My controller is sticking
Hmm try greasing the joystick? I’m sure that doesn’t count as a modification to an electrical component.
Have you tried opening the controller, and maybe using compressed air?
I would advise you to not open up the controller.
I’ve heard of someone who did, and their controller didnt work when they put it back together
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You could try spinning it in circles around the edge to maybe wear it down so it doesn’t get stuck (no idea if this actually works)
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… grease?
could be any kind you want, I doubt the grease rules apply for your controller joysticks.
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I have this problem with my joystick as well. But I have not been able to fix it.
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Though I don’t condone (nor condemn) opening the controller, if you do you should look here to see what your in for:
Good white lithium and Teflon greases are non-conductive, however, I would not recommend greasing the joystick.
What you can do is check to see if the plastic has burrs that are causing sticking. Cut a piece of paper to 2" by 1/4". Push the joystick to one side and slide the paper in the other. DON’T PUSH IT IN ALL THE WAY. As you slide the paper around the circumference of the gap, rotate the joystick. You may need to slide the paper back and forth. If this feels smooth then the problem is likely inside the joystick’s potentiometer spring-back mechanism.
I don’t think you can fix that. So, you will have to ask VEX how much this type of repair costs. My guess, it is not much more to buy another controller.
Here is a joystick that is similar to the one in the controller for reference. As you can see it is not replaceable by the user.
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Is it sticky as in getting caught, or sticky as in sugar sticky?
Move the joystick to the left, take a cloth and wipe the part of the stick that comes up. Then put it back and try it out.
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You should be able to gain access to clean the joysticks fairly easily by only removing the top casing of the controller. There isn’t really all that much difficulty or risk in doing so as long as you are reasonably careful, just be sure not to disturb the shoulder buttons, as they can be somewhat tricky to reassemble.
Though of course as @rpm said, if the problem lies in the internal spring of the potentiometer, then there’s not that much you can do to fix it.
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I cant know exactly why your joysticks are sticking, but with the 7 teams in our organization this has happened a decent amount of times. What I do to fix it(so far it has worked 100% of the time) is simply pushing the joystick down while it is in its zero position. This should stop the joystick from getting stuck on the side like that.
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You know how when you have an XBox controller you can press down onto a joystick to initiate running? Try doing that on the V5 controller, the joystick may have been pulled up and its rubbing against the plastic housing.
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That happened to my team around 5 minutes ago. We found that by pressing firmly on the joystick worked. Keep pushing down until you hear 3 cracks.
Thanks for posting, @UniLuck123, but it’s been a year. I’m sure they have found a solution, especially since they marked a post as the solution.
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