heyriochet: The cord is not cut, It's a break in the wire (Wires?) In the cord, and if i move the cord around in some direction it'll work, but the breaks have increased, so doing this doesn't work too good.

    c0ldb33r: That sounds awesome, I'm sure it works teriffic. Did you buy a broken xbox controller to substitute for the cable breaker?

    Is the cable a solid wire, or lots of small wires? I Know they're very fragile, Since I wrapped the cable across one of them and it messed up.

    Edit: Rather silly question, All corded controllers have lots of small wires. Anyway, what type of wires should i use? I don't want ones that are fragile..

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    Great Puma (Level 12) c0ldb33r's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slate
    c0ldb33r: That sounds awesome, I'm sure it works teriffic. Did you buy a broken xbox controller to substitute for the cable breaker?
    No, I bought an xbox controller extender. It's just a replacement cable breaker that's like 3 feet long instead of 3 inches. This left me with the original cable breaker which was sacrificed for my xbox to usb adapter.

    Quote Originally Posted by Slate
    Is the cable a solid wire, or lots of small wires? I Know they're very fragile, Since I wrapped the cable across one of them and it messed up.
    Lots of small wires. 5 in total, and they're small. I don't want to make it sound scary - it's not. It's quite easy really, I just want you to know what you're getting into. Inside the xbox controller there's green, red, white, black, and yellow. So what you'll need to do is carefully strip off the black plastic wire cover. I can't remember if there's silver shit inside or not (you know the stuff that wraps all around the cord), if there is, just pull it back - out of the way. Take each small wire and CAREFULLY (they're small!) strip each coloured wire (on each side of the cut). Twist one side of each cut wire to the other side of the same colour, solder it, wrap each solder point in electric tape, then cover the entire work area with either shrink tubing or electric tape, and you're done. I found it easier to strip all the little wires first, then solder each individually, making sure to tape each off as I go.

    Take note though, if you're going to use shrink tubing to cover the entire work area, make sure to slip it on before you twist/solder the wires I was going to use shrink tubing, forgot to slip it on, finished the job and was like ... fuck that and just taped it

    Quote Originally Posted by Slate
    Edit: Rather silly question, All corded controllers have lots of small wires. Anyway, what type of wires should i use? I don't want ones that are fragile..
    You don't need to "use" any new wires. Just find out where the break in the wire is. You said you can tell because if you twist it in a certain place it works/doesn't work. Cut on one side of the break, then cut on the other, so you're removing the broken area. Then connect one side to the other, and you're done. You don't use any new wires, just the ones already in the controller.

    I found a guide on how to make an xbox to pc controller adapter (I wish I saw this before I did mine, it was easy though since xbox is just USB really). Scroll down a bit and it'll show you what the controller wires look like.

    link

    Take note though, one side is USB, the other side xbox, so when you notice one side has 4 wires (USB) and the other has 5 wires (xbox - the yellow one is extra), that's why

    If you have anymore questions, make sure to post them here or PM someone first. An ounce of prevention = pound of cure. Measure twice, cut once, etc... all those other stupid sayings that just mean xbox controllers are expensive so be careful.

    One final thing - go slowly. Stripping, twisting and soldering 5 tiny wires is a slow process. It's not going to be a 5 minute job. Especially if you're like me and have big stubby fingers.

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    Thanks, that helps a lot. It looks like i won't be able to repair them until sunday (At least!) Since i'm going to go looking for deals on friday and saturday.

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    My cord ripped a bit near where the cord is connected to the controller, some duck tape fixed that up.

    Don't know if that helps or not.

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    Alright! One of the xbox controller S's is fixed! Turns out the break on the one i fixed was really close to the controller, so i had to put the inductor inside the controller! But other than that, it looks like it was made that way!

    Thanks to all who replied! I still have to fix the other one, but that'll get fixed soon enough.

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