Testing a PS3 Controller without a PS3

[THRobinson]

I built a RaspberryPi system for RetroPie (vintage games) and I bought an 'official' PS3 wireless controller off eBay from a seller in the USA... but so far no luck getting them to pair.

Firstly, not an official controller. Box says so, but sticker on the controller has many spelling errors, and oddly has stuff about Canadian compliance codes. I'm in Canada, but controller was bought from a seller in the USA. Box was in bad shape when arrived, so I'm on the fence between my issue being with the RaspPi box I just built not being setup correctly, compatibility issue with a knock-off controller, or just broke when shipped.

Controller works fine with USB.

I have a Nexus10 tablet running Android, and thought if I turned Bluetooth on, I'd at least see the PS3 controller when I scan for devices but, I saw nothing. Tablet is not rooted so couldn't use any apps in the store to help.

Anyways... I have no PS3 or other bluetooth devices. The RaspberryPi, my Nexus10 and the controller.

Is there a way to test to see if the bluetooth on the controller (or RaspberryPi) even works?

Forget setup and drivers, compatibility, etc... just, is the controller sending out a signal, or is the bluetooth dead.

 

[THRobinson]

Any ideas?

Must be a way to use my tablet or phone (forgot about that having bluetooth) to detect the bluetooth signal from the controller.

I assumed it was like WiFi... scan/detect and it'll show a list of devices currently on, regardless if you can/can't connect to them.