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?
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.
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 TH-cam. 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
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
TL;DR step 1) take controller and firmly grasp with dominant hand. step 2) open lid of refuse bin with non dominant hand. carefully deposit controller in bin. step 3) disconnect power and HDMI cables from ps5. step 4) repeat steps 1-2 with ps5 this time. step 5) never give sony another dime.
I just did this myself with the new gulikit tmr modules. For anyone struggling to remove the old sticks, I had better luck with a solder pump than a wick. I also tried a conical and chisel tip but a blade solder tip worked best for me. I still had to add some leaded solder to help melt the factory lead free solder but after using a pump I had much better luck and still used plenty of flux too. I had trouble getting a few legs completely removed with just an iron but got as much as I could done then I was able to use a reflow station to heat up the little bit left while gently wiggling out the modules (a hot air gun should work too, whatever you have access to should be fine). Once the old ones are out its lightwork to put the new ones in, just remember to use plenty of flux and take your time with it.
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.
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...
There are literally $30 controllers that have Hall effect sticks, so the price isn’t the reason. Buying a new $70 controller every year is better for console manufacturers than making a durable version for $80. Especially when 3rd parties aren’t allowed to make controllers for ps5 and Xbox x|s
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 nearly gave up on this, but gave it another try. The tutorial makes it look easy, it’s not (as someone doing soldering for the first time). Some tips: Make sure iron is above 400, I had to set to 450. You will need to keep applying Low melting solder and wicking it off, if you don’t care about the existing sensor just tear off the potentiometers , will make it easier
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.
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😅
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
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'
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).
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.
They'll never solve or fix that problem if it stops people from buying a new controller every 6 months. I thought people knew that everything in the world is about money.
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
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!!!
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.
Another tip for desoldering the joystick modules: The potentiometers can be removed independently of the joystick itself. you just need to push the side tabs on each one and gently tilt the cover back. Each pot has 3 pins, and it helps to intentionally bridge the pins together with more solder, so that you can melt the existing solder on those 3 pins all at once, allowing you to pull it off.
i have always struggled to melt the solder off of the board, no matter which iron i use, even with the braid method, flux etc. thanks for this vid, i now know i need to go ott with choice of how hot my iron will go.
@@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.
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.
Exactly, and I found comment here to try spraying WD 40 into the sticks so I figured why not if I am going to throw it anyway for new one. It worked fantastically.
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 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
I'd also like to see some mechanical buttons instead of membrane. That is what usually goes bad on my controllers. But that has an even smaller chance of happening than the hall effect sticks.
I used to repair these on PS4 controllers. To melt all the solder points we used a big blob of low melt welding rods. You put a big blob then just keep running around the analogue pins until all of the solder is melted. Gotta be careful with temperatures though.
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.
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 !
I recently replaced the sticks in my DualSense controller with the new Gulikit sticks. Was a great investment, and I feel confident that the controller will last me a long time.
my xbox original controller is still good to this day... original one would be as well, if I had proper heatshrink and didn't spill solder onto the metal shielding surrounding the wire... turned that capacitor red hot under a second, and produced a powerful smell that alerted me to the issue.
Not really, it would be just delaying the inevitable. They could act their age and use hall sensors from the get go, it would add maybe 1$ cost in a 50$ controller and vastly improve lifetime.
@@arthurdefreitaseprecht2648 Then they wouldn't make money on replacements. This is carefully planned by Sony, and they've already had a lawsuit over it like 3 years ago.
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.
Selling you a $70 controller once or twice a year nets more profit than selling you a $100 controller that lasts years. That sadly is the bottom line, money
Amen. I bought an edge hoping that gulikit would make a slot in replacement. They've kind of gone silent on that project. Thankfully, I had the good sense to buy replacement sticks when they were in stock. But my supply is running out and like you said, the replacements are now out of stock all the time.
Same, although I did keep a set of drifting joysticks after replacing them. I might just try my hand at working out how to slot in hall-effect sensors myself
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.😊
80s 90s they made products to be durable and last the life of the product but the last 20ish years companies done a switch to extract more money from the consumer , now they make there products just strong and durable enough to last the warranty period so they dont have to replace it for free instead make you buy another one and then you are in there loop that never ends. if they make something that never brakes then no one would need to replace anything and there products wouldnt sell as much . like really think about it, we can fly to space but they cant fix a tiny issue ,
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.
i think the existence of the PS5 Edge controller perfectly shows us why Sony aren't using hall effect sensors. they turned a one time purchase into a recurring purchase. at the end of the day we can boil most of our problems with electronics down to "money".
The reason why Sony nor Microsoft use hall-effect sensors is noise on the signal line they can’t get rid of. What these third party manufacturers do is to hardcode a dead zone so the noise doesn’t cause ghost input. When you move the sticks slowly, you notice the non-linear movement and jitter. And no, using conventional sticks isn’t planned obsolescence, but simply a non-trivial engineering challenge.
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.
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...
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)
For some reason I had a harder time removing the sticks from the PS5 controller compared to the Switch Pro controller. Still got them out though. You just have to be very patient.
Mine starts drifting a day ago and honestly, this is alot of work and skill which i have but sometimes you just cant bother with all that. Im just gonna buy a new one tomorrow
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
even the xbox "elite" controllers have drift
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?
If Controllers won't break How will Playstation make money bro? How will CEO's get another condo man?
Manufacturers want you to buy new controllers thats why hall sticks aint in them
HAll Effect sticks have their failure points as well...this video is just telling half truths...
Exactly
I hate that it's true
Indeed, it's planned obsolescence.
Not Sega in 1998, the Dreamcast controller was hall sensor... they still work great
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
Sir you have a good point but there's basically nothing we as consumers can actually do
Corporates do sh*t like that all the time
@@samadel.a765
If there is a will there is a way
@@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.
@@YiJoro *if*
20 is the shipping fee.
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.
@TheRealBOBlibob I'm pretty sure if stuff lost magnetism then humanity woukd get destroyed by cosmic rays lmao. I'm no scientist though.
@@ExecutionerDan no he's right, metals do lose magnetism, but it takes way longer for a metal to lose magnetism vs normal sticks to start drifting
@@Syddy_ interesting. Probably takes decades if I had to guess though right?
@@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
Solder*
@@luigiymario2xd thanks for the correction. I appreciate it
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 TH-cam.
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
Do it, it's not that hard.
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.
That's the way😊
Can i get any recommendations?
@@corniel657 hakko if you want to invest in a pretty decent one, or go pro with jbc or weller.
@@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.
@alansmithee2012 Can you share a link to one such soldering iron? I didn't know there was such a variation. Thanks in advance!
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.
Sometimes vibration settings cause stick drift.
How easy/difficult was the install? Mine just started to drift to the left and I need to swap out my left stick
@@peanutheadrules I cant say how difficult is cuz I paid for a professional in this area change it for me.
@@jhonrock2386 gotcha, thanks for the response! I’ll look around and see how much they charge over here. Appreciate it!
Which magnetic replacements did you use?
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.
@@talibong9518sorry but hall sensors cost only a fraction more than a potentiometer. It was a move to reduce lifetime.
"It's not hard to change" starts soldering 😅
Right, makes you wonder why we need companies to begin with if at the end of the day we're doing everything ourselves
For real!!! I was like, I’ll buy a new controller thx.
@@Chuckles9191991i mean you are gonna buy a new one already than why not try this if it works you save money
Its a basic solder job, thats why its a good idea to take these types of classes in highschool.
@@Chuckles9191991Wow. Soldering is easy though.
U guys should start selling battery upgrades, show us biggest and best quality battery we can put inside.
yeah I know right, i got me a 4000 mAh battery in mine, I got from aliexpress, controller lasts slightly more then 1 day of playtime now ;)
@@XxUnkn0wnxX95Xwow can you link it please
@@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...
@@SpeedyGwen you play too much use wired controller
They actually do now! A 2800 mAh one.
If you haven't heard of stick drift you don't play enough.
Fr couldn't said it better
Or you live away off Twitter and TH-cam. Great thing, honestly 😊
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
@@Mr_Battlefieldmost of the time stick drift is caused by dust and grime
@@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.
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.
Would you be willing to make a video detailing how to do this? I'm sure countless people would be very grateful.
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?
Use of low melt solder helps with this
@@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.
Bro just use low melt solder and they come off @400° in a minute 😂
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.
Big shout out for Alain bringing us the 3rd party calibration tool
and all the people handling translation in every language
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.
You're the man. Thanks for calling out the manufacerer too. Absolutely absurd how needed this video is.
TL;DR
step 1) take controller and firmly grasp with dominant hand.
step 2) open lid of refuse bin with non dominant hand. carefully deposit controller in bin.
step 3) disconnect power and HDMI cables from ps5.
step 4) repeat steps 1-2 with ps5 this time.
step 5) never give sony another dime.
I just did this myself with the new gulikit tmr modules. For anyone struggling to remove the old sticks, I had better luck with a solder pump than a wick. I also tried a conical and chisel tip but a blade solder tip worked best for me. I still had to add some leaded solder to help melt the factory lead free solder but after using a pump I had much better luck and still used plenty of flux too. I had trouble getting a few legs completely removed with just an iron but got as much as I could done then I was able to use a reflow station to heat up the little bit left while gently wiggling out the modules (a hot air gun should work too, whatever you have access to should be fine). Once the old ones are out its lightwork to put the new ones in, just remember to use plenty of flux and take your time with it.
Finally TH-cam has given me exactly what I need when I need it!
Only 12 hours after I needed it. But it's close enough
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.
“We need more people like you! The right to repair is one thing , but we should have durable items, just as our grandparents did.”
The PCH-1XXX (OLED) PlayStation Vitas also use Hall-Effect sticks. Sadly, they removed them with the release of the Slim
Love the diplomatic "for some reason" :))
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...
Wd-40 contact cleaner works wonders my ps5 controller is 3 years old with hard use and it still goin strong
Didn't know about calibration gui. Incredible tool!
There are literally $30 controllers that have Hall effect sticks, so the price isn’t the reason. Buying a new $70 controller every year is better for console manufacturers than making a durable version for $80. Especially when 3rd parties aren’t allowed to make controllers for ps5 and Xbox x|s
Thanks for making these videos. Fixing stuff is such as easy way to contribute to conservation of our planet.
you guys are the shining light in todays electronics filled world. thank you and keep it up!
It is possible to remove the potentiometers from the stick, that could make it easier to unsolder because things can be removed in smaller pieces.
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 nearly gave up on this, but gave it another try. The tutorial makes it look easy, it’s not (as someone doing soldering for the first time). Some tips: Make sure iron is above 400, I had to set to 450. You will need to keep applying Low melting solder and wicking it off, if you don’t care about the existing sensor just tear off the potentiometers , will make it easier
His lawyers definitely helped him with that last line asking if it's due to more need for R&D or blatant greed. ;)
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.
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!
Same here! The extra cash is nice. 😂
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😅
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
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.
When my joystick drifts, i tilt the stick and blow in the crack between the body and stick cover. Works everytime
@@Paronak A man of culture
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'
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...
3:02 or the best solder sucker ever, the engineer SS-02
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).
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.
They'll never solve or fix that problem if it stops people from buying a new controller every 6 months. I thought people knew that everything in the world is about money.
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
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!!!
Modded both a ds4 and dualsense with them. Been using it for 3+ months now and it’s still return to dead center like it was new.
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!
the joycon modules are drop in's while this requires some pretty extensive soldering skill and is far more risky. in what world is this easier?
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.
Another tip for desoldering the joystick modules: The potentiometers can be removed independently of the joystick itself. you just need to push the side tabs on each one and gently tilt the cover back. Each pot has 3 pins, and it helps to intentionally bridge the pins together with more solder, so that you can melt the existing solder on those 3 pins all at once, allowing you to pull it off.
Soon Ifixit will explain how to re-ball and replace an BGA chip, this is how far DY technology is progressing.
this repair isn’t even that sophisticated
i have always struggled to melt the solder off of the board, no matter which iron i use, even with the braid method, flux etc. thanks for this vid, i now know i need to go ott with choice of how hot my iron will go.
Bro, you lost me. How about I just send my controllers to you, and I'll pay you to fix it? My brain is swelling, lol😂😂
Yep. Next level skills here and I know how to solder. I can 100% guarantee I would F this up.
@@RKDriver hahaha same here
as someone who's done sodering i rather send it to him myself...i'd give him $200 & tell him have at it....i dont want to buy a 3rd controller...
@@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.
@@wisdombright9821 Yea this is very low skill lvl soldering something you would find in a soldering kit for kids.
That recalibration is something I still don’t understand but the resoldering of the stick is something I can definitely do except the recalibration.
Nice, but I ain't doing all that
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.
Exactly, and I found comment here to try spraying WD 40 into the sticks so I figured why not if I am going to throw it anyway for new one. It worked fantastically.
@@anismatar dont use wd 40. It will kill your controller super fast. Find silicone based instead
You can get a local tech to fix that.
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.
00:16 "for some reason"??? Call it by it's name!!! Forced (not even planned at this point!) obsolescence!
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
Can you guys link the analog sticks? Or will iFixit be offering them?
I'd also like to see some mechanical buttons instead of membrane. That is what usually goes bad on my controllers. But that has an even smaller chance of happening than the hall effect sticks.
hall effect mod NS, PS and xbox controller had a big proble. not every hall effect stick is accurate do some some researches before buying
I used to repair these on PS4 controllers.
To melt all the solder points we used a big blob of low melt welding rods.
You put a big blob then just keep running around the analogue pins until all of the solder is melted. Gotta be careful with temperatures though.
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.
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 !
PS4 controllers were the worst
I don't even own a PS5 but I am still watching
I don't even own any PS but I am still watching.
@@persona83 chad
i dont own a PS5 but i have a dualsense for my PC.
Would love to see a video on this done to a dualsense edge replacement stick!
I would like a link for the software used to re-calibrate the sticks with?
I know. Why show it but not give the link. Weird!
I recently replaced the sticks in my DualSense controller with the new Gulikit sticks. Was a great investment, and I feel confident that the controller will last me a long time.
at 2:52 what is that round scew on clamp thing called I've been trying to find a name for it but I just cant figure out what they are called.
Did you ever find what it's called?
my xbox original controller is still good to this day... original one would be as well, if I had proper heatshrink and didn't spill solder onto the metal shielding surrounding the wire... turned that capacitor red hot under a second, and produced a powerful smell that alerted me to the issue.
Crazy that all of this could be avoided if Sony would just put a dead zone % adjustment in the UI.
Not really, it would be just delaying the inevitable. They could act their age and use hall sensors from the get go, it would add maybe 1$ cost in a 50$ controller and vastly improve lifetime.
@@arthurdefreitaseprecht2648 Then they wouldn't make money on replacements. This is carefully planned by Sony, and they've already had a lawsuit over it like 3 years ago.
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.
Selling you a $70 controller once or twice a year nets more profit than selling you a $100 controller that lasts years. That sadly is the bottom line, money
Amen. I bought an edge hoping that gulikit would make a slot in replacement. They've kind of gone silent on that project.
Thankfully, I had the good sense to buy replacement sticks when they were in stock. But my supply is running out and like you said, the replacements are now out of stock all the time.
Same, although I did keep a set of drifting joysticks after replacing them. I might just try my hand at working out how to slot in hall-effect sensors myself
0:57 3/5 stars, the reviews are terrible.
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.😊
80s 90s they made products to be durable and last the life of the product but the last 20ish years companies done a switch to extract more money from the consumer , now they make there products just strong and durable enough to last the warranty period so they dont have to replace it for free instead make you buy another one and then you are in there loop that never ends. if they make something that never brakes then no one would need to replace anything and there products wouldnt sell as much . like really think about it, we can fly to space but they cant fix a tiny issue ,
Capitalism directly affects the quality we consumers purchase.
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.
eat your joystick, no joystick no drifts
i think the existence of the PS5 Edge controller perfectly shows us why Sony aren't using hall effect sensors. they turned a one time purchase into a recurring purchase. at the end of the day we can boil most of our problems with electronics down to "money".
The reason why Sony nor Microsoft use hall-effect sensors is noise on the signal line they can’t get rid of. What these third party manufacturers do is to hardcode a dead zone so the noise doesn’t cause ghost input. When you move the sticks slowly, you notice the non-linear movement and jitter. And no, using conventional sticks isn’t planned obsolescence, but simply a non-trivial engineering challenge.
Very interesting !
Why is this not a problem on something like the t16000m? That seems like bullshit
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.
Lost me at 2:27
You made it further than me
Desoldering is a no no in my book lol
I got 4 (four!) dualsense with drifting left stick. Thx sony for quality :( My wife is happy. She always knows what present i need.
Yeaah, naaaaah. Ill just throw my controller away.
Sony needs to get their stuff together and release Hall Effect controllers
Thank you! My submarine keeps moving off course because of this, thanks for the fix!
Sega Dreamcast has a hall effect stick. They knew how to do it right!
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...
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)
You made it so easy i bought everything and ruined my controller desoldering was so hard
For some reason I had a harder time removing the sticks from the PS5 controller compared to the Switch Pro controller. Still got them out though. You just have to be very patient.
Can you also use this solution to replace the potentiometer sticks in the replaceable stick modules for the dualsense edge?
Every should tag Sony and share this video.
Mine starts drifting a day ago and honestly, this is alot of work and skill which i have but sometimes you just cant bother with all that. Im just gonna buy a new one tomorrow
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.
Solid presentation here. The best one I’ve watched. 👊🏼
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.
I have a release day PS5 playing nearly every day. OG controller no stick drift, I think it's a miracle.
should'nt you have physically calibrated them by using a pin in the axis holes and checking where it is centering in the software?
You guys should sell the modules for replacement, too many dodgy hal effect sticks out there with reversed magnets
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.
PSVita fat (OLED models) also uses hall effect, and guess what, they remove it on later revision (LCD models).
Planned Obsolescence is real
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.