Have you ever wondered why the PS button lights up on pictures and ads of the PlayStation 3 Sixaxis controller, but not on your own controller? The fact of the matter is that Sony's original intention was to illuminate the PS button. They had to scrap the idea in the final design of the Sixaxis controller to save production costs and keep the retail price low.

After I saw these pictures, I felt like putting a LED under my own PS button. I decided that since I am doing the project, I might as well write instructions on how to do it as well. I tried to include many pictures and make a very descriptive, concise, step by step guide.

Please note that the controller is very hard to put back together but if you have enough patience you can do it. Please read all the way through this tutorial before attempting. If you feel at all like you cannot accomplish this modification to your Sixaxis controller, DON'T. I am not responsible for any damage to your Sixaxis controller, expressed or implied, simply because this is a DIY tutorial. USE THIS TUTORIAL AT YOUR OWN RISK!

REQUIRED MATERIALS
• PS3 Sixaxis controller
• A little bit of wire (only about 3-4 inches, you can get this from almost anything, such as a mouse or headphones, but I got mine from RadioShack. Just make sure it’s not too thick)
• 1 LED (Your best bet will be a 3mm LED. You can also use a 5mm but it’s an extremely tight squeeze and also much brighter. Just make sure it can do AT LEAST 2.8v)

REQUIRED TOOLS AND OTHER OPTIONAL ITEMS
• 1 3.5 mm screwdriver for the case screws and 1 1.4 mm screwdriver for the screws holding PCB to controller (you may be able to use just one screwdriver for all of them just don’t strip the screws)
• 1 cup (to hold all the piece of the controller, it can be a bag or something else, just to keep everything together)
• Soldering Iron (lower wattage is better so you don’t do damage to your board although it may take a while for it to heat up and melt the solder, I used a 30w without problems)
•1 Solder (only need a bit so don’t get much)

1. Open your controller by unscrewing the five screws (one in the middle and two on the left and two on the right). Put all the screws in your cup. Make sure it is face down (buttons point down) and CAREFULLY snap off the bottom. It is tightly stuck on there but if you push upward on the bottom part, in between the joysticks, it should come off. Just be patient and keep working at it and it will come off.

2. After you get the bottom off, under the battery is a small silver screw which is holding the PCB to the controller which you have to remove. Put the screw in the cup.

3. Remove the PCB from the controller and set the front part aside. It has the buttons which aren’t securely attached so keep it in a safe spot.

4. There is a small 4 pin plug holding the flimsy film for the buttons to the PCB which you have to unplug and set aside. Move the film back as shown in the picture.

5. At this point the L3 and R3 buttons can come off. They are just clipped on so you can just pull them off and put them in your cup

6. Cut yourself 2 small lengths of wire (one slightly longer than the other )and strip them at both ends. Also get your LED out and bend the wires out to the side where there is a little notch on the wires and cut them. It will make a shape like this.

7. Solder 1 of the wires to the "5" hole. This means to take some of the stripped part of the wire and stick it in that hole. Then take some solder and solder directly on the wire. It will ball up just enough to get solder on the rim of the "5" hole which will attach this wire to to the board(this is your ground).

8. Next you need to take the other wire and solder it to the leg where the RED wire connects as seen in this picture.

9. Once these 2 wires are soldered to the board, take the rubber section from the front piece of the controller (the plastic piece you set aside) which has the start and select buttons on it. Place it on the film in that little hole in the middle and press down on it to turn the controller on.

10. Once you have the controller turned on, fold the flimsy film back as shown in the above picture. You then need to take your LED and try to connect it (just by holding it in place) to the 2 wires you just soldered to the main board. This will allow you to figure out which way the LED is supposed to connect (if you put it on backwards it won’t light up). Once you've figured it out you should set it aside and tin the ends of the wires (this involves getting solder to build up on the wires and dry allowing you to easily solder the LED to it) Once the wire is tinned you can solder the LED to the 2 wires. If the controller is still on, the LED should light up. If not check all your connections and try again.

My controller isn't on, but if it was, the led should light up

11. Once this is done you should cut the clear rubber piece that sits behind the PS button (this is the clear rubber piece that sits between the start and select buttons which you used to turn the controller on in Step 9) You only need to cut off that tube piece that comes down on the clear rubber piece. This allows the LED to sit in that shaft directly under the PS button. This is not necessary as I didn’t do it and mine looks fine, but you may do it to make it appear brighter.

12. If the LED doesn’t fit in the black plastic piece, you’re probably using a 5mm, you must melt down or cut off the tube (I melt mine down because the soldering iron was already out).

13. When you bring the flimsy film back over to reconnect with the black plastic, make sure the LED fits in the hole in the middle. There is a piece that fits into the top-left of the PCB which connects the two pieces make sure it goes in that hole. Also make sure that your wires aren’t blocking the plastic piece from sitting snug on the board (There are some spacers that keep the plastic piece separated from the PCB, these will sometimes hit the wires so make sure they are out of the way) Also, before you put the controller back together put the analog sticks back on the PCB and make sure they have full movement without hitting the wires.

14. Put the controller back together. There is a plastic piece that separates the L1 and L2 and R1 and R2 buttons, make sure everything is slid back into place correctly, this can be difficult. I had trouble with the L1 and R1 buttons but you just got to make sure the round gray button on the rubber corresponds with round plastic on the back of the L1 and R1 buttons. Also make sure all your rubber pieces are placed back into the front piece of the controller (this includes the clear rubber piece that goes in the black rubber piece that sits behind the PS button.

15. Once all that is in screw the PCB back into the controller, then screw the rear piece back on the controller. If your controller turned off turn it back on and you should see the PS button on.

Bio: My name is Amit Sanyal and I am currently a sophomore in high school. I wanted to light up my sixaxis controller so I thought I might as well write the article. Email me here

Credits: I forgot to take a picture of my led before connecting it so I would like to give credit to the Scenyx Entertainment Community and PDAIsAok for the picture of the led in addition to helping create the wording for the guide. I would also like to give credit to Reg Hardware for the picture of the 80gb PS3 shown at the top of this page.