Nintendo Switch Joysticks on Other Consoles

BitBuiltBot

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3DS sliders have been the norm for most Wii portables for just about forever, but understandably people have been searching for options more akin to standard joysticks for reasons of comfort. Nintendo Switch joysticks are an obvious source of interest because of their size, but up until recently they've been around $30 apiece. With the warranties on Switches running out though, many sellers have begun cropping up on eBay selling the same sticks for $5-7, which is much more reasonable for our projects.

Here's what you need to know:
The traces on the ribbon connector are made out of carbon as opposed to copper. This means that you cannot solder to them, because attempting to do so will ruin the trace and it won't bond with solder at all. We also can't crack it open like we can with the old 3DS sliders in order to get to a place that we can solder. This means that we, at the very least, need a connector for the cable that we can solder to. The ribbon cable is a 5 pin, 0.5mm pitch cable and it is 0.3mm thick. Any connector that meets these specs should work. One possible connector we recommend is https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/molex-llc/5051100592/WM12361CT-ND/5726211

The pinout for the joystick looks like this:


The Switch joysicks do have a button inside of them for L3/R3/whatever and it is connected to ground when pressed.

The screwposts have a diameter of 1.5mm


Credits

@GingerOfOz - Writing the guide, testing the sticks, etc.
 
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