Why won't my PS3 controllers connect to my PS3?

Before I spend some decent amount of money on this, I want to see if I can do this manually. So my controller doesn’t work on my PS3, my first solution was to charge it, didn’t work, get a new battery, didn’t work, reset the controller, didn’t work. Now I realized if I hold the controller straight up and have it faced away from the TV while it charges, it worked slightly. I set my controller down though, and it stopped working again. Then all of a sudden it worked like normal. I set it down again to get something and it stopped working again. I’ve tried several times to hold it in any position possible but it just will not work…My last resort was to buy a new one. I picked it up, thinking this was my solution, and it didn’t work. So, because of this, I have to assume it’s something wrong with my PS3 at this point, is there anyway I can fix this?