This has already been done before (it seems kinda obvious so I figure it must have been), but I dislike cables so decided to convert an official XBOX USB wireless receiver from external to internal.
I didn't think anyone would actually care about this so didn't make a log while doing it so will do my best to explain how I did it.
So the goal was to mount the adapter on the side of my BitFenix Prodigy case, connect to the motherboard using an unused USB 2.0 header and, for extra credit, have the reset button on the case act as the sync button for the adapter.
Stuff I used:
* Official USB XBOX Wireless Receiver (watch out for the many many fakes)
* A USB 2.0 header cable - I got mine from an old back plate adapter
* A bit of cable to connect adapter to side IO board
* Solder and soldering iron
* A bit of braiding and shrink wrap, to make things look pretty
So here's what we're looking at:
1. After prying open the adapter, I disconnected the USB cable which is just a case of sliding it out from the connector. After that, I cut the standard USB connector off the cable and the USB sockets off the header adapter. Then it was just a case of joining the two cables together. USB 2.0 is easy to mess with, it's just 4 cables.
2. The next step was to solder on a short length of wire to both poles on the case IO panel where the reset button is. This is really obvious on the Prodigy case, but if it's not obvious on your case, you could just use the 2 cables that go to your motherboard.
3. The cables from the IO board then go to the tiny switch on the USB adapter motherboard. You want to solder one wire to each of the pins on one side of the switch. It doesn't matter which way round you do, just so long as you're not connecting one wire to one side of the switch, and the other to the other side.
4 & 5. This was a bit of a failed experiment on my behalf. I had originally tried to rewire the adapter's LED to the case HDD activity LED. Soldering to the case was easy, but the adapter's LED is a SMD (surface mount) so soldering to that is tricky. I'm pretty sure I got the soldering right, but this never worked. I thought about messing with it some more, but couldn't be bothered.
6. So once everything was completed I found that my range was pretty terrible. Possibly something to do with the fact that the adapter is now inside a bit steel box
So I decided to attach another cable to the ring that runs around the adapter PCM which acts as the adapters antenna. After soldering this on, I ran the cable through the front of the case and behind the plastic fascia. This definitely improved things, but I suspect there's still room for improvement - maybe multi-cored cable isn't the right stuff.... I was guessing
Anyway, hope that's of some interest. I wish I had documented it while I was doing it, but there you go. If anyone wants more details then feel free to ask!
I didn't think anyone would actually care about this so didn't make a log while doing it so will do my best to explain how I did it.
So the goal was to mount the adapter on the side of my BitFenix Prodigy case, connect to the motherboard using an unused USB 2.0 header and, for extra credit, have the reset button on the case act as the sync button for the adapter.
Stuff I used:
* Official USB XBOX Wireless Receiver (watch out for the many many fakes)
* A USB 2.0 header cable - I got mine from an old back plate adapter
* A bit of cable to connect adapter to side IO board
* Solder and soldering iron
* A bit of braiding and shrink wrap, to make things look pretty
So here's what we're looking at:
1. After prying open the adapter, I disconnected the USB cable which is just a case of sliding it out from the connector. After that, I cut the standard USB connector off the cable and the USB sockets off the header adapter. Then it was just a case of joining the two cables together. USB 2.0 is easy to mess with, it's just 4 cables.
2. The next step was to solder on a short length of wire to both poles on the case IO panel where the reset button is. This is really obvious on the Prodigy case, but if it's not obvious on your case, you could just use the 2 cables that go to your motherboard.
3. The cables from the IO board then go to the tiny switch on the USB adapter motherboard. You want to solder one wire to each of the pins on one side of the switch. It doesn't matter which way round you do, just so long as you're not connecting one wire to one side of the switch, and the other to the other side.
4 & 5. This was a bit of a failed experiment on my behalf. I had originally tried to rewire the adapter's LED to the case HDD activity LED. Soldering to the case was easy, but the adapter's LED is a SMD (surface mount) so soldering to that is tricky. I'm pretty sure I got the soldering right, but this never worked. I thought about messing with it some more, but couldn't be bothered.
6. So once everything was completed I found that my range was pretty terrible. Possibly something to do with the fact that the adapter is now inside a bit steel box
So I decided to attach another cable to the ring that runs around the adapter PCM which acts as the adapters antenna. After soldering this on, I ran the cable through the front of the case and behind the plastic fascia. This definitely improved things, but I suspect there's still room for improvement - maybe multi-cored cable isn't the right stuff.... I was guessing Anyway, hope that's of some interest. I wish I had documented it while I was doing it, but there you go. If anyone wants more details then feel free to ask!
