How to solve the automatic drift of Joy-con on the left controller of Nintendo Switch? How to repair Joy-con?

[BladeW]

Due to its special structure, Joy-Con is the most vulnerable part of all NS accessories. After the damage, many players have also developed the idea of repairing. Here I will give you a suggestion: Unless you are an old driver repairing electronic equipment, if you can repair the Joy-Con without disassembling it, try not to disassemble it (especially the right Joy- Con, see below for the reasons), do not spray detergent if it can be repaired in green (such as vibration, blowing) After grasping this premise, the author introduces common faults and personal solutions to everyone.

Cannot take off after inserting the wristband

Repair difficulty: ★
The "wristband" mentioned here is the periphery of the wrist which is fixed on the wrist with a cord after it is stuck on the Joy-Con. The official full name is "Joy-Con wristband". When the Joy-Con is inserted into the wristband and cannot be taken out, most of them are players who have used the wristband for a short time: I usually use it and press the small black button of the Joy-Con to remove it. But why does it happen sometime? Can't take it down? This is actually ignoring the slide rail lock of the wrist strap or inserting it backwards. At this time, you can easily take it off with cleverness to find out the reason. Don't force miracles.

Check the slide rail lock
The slide rail lock is located in the middle of the cord at the bottom of the wristband. Although the upper buckle on the side of the Joy-Con will clamp the wristband like the NS body, the slide rail lock can lock the Joy-Con tightly. In order to realize double insurance, there is no need to worry about the accident of throwing Joy-Con out during the game. Press down the slide rail lock to lock the Joy-Con, and to unlock it, pull the lock down with your fingers.

Check if it is plugged in reverse
Another situation is that the Joy-Con is inserted backwards when inserting the wristband. Don’t panic at this time. Make sure that the slide rail lock is unlocked. Hold the wristband with one hand, and the Joy-Con with the other hand, and press the back side panel and The black button can be removed by gently trying to disassemble it.

Not recognized after plugging in the host
Repair difficulty: ★★

Although this is often very irritating when it appears, it does not appear often. It usually appears when you are sweating profusely after playing a somatosensory game. The reason is the golden fingers connected between the NS body and the Joy-Con (the grooves on both ends of the main body) The two inner sides) are damp.

Remove moisture
If it is caused by sweating, just leave the console and Joy-Con in the air for a while or replug it several times. If it is the weather, you can roll the toilet paper into a roll to wipe the golden fingers. If it happens frequently and the effect of ordinary wiping is not obvious, you can dip it in the blue bottle WD40 and wipe it gently-note that it is dipped and wiped, not sprayed.

How to prevent
In order to prevent such problems, it is best to prevent them before they happen. It is best to turn on the air conditioner when playing sweaty games in the summer (indoor exercise will not consume more calories due to higher room temperature and more sweat). If the room temperature is not enough to turn on the air conditioner or the air conditioner still sweats a lot, then simply cover the NS body with a plastic bag or cloth to prevent sweat. At the same time, the Joy-Con should also be covered with a small plastic bag and sealed, otherwise sweat will enter In addition to moisture on the gold finger, it may also affect the sensitivity of the button due to sweat, oxide layer, etc.

Bad signal in TV mode
Repair difficulty: ★★★

NS is a wireless connection between Joy-Con and the main body through Bluetooth, but sometimes it will be obviously delayed. The reason is generally too far (for example, more than 4 meters), or other interference, and there are two solutions: one is to add conductive foam to the antenna position; the other is to shorten the distance to NS by physical methods.

Add conductive foam
To add conductive foam, you need to disassemble the Joy-Con, but you can just remove the back cover. Replace the sponge in the picture with conductive foam or a special conductive sponge. In addition, some players have tried to release toilet paper and filter cotton. , But the author has not tried it, you can try if you are interested. Whether it is conductive foam, conductive sponge or toilet paper, it can be fixed with double-sided tape.

Close the physical distance with NS
It is relatively simple to physically close the distance, at least without Joy-Con surgery. The method is to buy a Type-C extension cable (plug and socket at both ends, the length is selected according to the environment), and use this cable to physically reduce the distance between yourself and the Switch base to within 3 meters, but the extension cable The process of inserting the female head into the NS base and aligning it requires patience (especially for friends with big hands), and it is easy to be bounced off by a little external force after insertion, so try to avoid the extension cord from being accidentally touched after insertion. Of course, there can also be other physical zooming methods, such as plugging the NS base by your side and using a longer HDMI cable to connect to the TV, but this generally requires a 5-meter HDMI cable. You still need to buy a good cable for this length. , To avoid signal attenuation.

Finally, in order to solve the bad signal, there is a particularly stable method: buy a Pro handle, many Joy-Con problems can be solved by a Pro handle.

Button response is slow
Repair difficulty: ★★★

There are two types of button dullness, one is L/ZL, R/ZR failure, and the other is that the arrow keys and A/B/X/Y four keys are delayed and insensitive. There are different repair methods for these two problems.

Repair of common problems with shoulder keys
The feeling of pressing the two pairs of shoulder keys will have a crisp feeling of small clicks. If you feel the pressing feeling is soft, be careful. When it feels less sensitive, you can take it apart to see if there are burrs or other foreign objects stuck under the buttons. If the burrs are, use nail clippers and scissors and smooth them. If you are constantly getting damp or sweating while holding the Joy-Con, the spring under the shoulder keys will rust, which will cause the elasticity to decrease or even malfunction. Fortunately, you can buy a spring from a treasure and replace it. If you always fall off when installing the spring, you can install the Joy-Con by tilting the top slightly downward.

 

[BladeW]

Fix the problem of arrow keys and A/B/X/Y keys
The direction keys and the A/B/X/Y four keys are delayed and insensitive. Generally, there are two reasons. The first is that there is dust between the pressed conductive rubber and the metal sensing surface. This disassembly can simply wipe off the dust. If sweat stains or oxidized layers appear (white in light and look like scratches) due to sweating like rain, you need to use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to wipe it-use medical alcohol and cotton swabs sold in pharmacies. Remember to twist the cotton swab before wiping. Make sure that the cotton is loose and the cotton thread is scraped off and left on the main board to cause other problems.

There is nothing difficult to wipe the conductive rubber and metal surface. The difficulty is that these buttons are under the Joy-Con motherboard. The motherboard needs to be removed or turned over, and it is indispensable to twist the motherboard screws, unplug the cables that block the way, etc.— -There is no difficulty in pulling out the cable. The main thing is to find the buckle of the cable. Use tweezers to gently remove the buckle, and the cable can be easily removed. When installing, the operation is reversed. If it is not easy to operate with tweezers, You can also directly insert the cable into the socket and press the buckle. This step is mainly to be bold and careful. By the way, the A/B/X/Y four-buttons and conductive rubber are all fool-proof designs. If you are curious and want to try the Xbox-like button layout, you will find that the buttons won't get stuck at all.

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In addition to conductive rubber and metal sensing surface pollution, there is another reason for the button delay that the button is overtightened on the other side of the motherboard. For example, if the motherboard screw on the side of the A button is overtightened, the seesaw effect will be Make the Y key contact bad. Although this usually occurs after dismantling the phone, it also happens directly without dismantling. This situation can be solved by loosening the screws on the other side by one or two turns.

Therefore, when this kind of button is not sensitive, the first thing is to wipe the button rubber and the corresponding motherboard metal surface with alcohol. After wiping, install the button assembly and motherboard first, but do not tighten the screws first, open the NS body and test the button sensitivity. If there is still a problem, tighten the button on the side with the problem first, then screw the screw on the opposite side, turn it back one or two turns and try again. Generally speaking, after such a toss, the buttons are as sensitive as before. Among them, the X key is special-the fixing screw at the X key position can only be screwed after the battery compartment is installed, so you can ignore the X key when you try to press the key in the early stage, and wait for the three screws on the battery compartment to be screwed. If there is a problem, remove the battery compartment again, loosen the two screws of the motherboard a little half a turn, and loosen the screws in the middle and the bottom of the battery compartment layer. At this time, the sensitivity problem of the X key is generally solved.

The two white circles are the screws corresponding to the A key and Y key on the motherboard.
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In this repair process, you may need to remove the Joy-Con motherboard with the bottom upside down, or half-open the cotton swab under the motherboard, so boldness is necessary. And when you remove the right Joy-Con, be careful of the SL/SR cable. The cable is exaggerated and will break if you are not careful. The key problem fixed by adjusting the tightness of the screw, because the screw is not screwed to the end, so when playing a large range of somatosensory games, try to use it with caution.

 

[BladeW]

Side lights are off, SL/SR is out of order
Repair difficulty: ★★★★

This failure often occurs after the right Joy-Con is disassembled. The connection between the main board and the side plate of the Joy-Con in the right Joy-Con mentioned above is almost folded into a 360-degree cable. During your disassembly process, if the crease of this cable is slightly deformed, there is a high probability of poor contact. If you want to straighten it, then you will sadly find that this cable is broken directly. In fact, the disconnection is only a physical phenomenon. When the contact is poor, the cable is basically broken.

So don’t be afraid at this time. If you go to a treasure to search for SL/SR cables, you will find that the supply is sufficient-any cable, screws, springs and other parts of Joy-Con are the same (I have to say that the business opportunities around Joy-Con are still Pretty big). Wait patiently for it to arrive, and just install it. It is worth mentioning that the width of the cable plug is more than twice the insertion depth. If you open/press the buckle more frequently or pull out the cable directly after a miracle, a slight looseness of the buckle may cause the cable to not be stuck. In this case, you can only insert it as much as possible. , And then carefully press the buckle, and then press the cable to fold the cable (as far as possible to ensure that there is an arc at the bend), try a few times at a time, it will always be okay...

If the buckle of the socket is really unsatisfactory and can't fit, then you have to send it for repair. Of course, it can also be directly installed dead-because this cable affects only the side indicator, and when connecting to the NS body, in addition to the indicator, the vibration and button response of the Joy-Con can also be regarded as connection prompts. The buttons only affect the SL and SR on the side, and have no effect on any other buttons and functions of the Joy-Con-so if you are not a perfectionist, and basically do not use the SL/SR button, and adapt to the lack of side lights If you are connected to the prompt, it is also a way to ignore the failure.

 

[BladeW]

Joystick drift
Repair difficulty: ★★★★★
This is a problem that most NS players will encounter. Generally, there are foreign objects such as dust and sweat on the rocker's contact metal or sensing surface. In games where the joystick needs to be pushed frequently and the player is very engaged and ignores the strength, it is especially easy to cause the joystick to drift.

 

[BladeW]

Explanation of the main points of self-disassembly and repair
Self-dismantling and repairing the joystick is also very simple in theory-disassemble the Joy-Con, open the joystick module, wipe off the foreign objects, and then install the joystick module back to install the Joy-Con, but this kind of The theory of "putting the elephant in the refrigerator" is obviously not helpful to the actual operation. In fact, it is easier to remove the joystick module than to wipe the keys. At least you don’t need to turn the motherboard over, and it is usually left Joy-Con. The joystick drifts without the trouble of breaking the SL/SR cable. But the rocker module itself is closed, and its disassembly is an irreversible process, so the real difficulty lies in disassembling the rocker module.

The outer layer of the rocker module is composed of a plastic shell and an iron sheet base, and the two sides of the iron sheet base are clamped on the plastic buckle through square openings to realize the sealing of the module. Although the buckles on both sides of the plastic shell have one point and two points respectively, it can be regarded as a fool-proof design, but if you want to remove the stuck iron sheet tightly, you can only break or pry it hard on both sides, and after a miracle with great force , The fragile iron sheet deforms at a slight risk, and breaks at the bend at the worst. This process must be careful and careful, but whether it will break or not depends on the face. And after breaking/prying open the iron sheet, the spring inside will be angry-at this time, remember to be careful not to let the spring and the parts inside, otherwise it will be troublesome if you can't find it...

There is no conductive rubber in the rocker module, so wipe the contact points of the motherboard in the rocker module and the contact metal under the rocker with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. You must be more careful when installing it, because you have to take care of both the loose parts and the stubborn spring, so you must be careful (the metal ring is under the spring, don't install it backwards). As long as it is installed correctly, even if one side of the iron plate is not used to hang the buckle, the rocker module will be as neat as ever. To be safe, it is best to wrap the rocker module crisscross with electrical tape.

Of course, if it is really troublesome, you can also buy a joystick module online for 40 or 50 yuan from a certain treasure. If you don’t even want to take down the Joy-Con, you can take these to a nearby mobile phone store to replace it.

 

[Daniel]

If you dismantle the inside of the joystick module yourself, it will have a high probability of irreversibility and death, so you can try other methods when you can still use it. Here are some green methods that can be improved without dismantling:

1. Vibration and dust removal is to turn the Joy-Con upside down when the joystick is drifting, and repeatedly trigger the vibration in the game to shake off the drifting dust.

2. Blow to remove dust, use a toothpick to gently lift up the semi-circular rubber pad under the rocker cap (you need to be bold and careful here), and then use a milk straw to blow hard into the rocker (be careful not to blow the imported water).

The advantages of the above two methods are zero cost and zero risk. The disadvantage is that they can only solve dry dust. If sweat or sweat stains are mixed, there is almost no effect, so there is a better way below.

WD40 repair method
There are two types of WD40 used to repair the NS rocker drift problem, one is a black bottle, the other is a blue bottle: the blue bottle is clean and rust-removing and has a small amount of corrosiveness; the black bottle is not as good as the blue screen, but has an insulating effect. Excessive spraying may cause poor contact between Joy-Con and the main body. So no matter which spray you use, you should pay attention to it: a small amount of light spray (the specific amount can be referred to the store's video when purchasing), and the Joy-Con should be removed from the main body to spray separately. If you have hands-on ability, it is safest to remove it and spray it specifically on the rocker module.

First, still pry up the rocker to expose the base, spray lightly with a black bottle, and try the effect. If it is effective, it is OK, and if it is invalid, replace the blue bottle. The blue bottle should be sprayed carefully in small doses, just spray it, turn the rocker, and then wipe it off. This step is to remove the oxide layer, sweat stains and other stains. Then spray the black bottle twice in the same small dose, turn the rocker, and wipe it. After 15 minutes, it is basically solved.

The WD40 method is now widely used, and it can solve the problems of oxide layer and sweat stains, so the effect is good. But if you do not master the dosage and spray too much, whether it is the corrosiveness of the blue bottle or the insulation of the black bottle, it will be enough for your Joy-Con. So even if it is spraying WD40, please also take care of removing the rocker module. As for the price, the two large bottles were not cheap when they first came out, but now there is a set of black bottles with promotional small blue bottles, which is less than 50 yuan. This price is much cheaper than repairing and buying Joy-Con by yourself.

As for how to distinguish dust, sweat, and oxidized surfaces, you can judge from your daily usage habits and environment. If you play ordinary key-operating games in a general environment, the drift is likely to be dust; if it is rainy or humid, or If you often play sweaty games, there is a high probability of sweat stains and oxide layers.

 

[PeterWint]

Let me summarize precautions for dismantling Joy-Con

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Whether it is the iron sheet of the joystick module or the SL/SR cable of the right Joy-Con, there is a high probability that irreversible damage will occur during disassembly. Please think twice before you start.

Before you start, make sure that you don’t have uncontrollable movements such as coughing and sneezing. At the same time, make sure that your baby and pets will not mess up your parts and screws.

If you live with your family, please plan the maintenance time. If you stay up late to anger your family, you will lose all the tempered table... Even if you have a good temper and urge or persuade you to go to bed early, it will seriously affect your The operation is exerted, resulting in low efficiency and even irreversible misoperation damage.

Be sure to use a modern special screwdriver. When I started, I almost screwed the screws with the screwdriver that I removed the GBA 15 years ago. I re-purchased a set of 1.5mm Y-shaped and Phillips screwdrivers online before dismantling it normally. In addition, the flat-headed plastic rod to pry the motherboard (a hard glue stick with a sharp end and a flat end is required to remove the battery) and tweezers are also essential. Generally speaking, these will be given when you buy a screwdriver.

When screwing the screws, you must be aligned and patient, and control your force. This step does not have the possibility of "strengthening miracles".

The removed screws are arranged according to their layout. This is also true when removing the screws of the motherboard inside.

In line with the principle that more is worse than less, as long as it does not particularly affect the flat cable and battery, there is no need to disassemble anything that can not be dismantled. Just handle it carefully when opening it.

Please remember the insertion direction and position of each cable and the distribution of screws on each layer. If you can’t remember, you can take pictures and record before disassembling.

When pulling out the cable, strictly follow the steps of removing the buckle and gently taking out the cable. Don't vigorously perform miracles, or you will find that a miracle will happen at any time after inserting it again (the buckle will not block the cable). If the tweezers are inconvenient when inserting, you can use it directly.

You don’t have to despair if there are parts that are lost or damaged during your own repairs. Joy-Con’s cables, screws, springs, button conductive adhesive, rocker modules and even the motherboard can all be bought online.

 

[BladeW]

Let me summarize precautions for dismantling Joy-Con

View attachment 7896​

Whether it is the iron sheet of the joystick module or the SL/SR cable of the right Joy-Con, there is a high probability that irreversible damage will occur during disassembly. Please think twice before you start.

Before you start, make sure that you don’t have uncontrollable movements such as coughing and sneezing. At the same time, make sure that your baby and pets will not mess up your parts and screws.

If you live with your family, please plan the maintenance time. If you stay up late to anger your family, you will lose all the tempered table... Even if you have a good temper and urge or persuade you to go to bed early, it will seriously affect your The operation is exerted, resulting in low efficiency and even irreversible misoperation damage.

Be sure to use a modern special screwdriver. When I started, I almost screwed the screws with the screwdriver that I removed the GBA 15 years ago. I re-purchased a set of 1.5mm Y-shaped and Phillips screwdrivers online before dismantling it normally. In addition, the flat-headed plastic rod to pry the motherboard (a hard glue stick with a sharp end and a flat end is required to remove the battery) and tweezers are also essential. Generally speaking, these will be given when you buy a screwdriver.

When screwing the screws, you must be aligned and patient, and control your force. This step does not have the possibility of "strengthening miracles".

The removed screws are arranged according to their layout. This is also true when removing the screws of the motherboard inside.

In line with the principle that more is worse than less, as long as it does not particularly affect the flat cable and battery, there is no need to disassemble anything that can not be dismantled. Just handle it carefully when opening it.

Please remember the insertion direction and position of each cable and the distribution of screws on each layer. If you can’t remember, you can take pictures and record before disassembling.

When pulling out the cable, strictly follow the steps of removing the buckle and gently taking out the cable. Don't vigorously perform miracles, or you will find that a miracle will happen at any time after inserting it again (the buckle will not block the cable). If the tweezers are inconvenient when inserting, you can use it directly.

You don’t have to despair if there are parts that are lost or damaged during your own repairs. Joy-Con’s cables, screws, springs, button conductive adhesive, rocker modules and even the motherboard can all be bought online.

Thanks.

Other suggestions
1. If you often play games that destroy the joystick, or the Joy-Con has been repaired, it is best to have a Pro handle.

2. For Joy-Con repairs that need to be disassembled, I personally recommend the following (recommendation from high to low):

If you are not good at hands-on, it is best to find a professional game store nearby and give it to professionals to repair.

Online maintenance, the author consulted the repair price when buying the cable, which is the replacement part cost + round-trip express fee + 20 yuan manual fee.

After purchasing the joystick module, flat cable and other accessories online, find a nearby mobile phone store to replace it. Although repairing mobile phones and repairing game consoles is not the same, they are all electronic product repairs. They are both careful and professional. Generally, you know how to do it. If you don’t understand Joy-Con, you can also find a disassembly video to understand. Point.

After the joystick drifts, you can try the vibration method and the straw blowing method first. If not, send it to a nearby/online game repair shop or mobile phone repair shop for repair or change the joystick module. You can also use WD40 to solve the problem according to the official instructions.

Self-confidence in doing it yourself, just do it yourself and solve it to the end. Whether it is doing it yourself repairs or spraying WD40, you must be careful and patient; you must also do it with the mentality of "buy a new one if it breaks", otherwise it will affect the operation. If the Joy-Con is completely broken because of these operations, then buy a new Joy-Con, forget about the pain of spending money and miss the old Joy-Con, and happily welcome the new Joy-Con, after all, the most important thing is to be happy.