Shortly after discovering that the Xbox controllers wouldn’t reach across my living room, I determined I would have to get one or two wireless controllers. I’ve always been really picky about input devices, and I’ve never really liked cheapo controllers so I knew I would have to choose carefully. After reading a ton of reviews, I wasn’t entirely surprised that I decided on a Logitech product, the Cordless Precision Controller for Xbox. I wound up purchasing two, since I often play on the Xbox with at least one other person. Really great controllers, except for one thing: that big, ugly receiver hanging off the front of my Xbox. In the spirit of the hardwired (or stealth, as I like to call it) DVD dongle, the Logitech receiver had to go.

I was a little wary of doing this at first, because while a few people on Xbox-Scene forums have posted how to do it with other brands I couldn’t find any actual tutorials for the Logitechs, which appeared to have significantly different receivers than other models. In fact, when I searched Google for “Xbox hardwired Logitech wireless tutorial”, my own web site came up in the top 5 results simply because I had stated I intended to do this! I was sure there was some information somewhere in XS forums, but the search function there doesn’t work and the post may have been buried in some 50-page thread, so I decided just to rip open the receiver and see what happened.

It turned out to be pretty easy. Following the schematic for hardwiring the DVD dongle, I just matched up the colored wires from the Logitech controller. There was also a thicker wire coming from the Logitech’s PCB, which was actually two wires bundled into one, that you can just ignore; they don’t need to be connected to anything. I used the relay to connect the receiver to port 1, so that normally I can use the wireless controller but if I ever want to use a different one all I have to do is plug it in. After wiring in the relay and diode, I had to figure out where to put it.

Placing the receiver inside the case — even after cutting off the useless memory card readers — turned out to be the most challenging part of this project. It had to go somewhere without shielding, so that meant in the top area of the case. I tried sticking it in the space behind the DVD drive, but of course that didn’t get very good reception. I couldn’t just stick it anywhere to the underside of the case top, because then I couldn’t get it back on the Xbox. I finally found the perfect spot, in between all the plastic supports and far enough back (the closer to the front you get, the less vertical space you have because of the slope of the lid) that the single raised capacitor on the Logitech receiver wouldn’t get pressed on too hard when closing the case. Still, it’s a tight fit, and this is only one wireless controller. I’m really not sure if I’ll be able to get the second one in there.