D.I.Y. PS3 wireless Button Box

723
Germany
Stuttgart
KingKlingeling
Hi@all,

after weeks of thinking how to build a button box , working on the PS3 , I finally got the idea and now i´d like to show you guys how its look like .

I used a key box and filled it with the inside of an wireless arcade stick from amazon , After drilling and soldering the wires from the original motherboard , there was really no big deal to get it working . All buttons are working exept the killswitch but maybe I use it for the batteries of the box .
I just ordered the wheel adapter from DSD to mount an Aftermarket Sparco wheel on the T500 cause i dont need the buttons on the wheel anymore !
I really hope this stuff is also working with GT6 and the PS4 otherwise I found another way get this stuff working .

Ok, feel free to comment and keep racing :gtpflag:

Oh , and what i mostly forgot ! I´m near at the platinum trophy , the only thing left to do is 1000 cars .
I got 704 now and i´m tired of the loading screen . If someone got enough cars please spam my garage .
PSN: KingKlingeling

picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php
 
Last edited:
Hey, nice. I was designing one of these a while ago but it got a case of feature creep (I had an Arduino in mine so I could turn ABS/TCS/ASM/other RA menu settings on and off with a single switch instead of the actual RA menu interface, but I got a G27 instead and forgot about it. If you do want to use that key switch to isolate your battery you might want to make sure it's not rated for crazy high currents (like, 1A or more) because you might find it has some unexpected side effects; the large contact area for instance will cause a certain amount of capacitance. You may also find the battery drains faster, you may not... It varies.
 
Thanks neema t , i Wrote with you few Month ago bout a button box , do you remember ?
Thanks for your advise about the killswitch . This is just the first prototype and everthing including RA is working , i'm satisfied at the moment :-)
 
Thanks neema t , i Wrote with you few Month ago bout a button box , do you remember ?
Thanks for your advise about the killswitch . This is just the first prototype and everthing including RA is working , i'm satisfied at the moment :-)

Oh yeah! I wondered what happened to you, but I forgot your name. Glad to see you got it done, unlike me!
 
I made one from a project box and a cthulhu board, but my directional buttons always double press so I cant navigate the menus at all with it. It's just sitting in a drawer waiting to be figured out. Works fine on PC though and on the ps3's main menu but not in gt5 it always double presses the directional buttons.
 
The directonal Buttons Works Fine in my box , at the First attempt i made the wires wrong so that the Up button was always on with a Single Touch , but i checked that Out , try & error while the box was on !
 
Hi !

Congratulations for your box ! Could you post some photos about what's inside the box ? I'd like to build something like you but I'm still hesitating between buying a cheap arcade stick like you or a Cthulhu board (which is quite expensive in fact).
 
Oh, inside the box its a huge mess :-) ! You see nearly anything exept alot of wires and original "motherboard " and the battery pack.if you really want pictures i can Upload some in a couple hours .
Cheers
 
@poumpoum

I just added a picture at my sim rig Album in my Profile , cause i dont know how to put it in here with the app ! But dont judge me , cause i'm a beginner at electrics ! But it works fine .
Give me a shout please when your Finish with your box !
 
Thank you so much !

In fact, I want to use the Frex GP shifter+ and the FrexGP handb+ (with my PC AND my PS3). When I saw your button box, I realize that it was the best way to use Frex hardware (without modifying my T500) !

On my rig (rseat evo V3), I don't think I will have enough space to build a big button box like yours because I will have a TH8RS (H pattern), a Frex GP shifter+ and a FrexGP handb+ (the 3 on the right side). The button box need to be on the right side too because I enter in my rig through the left side.

This is why I wanted to see the motherboard inside your box, it is bigger than I expected... I was just about to buy this stick but now I don't know lol The cthulhu board is perhaps better for a small device but CJDA9 is talking about double press...

Well I'm really confused now ! :dopey:
 
How did you get the frex stuff working for ps3 ! Or do you just use it in pc them ?
I heard bout the double klick issue with The cthulu board thats why i decided to take a stick ! I think my " motherboard " is that Big , cause it got that Wireless stuff and The batteries inside ! It only Works on ps3 though . If you find a wired fight stick , i think the board will be much smaller and Works on PC and ps3 .
Keep me informated bout your Project , i'm very interrested .

Regards.
 
How did you get the frex stuff working for ps3 !

I didn't ! I ordered the frex shift today :) (in fact it's mainly because of your post 👍).

Basically the frex shifter is just 2 buttons, nothing more ! It has 3 wires (GND, shift+ and shift-) so, I just have to "plug" them in my future button box :sly:. For the handbrake it'even simplier because there is just 2 wires... Frex sells a small board to provide PC drivers. You can plug the 5 wires from the shifter and the handbrake on the board.

I think I will use a simple connector, so I can choose to plug my frex hardware on my PS3 button box or on my PC frex small board any time I want :)

I'm also a beginner at electics so I don't know how much time it will take ! :D
 

I personally wouldn't because:

- It's not a genuine Sony controller
- It doesn't give you the option of wireless connectivity
- You don't have the option of analogue inputs (something I needed when I converted a NeGcon to work with my PS3)
- You're missing four analogue axes, L3/R3 and the Home button
- It's not cheaper than buying a broken Sixaxis or DS3.

It's easier to work with for sure so I can see why people would buy them, but I'd rather save the money and buy these and spend 1-2 hours preparing them.


I made one from a project box and a cthulhu board, but my directional buttons always double press so I cant navigate the menus at all with it. It's just sitting in a drawer waiting to be figured out.

I know nothing about the Cthulhu board beyond what it does, but maybe you need to debounce the switches? I'd be surprised if it doesn't have built-in debouncing, but you never know.
 
For the price, I agree with neema, if your building a button box, a used ds3 controller would be the be st bet. Then you would have blue tooth, analog, and a home button. The lack of a home button is the biggest killer. It would make setup a hassle since the controller would need to be controller 1, but the wheel always defaults to that position and with no home button, you can't change the boards controller assignment.
 
Hi KingKlingeling !

I wanted to build a button box like you in order to plug my frex handbrake and shifter. This is what I've done :

002_redim.jpg

003_redim.jpg

007_redim.jpg


Today I used the motherboard from this "arcade gamepad".

It works well on PS3 and PC ! I was really happy but when I tried out with gran turismo 5 I discovered that the "arcade gamepad" only worked in the menus ! It works well with EVERY other games ! I think that PD only authorizes official gamepads to control a car :nervous:

Which motherboard from which gamepad did you use ?

PS : The same problem is discussed here.
 
Last edited:
It is assigned as controller one ! I even tried to only plug my button box but the problem is the same. My stick is the "mini" version, which one do you have ?
 
Thanks for your answers !

I think I will order your stick.
Do you know the size of your stick's motherboard ? I'm afraid my button box will be too small :(
 
The motherboard is 15 x 13 cm approximately ! This is round about 5,91 inch x 5,12 Inch !
You need some space for the batterie pack also , but its just the size of 2 AA batteries and of course some room for a lot of wires :-)
 
Hi !

My first attempt was an epic fail because the Hori Fighting Stick Mini 3 works well on PS3 even in the GT5 menu but not in the game...
If you want to build a DIY button box don't buy this arcade stick.

I bought a simple bigben gamepad (19€):
bigben_PS3_controller.jpg


The motherboard is really small so it will fit in all kind of project boxes but it is also fragile so you have to be careful during the welding part. Don't forget to scrub the tracks on the motherboard before welding. There are two different grounds so don't mix them except if you want to see something very strange while you're playing :D

I also welded the frex shift+ to the R1/R2 buttons and the frex handb+ to the circle button. So, I have 3 wires that come out of the box : one USB from the controller and two PS2(frex shift+, the frex handb+). And that's it you have a button box that works well on PS3 and on PC !

frexbuttonbox01_redim.jpg

frexbuttonbox02_redim.jpg

frexbuttonbox03_redim.jpg

frexbuttonbox04_redim.jpg

frexbuttonbox05_redim.jpg
frexbuttonbox06_redim.jpg

frexbuttonbox07_redim.jpg


/!\ When you launch GT5 you must only plug the button box, once the game is launched then you can plug your wheel and your H shifter. I use a simple USB hub with on/off switches.
 
Last edited:
I have a G27 running off PS3 on my rig only on gt6 for the moment. I am always trying to improve the image of my rig which already cost me an arm and a leg. Its my pride & joy. I would like to go with a button box although I cant imagine what can be controlled with a button box that cannot be controlled buttons on the standard G27 set-up. What is actually the advantage of a button box. Please forgive my ignorance as I would really like to know.
Regards to all.
 
Last edited:
Well this is an old thread so I'll take a stab at it.
You kind of answered it yourself, its to map additional functions that you need, but on console there aren't usually extra functions to worry about, PC is different as there are way more functions to map then buttons. So its for the extra buttons and the easy access to them.

Button boxes are typically only useful on PC, there are typically tons of functions to map in PC games.

For GT all I can think of is to program it for the real time adjustment (RA) function which eats up a lot of buttons.

The other factor here is that button boxes dont work with consoles, this one works on console because its made using a Playstation controller.

A few years ago my PS3 "button box" was just a controller mounted in a handy spot, and all I used it for was the RA menu. I really didn't end up using it much so I took it off.
 
Last edited:
Back