Direct and concise. Manufacturers are clearly at fault here, good on you for calling them out. I was baffled that even the fancy controller with swappable sticks doesn't come with hall effect sticks. What a joke.
Yes I've replaced my DualSense edge joysticks twice within a year of ownership. Also had to replace the mechanism that controls the back trigger buttons as the right trigger mechanism basically wore out over time!
The use of the old drift-susceptible potentiometers in controllers is all about greed and control - simply put, manufacturers want people to throw away old controllers when the potentiometers develop drift, this way the manufacturers sell more controllers. Of course this approach is not at all friendly to people's wallets or the environment.
@@kevinhowe6307 Exactly, I was looking at getting a controller with hot swappable sticks only to find out the sticks were the same price as a $20 controller from Amazon.... And the Amazon controllers STILL came with back paddles and a mute switch, like what exactly is the $60 price tag for?
I can vouch for the Hall effect DualShock 3 controllers. I have a Japanese one from 2008 and it still dead center till this day. I just need to change the battery.
That's good to hear. I was a little worried, because I have heard that magnets loose their magnetism naturally and I have several older consoles like a PS1 and N64. So I was wondering how my PS5 would hold up with Hall effect sticks on the long term of not using them.
@@ExecutionerDan i just did a quick google and the magnets in hall effect sensors are neodymium, which only lose about 5% of their magnetism in 100 years. so i guess they're basically permanent. i was going off like magnetised screwdriver bits that lose their magnetism way faster.
God, the more I learn about electronics, planned obsolescence, and how cheap spare parts are in comparison, the more I think I should finally learn how to solder. Edit : corrected a mistake
Yea it's not super difficult to start learning, especially if you start with something larger like audio cables. The problem most of my students have is that they buy a cheap iron that doesn't maintain heat accurately, and then they end up struggling between "it won't heat up" and "I melted everything" lol
What you just said is why I taught myself the absolute basics through RU-vid. I had to start replacing the mouse buttons on one of my Logitech mice because it was double clicking like crazy. Now I'm capable of doing very basic soldering. My greatest feat of work is putting a back buttons kit on my dual sense controller. It takes me forever cuz I'm scared of messing up but I can get it done
It's wild that "hall effect" joysticks aren't some recent invention, but rather they were already present on many famous retro controllers. It's clear that these same companies sought to further planned obsolescence by inventing potentiometers, so that stick drift would force most ppl to keep buying replacement controllers.
The rise in popularity FPS games, demand for minimal deadzones and constant use of the analog sticks has made them unsuitable. Back in the day we just didn't use the analog sticks as much and deadzones were quite excessive too, so pots were fine back then. Sony switched to hall sensors for PS3 but then had to go back to pots to get rumble motors in without raising production costs in order to please shareholders.
I just happen to be a 2M tech and I work with circuit cards and soldering daily. When my dual sense controller started drifting I took that as an insult and installed hall effects. Why stop there though? I already had my controller disassembled so I went and added four metal back pedal buttons and replaced my original sticks with metal ones. I've had it for almost 2 years now and still going strong.
I've done a tonne of stick replacements on DS4s, I recommend one of those solder irons with a built in pump for desoldering. REALLY helps removing the old solder.
@@corniel657 hakko minimum, weller or jbc if you really want to invest in some great equipment. I myself run 2 weller wxsmart systems a wx2 and 2 wxair units. Combined with zero smog unit and 6 different solder irons.
One of my PS5 controllers started to drift, after 3 years of use. I repaired it by changing the analog, BUT, less than a year after, the drift came back. This time, I already knew about the existence of these compatible magnetic analogs. I bought a pair and used them on my controller. It has been 3 months already and I had no problem at all. And, to be honest, I'm finding these magnetic analogs more smoother to use than the original ones (I have two controlllers, one with magnetic analgs and other with the original ones). The controller with the magnetic analogs became my preferred controller to play.
@@XxUnkn0wnxX95X which is still not much at all tbh, its what my curent ps4 controller holds and it has the original battery, tho I find it absolutely trash taht its barely a day while my old x360 controller lasted over a week of 10 hours of gaming per days with just 2 AA batteries, lipo batteries where suposed to be an upgrade compared to AA batteries, not a Huge downgrade...
I've played thousands of hours on my PlayStation 5. So far I must be lucky but I haven't seen stick drift yet. But I do play on Upgrading two of my controllers with Hall Effect Joystick modules. I'll start with one of my DualSense controllers then I'll attempt to replace my DualSense Edge joystick modules too
@@mus_xr4653I doubt that, I've had the issue on a less than year old XSX controller, and on a Switch lite that was weeks old. As a kid I never had this issue despite playing with dirty kids hands, having cousins and siblings who didn't respect my stuff, etc. so if it's mostly a dirt problem I should have had this problem constantly.
I can't blame the person who wrote the script, they representing iFixit, it gets complicated pretty quickly with PR and working with future companies. What boggled my mind (I haven't spent a lot of time on controllers since PS2 and 360 one on windows) when did controllers get so over engineered, why is there an internal battery when it was previously easily serviceable. This is blatantly shady...
The board's 6 layers make desoldering excessively difficult since its pretty much a massive heatsink within it. I use a rework station and each stick takes about 2-3 minutes at 500°C to get yanked out. Ginfull (manufacturer of those sticks btw) actually has 2 calibration holes on each sensor (X and Y axis), so a pair of tweezers or paperclip is all thats needed to center the sensors.
Those calibration holes will never be better than the software calibration. The Software calibration is permanent, quick and easy and you don't need open the controller to redo it. Also if those holes are so good of a way to calibrate why did they stop making the magnet adjustable in ginfull v5 sticks? Stop thinking you are smart just bc you know a little. Oh and not to mention Jun Zeng calibration boards, why would someone making calibration board if the holes are good enough?
@@hollow314woah bro no need to get edgy here, i work with what i have from aliexpress and whatever information i could carve from the internet. We're all here learning something new everyday.
20? Nope, hall sensors cost about 2 bucks. They don't use them on purpose. Companies should be fined for these kind of practices, who knows how much e-waste they generated with this planned obsolescence
@@samadel.a765 we consumers have 100% all the power, it's no different than the citizens (who also have 100%), it's only because the companies and organizations running the business or politics are more organized (usually through force). If we organize, we'd see a difference literally overnight. OVERNIGHT.
This is really a good tutorial if you want to start learning how to fix electronics. It's not that hard to do, all you need is to have some solder equipment and the work is fun and educational. Im definitely going to try this, default stick is so bad on current gen.
@@RKDriverNot a pro In soldering but I think these are fairly easy with the right equipment. A rework station is definitely the way to go, fixing this would be very easy for me, the only reason I haven’t done it yet is because mine still works.
Tip: Apply low melt solder desoldering wire to each soldered point of the joystick (any low melt solder will do, but the lower temps it melts the better), this makes the whole process DRAMATICALLY easier, even with just a normal soldering iron! After the removal, clean the board pads with the copper wick, apply some normal solder and clean it again with the wick, to make sure nothing of the low melt solder remains. Reinstalling the hall effect joystick is a breeze, takes literally a few seconds, just solder them in place. Calibrate them as shown @ 6:20, and you're done! :) I did this whole process with two dualshock 4, and one dual sense, and literally the worst part was taking them apart, which I had never done before. (though I did have experience with like 20 other types of joystick, from atari 2600 to Ps3)
It is important to note that it does matter what controller revision you have and what Hall effect modules you get. The first time I installed hall modules into a dualsense, it bricked the controller until I added calibration pcb’s on the other side. Please do research on which ones you need for your revision!!!
For easier removal of faulty part just cut the legs from top side of the board with some side cutters. Then you can comfortably desolder legs one by one. Not all legs are accessible from the start, so pry open potentiometers first. Only ones that will remain untouchable will be microswitch legs.
Huge tip, but you used wick to desolder the 4 little cables that hold on to the pcb. You don’t need to do that. In you just heat it up, you can just very gently pull the wire and it will come off easily. Then when it comes to putting it back, you don’t have to add any solder. Just heat it again and put the wire on.
Outside of the soldering bit, this seems quite a bit easier to manage than the Joycon hall stick replacement. Those were tricky with all of the tiny ribbon cables and maneuvering needed to get the pieces apart. Best believe I had my iFixit guide to help me along in the process!
Desoldering old sticks could be painful for people with no skill on that. If you are a beginner you need to invest in high quality soldering tools. Personally after destroying one ps5 controller board that then I used as test I ended up using a heated desoldering pump (70€). After removal and cleaning, soldering the new joystick is a lot easier. Anyway you need practice before trying the board you want to fix.
Before buying a new controller i'd say try and clean the stick sensor housing with WD40, Dualsense is very simple to disassemble and it worked magic in my case, did it on my Joycons and haven't seen them drift since, did it also on my release Dualsense, and 3 controllers from my friends, all seem fixed atm and its been a few months.
I repair my own controller’s it gave me a skill to help other people as well. “ makes me a few bucks “ it doesn’t bother me companies don’t fix it, heck more people should experiment and gain more skills. Thanks for the video!
I wanna learn to solder so bad,I literally didn't know abt soldering until I had stickdrift and hall effect ones were 128£. I want to learn this and have an extra skill. Wish me luck😅
Actually yes, just pry them open from the rest of the stick module while still soldered and when you heat up the three joint pads at the same time you can squeeze them out easily. Sadly the potentiometers shown in this video (the most popular ones and seemingly the best option available at the moment) only fit their own analog modules so you still need to desolder the stock analog modules, but at least they feel smoother than the stock ones.
I remember, years ago, I buyed a 20€ ($23 I think ?) ps4 controller of a random guy on the internet, and he switched the joysticks for Hall effect ones, I didn't knew what that was so I didn't care at all, I thought it was just another controller like the others, and to this day, the joysticks still works perfectly, it's just the other things that doesn't work anymore XD, like the X button now just registering 1 out of 5 presses, or R1 just not working anymore. Hall effetcs joystick truly are amazing
Excellent video, I did it on my ps4 controller few months ago, work well. Depending board version soldering pads are way smaller than others low melt is necessary & can find even cheaper 2$ each from China … worth it !
This was a pretty fun project to do. I was an absolute beginner going into this, I did know about this before this video so I already have done it, but if you are a beginner and you are looking to do this, its definitely doable. I had a solder with a heat gun station, and the heat gun to remove the joysticks made things so much easier.
FYI: Sony didnt use hall effect sensors for the PS3 controllers. It was a new type of sensor that was superior to hall effect (none of the noise and jitter issues), but it was a little TOO perfect...
I use a Gulikit controller with hall effect thumbsticks and I love how they take advantage of the fact that these things never drift. There is a button combination that, when pressed, removes the deadzone in the centre. This makes the thumbsticks very sensitive for making precise adjustments, like sticking a smooth landing worthy of a chef's kiss (or landing warheads on foreheads).
Oh Gullikit finally released the dualsense Hall effect sticks??? Sick! I’ve been having an issue with one of my controllers, but it’s not drift, there’s no ghost input. I think I just need to clean the contact pad better. It was registering max left input when wiggling around the physical play in the center of travel, so adjusting dead zone didn’t help. I opened it up (using the ifixit guide) and cleaned the contact pad and it fixed that issue, but now it’s registering left input when I press the stick in. I need to open it back up and make sure the stick is ok, I remember one of the green covers wasn’t snapping closed all the way last time, could be the source of my problem. Super thankful for ifixit making it easy for me to do my own repairs instead of having to send it in or buy a new one.
I changed my stick drift after replacing only the potentiometer myself. Till today it's been many months now without stick drift issues. I keep many spares potentiometer in case it happens again
Truth is , by the time most PS5 controllers develop stick drift for most casually playing gamers , it's no longer under warranty, the serial number on the back of the case has been erased through contact with your fingers and they refuse you send you a new one, forcing you to buy a brand new 100 bucks controller to keep playing your games... Why would they fix this ? Only good news is that it's pretty cheap to buy cheap replacement potentiometers off the internet and usually just changing the disk part is enough to fix it for a while at least, you don't necessarily have to resolder everything... But yeah, I've had three different controllers develop stick drift on me this gen on PS5, which is downright insulting.
Money. You either buy a new controller or you pay 200 bucks for a "fancy" controller that makes it so you only have to fork out 20 bucks every time a stick fails. Whichever option the customer chooses, it's still more profitable to Sony than it would be if they made a controller that just lasts. If price was the issue then the 200 dollar controller would just have the Hall sensor in it, however the replacement sticks constantly being sold out shows you just how profitable it is for Sony to keep using inferior components.
Works also with xbox and switch controllers, though they need other calibration software. I was able to manually calibrate the switch pro controller by changing the factory stick settings using Joycon toolkit. Can recommend.
Stick drift can also be caused by dirt stuck in the joystick and can be easily fixed by pouring some isopropyl alcohol in and spinning the joystick to dislodge the dirt. This is definitely the first solution that should be tested before spending money and replacing the joystick or entire controller.
If that's the case, how is it possible for PS2, OG XBOX, 360, and other console's controllers to be free of that kind of drift? My common sense tells me that older consoles would be more prone to develop drift on their sticks, but not.
@@Merely_an_Explorer Older consoles had a different way of centering itself. They still used potentiometer with a small caveat. They're wired and when you turn on the console and dont move the stick, the console will take the motionless stick position as the center point. If you tilt the stick to the right (lets say) the console will take that as the center point and will read a super left when tilting the stick all the way to the left. Older consoles literally calibrate the controllers every time you turn on the console or plug in the controller. That's why sometimes during that time people will say NOT to tilt the stick while turning on the consoles.
Gentlemen, you just saved my controller, thank you. Checked and it was dirty af, and I had to blow inside the joystick. No drift anymore, can keep on gamin'
I just replaced a ginfull hall stick and it works even better than the potentiometer anyday, plus the mouse click button feels amazing to press 100% worth it, it's tricky to install though
Awesome to have that opportunity now. I think, the first option definitely is though to make Sony repair your controller. Get them to have to do as many free repairs as possible to make them realise it’s not worth saving a buck or two manufacturing a controller.
Got three drifting controllers. I was really excited at first to find this video... but I'm really not good with soldering 😢 Great vid anyway. Gave me the info to replace a dead battery I had in a 4th controller.
While hall effect sticks are more robust, they're not a permanent solution to all stick drift. The elastics that center the stick can also wear out, causing the stick to not center properly when letting go of it.
Is there a way to convert a regular ps5 controller into a swappable joystick one? More precisely, is there a way to install something where you can plug in the joystick instead of soldering it? That would be an amazing tutorial, if there is a way.
Seriously considering making the move to Xbox in the next gen consoles because of this issue. At least microsoft provides cheaper controller options with wired controllers. Much rather beat on a $25 wired controller than run the risk of stick drift on a $75 monipolized sony controller.
I've put hall effect in my joycons made by guilykit and they aren't cheap or reliable. Some came out of the box not even letting you click in the thumb stick... I'm not quite sold on 3rd party hall effect yet because of this.
Considering doing the Hall FET mods in my PS4 and PS5 controllers. And if you want the oldest example of Hall FETs being used in the game controllers, Sega Dreamcast controllers have those thumbstick sensors inside - I did open one up.
I haven’t done this myself, but I’m considering buying a custom controller that has hall effect sensors already installed. I have never soldered before, so i’m not sure how comfortable i’d be. i could try on old controllers i have before doing it on the one i currently use
I've been through 5 Dualsenses and a Dualsense edge, all have broken in different ways. A couple launch controllers broke their trigger springs. A few also had stick drift so bad I couldn't get past menus. So I also got a dualsense edge for that to maybe last a while longer, just for the back paddle to break after 7 months, an insanely small metal rod breaks in half making the paddles useless, on ALL dualsense edge. Eventually the paddle input was always being pressed. This is known and might even be more common than stick drift. Do NOT buy an edge. You'll have the irrepairable paddles broken long before you get to pay Sony for a new pair of analog sticks.
If the controller is already broken, as in has bad drift and are unusable, it might be easier to remove the physical potentiometer thumbstick with a side cutter *before* desoldering each pad. As long as you do not use excessive force or damage other components, this should make it much easier to remove the old thumbstick without burning yourself, destroying pads or other components on the board.
Omg that entire proccess just to get to the analog sticks, probably the main thing that should be designed to have the easiest access to. Poor design access and pathetic shelf life of these, it's so incredibly blatent what they're trying to do here I'm amazed they've gotten away with it still. Thanks for the breakdown on this very insightful.
It's also anti-consumer to require soldering skills (pretty advanced in this case) to replace the thumbstick. I got stick drift on my Switch Joy Cons - replacing those was $4 from a certain Chinese marketplace and a matter of slipping out/in some ribbon cables...
So obviously intrigued by this ( despite not facing any issues with my Elite 2 Controllers ) I looked around and found some other Videos about installing such Gimbals all of which utilized an additional PCB that had to be soldered on the other side of the Controllers PCB ( be it PS or Xbox ). Do the Gimbals in _this_ Video have the PCBs Electronics integrated into them or why is there a difference? 🤔🤨
The new calibration software makes the extra PCB obsolete. Now you can achieve the same functionality from your web browser with any sticks, hall effects or not :)
I never had this problem step one: clean controller with rubbing Alcohol with q tip in joystick area every week or two step two :don't leave controller in open air dust and hair can make it's in the joystick and wear it out or if you want open controller and spray silicone to clean out joystick but I just do the 2 steps.😊
Nice work 👍👍 I've got one quick question can we please get a ( WEB LINK ) And What's name of it please ?? Or What program did use to Calibrate the controller.
Even compared to other analog joysticks, my Gamesir T4 Pro i bought used and went through a bunch of dust still registers 0,0 / 0,0 while at center, meanwhile my Dualsense came OUT OF THE BOX with the stick jittering even without being touched, i need to set up a deadzone just to play some games
asking why to the big corp is like asking them to throw the gold mine. controller in console is the component that does most of the job, get more abuse, so it replaced often than the console itself. so it a "secondary" income for the company (see the quote there, it say secondary but most likely primary), same as printer company that we thought that they are selling printer but actually they selling cartridges. "I'm surprise that they didn't put ID chip in the analog part like apple does"
Ok I have watched 5 of these videos and with my controller when you are taking the back peice off the 2 side next to the triggers will not pop off and I have tried everything to get it to pop off and nothing will work and y'all do it so easy and idk how
