MOD - backlit crystal xbox controller S

[c0ldb33r]

I've got a crystal xbox controller. (Not my main controller, I actually prefer the black one). I decided it would better if it were lit. I ordered a bunch of LEDs online and they came in yesterday afternoon

Here it is with the camera's flash on. I know the controller jewel looks fucked, but it's not. It's silver and says XBOX (you can't see it because its silver and the camera flash is hiding it). Usually when people add an LED to their xbox controller, they carve out the plastic behind the controller jewel to let the light shine through. I did just the opposite. Since the controller is clear, I thought it would be neat to have the light come through everywhere BUT the jewel. Plus, this made it a lot easier.



Here it is with the flash off. Pretty sharp eh? It actually looks a little brighter in this picture than it actually is. Must be because of the digital camera.



It was super easy to do, just open the controller, take out the board and solder the + end of the LED to the 5V lead near the memory card (just use a multimeter... or it's the one on the far right ). Solder the - end to the ground (the point on the far left) and you're done. It actually took most of the time getting the soldered LED situated so you couldn't see it underneath the jewel. Not a big deal really, but it bugged me. I've got it situated directly under the jewel (literally - its almost touching it).

I sanded my LED before using it, this diffused the light quite a bit. Otherwise the light would be a lot more focussed in a forward direction, which would look like hell. I just used my rotary tool with a sanding bit and scuffed it up.

One thing I would change (and maybe will have to do yet) is to add a resistor to the LED. I'm using a 6000mcd pure white LED with a max forward voltage of 4.1. The lead I soldered to is a 5V lead, so there's a chance that the LED's going to die. If it does, I'm cool with it because it was pretty easy to do, and the LED was dirt cheap. I've got a 45 ohm resistor that I'll just stick in and that should take care of it.

But, so far it's fine. I had it running for 4+ hours last night to test it, and it looks, well, the same. Maybe my crappy soldering job provides resistance enough

[nofriendo]

wow did you use a guide to do this? theres guide to do this at xboxscene.com

nofriendo

[c0ldb33r]

Could a mod please move this thread to the technical and restoration society subforum?

Thanks

[Mattiekrome]

Wow man, nice work... For some reason I think I might start getting into modding some stuff. Dont know why, just bored I guess. I know nothing of soldering or electrical wiring (volts, amps, +, -, bleh, whatever). You say the LED is max voltage of 4.1, but since you soldered it to a 5V lead, it might burn it up? Is that how it works?

[c0ldb33r]

Wow man, nice work... For some reason I think I might start getting into modding some stuff. Dont know why, just bored I guess. I know nothing of soldering or electrical wiring (volts, amps, +, -, bleh, whatever). You say the LED is max voltage of 4.1, but since you soldered it to a 5V lead, it might burn it up? Is that how it works?

Yeah, basically I'm putting more power through the LED than it can handle. It won't ruin the controller, since the controller is doing what it is capable of doing, putting out +5V. The LED can only handle 4.1. Since I'm putting more power through the LED than its designed to handle, there's a chance it will die (just stop lighting up). Basically its like blowing too much air into a balloon. If you over inflate it too much, its gonna pop.

But, it's been almost a week now and it still hasn't died, it still working great actually, so I'm sure it's fine. A difference of .9V isn't really that great. It'd be different if I were using a 3mm white LED, which is 3.3 volt. In any event, you can just use a resistor to lower the voltage and make the +5v safe for lower voltage LEDs.

If you're looking for LEDs, I'd check out LSDiodes.com. I don't work for them, and I'm not affiliated with them in any way, except that I'm a happy customer. Radioshack sells LEDs, but their prices are outrageous! I went looking for a white LED there and they wanted like ... $6.00 for one. Same with other colours. The one I used in this mod was a 5mm 6000 mcd white LED. lsdiodes charged me $0.60 for it, not $6.00. So they charged me 10%. Most of their LEDs are either 45 cents or 60 cents - but some are more if you want the really fancy ones. Also, if you're buying only LEDs, their shipping is only $2.00 anywhere in the world. If you get wires and stuff, the shipping is more, but still very reasonable.

I'll warn you though, if you go through them you'll probably be tempted to buy the highest mcd versions of the LEDs that they have. Don't! The one I used in this mod was a 6000mcd. They also sell 8000 and 12000 mcd versions, for just a few cents more. These will hurt your eyes! During the mod I looked directly into the 6000 version a couple of times and it hurt my eyes, so if you're just doing a simple mod like this, don't go any higher than 6000 (lower would be better, but thats the lowest 5mm white they have).

If you have any more questions about LEDs, that site has an LED tutorial. Pretty informative. It's basic, but it'll get you going.

I've replaced the LEDs in most of my consoles. Black gamecube with a blue LED looks really sharp

My next tasks are to (1) add a power putton to an xbox controller, and (2) backlight the six face buttons on that same xbox controller

[SuperNES]

im sure you know this already, but if you wanna make a power button on you controller the best way to go is to use the yellow wire in the controller as its pretty much useless.

[Slate]

My next tasks are to (1) add a power putton to an xbox controller, and (2) backlight the six face buttons on that same xbox controller

When you backlight the buttons on an xbox controller, post up some photos - I want to see it!