How to find a broken wire in a controller cord

[mcdonalds]

Hello, I was wondering how to find a broken wire  in a controller cord without having to splice the entire cord?  I would rather just splice the section that has the broken wire and put heat shrink tubing around the joint and wires.  Is there any way I could find out the specific section that has the break as I am trying to repair a Quick Shot PS1 Controller where none of the buttons work at all?  I have about 400 controllers to repair for multiple consoles.

[NFG]

If i had 400 controllers to fix I'd take the fast way, not the painful, time consuming and prone-to-error way you're suggesting.

[Padoca85]

holycrap! 400?  talk about time consuming...

The best way to found the section would be having a signal continuity tester

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Tracer-Tester-Generator-Signal/dp/B001MB759U

you plug the signal in one end of the cable and run the detector across it until you hear a fanty/no beep. Thats were it broke

[kendrick]

From the product description page:

"The receiver probe must be able to make contact with the bare wire to receive the transmitter tone"

If you have to strip the whole wire in order to find the break, it's not useful for what McD was asking about, I'm afraid.

[Padoca85]

nah, i used it when i work making lan networks, one of these could detect the signal through walls, maybe this one is weaker or has a erroneous description.

[CZroe]

I would secure a supply of extension cables, test continuity, and cut the cords on the failed ones in half. I would then test both halves and see if the continuity break is in the plug end or the controller end. I would then replace the cord with an extension cord and save the good halves from the bad controllers. If a trend reveals that the continuity failure is usually at the connector end, I would start cutting closer to that on future repairs. Also, don't forget to examine the failed halves closely to see if it's usually a random break in the cord or a short at the controller port end. If it's usually at the controller port, you can start shortening them by a few inches from there and re-using the original cords.