Caanoo Analogue Stick Floppy, Not Centring [Solved]


jimsupersix

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Dec 8, 2012
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I've finally bought a Caanoo, it was a used one from Gameseek, and it's great but there is a problem with the analog stick in that it doesn't spring back to the centre when pushed down, left or sometimes right, but it does when pushed up.
 
This is making playing some games quite tricky.
 
Is there any way I can get it springing back correctly again? The stick seems to function correctly apart from the centering spring.
 
thanks
James
 
I´m not sure I can be of much help.
The caanoo joy, altough really nice, seems quite sensible.
 
You may have to open up to check it out, this post may help on this front:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/56493-caanoo-cover-problem-solved/
 
But I think you should check other people´s advice on this front before.
Maybe the thing can be replaced?
 
There are posts on the actual electronic part the caanoo uses if that happens to be the real problem:
 
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/63113-broken-analog-caanoo/
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/62190-caanoo-thumbstick/
 
I´m not an eletronic master, so I can´t actually say much, maybe forum members can shed a light on this?
 
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Thanks Erico, I've read the posts about replacing the electronic part, problem is I'm in the UK and shipping a 5$ part here costs $30 + tax, which is getting a bit expensive!
I'm hoping that the self-centering can be more easily fixed than replacing the stick itself.
 
jimsupersix said:
is there a trick to opening the rear panel?
 
I've followed the instructions here:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/56493-caanoo-cover-problem-solved/
 
"just remove 4 screws"
 
but it's not budging - I've tried pulling the rear cover as hard as I dare, but it doesn't really move at all.
 
Is there a special place to prise it open with a flat-blade or something?
You'll definetely need a very flat blade(or a fingernail), because it fits really tight. IIRC I started opening at the sd slot. If you've opened the device one or times it will get easier, but I know people who never managed to open it at all. So the best hint will be, have patience and perseverance.
 
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Well I still can't get the cover off, and I fear I'm going to snap the Caanoo in half, so I'm trying another route - I've read that many people swap the Caanoo component with one from a dualshock PS2 pad, but as I can't get mine apart yet and I have a PS2 pad in pieces I've cut the rubber top off one of the dualshock analogue sticks and epoxied it onto the Caanoo stick, to give me a much larger and more grippy surface for my thumb so hopefully I can hold the stick centred and still get enough force to reliably get the diagonals.
 
Whether this will work I don't know, the glue is currently setting...
 
OK I've found the issue with the stick - I managed to get the cover off using Akabei's advice about starting at the SD card slot.
 
Once I had the main board out I found a tiny piece of metal rattling around - close inspection of the stick shows that it's one end of the tiny grey metal bars that sits around the stick, meaning that as you move the stick upwards towards the broken end of this metal it must flex or something which is why it's so hard to get upwards diagonals but the downwards ones work OK.
 
http://media.digikey.com/photos/CTS%20Photos/254%20Series_sml.jpg
 
I've ordered a new part from Digikey, so hopefully that will get my Caanoo back in full working order.
 
I hope this will make your Caanoo work flawless again. Please keep us( or to be more exact: me) informed about your progress, as my analogue stick needs a replacement as well.
 
OK will do, I've order a pair of those joysticks seeing as the actual part is so cheap and shipping remains the same for 2.
 
Well the new joystick components arrived from DigiKey today, top marks to them shipping from the US to here in only 2 days! Amazon are 2 miles down the road yet it takes a week to get a book from them....
 
Anyway, will try to fit one tonight and let you know whether it works!
 
i've sucessfully replaced my stick. and since i also had spares what did was simply desoldered the old components off and put in the new ones without resoldering it back in. this way its easier to replace once it wears out again and the nub and case holds it in place so it won't come loose.
 
Do you have any hints about how to get the internals apart without damaging them?
 
I opened it up a few days ago and the ribbon cable to the screen looked very fragile and made it tricky to get at the circuit board.
 
there is a long thhin black panel holding the ribbon onto the board. you're gonna have to lift it up all the way and slide the ribbon cable out. but i wouldn't recommend doing this if you haven't desoldered anything before since it can be real tricky and frustrating.

but if you do go through with it i highly recommend you test out the controls without putting it back together using the built in control testing feature. good luck.
 
Well we have success!
 
After a nerve wracking couple of hours I have removed the old broken stick and replaced it with a new one, and amazingly the Caanoo still works, and now the controls work perfectly.
 
It was a tricky thing to remove, as the solder on 2 of the pins would not melt, so in the end I had to snap the old stick off and then grind down the remains of those 2 pins enough to make a small hole on the joystick side of the board. I then cut down those 2 pins on the new stick, pushed it tight onto the board and soldered on the other pins that had passed through the holes.
 
I didn't remove the screen, just held the PCB vertically with the screen face-down on the table. Awkward, but not impossible.
 
Thanks to everyone for your help.
 
Picture attached of the old stick, you can see the 2 grey metal bars piece thats supposed to hold the stick centrally has the end snapped off. The 2 flat silver pieces laying on the table next to the stick are (I assume) the tiny potentiometer plates that dropped off when I snapped the stick off the board.
 
Here's the process I went through to replace the stick, a learning process for me so hopefully it will be of use to others:
 
- remove the SD card and stylus, and pull open the SD card, USB and charger covers.
 
- remove the 4 black screws on the rear case
 
- prise the rear case off - I started at the SD card slot, using a small flat-blade screwdriver slid between the rear case and the grey plastic surround where the shoulder buttons are. Once you can get one area to pop out slightly, work around the rear panel using the screwdriver gently prising it open.
 
- open the rear panel gently
 
- there are 5 small cables to the PCB - 2 for speakers, these can be unclipped. 1 for battery, also unclips. 2 are soldered on and lead to small round metal things in the rear case (for vibrations or tilt sensing perhaps??) - use a flat blade screwdriver under these round metal things at the point where the wires are soldered on - you can slide it under the flat plate that the wires are connected to and gently prise the metal cylinder upwards and out. Mine had some glue or sticky stuff on but came out easily enough.
 
- rear case should now be free.
 
- undo the 4 silver screws that hold the PCB down.
 
- gently lift the PCB and you can see how the ribbon cable to the screen unfolds - you can stand the PCB upright along the bottom edge of the case without flexing the ribbon too much. Try to keep the PCB parallel to the case to keep the ribbon straight at all times and not twist it around.
 
- remove the plastic thumbstick.
 
- now you need to desolder the joystick - I used a solder remover to suck the melted solder off each pin at a time, which worked for all apart from 2 pins. For those the solder would not melt - I gently prised the joystick off from the other side of the board, snapping off those 2 pins. I then used a Dremel with a pointed die grinder to flatten those 2 pins on the screen side of the PCB, then bored a small hole into the old solder so that the legs on the new joystick could poke into it.
 
- insert the new joystick, will only fit 1 way around. I had to cut down the 2 legs that matched the solder holes I had bored, until the joystick sat flat on the PCB and the 2 plastic nubs on the underside of the stick poke through the 2 holes in the PCB. I had about 0.5mm gap under the joystick, couldn't get it completely flat on the PCB.
 
- resolder the pins that are poking through the PCB
 
- for the 2 problem pins that were pressed into the old solder holes I just left them unsoldered as they're a tight fit, but you could resolder them on the joystick side of the PCB I suppose.
 
- place the plastic thumbstick on the new joystick - it fits on only 1 way around as the stick has a step in it.
 
- make sure the A,B,X,Y buttons are still in place with the white rubber thingy pressed into them.
 
- put the volume and on/off sliders into the centre of their slots, then do the same with the actual sliders on the PCB so they all line up.
 
- replace the PCB into the top case, carefully folding the ribbon cable. It took me a few tries to get it into place without the thumbstick falling off, also it needs to slide under the flexible rubber connector that holds the SD card cover on. 
 
- make sure the volume and power sliders are moving their sliders on the PCB
 
- make sure the new thumbstick is free to move, mine slid off the stick a bit twice and rotated, so it was too tight against the upper case and would not self-centre. I twisted it gently around until it reseated on the step on the joystick, then it moved normally. A tiny blob of general purpose grease on the joystick would probably hold the thumbstick on quite nicely I would think,but I didn't have any around.
 
- at this point I carefully reconnected just the battery plug and tested the console by holding it tightly together and then turning it enough to see the screen, make sure the new stick and the all the buttons work.
 
- replace the 4 silver screws
 
- reconnect the 2 speakers and the battery
 
- replace the 2 silver cylinder things into the rear case
 
- refit the rear case and the 4 black screws
 
Thanks for your detailed descriptrion. That's more than I ever hoped for. Unfortunately, I'm a total noob with a soldering iron(of that small size). I've once learnt how to do lead glazing, but that won't help me here. Maybe I can persuade my brother to do it for me. Anyway,
 
Thanks again, Jim
 
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