Rapid Fire Wireless Controller for Xbox 360 Tutorial

For reference, here is cparsell's schematic. There is one mistake in teh schematic; it doesn't show that pin 2 of the chip is connected to pin 6 of the chip.
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Tools necessary:

Solder Iron

Dremel (preferably)

Torx T8 security screwdriver. NOTE: I couldnt get find a security screwdriver locally, so I just used a small flathead screwdriver to break the center posts of the screws. I was then able to use my regular T8 screwdriver to take out the screws.



Parts necessary.....Radio Shack identification number

TLC555 Timer.....276-1718

10K ohm resistor..... *

100K ohm resistor.....*

1.8K ohm resistor x 2.....*

220 ohm resistor.....*

100 ohm resistor.....*

100K ohm potentiometer.....271-284

1uF tantalum capacitor.....272-1434

100pF capacitor.....272-135

Push button switch x 2.....275-0646

NPN switching transistor.....276-1617

PNP transistor**.....276-1604

Breadboard.....276-159

Diode, type 1N914 x 2.....276-1122

Wire (personally, I used wire from a scrapped USB cable)


*You can find all of these in the resistor 500 pack, Radio Shack number 271-312A
**I couldn't find these specific transistors at my local Radio Shack, I used the "general purpose" PNP transistors they they had in stock. They still worked, but I'm not sure if the ones listed above will work better.

Getting Started

NOTE: The breadboard will come in a pack of two, connected. First, I suggest separating them. I used my Dremel. Im not sure if that is what pros suggest, but it worked for me.

NOTE: For ease of understanding I will use an alphanumeric labeling system when referring to holes on the breadboard. Ignore the holes on the perimeter of the breadboard. Ignoring them, you should see two rows on the breadboard. Each row is three holes by ten holes. Lay the breadboard on your work surface with the trace side facing down and the rows going vertical, so you see one row on the left and one row on the right. Take a writing utensil and mark the top left dot. That dot will be A1. The dot to the right of that will be B1, to the right of that, C1, and so on. Each column will be a letter and each row will be a number, so the bottom right dot will be F10.

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1. Solder the TLC555 timer into the breadboard with pin 1 of the chip in hole C4. Make sure that when you solder the timer onto the board you are soldering it with the chip, as well as all other components/wires, on the side of the board that doesnt have the traces. It should be common sense, but I like to make sure I cover the simple mistakes, as those are the ones that really get people most the time.
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2. Solder a wire connecting pins B4 and B3. I used a black wire, for ground.
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3. Solder a wire connecting C3 and D3. Again, I used a black wire for ground.
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4. Solder a wire connecting B5 and E6. I used an white wire in the picture.
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5. Solder a wire connecting B7 and E4. I used a red wire, for power.
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6. Solder a four inch long wire to E5. I used another white wire in the picture. I also have the NPN transistor on the board in the picture. You can leave that off for now, that was just a mistake I made while taking pictures. The transistor will get put on in the next step.
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7. Solder the NPN transistor into F1, F2 and F3. NOTE: The transistor has to go in a certain way. If you look at the back of the package that it came in you should see a diagram showing which pins are the base, emitter and collector. The collector should be soldered into F1, the base into F2 and the emitter into F3. If you threw away the case, then hopefully you got the one listed in the parts required list above. If so, then the round side of the transistor should be facing the away from the center of the board, as shown in the picture.

8. Solder another four inch long wire to F6. I used a white wire in the picture.
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9. Solder the 100pF capacitor into E3 and E7.
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continued...

10. Solder the 220 ohm resistor into C2 and D2.
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11. Solder the 1.8K ohm resistor into C1 and D1. Look closely and youll see that Id accidentally soldered an 18k ohm instead of a 1.8k ohm. =P
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12. Solder the 10K ohm resistor into F4 and F5.
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13. Look at your 1uF capacitor. It should have a very small plus sign on it. That is the positive side. Solder the 1uF capacitor into A4 and A5, the positive side going into A4.
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14. Solder a four inch long wire to B2. I used a green, for trigger.
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15. Solder a four inch long wire to B1. Again, I used green, for trigger.
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16. Solder a four inch long wire to A3. I used black, for ground.
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17. Solder a four inch long wire to B6. I used green, for trigger.
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18. Solder a seven inch long wire to A7. I used red, for power.
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19. Solder a seven inch long wire to A6. I used green, for trigger. NOTE: If you are not doing the left trigger rapid fire portion of this mod, you may skip this step.
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20. Flip the circuit board over and use a sharpie to draw a square around the holes of the board that you used. This will be your guide for when you are cutting the board down to size to fit inside the controller.
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21. Your finished right trigger circuit board should look like this
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That completes the right trigger portion of the rapid fire mods circuit board. If you are making both the left and right trigger version of the mod, keep reading. If not, skip down to the Installing the circuit board section below.





Left trigger circuit board

1. Solder the other 1.8K ohm resistor into C1 and C2 of the other breadboard you bought. Remember to keep all components on the side that has no traces. Again, I accidentally put an 18k ohm resistor onto the board instead of the 1.8k ohm.
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2. Solder the PNP transistor into B2, B3 and B4. Again, the back of the package should show a diagram to let you know which pins are which. The collector should be soldered into B2, the base should be soldered into B3 and the emitter should be soldered into B4. Again, if you threw away the package, hopefully you bought the one listed in the parts listing. If so, the flat side of the transistor should be facing the C column.
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3. Solder the 100 ohm resistor into A3 and A5.
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4. Solder one of the diodes into B5 and B6. The diodes have a polarity as well. If you got the diodes listed in the parts listing it should have a black line. The black line is the negative side. The negative side of the diode should be soldered into B6.
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5. Solder the other diode into A6 and A7. The negative side of the diode should be soldered into C7.
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6. Solder a four inch long wire into B1. I used black, for ground.
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7. Solder a four inch long wire into B7. I used green, for trigger.
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8. Solder a four inch long wire into C4. I used a white wire in the picture.
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9. So here is the circuit board, pre-cut
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and the finished product.
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Installing the pushbuttons and the potentiometer

1. Take the controller apart using the following instructions: Instructions w/ pictures. Be sure to follow up to the step where they take the controllers circuit board out of the casing.

2. Remove the rumblers from the controllers circuit board.

3. Using a Dremel (preferably) cut all supports for the rumblers out of the casing. This should provide more than enough room for your nearly finished mod. Here are the front and back, post-cut...
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^notice that I'd already cut one of the holes for the right trigger's pushbutton. That is the next step...

4. You should see two circles on the inside of the back of the controller casing. I used those as guides for where to put my pushbuttons. They arent perfect, but theyre damn closed. Using a Dremel, drill holes into the back of the controllers casing to allow you to install the pushbuttons. If you want a nice looking end result, I suggest you go slow and steady, comparing your progress with the pushbuttons often to ensure you dont overcut. If you are only doing the right trigger portion of this mod then only drill the hole in the right side of the controller.
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5. Using a Dremel, cut another hole just below the hole you drilled for the right triggers rapid fire button. This hole will be for the potentiometer, so you dont have to open the controller every time you want to adjust it. Again, go slow and compare often to ensure you have a good looking end result. The picture for this step is above, with the picture of the hole for the right trigger button.

6. Put the pushbuttons into the holes, installing them from the outside and using the captive lock-washers to keep them tight and in place.

7. The potentiometer should have three legs, two on one side and one on the other. Clip one of the legs on the side that has two.
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8. Some more experienced may disagree with my following method, but it worked for me, mostly because I was extremely careful. If someone has a better method, I am very willing to learn it. To install the potentiometer, I put superglue around the hole that Id drilled for it. I then gently held the potentiometer on the hole with the adjustable side facing the exterior of the shell of the controller and the pin side facing in, ensuring that I got no superglue onto the white portion (adjustable part) of the potentiometer. I continued to hold it until it dried.

Installing the right trigger circuit board

NOTE: Trim each wire as necessary, to ensure you dont end up with a spaghetti mess of wires in your controller, before soldering.

1. Solder the wire from B2 of the circuit board to one of the leads of the right pushbutton

2. Solder the wire from A6 of the circuit board to the other lead of the right pushbutton.

3. Solder the wire from E5 of the circuit board to one of the leads of the potentiometer.

4. Solder the wire from F6 of the circuit board to the remaining lead of the potentiometer. You should now have two wires soldered to the potentiometer, one on each side of it, not two wires on both sides. Remember, I instructed you to cut one of the two leads that are on one side of the potentiometer in Step 7 of Installing the pushbuttons and potentiometer. Your project should now loook something like this:
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5. Solder the wire from A7 to the Power point of the controllers circuit board.
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6. Solder the wire from B3 to the Ground point of the right trigger of the controllers circuit board. In my picture it is the point with the black wire soldered to it on the right hand side of the controller.
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7. Solder the wire from B1 to the Trigger point of the right trigger of the controllers circuit board. In the picture in step 6 above, it is the point with the green wire soldered to it on the right side of the controllers circuit board, just below the black one mentioned in step 5. NOTE: If you are only doing the right trigger portion of this mod, you may now put your controller back together. If all went well, you now have a rapid fire button for your right trigger. Adjust the potentiometer as necessary while testing in game to find the setting you desire.





8. Solder the wire from B6 to one of the leads of the left pushbutton. In the picture below you can see the wire coming across from the right hand side of the controller to the pushbutton shown. That is the wire I am referring to for this step. NOTE: If you are only doing the right trigger portion of this mod, you may skip this step.
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Installing the left trigger circuit board

NOTE: Again, trim each wire as necessary, to ensure you dont end up with a spaghetti mess of wires in your controller, before soldering.

1. Solder the wire from B7 to the lead of the left pushbutton that does not have a wire soldered to it. Remember, you should have soldered a wire to one of the leads in Step 8 of Installing the right trigger circuit board. Use my picture above (the last step for installing the right trigger's circuit board) as your reference.


2. Solder the wire from B1 to the Ground point of the left trigger on the controllers circuit board.
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3. Solder the wire from C4 to the Trigger point of the left trigger on the controllers circuit board. Use my picture above for your reference. In the picture I have am using the white wire.


4. Reassemble the controller carefully, making sure to avoid pinching the wire leading from the right circuit board to the left pushbutton.

And there you have it. You should now have a fully-functional rapid fire controller. Simply adjust the potentiometer as necessary for the setting you feel comfortable with.