Was given a couple of "dead" Ps3 controllers. I'm going to be heat gunning a donated PS3 sometime in the next couple of weeks, so I figured I would need a controller or two.

The first I got was a Dual Shock 3, and I was told by the play/trade store I got it from that they had tested it, everything reacted correctly, but that it needed a new battery. I plugged it into a USB port on my PC when I got home, it lit up and was detected as a PS3 controller.

I went to a play/trade store in another town, and they gave me a SIXAXIS controller that was "dead" (not sure what is wrong with it) but the battery powered it up when I pressed the PS3 button. Score.

Swapped the batteries, but found that the new/old battery react the same and both will power the SIXAXIS controller. The DS3 will not power on unless connected via USB. I tried reseting it as well and still no go...

Anyone have any idea why it wouldn't power up with just battery? I'm going to strip it down again later and bust out the multimeter to make sure that continuity isn't dead somewhere on the board, but aside from that I'm not sure why it wouldn't be powering. I was kind of considering just adding a pair of wires from the battery to the USB header and letting that power it...