BlackMarket Mods DS4 Face Button Triggers

Welcome

This is a tutorial to follow with the Shapeways model offered in my shop. You can find the piece available here. I came to this design based on my experience with the current popular style of paddle design for face buttons. I found after using them that it doesn't quite feel as natural as a button push, and the activation angle of the push was cramping my fingers after a while. I redesigned the paddle system to move similar to how the right and left triggers are laid out on the DS4 and found that this position felt much more natural.This mod does require some simple soldering skills but overall if you use the addition of a remap pad and buy a spare DS4 shell it is completely reversible, thought I guarantee this mod is great for FPS and heavy camera manipulation games.

For this mod you will need the following tools

Soldering Iron

Drill with 1/4in or similar bit

Wirestrippers (or a knife if you're skilled in wire stripping)

Smalls Screw drivers to disassemble DS4

Toothbrush recommended for parts cleaning

These will be the consumables you need

28 gauge AWG wire or thinner (pictured is a 28 AWG ribbon cable)

Solder and Flux

Epoxy

4 membrane switches or similar size (I purchased this model but similar models are available elsewhere)

Tape or rubber bands to hold parts in place

Optional but Good to have for first time modders

A DS4 remapping board (if you feel confident enough to forgo this you can solder directly to the controller)

Spare DS4 Controller Shell (a spare shell plus the remap board makes this mod compeletly removable and safe if you dont like it)

Multi-meter (good to test your connections if you are not confident or like me prefer absolute accuracy)

All the listed supplies can be obtained on amazon unless other wise stated.

When your parts arrive from Shapeways make sure to inspect them and give them a good wash with a soft toothbrush to clean off any remaining nylon powder. Gently tuck the pins of the switches in so the fit within the space as shown. Place the pieces together and test fit the trigger pulls to see if the tabs need to be shaved down. The membrane button should push the trigger but not be depressed. Snap the pieces into place and pull the triggers to check nothing is catching and no further clean up is required.

Disassemble the DS4 and drill a hole through the circle that is on the back plate or where you prefer. With a 1/4" diameter drill bit the hole is big enough to fit all the wires through so I do not recommend anything bigger but small bits should be fine. Dry fit the part as shown and prepare your epoxy based on the instructions. With a bit of epoxy (approximately a teaspoon if you want a general estimate) and spread a generous layer across the printed piece. Place the piece onto the back as preferred and secure it with tape or rubber bands. Clean up any excess epoxy if you wish and allow the recommended cure time.

Tube the wire through the hole to double check you can fit all five necessary wires through. You will need approximately 12 inches of wire to work comfortable during the solder and then cut back when necessary. The DS4 button press works by connecting a ground or neutral wire to the designated button circuit to send the single of a button press. The wiring on theses switches will imitate that action. The pins that are parallel are in the same circuit and the adjacent pins are the two that need to be connect to complete the circuit. Solder one wire to one set of the pins, then solder one set of wires connecting all the other parallel pins as shown in the image.

Once the soldering is finished string the wires through the opening in bottom of the trigger housing and place the switches in place to check your fitting. Once you are satisfied with the setup, proceed to dry fit the cover onto the trigger assembly and secure with tape or rubber bands. Then do a couple of test pulls to check the friction and switch feeling. If you choose to you can test the connection of your soldering and switch pressure and height with a multimeter. Switch to the connection test (the one where the two tips touch it beeps) and connect the ground wire to the black oole and the red pole to the switch you are testing. If everything is solder correctly, the trigger pull should make the multimeter beep. Melt solder onto the buttons of your choice and one on the ground pad and reassemble the pad with the remap board to determine the length you feel comfortable with soldering together and cut the wires to length. Here, you can determine which switch you would like to use for each button by soldering the corresponding wire to the remap board. Since the switches are using a single wire for the ground, the wires needed to tuck are minimized to only five. Once your soldering is finished the only thing left to do is to tuck the wire and reassemble the controller. One final test for your on console or PC to check your buttons and then glue the final trigger face place on the six pin holes. Now your trigger (not paddle) based remap controller is ready to go!