How To Identify Fake Dualshock 4 Controller Repair Guide

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

5

Time Required

                          20 minutes            

Sections

1

• How to identify fake DualShock 4 controller
• 5 steps

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Introduction

Are you in doubt? Not sure if it’s real or fake? Well, hopefully I can help you out then.

There are some pretty good fakes though. But eventually you can always spot fakes.

Hopefully it will help you to determine whichever it’s fake or not.

What you need

Step 1

              Comparing controllers               

• The black controller is an original Sony V2. The silver one is fake. The front housing looks good so far.
• I’m showing in picture 2 only the fake one. The tiny letters XF.LIN behind the battery capacity cannot be found on the original. Same for the letters “DW” in front of the serial code. Everything else looks the same like the original.

The black controller is an original Sony V2. The silver one is fake. The front housing looks good so far.

I’m showing in picture 2 only the fake one. The tiny letters XF.LIN behind the battery capacity cannot be found on the original. Same for the letters “DW” in front of the serial code. Everything else looks the same like the original.

1024

Step 2

              The Screws               

• The first picture is the original. It has the original PH00 screws installed.
• The 2nd picture displays the fake one. They used PH1 screws for this one.
• And as you can see in the 3rd picture, the fake ones are way shorter then the original screws.

The first picture is the original. It has the original PH00 screws installed.

The 2nd picture displays the fake one. They used PH1 screws for this one.

And as you can see in the 3rd picture, the fake ones are way shorter then the original screws.

Step 3

              The light               

• When the controller is searching for the PS4, it should give a bright white light, not turquoise! It’s obvious that the LED/Micro USB board is fake.

When the controller is searching for the PS4, it should give a bright white light, not turquoise! It’s obvious that the LED/Micro USB board is fake.

Step 4

              Battery and LED/USB board               

• Now I’ll open the controller and show some more fake parts! The battery is not even close to the original one. And it’s an 600mAh battery. The original delivers 800mAh. Also the fake one was telling that there was an 800mAh battery in…
• The 2nd picture shows the original battery. Quiet a difference.
• The 3rd picture shows the LED/Micro USB board. It’s obvious fake. I do not have an picture of the original one this time. There also should be text on it like (example): JDM-011 or JDM-030. There is nothing on it here. And the text colour should be in gold not in white. You can also see the fake screw holding it together again.

Now I’ll open the controller and show some more fake parts! The battery is not even close to the original one. And it’s an 600mAh battery. The original delivers 800mAh. Also the fake one was telling that there was an 800mAh battery in…

The 2nd picture shows the original battery. Quiet a difference.

The 3rd picture shows the LED/Micro USB board. It’s obvious fake. I do not have an picture of the original one this time. There also should be text on it like (example): JDM-011 or JDM-030. There is nothing on it here. And the text colour should be in gold not in white. You can also see the fake screw holding it together again.

Step 5

              Motherboard               

• In the 1st picture, you can clearly see a switch. The button should not be blue, but it should be white/grey.
• You should see a motherboard name, like: JDM-040 or JDM-055. This indicated again that it’s a fake.
• 3rd picture shows the fake motherboard again (back side).

In the 1st picture, you can clearly see a switch. The button should not be blue, but it should be white/grey.

You should see a motherboard name, like: JDM-040 or JDM-055. This indicated again that it’s a fake.

3rd picture shows the fake motherboard again (back side).

That’s it actually. There are more stuff to recognise if it’s a fake or not, but for what I’ve shown, those are the biggest differences between them.

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                    koppie007                     

Member since: 08/22/2013

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mikko.rantalainen - Dec 22, 2019

Reply

The important questions:

1. Is the fake controller able to wake up the console from sleep?

2. Does the fake controller work in all games and apps? The buttons or sticks do not feeling identical are okay, e.g. unstable analog controls are not okay.

koppie007 - Dec 23, 2019

1. Sometimes no. It depends on the fake (there are many different fakes), but some of them are not able to wake up the console from sleep.

2. It should work in every app and game, but due the soldered on thumb sticks (they do not use the original ones) they do not respond every time or feeling identical. Some fakes uses a totally different input board which is causing that it’s unresponsive and/or not feeling identical to the original.

Dani - Apr 9, 2020

Reply

But how do you know if the casing is fake?

So far I have bought 1 fake controller and also found out that the plastic where the motherboard is on also is fake as you can’t use original motherboard on that plastic as there seems to be some bad measures to the plastic part. Witch make the pad get stuck when closing.

koppie007 - Apr 11, 2020

Hi!

It can be very hard to see it from the outside. Did it came with the original battery or a fake on too? You need to modify the plastic part, otherwise it won’t fit I’m afraid..

Darshan Thykandy - Apr 28, 2020

Reply

1. Do original DUALSHOCK 4 (CUH - ZCT2) series controller’s serial numbers start with a special number? For example the DUALSHOCK first version starts with 1 and second version starts with 2. One of the serial number starts with 3911 and the other with 1911. Will I be able to check anywhere whether the serial numbers belong to original series or not?

2. Without opening both my controllers, everything matches with the original ones as per your findings above. However the L3 and R3 buttons function on their own and doesn’t let me control the player and camera angle fully. The controllers have never been dropped or any physical damage caused.