How to test the adaptive triggers
- Connect the DualSense with a USB data cable or over Bluetooth, click Connect for more tests, and pick it in the browser’s list.
- Choose an effect, which triggers to apply it to, the start point (how far into the pull it begins) and the strength, then click Apply effect.
- Press the trigger slowly. The bars show each trigger’s position as the controller reports it, so you can see where the effect starts.
The three effects test different parts of the mechanism:
- Resistance pushes back steadily from the start point to the end of the travel. It tests the motor and gears under constant load.
- Click resists over a section and then gives way, like a gun trigger. It tests how quickly the motor lets go.
- Vibration buzzes the trigger from the start point. It tests the motor’s fast movement.
Turn effects off releases both triggers. The effects also turn off by themselves when you leave this page, switch to another tab or disconnect the controller.
What a faulty trigger feels like
Test each trigger on its own and compare them. A healthy pair feels the same at the same setting. Common faults are a trigger with no resistance at all (a failed motor or a disconnected ribbon), resistance that stutters or grinds (worn gears), and a trigger that doesn’t return fully after an effect. Check the last one with the bars: after you let go, each trigger should read 0%.
Light bar and player lights
The same panel sets the light bar colour and the player lights, a quick check of the LEDs. Reset lights puts back the default blue light bar and the player 1 light, which the page also does when you leave.
How it works
The page speaks the DualSense’s own output report, as documented by the Linux kernel’s hid-playstation driver, SDL and the community’s reverse-engineered trigger effect formats. It writes only effect commands: never calibration, never firmware. It is based on published formats and not yet tested on a real controller. Over Bluetooth, deep mode switches the controller to its full report format until it reconnects, and it asks before doing so: if another app or game stops seeing the controller afterwards, turn the controller off and on. A DualShock 4 has no adaptive triggers, so these controls stay off for it. For rumble, use the vibration test.