The problem of drifting the DualSense it is giving a lot to talk about. The situation has reached such a point that even a law firm has filed a lawsuit against Sony for the malfunction of the controller, and that is, as you can see in the following video, certain internal components are destined to fail.
When is my DualSense going to stop working?
That a control command that costs 75 Euros (less than 56 euros now with Amazon's current offer) is going to stop working in the future is something that hurts and bothers to know. But it is the pure reality. At iFixit they wanted to demonstrate the origin of problems drifting Dualense, and they have confirmed that it is not their own error as such, but an error inherited from something that we have already known for a long time.
See offer on AmazonAnd it is that DualSense uses the same electronic components related to the analog sticks that we can find in the DualShock 4, and the Xbox One controls and Xbox One Elite controller. This means that no matter how much extra technology it includes, DualSense will continue to suffer from one of the most common problems in recent years, and it's all due to a component that hasn't finished evolving.
ALPS joysticks
The company behind these components is ALPS, and has been selling its products for years to Microsoft and Sony, but also Nintendo, since these sticks are also present in the Switch Pro Controller. It is a magnificent product, however, it has a very serious problem, and that is that dirt and prolonged use end up affecting its potentiometers.
The potentiometers are in charge of calculating the exact position of the stick by measuring the voltage variation that occurs when moving the pieces. These potentiometers are made up of carbon tracks and moving parts that produce contact and the corresponding flow of current.
This friction is one of the problems that cause the appearance of inaccuracy in the controls, since, after a lot of use (something that will also consume battery in the DualSense), these carbon traces can deteriorate and lose conductivity, resulting in inaccurate voltage readings. But as iFixit points out, not everything falls on the durability of the sticks themselves, external agents also come into play, and we are obviously talking about dirt.
Beware of Cheetos
No matter how much you avoid it, dust and dirt end up entering the depths of the controller, and how could it be otherwise, one of those secret corners are the internal holes for the stick potentiometers. Any kind of obstacle that gets in the way of the power-up will cause read errors, so this could be another one of the problems with those ghost moves caused by the analog stick.
Does the DualSense have an expiration date?
Taking these factors into account, iFixit has gone through the official ALPS documentation to check the durability of its components, and as they have been able to find out, the sticks promise a durability of 2 million cycles, which according to them would translate into a 400 hours of game. This figure could be a bit alarming, since calculating an average of 1 hour of play per day (quite a small amount), the controller would stop working after 400 days, a fairly low durability considering that it would not reach a year and a half of use. life. And that without counting that we can connect the DualSense to the Nvidia Shield TV, which would further reduce its life cycle.
How to clean the DualSense?
Knowing that a good cleaning could extend the life of your remote, you are probably wondering how to clean it, and this is where we encounter another problem. The internal part of the analog sticks are soldered to the internal plate of the controller, so it is not possible to remove it easily, either to clean the contacts or to change it with a new one.
In that case you will have to unsolder the points (14 no less) to be able to disassemble the components and access the carbon track. One swipe with a Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol should be enough to clear up any kind of standing dirt, but the worst will be getting to the spot.
Some tutorials published on YouTube teach how to strain the cotton swab between the pieces, but you must bear in mind that you could split the plastic and be left without a remote control, since any type of breakage will not would cover the PS5 warranty. It depends on you.