Some help please... PlayStation 4 controller which has been converted to a clock

[paul_b_78]

Hi friends of EEVblog
I have a question...
Has anyone purchased one of those PS4 controllers that has been modified to the clock. They are bespoke.... look really cool but has a flaw.

Anyway, I have one for my son but it does not keep the time correctly.
I would like to modify it but understand it has a microchip installed that is write protected.

I am happy to install a nano board and ds3231 I2C real-time clock or anything cheap enough.....also not even bothered if the bespoke board can not be used...

However, I either want to replace the LCD for same size (since a tft will not fit in it’s place due to the positioning of the cutout for the LCD to sit)..

Or either utilise the existing LCD screen (but it is one of those LCD’s that is not physically connected (soldered), and instead the screen has a conductive foam pad that sits onto the boards contact points), with 2 separate flat bespoke LEDs either side to work like a backlit LCD.

I also want to finally utilise the buttons that are already used to set the time and alarm etc.

I do have a friend who is an electronic engineer, but has been unable to help me on this occasion...

A big big ask I know... oh and I forgot to mention... I am pretty new to this electronics and still reading up and playing with projects...

I would just like to get this working for my son who is getting confused with the time not being in line with our times, and getting confused.

[magic]

No warranty on that thing?
How bad the error is?
What's inside?

In the past I had some luck tuning a crappy LED display quartz clock simply by varying its supply voltage

[paul_b_78]

No sadly the warranty has passed..besides I voided the warranty the second I cracked open one of the screws.

I keep having to reset the time..it seems to vary but worst it’s been is about half an hour behind.

It runs on a micro B USB port

[Fraser]

Does the design use a Crystal oscillator as the timing reference ? If so, consider changing it or fine tuning it’s frequency.

The problem is unlikely to be firmware as all units would suffer from this issue and there would be many returns. If the design does not use a crystal or crystal oscillator module, it may use a ceramic resonator and these are not accurate enough for a clock. The worst case scenario is that he design uses an RC time constant clock as that would be useless as an accurate clock.

[paul_b_78]

Im trying to upload some images... but they need re-sizing first...

I will send them very shortly so keep watching this space

[paul_b_78]

Finally worked out how to convert Apple's latest edition to saving images on iPhones. HEIC image is the latest thing. Then not only that but once converted they have to be resized.

Here they are as promised..

[magic]

Yeah, similar rat's nest to mine

That silver bugger on the back side is the quartz and I'm sure there is some black blob-encapsulated IC on the circuit side plus a few passives and that's all she wrote.

Now, what exactly is the problem? Is it consistently running slow or suddenly deciding to jump back half an hour?
Was it always like that or did it go bad exactly next day after warranty expired, as usual?

If it was a sudden failure I suppose you could try to replace electrolytic capacitors or perhaps the quartz (32768Hz most likely) and see what happens. These are probably the only elements that can be replaced in there, anyway. If there are any voltage regulators, check them. Also check the USB power you use.

Build a new board for it? Dunno, I surely wouldn't, but I suppose there may be people who are into such stuff.

[paul_b_78]

Yep... black blob of encapsulate with IC hidden.. read up that these are irreplaceable without using nasty chemicals... don't want to go down that path.

Also I think there is 1 electrolytic Cap, and apart from some smd components that's about all.

The LCD is pretty impressive though.. the way it makes connection without actually be soldered.

I set the time... then after a little while several days but sometimes weeks....it starts to drift and time doesn't stay current.

[magic]

They are virtually irreplaceable with nasty chemicals too, and they wouldn't sell you a replacement anyway, even if you managed to find the manufacturer in the first place

The way I characterized the drift of my clock was to synchronize it exactly with my computer's clock and then check twice a day how much it lags. After a week I had a pretty good idea (1s per weak accuracy → 1min per year) how much adjustment it needs. Rinse, repeat.

But in that case I knew how to tweak it because problems only started after I replaced the PSU. No idea what yours is unhappy about.

[paul_b_78]

@Magic
Looks like I have got some testing to do and get on with then.

Just didn't want to throw away nearly 30 quids worth of equipment and have my son upset.



Also.. still like to know if there is anyone out there who maybe up for guiding me with a complete rebuild - not even sure if I can use the LCD that is there.
Just as another possibility and bit of fun.

[BrokenYugo]

You need to quantify the drift, how much? Always one way or random? Some drift is to be expected, the crystal frequency and any factory set compensation is only so accurate and is temperature sensitive. A good quartz clock can be expected to gain/lose 3 minutes a year, at room temperature, and this looks like a cheap generic clock board.

[NiHaoMike]

You could replace the crystal with a TCXO module, coupled to one of the pins with a 10k or so resistor. (If it doesn't work, try the other pin.)

[amyk]

If you have a scope, I would recommend checking that the 32k crystal is oscillating correctly. No need to actually make a connection (and that might actually stall the oscillator), just putting the probe nearby is sufficient.

[BrokenYugo]

You could replace the crystal with a TCXO module, coupled to one of the pins with a 10k or so resistor. (If it doesn't work, try the other pin.)

I think you could just tack in a trim capacitor to pull the frequency a bit, but the specifics of that is a bit out of my skill bracket.

[NiHaoMike]

A 32.768kHz TCXO is about $2 or so and will achieve extremely good accuracy without tweaking.