Goomwave - Reactive GameCube Controller LEDs

Goomwave is an open-source, customizable, reactive LED system for use with GameCube controllers. It uses the Arduino IDE to upload sketches either to a normal Arduino or an ATtiny85 to read the GameCube controller signal and perform LED actions based off of those inputs.

In this tutorial I will show 2 different types of Goomwave systems.

Here's the link to my GitHub which features code for the 2 new types of Goomwave 3.0 systems

Steps 1-33 are for the front Goomwave that only lights up the ABXY buttons. This version uses an ATtiny85 an has a different set of code specifically for the limitations of the ATtiny85

Steps 34-69 are for the front and back Goomwave that lights up the back as well as the buttons and sticks. This version uses an Arduino Nano and is able to make full use of all of the programmed Goomwave modes

Steps 12-24 are for the wire routing system which is universal to both types of Goomwave.

So if you're making just the front Goomwave, follow steps 1-33. If you're making the front and back Goomwave, follow steps 12-24 then steps 34-69.

• Male 3 pin JST connectors
• Female 3 pin JST connectors
• Protoboard
  
• Attiny85
• Attiny85 programmer
• SOIC socket
• Through hole resistor (4-5kOhms recommended)
• Through hole capacitor (10-100uF recommended)
• Through hole LED
• Single DIP switch
• Tweezers
• Solder
• Soldering iron
• Solder Fume Extractor
• 3-4 colors of 30 AWG wire wrap wire
• Wire strippers
• Pliers
• 2 Clamps
• Hot Glue gun
• GameCube Controller with clear back and clear buttons/sticks
• GameCube Controller with clear ABXY buttons
• 4mm wide NeoPixel LED strip
• Triwing+Philips head screwdrivers
• Sharpie
• Arduino Nano
• Arduino Nano cable
• Proto/breadboard pins
• Tinning flux
• Ruler
• Regular scotch tape

• Power drill+1/8" bit

First mark cut lines so you have a protoboard that is 6x8 holes. Then break the protoboard along the lines with the vicegrips.

Solder on the SOIC socket as shown.

Place a male and female end JST connector together. Placing the male end in is to prevent the female pins from melting/shifting while soldering.

Place the female end next to the SOIC socket as shown. You can remove the male end after it's soldered in place.

In this case I'm harvesting the capacitor off of an old controller motherboard. You can also buy these directly the same as all the other components.

Bend the leads of the capacitor and solder it in. If using an electrolytic capacitor like I am make sure ground is facing the correct way,

Solder the LED on, making sure the ground end is facing out as shown.

Cut the leads of the LED and solder on the switch as shown. Make sure to have it as close to the LED as possible as shown. Afterwards cut off the excess protoboard with flush cutters.

Trimming the excess protoboard is important so it fits correctly in the front shell.

Add the male end of the JST connector back on.

Use the vicegrips to hold the protoboard in place

Take any color of wire and strip it approximately half an inch (5 protoboard holes) in length

Solder it as shown to bridge the connections

Add extra solder to keep ot secure.

Cut off the remaining wire and strip the end, this time to 3 protoboard holes, and repeat as shown

Cut the remaining wire and repeat this time with 6 protoboard holes, but this time the wire will be bent

Now take 8 protoboard holes worth of green wire and strip 1 hole of insulation from each end then tin the ends

Attach the green wire to each end as shown.

Bridge these 2 pins as shown.

Next solder half of the resistor as shown.

Then bend it so it touches the top left pin and solder to it as shown

Cut 3 wires, each a different color 20 protoboard holes (2 inches) in length. In my case green will be 5v, yellow will be ground, and red will be data. Keep this the same throughout the project. Strip the ends of the wires 1 hole length. Dip the ends in tinning flux.

Next cut 3 LEDs in a row from the strip and apply solder to the pads nearest the back end of the arrow

Now attach the 3 wires to 5v, data and ground on the LEDs

Afterwards add hot glue to the connections for better long term durability

Attach the LED wires to these spots on the ATtiny85 protoboard as shown

Fold the wires back until they're all straight and line up with each other

Cut 3 more wires. This time 13 protoboard holes long, and attach another single LED in the chain. Make sure to hot glue all solder connections

Steps 12-24 will focus on the wire routing system. These steps will be the same regardless of which type of goomwave system you're doing.

Unscrew the controller and remove the rumble motor housing

Use a power drill and a 1/8" bit to drill a hole in the rumble motor as shown

Use flush cutters to cut to the edge of the hole

Cut in the front as shown. Break off the cut section by twisting up and down with the flush cutters.

Now carefully cut horizontally as shown on both sides. This may require additional expanding of the slits later to fit the thin protoboard in.

Next cut a few channels in certain places

Cut a few triangles in the R digital press holder section

Cut 3 8" wires and strip and tin the ends.

Break a normal protoboard into 3x1 holes amd a thin protoboard into 5x1 holes

Take a female and male mated pair of JST connectors and attach the 3x1 to the male end and the 5x1 to the female end. (Female end with 7x1 thin protoboard is shown but should be 5x1)

Attach the wires as shown to each end

Hot glue the male end.

Trim the pins of the female end of the controller connector

Add a dollop of hot glue to temporarily keep the female end in place. Make sure to tuck the thin protoboard underneath the plastic triangles.

Add small amounts of hot glue only to the top part of the thin protoboard. If glue is added to the bottom and sides it will interfere with the placement of the cord

Pull the wires down through the drill hole and into the channel. Then hot glue it in place and squish it once it's half cooled with a finger to flatten it. If the hot glue isn't flattened it can interfere with the shell while closing.

Use your thumbnail to bend the wires into the corner, then route them through the next channel.

Hot glue the wires in the corner, making sure if there's any excess hot glue that it's near the top rather than the bottom. If glue is near the bottom it will interfere with the controller being able to close

Route the wires through the triangles on the R digital press holder and pull them down afterwards. Add more hot glue in the triangles to keep the wires in place

Take a male ended JST connector and add a 3x1 protoboard to it

Cut 3 2.5" wires, strip the ends and tin them, then attach them to the connector as shown

Drape the wires to the side as shown then add hot glue

Solder 3 pins to the gamecube controller cable pins as shown

Upload the arduino sketch. After its uploaded, unplug the usb and transfer the ATtiny85 to the LED chain using the special tweezers to remove it (if you use your fingers you risk bending one of the corner legs)

Make sure the dot on the Attiny85 is on the same side as the notch of the SOIC socket. If it it backwards it can fry your chip, leds, controller and/or wii.

Attach the L and R digital press boards as normal

Attach the controller connector to the rumble housing connector

Put on the rumble pack and make sure the rumble pack stick goes over the wires

Tuck the LED chain connector under the c stick cable

Tightly spin the cable around a triwing to create a stretchable cable

Plug in the controller, attach the LED chain and see if it turns on. Make sure the switch is in the "on" position.

If it doesn't light up, there's likely something wrong with a solder connection, or an LED may have blown if you put the ATtiny85 in backwards at some point

Cut slits in the faceplate with the flush cutters. Wiggle the piece back and forth until it breaks off. Do this with the other 3 buttons as well

Use the flush cutters to cut off a few of the plastic supports on the back and cut out a small section on the front plate to make room for the wires

Bend the LED chain at a 90 degree angle as shown.

Press fit the LED chain body into the front of the controller as far to the end as possible

Press fit all the LEDs into position as shown and use tools to push them as far down as possible

Move the press fit LED chain body and add dabs of hot glue to each side that it contacts, then put the LED body back.

Add hot glue to the LEDs as well for added stability (they should stay without any hot glue but the hot glue is just for added stability)

Tuck the wires going the LEDs to the side

Place the motherboard on the front shell

Attach the spinny connector to the LED chain body and move the spinny wire out of the way of the shell

Attach the cord as normal

Put the back on (it should fit normally without much or any extra resistance) and screw in the screws

CONGRATS you're done! (With this version)

Take 2 pairs of male and female JST connectors. Color one black. Solder both of them to a 1x12 prototboard as shown

Bend the pins 90 degrees with the pliers and vicegrips, then solder them to the Arduino as shown. Cut the excess of the pins off with flush cutters

Cut 1" of green wire and attach it from the JST connector to the 5V of the Arduino as shown. Also attach the data from the black JST connector to D2 on the Arduino with a 2.5" wire

Cut 2.5" wires and attach the wires as shown. The 2 yellows should go to ground and the 2 greens should go to 5V. The black JST connector's red wire should go to D2, the white JST connector's red wire should go to D4.

Cut 18 (15 pictured) 2.5" (up to 3" is OK) wires, strip and tin the ends. These will be for the bottom LEDs

Break a 3x1 protoboard and solder a male JST connector to it. Take 3 of the 2.5" wires and solder them to the connector as shown. Hot glue the connection after

Clamp the LED in place, apply solder to the pads, attach the wires from the black connector as shown, then hot glue the connection

Upload the sketch, and attach the Arduino to test the LED. If it doesn't light up there's likely a problem with a solder connection somewhere, or the LED may be fried if 5V and GND got connected at some point

Clamp the LED and solder 3 wires to the exposed end as shown

Repeat the previous steps of attaching and testing the LEDs until you have a chain of 5

Cut and attach a 3x1 protoboard, attach the wires on each side

Cut 5 single LEDs and 1 set of 3 leds in a row

Cut, strip, and tin 15 1.4" wires (5 of each color)

Cut, strip and tin 3 8" wires

Cut 3x1 protoboard, attach to black male end, connect, hot glue

Plug into the female end of the 5-led chain and test to see if it turns on

Attach 3 of the 1.4" wires to the end and then to an LED and hot glue the connections

Attach and test more LEDs until you have a chain of 4 coming from the 8" connector

After the chain of 4 LEDs, attach a row of 3 LEDs that haven't been cut, and attach the final LED on afterwards, and test after each LED has been added.

Peel off the back brown tape that holds the adhesive on the back of the LED, break off square of scotch tape, and tape around the LED. This is to "future proof" them while hot gluing them to the shell in case corrections need to be made it doesn't mess up the whole LED chain cause the hot glue sticks to the other hot glue

Tape the rest of the LEDs in the chain

Cut parts off of the shell as shown to make way for the wiring for the LEDs

Use the flush cutters to cut off the 2 inner support ridges as well as the bottom outer support ridge to make way for the Arduino

Make sure the LED chain is facing the correct way. The female end of the connector should be on the right and should be directly attached to the first LED being glued down on the left handle as shown

After gluing make sure all wires are tucked down and out of the way as much as possible

Add copious amounts of hot glue to the sides and bottom of the female connector and place it in between the 2 support ridges as shown

Move the connector wire into the position shown, bunch up the wires on the Arduino as shown and place so that all the wires are bunched up in 1 section of the support ridges. Remove the R button and attach the programming cable so it's positioned to be able to be programmed after you hot glue it

Hold the board as far to the edge as possible then inject large amounts of hot glue into the ridges next to the Arduino that don't house the wires. After the first injection has dried you may need to refill the top again. Also make sure to glue the bottom portion as shown as well

Use flush cutters to cut out parts of the front plate. Similar to the steps with 4 faceplate LEDs

These spots are different/in addition to the 4 ABXY buttons.

First route the chain of 8 LEDs as shown. The LEDs should more or less stay in place without any glue except for the start button and analog stick. Hot glue those down first.

The C stick should be as far down as possible. The higher it is the more likely it is to interfere with the C stick. Add very minimal hot glue for the C stick. The other LEDs don't require hot glue if they're staying without it

Prepare to glue the connector by wrapping it as shown

Add a large dollop of hot glue as shown. After it's dried use a triwing and wrap the wire around tightly to make a springy connector.

Cut the top of the start pad so it fits flush like normal given that the start LED is too high

With the motherboard in and controller facing down, connect the 2 connectors, 1 white connector on one side and 1 black connector on the other side. Place the back on like normal. It may take some wiggling but ultimately should sit like normal without needing to be excessively forced

Congrats if you made it this far! This is no easy task. If this is way too much work and you'd rather just buy this or similar products, check out my website.