3mm Status LEDs in a Xbox360 Controller This is the newly released Xbox360 controller for Windows. It is the same identical controller as the normal 360 controller, but this version comes with a driver disc. Here are some pics of it in and out of the packaging: Remove 7 screws marked below to open the controller: When you take the rubber button contacts out, the buttons are underneath: Remove the ledcircle that goes around the 360 button. To make room for the 3mm leds, you will need to remove 4 sections of the black ring that goes around the bottom edge. I used a sharp hobby knife, and carefully cut away the parts we don't want. The left pic shows which part of ring to remove, the right pic shows all 4 sides removed: Next you will need to remove some plastic from the white ring in the controller top that the lightring fits in. The left pic shows where I cut away the side, it needs to be done on all 4 sides. The last easy mod needed is to remove a small bit of rubber from the rubber button contacts. You can see where from the "before" and "after" pics here: Here is a nice closeup of the 4 surface mount leds that come in the controller. When it is plugged in, these light up to show which player you are. I suppose that's sort of cool, but they're just green, and they only all light up when you first plug it in. There is nothing I can do about the programming, but I found a way to get rid of that boring green... Here is a pic of the board after I removed the surface mount leds, and replaced them with four 3mm ultra-bright blue leds: You can see some minor heat damage to the board... Working on this was very difficult, as the surface mount leds are tiny, the 3mm leds seem huge, and the space available is minimal. This is not a mod I recommend for anyone without previous experience in trace repair. I won't bother telling you how to desolder the surface mount leds, or solder in the 3mm, because if you don't know then you should NOT be trying this yourself. The tip I will give you is to look at the symbols on the board where the stock leds are. Each symbol is has a triangle arrow, and a crossing line. The arrow end is the positive, and the crossing line is ground. At this point you can see how this is going to work... the original surface mount leds shine up into the bottom of the lightring, but we don't have room underneath for 3mm leds. Instead, you have to clear the sides, and shine the leds up into the clear ring at an angle. All that is left to do is CAREFULLY reassemble. Make sure the leds are aimed correctly and the lightring does not push on them when putting it together. Of course this would be pointless unless I included a couple nice pics of it reassembled and lit up: