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[Mikey Jr.]

So yeah, my dual sense is pissing me off. The right stick randomly moves around. It's not drift, but if I'm aiming a bow, randomly it'll turn my aim 3 feet to the left. It makes picking locks in kingdom come almost impossible lol.

Anyways, I tried spraying a bunch of air into the controller but nothing.

So now I have to think what to do. A new dual sense in Canada will cost me about $110 which is a fucking lot lol.

But I was thinking about maybe cracking it open and replacing the sticks?
The issue is a few.
1. I have no idea how to fucking solder. I looked at some videos and it looks easy enough? But hell if I know. I've read that people completely fried their dual sense doing it.

2. i would have to buy the solder kit and sticks. Probably around $50 bucks.

So not sure what to do. Do I spend the 50 and take the risk? Or just put that 50 towards a new controller?
Yeah I would get a new solder kit but how many times would I use that?

Anyone have any experience in this?

 

[Pejo]

It's easy enough to open it up and clean the stick sensors, but in my experience it's only a temporary fix for a few months.



Also...

So yeah, my dual sense is pissing me off. The right stick randomly moves around. It's not drift, but if I'm aiming a bow, randomly it'll turn my aim 3 feet to the left. It makes picking locks in kingdom come almost impossible lol.

That is stick drift, at least as you described it.

 

[Nevermore74]

If you buy a new one, soon or later, stick drift will appear.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Yeah, that sounds like drift to me still even if it's not the typical type of drift you hear about.

The DualSense is pretty easy to open up and you might be able to alleviate some of the issue with some air and alcohol, but buying a new one might be the better bet overall.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

So yeah, my dual sense is pissing me off. The right stick randomly moves around. It's not drift, but if I'm aiming a bow, randomly it'll turn my aim 3 feet to the left. It makes picking locks in kingdom come almost impossible lol.

Anyways, I tried spraying a bunch of air into the controller but nothing.

So now I have to think what to do. A new dual sense in Canada will cost me about $110 which is a fucking lot lol.

But I was thinking about maybe cracking it open and replacing the sticks?
The issue is a few.
1. I have no idea how to fucking solder. I looked at some videos and it looks easy enough? But hell if I know. I've read that people completely fried their dual sense doing it.

2. i would have to buy the solder kit and sticks. Probably around $50 bucks.

So not sure what to do. Do I spend the 50 and take the risk? Or just put that 50 towards a new controller?
Yeah I would get a new solder kit but how many times would I use that?

Anyone have any experience in this?

brother, I'm on my 4th Dualsense now, these are - simply put - pieces of shite, on par with the shitty Xbox controllers.
Tried to fix my black DS a couple of months ago by opening it up and cleaning up the sensors but I managed to fuck it up even worse since after my "fix", both sticks started drifting worse than they were before.
It's not as easy as watching a YT video, you gotta be extra gentle with those ribbon cables and even then, there's a big chance that the coils of the potentiometers get even more fucked after cleaning them up.

The only, permanent solution would be to replace them with HAL or TMR sticks but...you have to know how to solder.

For me personally, the only "solution" I've found is to get my joypads exclusively from Amazon since they have a good no questions asked return policy for 2 years (here in EU).

Meanwhile, my 27€ 8bitDo ultimate 2C has HAL effect sticks.

Fun fact : Xbox controllers = broken bumper buttons/sticky face buttons, Dualsense = ALWAYS stick drift

 

[Mikey Jr.]

It's easy enough to open it up and clean the stick sensors, but in my experience it's only a temporary fix for a few months.



Also...

That is stick drift, at least as you described it.

I thought drift was like it moves by itself if you don't touch it. Mine doesn't do that. It's fine. It's just when I start moving it, it'll do these sudden bursts of movement.
If that's stick drift then ok. Regardless it's pissing me off lol.

 

[The_hunter]

brother, I'm on my 4th Dualsense now, these are - simply put - pieces of shite, on par with shitty Xbox controllers.
Tried to fix my black DS a couple of months ago by opening it up and cleaning up the sensors but I managed to fuck it up even worse since after my "fix", both sticks started drifting worse than they were before.
It's not as easy as watching a YT video, you gotta be extra gentle with those ribbon cables and even then, there's a big chance that the coils of the potentiometers get even more fucked after cleaning them up.

The only, permanent solution would be to replace them with HAL or TMR sticks but...you have to know how to solder.

For me personally, the only "solution" I've found is to get my joypads exclusively from Amazon since they have a good no questions asked return policy for 2 years (here in EU).

All my Dualsenses have some sort of drift too.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I donno where you live but search for some mom n pop tiny gaming related shops. In Vietnam and in Europe we have tons of those and they fix it for you for like $5-$10. Dont waste money on a brand new one just because of stick drift. They can literally fix it in 20 mins.

 

[Bondo]

Open it up and see what you can do without spending money. Proper cleaning, whatever.- no harm no foul in opening it as the controller is already cooked.
If what you see requires soldering and your up to the task, go for it?

Me personally- you would already be half way to a new controller. Id just buy a new one- maybe trade something in to cut the cost abit.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Anyone try to exchange default sticks for the hall effect ones (voiding the warranty of course)? I've seen some people offering this kind of service and it costs roughly half of the new controller (with shipping included) so maybe it would be a good deal (long term).

 

[vodka-bull]

Get it properly fixed by someone who knows what he's doing, may set you back 50$ but once you have TMR sticks you'll most likely never need a new dualsense.

 

[ReBurn]

Instead of air get a can of contact cleaner and spray down in there and wiggle the sticks to work it in.

 

[Loboxxx]

WD40 Contact Cleaner

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Instead of air get a can of contact cleaner and spray down in there and wiggle the sticks to work it in.

This, but, it's still a temporary fix.
Used to do that with my DS until it stopped working and had to open it up (which then i proceeded to make it even worse).

 

[realcool]

I thought drift was like it moves by itself if you don't touch it. Mine doesn't do that. It's fine. It's just when I start moving it, it'll do these sudden bursts of movement.
If that's stick drift then ok. Regardless it's pissing me off lol.

The wiper is inconsistently making contact with the resistive material, and if you've taken the steps to clean any debris and the problem still occurs, then it's most likely due to the wiper scraping the resistive material, creating imperfections over time. Hall effect or TMR sticks eliminate this specific problem, but these companies know that and rely on planned obsolescence. You either have to replace it under warranty, buy a replacement thumb stick and solder it yourself, take it to a repair guy, or buy a new controller.

 

[Lith808]

So yeah, my dual sense is pissing me off. The right stick randomly moves around. It's not drift, but if I'm aiming a bow, randomly it'll turn my aim 3 feet to the left. It makes picking locks in kingdom come almost impossible lol.

Anyways, I tried spraying a bunch of air into the controller but nothing.

So now I have to think what to do. A new dual sense in Canada will cost me about $110 which is a fucking lot lol.

But I was thinking about maybe cracking it open and replacing the sticks?
The issue is a few.
1. I have no idea how to fucking solder. I looked at some videos and it looks easy enough? But hell if I know. I've read that people completely fried their dual sense doing it.

2. i would have to buy the solder kit and sticks. Probably around $50 bucks.

So not sure what to do. Do I spend the 50 and take the risk? Or just put that 50 towards a new controller?
Yeah I would get a new solder kit but how many times would I use that?

Anyone have any experience in this?

You can buy a new controller and have same issue later on. I had the same dilemma recently with my original PS5 controller. I asked around and it was $50-70 to fix the stick drift with the latest TMR sticks.

I just ended up buying a good soldering iron and tip cleaner (Hakko), manual solder suction (whatever Amazon had), flux and solder (MG Chemicals). I also ordered 10 TMR sensors with original dual sense analog sticks from AliExpress.

All in it was ~$160CAD. Now I can fix every single dual sense PS5 controller for cheap. I also can't remember last time I soldered anything, but it wasn't hard at all. The solder suction gun is a must imo.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

In case of minor drift, you can try the followin steps: Connect the faulty controller to your pc using usb c cable. Go the site: https://dualshock-tools.github.io/ . Make sure that you shut down steam or any other program that you might use to connect the dualsense to pc. This website will allow you to calibrate the range and center of the controller. Once you are happy with the settings and do not see any drift, save the settings (settings get saved to the dualsense and will carry over to the PS5). (Credit: RexNovis from RE)