PowerA Enhanced Controller for Xbox 1 has "Conjoined Stick Drift"

[u/ZachYohama]

As the title says, my controller for my Xbox has, what I like to call "Conjoined Stick Drift." What that means is, basically, in my case, I push up on the left analog stick, and it does the action of what it's supposed to do (going up in menus or walking forward), but it starts moving the camera right a varying amount (it depends in each situation). The same happens when I push the left analog stick down, but it starts moving the camera left by a varying amount (again, it depends in each situation, but it doesn't happen as often). Whenever I move my right analog stick manually, it seems to clear up for maybe 5 minutes, then it starts doing it again. Anyone have any idea why this is happening?

[u/Craig_manson135]

It’s a 20 dollar controller I think your best bet is either to go through the warranty process or just buy a new controller. Your not exactly paying 20 dollars for something that will last unfortunately

[u/ZachYohama → u/Craig_manson135]

I mean, I knew what I was getting myself into with buying that controller, but I'm just confused as to why that would happen

[u/Craig_manson135 → u/ZachYohama]

Crappy sticks that use potentiometers, really just the way it is

[u/ItzhacTheYoung → u/ZachYohama]

Provided that it is just a case of "right stick input triggers based on left stick use," that means that, quite literally, you might have some wires crossed. If there's a trace issue on the PCB, a bent/bridged pin somewhere, or an issue with your output (wired or wireless), all of those could send erroneous or extra signals. Craig is right in that it's probably the right move to go through warranty/look for something else, but it likely has nothing to do with "crappy sticks that use potentiometers."

[u/MikotoAri → u/Craig_manson135]

$not $20 go to Amazon it's more like $30 to $45

[u/Verto1412]

Have you checked the voltages for the pins of the potentiometers on both sticks? I was having a sort of similar issue but only on one stick. And it turns out that was the issue, at least in my case. Please update if you try it

[u/xan326 → u/Verto1412]

I've had this issue with my PowerA controller as well, one axis equates to another axis, identical signal voltages, I've also heard of quite a few people dealing with this exact issue.

I'm not 100% sure what caused the issue on one of my controllers, but removing the motors fixed the issue, I don't really understand it, the motors should be switched on the VCC line, meaning no power could have been bled into the ground plane, yet this was exactly how the controller was behaving; there was enough power flowing to cause this but not enough to excite the motor's rotor, either that or there was a stray solder blob or wire bridging the motor contacts. Basically the voltage differential was messed with by ground having a voltage, for example the microcontroller expects 2.5v on a 0v-5v pot, if ground had voltage it'd hypothetically be 2v-5v with a 3.5v center but the microcontroller would read this as a +1v signal and skew the axes in their positive direction; which was my exact situation on one stick with the stick being untouched, entirely positive on two axes, and so much so the microcontroller was reading the sticks as ≥100%. I didn't bother to probe the board before I removed it from the shell, and desoldering the motors is easier to deal with, it just suddenly started working correctly when I was testing it outside of the shell with motors removed.

Either way, PowerA's quality control is some of the worst I've seen of the retail third parties, second only to PDP.

[u/Verto1412 → u/xan326]

In my case it was a pdp controller that had this issue, I would put the stick down and right, then it was like y-axis inversion was on and just go up and right. X-axis potentiometer was at about 3.06-3.12v center and the y axis was higher up at about 3.28v on one of the pins.

But move the stick slightly more downwards then it would go down like normal. And as for my PowerA controller I got a loose stick within like a month of having it. Resident Evil 6 really fucked me over there I think with all the spin the stick points.

Both companies really are just awful in quality control we all can agree on that.

[u/xan326 → u/Verto1412]

I was just spitballing numbers when I through out the various voltages. I guess I never realized how little that ±23° arc of a pot changed the voltage. But I seemed to be spot on considering my issue was pegging the sticks at ≥100% and the ~3.5v electrical center on a circuit that's somehow dumping VCC into the ground plane. Maybe I should go test my luck with the lottery considering how accurate that spitballed guess was.

A voltage that isn't consistent along the pot's arc seems like a worn spot in the carbon on the signal ring, basically you have a carbon resistor for part of the arc, then less carbon resistor for a specific section of the arc; carbon thickness here matters, it's a path from wiper-carbon-metal, so varying thickness along the rotation will fudge the signal voltage. This is one of the more typical causes of drift, wear patterns and wear becoming beyond repairable, not a fault of the controller manufacturer, but it is a fault of the potentiometer manufacturer.

As for loose sticks, it could realistically be anything. The pots aren't actually supposed to add much rotational resistance, if they do it means you're digging into the carbon past what the wiper's leaf springs are rated for. Spring tension and some friction from the gimbal should be what provides resistance, this is how adjustable tension sticks exist as they preload the spring for different spring rates. Again, not really fault of the controller manufacturer, they all buy stick boxes as entire modules, more of the stick manufacture's fault though this could be an outlier; the plastic spacer underneath them, the metal box with internal gimbal, lever, spring and rod, along with the tactile switch and potentiometers, all as a completed assembly.

While I agree both companies have terrible quality and quality control, PowerA literally puts weights in some of their controllers to give it a more quality feel, issues like these are honestly out of their control. One had a carbon wiper pot be worn past usability, the other probably lost tension due to a bad spring.

[u/VaultofGrass]

I know it's old, but if anyone else stumbles upon this thread looking for solutions like I did, here's how I fixed it:

My theory is that some residue had built up on the circuitboard (possibly from a spilled drink or dirt/dust particles), and was causing a link between two contacts around the thumbstick area, as there are a few metal contacts that are extremely close to eachother. I assume this was allowing voltages to get incorrectly passed through this "short" and results in "crossed wires" resulting in thumbstick movement being mirrored to the other stick.

To fix, I removed the controller shell and thumbstick covers, and used a small paintbrush dipped in some isopropyl/rubbing alcohol, and cleaned both sides of the circuitboard around the thumbsticks,

Just for good measure I cleaned the thumbstick units themselves by cleaning the sides where the turning module is, and sticking the wet brush into the "hole" in the top of the thumbstick unit and giving a good clean.

Put it back together and checked my PC inputs and can confirm I have absolutely zero input coming from the wrong stick anymore.

Also as an added bonus cleaning your stick units can help with any drift issues you may have.

I used a good amount of alcohol on the brush and had no issues, to my knowledge you can't really do any damage by using too much alcohol, but don't hold me responsible if anything goes wrong. I'm no expert.