wow it looks a LOT harder online than it looks IRL
wish you luck!
Hope the transition goes well 🙏
New shell? :3
Deconstructed gourmet joycon
Update: the operation was a success, for both joy-cons! I've taken the guts from an official joy-con, the shell from a bootleg, and a brand new battery. No drift so far, too. And yeah, the right joy-con had way more crammed inside; you'd think they'd put the ir chip and the nfc chip on opposite sides, but nope.
Now that you've done it once, I can recommend the gulikit hall effect joystick kit, which is a drop in replacement. I've done it for my kids' joycons and it shouldn't ever need fixing.
I also installed a replacement antenna for one of them, you can buy a square one that fits where the original goes. And for the other side where the antenna is etched into the board, there's a handy pad where you can solder on a wire. I used a 6.25cm long wire, stripped and soldered at the middle, this makes a dipole antenna tuned for 2.4GHz, and just tucked it inside the case.
Since doing this the signal never drops out. It used to be nearly useless for sitting on the couch, now it's a solid connection.
woah!!!! i've always wanted long-range joycons but i couldn't find any; can you send me a guide on that antenna upgrade?
Also youtube just recommended a nondestructive way to enhance the left joycon using conductive foam. I had no idea this was an option, but it's from ifixit who are basically one of the most reputable repair resources out there.
You could try that before doing any soldering, I imagine the foam isn't expensive.
I followed this for the right joycon. If you buy the antenna from the links, the only difference between them is the wire length, which has nothing to do with signal strength. I tried both because they were so cheap, but the shorter 50mm one was much better because it's long enough without too much excess:
Tap for reddit post in case you don't want to go there
Hey, Everyone,
Just wanted to share my Joy-Con experiences here in case it might help someone else...It's more on the technical side, but the results have been phenomenal for me.
The Joy-Cons I got with my Switch on launch day have been pretty good about being responsive and staying connected, though, not perfect, and can still be frustrating when playing them detached with Mario Kart (only when several feet away) due to some periodic unresponsiveness. Even so, I never bothered trying any of the fixes I'd seen with the original set as they felt good enough.
Several months after launch, I got a second pair of Joy-Cons from Best Buy when they came back in stock, thinking that there was enough time to fix any "manufacturing defects" by now. However, this new pair definitely had the connection issues that I'd read so much about. They were super flaky, laggy, and disconnected more often than the original ones did in various tests. The left one especially, but even the right one was less responsive on these new ones.
I tried the foam fix initially on the new left one (I had some conductive foam from other projects), and it did indeed help keep it connected, but the micro-stutters and input lag (most noticeable when playing Mario Kart) were still infuriating.
So, I did some research and came across this: https://www.tfix.co.uk/project/nintendo-switch-joy-con-antenna-upgrade/
Just Google Image search "joy-con antenna upgrade" for lots of good pictures to get a better idea of what to do.
I decided I was going to try something similar.
I ordered a bunch of these: http://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active%2F1461530050_ANTENNAS.xml
But, in hindsight, I think I should have gotten these ones with the longer cable as that would have made placing them in the Joy-Con much easier: http://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active%2F1461530100_ANTENNAS.xml
At any rate, they should be about $1.25 each at most electronic outlets.
There might be antennas better-suited for the Joy-Cons out there, but these seemed like good ones to try, at least, and were readily available.
And with those, I modded both the left and the right Joy-Cons.
The right one already has the same port as the new antennas, so it was an easy swap there, and I was able to plug the new antenna right into the existing port on the right PCB and squeeze the new antenna back in the same area as the old one without affecting the shell closing.
The left one, the infamous one, was trickier, of course. You've probably seen a few guides about people soldering a wire onto that antenna-related soldering point on the left one's PCB, and that's the same strategy I went for with using these new antennas.
I first had to carefully cut and strip the end of the antenna wire to expose the wire without damaging it. I then tinned it and carefully soldered the new antenna's exposed wire to the typical soldering point on the left PCB. I placed a small square of electrical tape on the new solder point and wire. I then tried to run and mount it in the same spot as the right's antenna, which worked OK and, after some careful effort, was able to get it back together without affecting the shell.
So, I then ended up with a modded left and right Joy-Con with what I hoped to be upgraded antennas.
After using them for several months now, the difference has been amazing! The range itself is a bit better, but the real benefits come in the form of how consistent and responsive they BOTH are now. Every button press feels immediate with no input-lag or micro-stutters at all, ever, no matter how I hold them!
It's a shame Nintendo seems to be dancing around these issues and not just putting slightly better antennas in the new Joy-Cons, but at least there's a way to improve them ourselves, which I will settle for as I love the Switch, haha.
Anyhoo, I didn't bother going into too much detail here as the details are well documented elsewhere, but just wanted to share my experiences in case there are people still out there frustrated with their Joy-Cons (even after the official "repairs") and hesitant to try modding them...because it's worth it! :)
***Updated links for posterity:
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/146153-0050/molex
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/146153-0100/molex?q=1461530100
And that person says you can strip the wire and solder that antenna to the pad on the left joycon too, since it doesn't have a port.
I didn't go that route, I just did this for the left one:
I figured since I was soldering anyway I'd do the simpler thing, plus something about just tacking on a basic wire was very alluring.
That video doesn't pay attention to the wire length, I think maybe the guy got lucky, but do pay attention to that. 2.4GHz wavelength is 12.49cm which is too long, so you need 1/2 or 1/4 that. The dipole ~6cm wire, soldered in the middle, is a good way to pick up that frequency.
This page shows you how to calculate the antenna length and shows a basic diagram of what it looks like:
https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/dipole
Now, I calculated 6.25cm wavelength, but that and other pages show ~6cm, but apparently it depends on wire radius, so I would defer to their knowledge. If you get close enough, it still works from my experience.
Obviously bear in mind this is a mod and you run the risk of damaging something. Personally I didn't destroy a joycon with the mods, I did it by not realising I had to pull the battery connector up and away from the board, which could happen with any repair. But my kids enjoyed picking out a new colour for the replacement, so that was fun.
I recently replaced the sticks on mine with those magnetic ones that aren't supposed to drift, and despite the left joycon being more simple, it was also harder. They pass an unrelated ribbon cable over the back of the stick that you have to remove.
Thoughts and prayers 🙏
Give it to me straight doc, is it going to make it?
The left ones are pretty easy but the right ones are a bear. Best wishes for your procedure.
Just don't strip anything. I had to drill my shell when my joystick started to drift.
i did strip a triagonal case screw unfortunately but i got it out eventually and swapped it for a regular philips screw.
exciting!! I was never able to get the IR sensor plugged back in when I did my shell swap lol
i went out of my way to avoid unplugging it in the first place; its just glued down. that sucks tho.
surgery? more like disection...
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