The Wii is not getting a lot of use lately and I noticed the sensor bar isn't working. It is common knowledge that sensor bar has no "sensor" at all. The sensor is in the Wiimote and the sensor bar is really just emitting infrared signal.
I have two problems, the IR LED is no longer emitting (a working sensor bar should lights when viewed through camera) and I don't know whether it is the Wii or the sensor bar that is broken. The other problem is simply that the sensor bar needs to be hooked up to the Wii and it makes it difficult to get the sensor bar connected away from Wii.
I read from post on the web that says I can power the sensor bar using 5V USB. I tried with a variable voltage power supply and I found out it isn't quite true. Maybe it works for some newer sensor bars. But 5V isn't enough to drive mine. I have to use 7.5V to power it up which matches some other posts I read.
Although it works with 7.5V (or even 9V) P/S, it is still not ideal as it is not a common power source. So I decided to take the sensor bar apart to see what I can do to fix it.
The first problem is the screws.
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| Proprietary screws! |
It just makes it so much harder to unscrew the bar. I tried a power drill, it sort of worked on a few but didn't work on others. Then I recall I had a broken screw driver
And it worked!
The design is very simple. There are 2 wires. The red is the +ve and the white is -ve. The wires are then jumped to the other side in parallel. There are 5 LEDs connected in serial along with a resistor measured to be 25 ohm.
That was super easy as no wiring is needed. The LED lite up beautifully with a USB power supply that is commonly available.
Even more useful is that I can connect the sensor bar with common backup batteries for cell phone and make the sensor bar sort of wireless. This would allow me to use Wii with a projector.
In the mean time though, I am happy that I can use my Wii again. 4 LEDs are more than enough as newer sensor bars has just 3 on each side.
You wonder how I power the sensor bar? The Wii of course!
Its built-in USB port is perfect. No extra power outlet required!
Hello :)
ReplyDeleteI would like to use my current wii bar without the need to buy a wireless one. The problem is that, since I don't want the cable to be visible, I'd like to plug it in somewhere else, rather than on the back of the Wii.
I need some ideas as to how I could power the wii bar... That is to say, I'd like to know the voltage and the A or mA required. I'm from Spain, therefore, I work with 220 V.
Thanks!
usb is 5v
DeleteNice. actually used some of the knowledge and applied my own method to it, for anyone wondering, Yes. The center LED on *both* sides can be removed, as long as the contacts are filled and bridged.
ReplyDelete--Concerning posts about 9V working---
To anyone curious: Do *not* run it stock on 9volts! it will work sure, but will get incredibly hot after a few! Convert it to an 8 LED bar (remove the thirds or center LEDs so it goes from 10 to 8)and go USB. plus it's more portable this way.
---Closing Comments--
Only reasons I modded mine instead of just getting a new one are, To give myself a fun project, and 2, during these hard times as of posting; Not have to spend money on an extra sensor bar when I have a good 10 year old one right here looking for a new purpose!
I'm glad it worked for you. I should mention that I noticed a while later that my wiimote cursor is sometimes very jumpy when I am far away. I eventually replaced it with a cheap one of eBay.
ReplyDeleteJust posting my results:
ReplyDeleteNormal 9 volt battery (for example. Varta 6LR61) just -badly- spliced in the red/white to the battery, works perfectly.
No heatup during one hour of operation.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have the same old bar.
The resistor is color coded 24 ohm BTW though the measure is naturally higher.
Voltage on each led is 1.22V and on the resistor about 1.13V so current is about 47 ma.
Many IR LEDs have a design forward current of 50 mA so that makes sense.
My Wii is providing 7.3V and it is probably just a 50 mA current limited source that is why without bar it gives much more V. I don't believe it would be a lousy design where everything else in the Wii was so thoughtfully achieved.
Now I don't think you would get the same performance just shorting one led and feeding 5V. In that case the 24 ohm resistor would drain too much.
To get the same 1.22V per led, you can only drop 0.12V on the resistor at 47 mA, that requires 2.5 ohms... nearly a short. In this case it should be pretty safe to short the resistor as well as the one led. Current will spike a bit, maybe to 60~80mA but far from the safe limit which I expect to be around 100 mA.
Will tweak my own bar and see...
Thanks. I guess that's why my sensor bar just felt weaker, after factoring in using 4 out of 5 LEDs.
Delete