Hacking F-G Joycon Mod: MagnetHax Switch Edition

[wicksand420]

@TheCyberQuake of the wires you soldered to the joycon board, which pad is the 10 pin, left or right?

 

[xXDungeon_CrawlerXx]

I did my own cool mod.
Just added a little switch that can enable/disable the shorting.

 

[lordelan]

I did my own cool mod.
Just added a little switch that can enable/disable the shorting.

Your Switch now has a switch?

 

[xXDungeon_CrawlerXx]

Your Switch now has a switch?

exactly!

 

[BL4Z3D247]

@TheCyberQuake of the wires you soldered to the joycon board, which pad is the 10 pin, left or right?

Red is 9, green is 10.

 

[wicksand420]

Thank you.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

I did my own cool mod.
Just added a little switch that can enable/disable the shorting.

I was considering something like that at first, but didn't want to mod the shell and wanted it to be more discrete. Plus I use a case on mine that covers most of the joycon

 

[xXDungeon_CrawlerXx]

I was considering something like that at first, but didn't want to mod the shell and wanted it to be more discrete. Plus I use a case on mine that covers most of the joycon

I like the idea using a switch. Even if you can see it because the case is modded, it's the "best" method I think.
You don't need to carry a Magnet with you all the time and you can enable/disable the modification (in case Nintendo can detect permanent Mods on Joycons)

 

[TheCyberQuake]

I would rather it be discrete. Someone else manage to make the release button on the joycon be the activator, but in a kind of hacky way that may fail overtime. I'll probably look into somehow attaching an actual button behind the release button to do it if I feel like doing another project at some point.

 

[re.lax]

ive actually been planning on doing the same but I'm waiting on the reed switches to show up. Nice to see it works properly before doing it. I may try and add some metal inside so the magnet can stick to the case and don't require holding it.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

ive actually been planning on doing the same but I'm waiting on the reed switches to show up. Nice to see it works properly before doing it. I may try and add some metal inside so the magnet can stick to the case and don't require holding it.

the magnet will already stick to it due to the hd rumble in there
Plus you only hold it there while turning on, and it's location makes it fairly easy to hold a magnet there while pressing power and Vol + with the other hand

 

[re.lax]

the magnet will already stick to it due to the hd rumble in there
Plus you only hold it there while turning on, and it's location makes it fairly easy to hold a magnet there while pressing power and Vol + with the other hand

Thanks for the heads up, that’s good to know. I haven’t really played around with it yet since I don’t have anything. I knew you only needed it momentarily on startup but thought maybe it would be pain with the volume up + power, especially with my butter fingers lol.

 

[Juggalo Debo]

Nicely done wonder if we could make it lay flat.... add a lil extra wire?

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Nicely done wonder if we could make it lay flat.... add a lil extra wire?

You can make the wire however feasibly long you want.
That location and wire length makes the reed switch rest right up against the back plastic, so it's right behind and in perfect position to be used. It's also the most open space in the joycon once it's fully assembled, so it was one of the best places for it anyway if you want to be able to more easily get it back together.

 

[ANTONIOPS]

@TheCyberQuake does the reed switch affect bluetooth performance?

 

[TheCyberQuake]

@TheCyberQuake does the reed switch affect bluetooth performance?

Not at all in my testing. Don't see why it would either.

 

[Dagor]

I want to try this too. Can I use any reed switch, or should it follow certain specs in length, voltage, wattage etc?

 

[TapNorX]

i would suggest small as possible, i bought 7mm length 170VDC 0.5A 10W, not installed yet but that should do the trick.

 

[TAUSENN]

I just did this today, I thought the soldering was going to be tricky but it actually wasn't too hard, HOWEVER, I used my 45w soldering iron, big mistake, the wire going to pin 10 was attached but seemed to wiggle, turns out the temperature was too high on the iron so the test point detached from the pcb, I thought that was it but eventually found a pin on a chip that I could use to connect to pin 10 (this time using a more flexible and thin copper wire that I extracted from audio cable).
As for the other side, I soldered that to the outside of the antenna plug, it works.

P.S. I got the magnetic thingy for cheap from one of those door alarms they sell in the dollar store.

 

[3xkrazy]

@TheCyberQuake

Were you able to figure out pin 1's trace pad on the pcb? Also, what kind of magnet are you using? I have a 5 mm cardboard/fake leather shield covering the bottom of my joycon, so I wonder if a refrigerator magnet would work. My reed switch arrives in the mail next week so I won't be able to test it out.