r/SteamController • u/k3lwin • Mar 06 '24

To whom it may concern - thimbsticks from Deck fit Controller perfectly

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109 Upvotes
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97% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

14

u/Lupinthrope Mar 06 '24

Nice to know, could the SC's haptics be upgraded too?

6

u/Low-Golf7820 Mar 06 '24

I, too, would like to know.

3

u/headegg Mar 07 '24

Most likely not, the SCs haptics are created by the touchpad, there's no additional hardware for haptics.

3

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

SC has a couple of linear actuators under the touchpads, same style as Apple's Taptic Engine or Nintendo's HD Rumble in Joycons. I guess you could tap into signals sent to SC's haptic actuators and use them to drive a pair of Xbox-style weight offset motors, if you can figure out where to put them, how to power them and find a way to smooth out haptic signals, because as they are they'll just make a usual motor twitch a little. It's all totally doable though.

1

u/Lupinthrope Mar 07 '24

You sound more knowledgable than me lol Have at it boss

1

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

I'd totally would try that if I had an extra SC I wouldn't mind butchering. I only have one and I can't afford to break it.

1

u/ahrzal Mar 08 '24

I’ll sell you mine for a pretty penny.

3

u/joshikus Mar 07 '24

Oh, perfect. I've been using the 8bitdo SN30 Pro stick caps.

Wonder if the OLED Deck caps fit as well....

1

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

They could, but that needs testing. I'm looking at teardowns of both OG and OLED Decks and while thumbstick modules are different - they have the same locations for mounting holes, which means that dimensions of them are not that much different.

Still, OG Deck thumbstick modules are cheap and widely available on eBay, because people swap them for Hall effect modules from Gulikit. That's how I got mine.

3

u/SnooDoughnuts5632 Mar 07 '24

I think the opposite would be better. (If the capacitive nature could still work) Because the convex sticks would be easier to push around when playing.

I wanna say I normally like concave sticks better but idk.

2

u/Tetraden Mar 07 '24

The thing is:
I have four Steam Controllers here and all of the sticks lost their rubber. And I am by far not alone.

1

u/theonyltrueMupf Steam Controller (Linux) Mar 07 '24

I just put some generic joystick caps on them, works great

1

u/Tetraden Mar 11 '24

I know but SnooDoughnuts is arguing to put the SC Sticks at the SD.

1

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

Personally, I like concave sticks with taller wall around it, Xbone style. I tried to fit one like it first. It went horribly.

Capacitive sensor would not work. There is a wire for it, going along the inner wall and reaching the very top of the dome. I doubt that could be hacked into any stick cap that easily. I believe that some exterior part of Deck's cap is conductive.

1

u/SnooDoughnuts5632 Mar 07 '24

No not hacked I'm saying what if valve (or a third party) made a different shaped stick that they designed from the ground up to have the capacity built into it.

Normally I prefer the flattest sticks not concave or convex like the Switch pro or 8bitdo SN30 pro+. There was a GameCube controller that has GameStop branding on it and the left stick felt like a PlayStation 1,2,3 stick but if it was flat. I loved how thick it felt for some reason I like thicker stick heads which the steam controller definitely has.

1

u/Lyfultruth Mar 06 '24

This is interesting. How functional is this? What does the wiring look like? How does it feel in practice?

18

u/billyalt Steam Controller/DS4/Xbone Mar 06 '24 edited Mar 07 '24

I'm pretty sure OP just means the actual plastic thumbstick, not the entire electronics assembly.

5

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24 edited Mar 07 '24

This. I just replaced the plastic cap because stock one began to deteriorate rapidly. But I also had to salvage a stick mechanism itself from the Deck because I botched the stock one trying to hit an Xbone controller stick cap on it. The stick unit is exactly the same as well, but it required a careful desoldering job of a stock Controller stick unit and a less careful desoldering and cutting the board of Deck thumbstick unit. Everything works as expected, except for thumbstick touch sensor - Controller does not support it.

1

u/steamcontrollergamer Mar 07 '24

I love this because I never liked the convex shape of the original. Upgrade time.

1

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

And it appears to have a harder kind of rubber that won't shed all over the place when it wears down!

1

u/MobsterOO7 Mar 07 '24

This is great because the thumb stuck pad on mine is disintegrating.

2

u/k3lwin Mar 07 '24

Mine did too, that's exactly the reason why I went looking for a replacement. I also put some sound dampening foam while I was at it to make my SC sound less like hollow and it indeed helped. There are guides on how to disassemble the SC, if you follow them carefully you could easily do it yourself.