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Controller-Teensy2-HammerHeaders.md

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Controller Setup: Teensy 2.0 and Teensy++ 2.0 (using solderless hammer headers)

The wired controller setup is the most difficult of the setups. Most of you who joined us prior to 2025 will be familiar with this setup.

The Teensy 2.0 or Teensy++ 2.0 have been discontinued by the manufacturer. So we do not recommend any new setups with these. Therefore, this guide is only if you already have a Teensy from our past era of microcontroller-only automation and wish to upgrade to full computer control.

This tutorial will use solderless hammer headers to connect the UART to the Teensy. This is a cleaner, but harder setup while still avoiding any soldering.

Hardware Setup:

Required Hardware (Full List):

  1. A regular Nintendo Switch and its accessories (dock, power cable, HDMI cable). (You cannot use a Switch Lite.)
  2. A computer running x64 Windows. (or another OS if you are able to set it up.)
  3. A video capture card.
  4. A Teensy 2.0 or Teensy++ 2.0.
  5. USB A to mini USB cable
  6. USB to Serial TTL (UART)
  7. Solderless Hammer Headers
  8. A box cutter or a wire cutter.
  9. Pliers. (you will likely need two of them)

Recommended Purchase Links:

Capture Card: See previous section.

Teensy 2.0 or Teensy++ 2.0:

Product has been discontinued.

USB A to mini USB cable:

You should already have this from prior Teensy automation.

USB to Serial TTL (UART):

There are many options here. The one we recommend (for ease of use) is the Adafruit model:

Or you can search for "CP2102" and you'll get tons of hits from various brands/sellers that look like these:

Solderless Hammer Headers

These "hammer headers" have a bulge on the short side which enables it to attach to pin holes without the use of solder.

Hardware Assembly:

Step 1: Connect UART to the Teensy

Once you have your hardware, you need to make some connections between your UART cables and the Teensy.

Make the following connections:

UART pin Teensy pin
TX D2
RX D3
GND GND (any one is fine)
VCC Leave unconnected
  1. Use your box cutter or wire cutter to cut out 2 pairs of pins from the strip of solderless headers. Be very careful not to cut yourself.
  2. Insert a pair of hammer headers into the D3 and D2 holes on the Teensy.
  3. Insert a hammer header into the GND hole on the microcontroller. (Since you can't easily split the pair of pins, you can do GND and the pin adjacent to it.)

You will need a LOT of force to push the hammer headers into the holes. Recommend using pliers to pull the pins out of the plastic holds and inserting the long side into the microcontroller board. Then put the covers back on and use pliers to squeeze it in.

Step 2: Download and install Teensy Loader

Download Teensy Loader.

Direct download link: https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/teensy.exe

Step 3: Flash PABotBase into your Teensy.

The root folder of the SerialPrograms package should have a set of .hex files for each of the different devices.

  1. Run the Teensy Loader program that you downloaded earlier.
  2. Click the purple file icon and browse for NintendoSwitch-PABotBase-xxxxxxxxx-Teensy2.hex or NintendoSwitch-PABotBase-xxxxxxxxx-TeensyPP2.hex depending on which one you have.

  1. Plug the Teensy into your computer.
  2. Press the white button on the Teensy. You may need to wait for Windows to install drivers.

At this point, two green arrows should show up in Teensy Loader.

  1. Click the left arrow. This flashes the program into the Teensy.

  1. Unplug the Teensy from your computer.

Step 4:

  1. Turn on your Switch and dock it.
  2. Connect your Teensy to the Switch's dock.
  3. Connect the UART to your computer.

At this point, your final setup should look like this:

Software Setup:

Continue to: Wired Controller (AVR8) Software Setup.

Credits:

  • Kuroneko/Mysticial
  • jw

Discord Server: