There’s something satisfying about fixing things yourself. Aussies have a reputation for DIY, but rather than spending weekends sweating over an angle grinder or swinging a chainsaw, I prefer the relative tranquility of repairing old electronics.
I’ve been working on a bunch of repair jobs, some far more daunting than others. I started with one of the easier tasks: fixing a temperamental PlayStation 3 controller.
The patient
Sony DualShock 3 controller, which came with my PlayStation 3. Not my favourite controller — I prefer the Xbox 360 pad — but it does the job. Or rather, it was doing the job until recently.
The problem
The DualShock 3 has a bizarre design flaw: the ribbon cable transmitting button presses to the main circuit board is not connected to the board. It’s merely pressed against it, held in place by a thin piece of foam. Over time, that foam wears down and the feeble connection is severed.
The controller doesn’t stop working, at least not at first. Instead, some button presses don’t register, and at other times the controller sends phantom presses to the PlayStation. This isn’t too bad depending on the game, but at one point while playing Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake wouldn’t stop firing his gun – literally blowing my cover on many occasions. (My finishing rank was ‘Crododile’, for you MGS aficionados out there.)
The fix
The fix is simple: you open the controller and reinforce the foam pad by wrapping electrical tape around it. Opening the controller is simple enough, and gave me a good excuse to give it a thorough clean for good measure.
Applying the tape was easy (perhaps too easy, my controller has a slight bulge now) and the only fiddly part was reassembling the controller. The R1 and R2 triggers aren’t secured in place and must be inserted with care, but otherwise this was an easy fix. If you can use a screwdriver, you can fix a DualShock 3. Recycle one today!
