Microsoft Wants Kinect to Die, But This Fan Has a Hack to Keep It Alive

Microsoft has suspended the production of adapters that make its advanced camera work on the new models of Xbox, so this man created his for $ 40.

The Kinect is officially dead. Microsoft first released the advanced motion sensor as a complement to the Xbox 360, but consumers revolted when they tried to make them standard for the Xbox One. Microsoft stopped manufacturing the device in 2017 and made them more difficult to use shortly after .

Users who wish to connect their Kinects to the new Xbox Ones or Xbox One Xs need to buy an adapter, the company is no longer a manufacturer. Those adapters now sell between $ 130 and $ 200 in the secondary market. But an astute Kinect fan has another option.

 As Hackaday first discovered, Redditor Mitch Davis opened his Kinect and designed his own adapter for the cost of approximately $ 40. All he needed was a 12V AC adapter, a USB 3.0 cable and a soldering iron. Kinect fans who already own the latter can do this project for around $ 20.

Davis is a mechanical engineer, but he does not have much experience with computer hardware. He said the trick was easy. Someone with experience in welding could complete this project in 15 minutes, "he told me in the Reddit message." It took me about 25 years with the practice cable and redoing the job after my first unsuccessful attempt. "

 The original Xbox Ones had a special plug for the Kinect that carried signal and power. The adapters work by running that through a USB 3.0 port on the newer systems and feeding it with a 12-volt AC adapter. To keep his Kinect moving, Davis opened it, soldered the 12V cable to the device's plate and resealed it. Once he received power from an external source, the Kinect turned on and his Xbox One X recognized him immediately.

Which is good, because Davis loves the Kinect. "I used my Kinect every day," he said. "It was very convenient in terms of hands-free operations features ... I even took my last successful job interview using Kinect Skype."

Davis is a devotee of Microsoft and bought his new Xbox One X console at launch, and was upset when he did not have the port for his Kinect. "It seemed like a compromise, and an unnecessary one considering that Microsoft had a solution, but inexplicably decided to suspend it basically in line with the launch of One X," he said.

 That pushed him to see if he could find his own solution and got a great response. Many players rebelled against the Kinect when it came out, but its fans are devotees. "I know I'm not the only person who was looking for a cheaper solution than the resale market," Davis said.

It was a device that was always more popular among the DIY maker crowd than it was with the players. The designers have used the Kinect to convert their bodies into controllers, such as a 3D scanner to place data in AutoCAD and the input device for a simple hologram projector.

Davis' trick is good news for Kinect fans and, despite Microsoft's apparent desire to bury the previous device, it does not care about the repercussions. "In the worst case, it voids the guarantee," he said.