How To Repair Directions Buttons

[dftruf]

Hi,

After about 1 year of using my wiz, d-pad on the left (directions buttons) start to act freaky.
DOWN button reacts when I push DOWN-LEFT, UP button reacts when I push UP-LEFT, additionally RIGHT button gets sticky very often.

*edit*
I took apart my wiz and I see now that the peg (conducting rubber) on membrane which is responsible for RIGHT move button on d-pad is torn away from the membrane. How to repair it? Take it by glue isn't good solution, because the peg must jump off after button release.

 

[StarG]

Although it might sound a bit odd... how about reversing the wiz (topside down) and remapping buttons & the dpad (by recompiling the stuff you want). The Wiz is symetrical and the often stuck right direction would become the lesser needed A button. Major downside: no shoulder buttons anymore.

On the other hand: have you tried applying compressed air to remove small particles which might obstruct movement? After all buttons are still mechanical and somewhat suscible to dirt.

 

[dftruf]

Although it might sound a bit odd... how about reversing the wiz (topside down) and remapping buttons & the dpad (by recompiling the stuff you want). The Wiz is symetrical and the often stuck right direction would become the lesser needed A button. Major downside: no shoulder buttons anymore.

Not funny at all.

 

[HunterZ]

Any chance you could take a picture?

Maybe rubber cement would work for repairing torn rubber.

Another idea would be to look around for console controller repair kits and see if maybe any of the parts are compatible with the broken one on the Wiz.

 

[dftruf]

Any chance you could take a picture?

Today I fixed it so quickly that I forgot take a picture.
I used simple spring (coiled metal) from cheap pen, and some glue for plastic (not for membrane).

I sticked conducting rubber (small dot with diameter about 1 mm) to pin on d-pad by the glue, then I mounted spring around pin (by the glue too). Length of the spring must cover the pin with attached rubber and protrude about 0.5-0.7 mm above rubber. Broken membrane with holes can be used as simple insulator (for springs), though there can be used everything which isn't a conductor and has proper holes for pins.

In my opinion this solution is solid, glue for the spring is used for easier putting things together. When wiz is assembled spring should hold because it is pressed by the motherboard and pad firmly. I used this method with one spring for RIGHT move button, and after testing I must say that it works fine with RIGHT-DOWN and RIGHT-UP.

Membrane from d-pad is very weak, and I think that this is very probably that everyone, after about 2-3 years of playing, have to solve similar problems with buttons.

 

[citange]

I have the same problem with my wiz (bought it about 2 years ago). Except my problem is the x button and I did open it up like you and saw the torn plastic. I thought about a spring but wasn't sure if it would work. But after reading your helpful post, I will try it (and post pictures of my fix). I would like a Caanoo but... I don't have that kind of money right now. So this fix saves me.

 

[LTStone]

I have the same problem with my wiz (bought it about 2 years ago). Except my problem is the x button and I did open it up like you and saw the torn plastic. I thought about a spring but wasn't sure if it would work. But after reading your helpful post, I will try it (and post pictures of my fix). I would like a Caanoo but... I don't have that kind of money right now. So this fix saves me.

The x button would be an easier fix than the Dpad as it functions separately. Let me know how it goes as my down on the dpad has torn as well.

 

[citange]

It worked out pretty good, except the X button is now really tight, but I no longer have the problems with it sticking and exiting out from menus that I did before. I created a guide for what I did, in case it is useful to someone. Here is the link to the guide:
Wiz_Button_Guide

 

[LTStone]

Awesome, thanks for the guide, if you ever take your wiz apart you can maybe just snip off some of the spring, Also just a warning as well, when assembling the Wiz be careful of the volume switches as they are fragile and I have broken them before..

I'll do my dpad this weekend

 

[LTStone]

One question, doesn't the spring complete the circuit as it is touching the metal contact ?

 

[citange]

One question, doesn't the spring complete the circuit as it is touching the metal contact ?

You would think so, but it only works when I press down on the button. Before it would exit freely from menus and cause other problems but now it works like normal. Except as I mentioned it is tight, so I still have remapped the buttons for most games, and in games that use all the buttons, I assign it to a function that is rarely used.