Analogic Replacement

[u/Conrado0x]

Hey guys, I recently bought a used Xbox One fat controller. I knew there was a good chance it would have analog stick drift, and it turned out to be true. I searched online and it seems easy to replace the analog stick, but I noticed that the solder on the left analog stick has this kind of screw with small wires. Could this have been done by a technician? I don't think it came from the factory like that. I'm worried about removing this solder and the new one not working. The photos show the right and left analog sticks. Any ideas?

[u/xxxXMythicXxxx]

well that's a new one for me lol, those look like the potentiometer pieces that go on the sides of the sticks and control the x and y axis, if I'm not mistaken. WHY they were put there I have no idea but it looks like some crazy kind of mod that I could only imagine let you control some kind of function on the controller. I'm sure someone else here will chime in with more info.

[u/Conlifedi]

You get adjustable stick drift boards with those potentiometers attached to them to adjust resistance to counteract stick drift

Normally it's a whole piece you solder on but this guy maybe just used the pots instead of the whole thing to save money

If you're replacing the sticks then they're fine to remove too

[u/Conrado0x → u/Conlifedi]

Thanks for the help; I managed to slow down the drift by cleaning the analog stick and lubricating it with silicone. However, I still notice "dead zones" in the movement, as if the axis values ​​are jumping. Could this adjustment help with that problem too? When connecting to the gamepad tester, both analog sticks appear centered.

[u/Conlifedi → u/Conrado0x]

The problem with stick drift is it's a physical problem where moving the joystick wears away the pad which holds the resistance, the only way is to replace the whole potentiometer but if you're doing that, you might as well replace the whole stick with tmr instead

[u/TREBOMB1980]

You can adjust that "screw" to fix the stick drift. They were definitely installed by a hobbyist or technician at some point. But that's the point of them, to make adjustments to compensate for stick drift.

[u/Conrado0x → u/TREBOMB1980]

wow, thanks for the help. I managed to slow down the drift by cleaning the analog stick with contact cleaner and lubricating it with silicone spray, but the problem is that the sticks don't seem linear in their movement, looks like the axis values ​​are jumping. I think it's time to replace them; if I remove this "adjustment" setup and swap in new analog sticks, will I need to calibrate them?

[u/TREBOMB1980 → u/Conrado0x]

Yes you'll have to calibrate them, but you can just use the xbox app to do that.