Recently bought a used Switch 1 as people were getting rid of them to buy the new one, but I found out that mine came with an insane amount of drifting.
Opening it up was a pain in the ass and pretty scary, but I managed to fix it by putting a card over the metal plate on the left (to apply pressure under the joystick as many people online instructed)… And it worked!
It used to drift all the way to the left whenever I let go of the analog stick, but now it snaps firmly back to the center. Just wanted to put out a PSA that if your Joycon is drifting, it’s very fixable. All you need is the right screwdriver and being very careful when lifting up each piece.
You should have gone with Hall effect replacements since that’s a permanent fix. Not knocking on your effort, it’s a delicate work and you’ve got some practice in for the time you’ll have to go back to do that :)
Yeah I’m aware of the hall effect replacements which are pretty cheap, but this fix was essentially free and should last me at least a few months until the sticks degrade. Once it really stops working I’ll look into opening it again and fixing it for real.
I installed one of those and had to RMA it within a couple weeks. Not saying don’t “upgrade” but apparently there’s no silver bullets here.
RMA due to drift? That’s rather unheard of, I’d be more inclined to suspect that you got a fake.
Not drift. Replacement just stopped working. Double checked connections and even put back in the old joystick (in case a cable was damaged).
I did exactly that with gulikit hall effect parts 2 years ago. It’s surprisingly easy and indeed fixes drift issues once and for all.
I think that TMR is now the preferred tech. It is more of a direct replacement than hall effect, resulting in less potential latency and maintaining the advantages of magnetic, contactless sticks.
I would probably find this out when Hall effect sticks died but they simply refuse to. Good to know though, thanks.