So has anybody hooked up the sensor bar connection to see what the Wii is outputting?

I don't know what genius at Nintendo decided that there was no need for a longer cable, however in a projector setup this is disastrous. I've got the audio / video cables running across the living room so that I can have my Nintendo close enough to the screen so that I can have the sensor bar connected.

I'm wondering if it is a simple to duplicate voltage going to the IR in the bar or something.

I've tried Google, which was little help, so figure somebody else on here might have an idea.

11/22/2006 10:26:42 AM

Quote :

"however in a projector setup this is disastrous"

just how many ppl are using a projector?

[Edited on November 22, 2006 at 10:36 AM. Reason : ]

11/22/2006 10:28:14 AM

Well a lot, especially if you start searching the forums.

None the less, thanks for the helpful post.

Anybody know what the output from the Wii is on this port? The nearest extension cable isn't supposed to be released until next year.

11/22/2006 10:30:24 AM

Well that's a bitch. I'd say you're SOL for a while then, because it's doubtful that Nintendo is gonna tell you how its technology is supposed to work.

Another helpful post, I know, you're welcome.

11/22/2006 11:20:33 AM

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/21/tv-remotes-demystify-wii-sensor-bar/

joystiq post on the bar...maybe that will give you some ideas on where to start lookng for your answer...or maybe it's completely useless

11/22/2006 11:23:15 AM

^Oooh that's cool. Now I want to look at a Wii sensor bar with my webcam, see if I can see the IR transmitters, too bad my roommate's leaving his at home until Christmas.

11/22/2006 11:26:52 AM

Quote :

"Apparently the Wii sensor bar is actually a transmitter for a dual IR signal that gets triangulated by the Wii remote, not a receiver for a signal that comes from the remote. This revelation would seem to suggest that any correctly positioned, consistent dual IR source can be used in place of the official Nintendo provided sensor bar. With this information in hand, how long will it be until we see hackers rigging up their own custom sensor technology?"

That's really interesting.

11/22/2006 11:27:11 AM

So there you go tofu, just buy some IR transmitters and rig them up around you're projection screen, experiment until the remote starts getting reception. Make sure not to use regular remote controls or else you're cursor will blink like that, you'll want it to continuously transmit an IR beam rather than strobe IR like remotes do.

That is a really fascinating discovery, I always wanted to know how that 'sensor' bar worked.

11/22/2006 11:32:55 AM

If you look at your sense bar with a digital camera/camcorder you can see something like 5 IR LEDs on each side of the sense bar and nothing in the middle.

If you look at the remote you never see it light up. If youre playing a game that doesn't need "pointing" you can hide the sense bar and everything still works fine.

Also turning the sense bar upside down does nothing so it has no awareness of left vs. right.

[Edited on November 22, 2006 at 11:40 AM. Reason : r]

11/22/2006 11:39:26 AM

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/10/rumor-wireless-wii-sensor-bar-from-nyko/

11/22/2006 11:42:58 AM

My friend actual showed me how you can ghetto rig a sensor bar, it isn't as sensitive/effective as the regular one but it works as a temporary one. All you really need is any two remote controls, hold down the buttons so that they are emitting a signal and put them near your TV (I guess around the area where your sensor bar would be). Somehow make it so that some buttons are constantly held down and facing you and you are set.

11/22/2006 11:56:22 AM

doesn't the fcc or something require voltage/current to put on all electronic devices? you could probably just look at the device itself.

11/22/2006 12:12:02 PM

I am going to agree, SOL for now...

11/22/2006 3:30:07 PM

Sounds like it would be easy to cut the cord and extend it.

11/22/2006 3:54:07 PM

wait til after christmas ...or get some long ass A/V cables

11/22/2006 4:49:00 PM

I figured the thing would look like such shit on any projector that I would end up ghetto rigging it on my floor and then realizing it was better left hooked up elsewhere.

Unless you rock an sp4805, dont even bother.

11/23/2006 9:47:28 AM

11/23/2006 4:37:34 PM

El Nachó ftw

So you got any friends in ECE? making that little circuit is child's play. Hell practically anybody could make that in about one minute if they had the parts and solder.

11/23/2006 10:02:54 PM

the sensor bar cable is nothing but power and ground.. if you can find the voltages on that line you should be able to easily extend that cable so that you can leave the Wii console in the back by the projector

11/24/2006 2:27:07 AM

couldn't he just cut it in half strip a little of each end and connect copper wire to the voltage and ground of each half and use that to extend it

11/24/2006 6:49:21 AM

^what I was thinking

11/24/2006 10:32:58 AM

but the sensor bar blinks at a certain interval - how do you match that and also, how do you synchronize it to whatever internal clocking its based off of?

11/24/2006 10:55:18 AM

my guess is that the Wii is sending the signals to blink, not the sensor bar

11/24/2006 11:06:29 AM

^^Where are you getting the idea that the sensor bar blinks at all? I have never seen it blink in any of the video's and if that were the case, these homemade sensor bars would not work, when it seems that they do.

11/24/2006 11:20:23 AM

i'm sure that they work, but the point is that they may not work optimally.

watch the end of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTGSkYRDpWY

they're clearly blinking. Now, granted, they're not always blinking, but what function is involved with them blinking? we don't know and until we do, its a crappy hack to just replace them with constant IR leds

[Edited on November 24, 2006 at 11:29 AM. Reason : s]

11/24/2006 11:26:27 AM

It looked like they were blinking on the "sensitivity/calibration" screen, I have no way of testing this right now but it could be possible that once the remote is calibrated the lights just stay constant, because I have seen that they are constant some of the time. But that is a good point, they could be required to blink with certain games or applications, we just don't know yet.

11/24/2006 11:34:08 AM

I'm not sure why they blink. The remote is just a camera with an IR filter in front and uses image processing to figure out how the remote has moved.

11/24/2006 4:45:19 PM

GOSH! I wonder how these guys get candles to blink at the correct intervals.



For whatever reason the embed isn't showing up for me. If it doesn't work, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6paa4s8le10

11/24/2006 7:16:57 PM

It is entirely possible that the IR LEDs blink during calibration setting. I bet though you could get away with your home-rigged LEDs constantly on.

Later, if the command the console uses to flash the IR LEDs is figured out, one could just use a 555 timer chip to blink their own sensor bar (getting that signal to the homemade sensor bar from the Wii notwithstanding).

11/25/2006 12:40:27 AM

is the wii a lot of fun? i'd like to pick one up but I've yet to see one here in randolph county so I'll ask for yalls opinions

11/25/2006 7:57:48 AM

i still don't understand why the custom wii sensor bar is important...if it's simply the length of the power cable that's an issue, just add wire to the end (as mentioned before)

11/25/2006 9:27:06 AM

Because (as has been stated already) some of us don't want to run a cable all the way to the front of the room. Especially those of us with projectors.

What I don't understand is why you can't just be content to let people do as they please without the commentary about how unnecessary you think it might be. If I want to make a wireless sensor bar, or construct an army fort out of mashed potatoes, I don't see how that concerns you in any way. If it makes me happy, I'm gonna do it, regardless of what some guy on the wolf web thinks about how smart it may be.

11/25/2006 1:41:28 PM

OMG GUYZ I HAXORED MY NINTENDO GUN TO SHOOT FULL AUTO!!!!1

11/25/2006 2:00:05 PM

Quote :

"Because (as has been stated already) some of us don't want to run a cable all the way to the front of the room. Especially those of us with projectors. What I don't understand is why you can't just be content to let people do as they please without the commentary about how unnecessary you think it might be. If I want to make a wireless sensor bar, or construct an army fort out of mashed potatoes, I don't see how that concerns you in any way. If it makes me happy, I'm gonna do it, regardless of what some guy on the wolf web thinks about how smart it may be. "

the first post implied that a longer cable would be good. not to mention, it's by far the simplest and cheapest solution to the problem.

11/25/2006 2:28:17 PM

Well heaven forbid we discuss ways of doing things other than the cheapest or easiest.

You're right. Everyone should be required to do things the same way. They should like, pass a law or something.

Did you ever stop to think that cutting the sensor bar might be considered a modification that might void the system warranty? Or that perhaps, just maybe there are room setups that might look better without wires running all over the floor? Or maybe some people actually enjoy doing things that aren't what everyone else does, just to be a little bit different? Or maybe that it's possible to create a better sensor bar than the measly little 12 inch one that came with the system? Jesus Christ, it's really not that hard of a concept. If you don't have anything to contribute other than "That idea is stupid" then keep your criticisms to yourself.

11/25/2006 3:08:46 PM

by the same token, if the only technical reasons you can give for your ideas are, "its different" in tech talk, the same goes for you

also,

the whole "wires across the floor" rant belies your setup:



[Edited on November 26, 2006 at 8:17 AM. Reason : s]

11/26/2006 8:14:48 AM

Alright! El Nachó you are officially the man!

I'm going to find a multimeter sometime soon, I was worried that the sensor bar would of had a carrier frequency to prevent the Wii remotes confusing an everyday TV remote with the sensor bar. Guess I'm glad to know that Nintendo took the lazy route!

I'm off to go spend money at Radio Crap and be angry at them.

11/26/2006 11:54:11 AM

^^If being different were the only reason I gave, then maybe you would have a point. But since I gave three other perfectly valid reasons, I'll quickly add you to the growing list of people that need to both STFU and GTFO.

Also the picture you posted was from my old apartment. The setup I have now has my projector at the rear of a room that is much more "projector friendly" and is much more clean looking. Not that I see how my setup has any relevance at all to the discussion of the sensor bar in general. But again, thanks for contributing nothing to the conversation.

11/26/2006 12:21:28 PM

if the point is to be wireless, why not just use the wii sensor bar that is already provided and just connect to a portable power supply?

11/26/2006 2:45:30 PM

^^ Don't feed the animals.

11/26/2006 3:10:46 PM

^^That's one option. Another would be to find a way to run the power to an outlet on the front wall.

Personally, I don't care that much about it being "wireless", I just don't want to have to run a wire all the way back to the Wii in the back of the room. My issue with modifying the stock sensor bar is twofold.

1) I'd prefer to not have to destroy something that still has a warranty just yet. If I ever want to sell it /return it to the store / get it serviced for any reason, that's just not something I want to deal with.

also

2) Having messed around with the Wii for a week now I am not really that satisfied with several things about the sensor bar. With multiple people playing the game it doesn't always pick up the signal. It seems that sometimes you need to be standing directly in front of the bar in order for it to transmit a good signal. Sometimes standing as few as 30° to the side of the bar will result in extremely erratic behavior of the cursor. Also sometimes when a game like Zelda tells you to point the remote at the screen, it often takes a few seconds of swinging the controller around wildly to find out where the "screen" is. I believe that having such a "one size fits all" sensor bar is not the best solution. You can't tell me that you will have the same gaming experience playing a game like duck hunt on a 20 inch screen as you would on a 70 inch screen. My plan is to get at least 2 IR LEDs and find a way to position them on/near my speaker tower / DVD rack and actually be able to look down the "barrel" of the remote and have the cursor line up on screen.

I believe that a custom sensor bar is the best solution for my setup. Does that mean I think that everyone should go out and make one? Of course not. But I still don't understand all the animosity for people that want to.

11/26/2006 3:18:53 PM

i'm not trying to be hostile, i'm just trying to suggest the simplest solution

11/26/2006 3:41:08 PM

the issue i'm raising is that you're not really thinking ahead about potential complications; like I mentioned earlier about the blinking LEDs.

also I like how you're starting with "at least 2 LEDs" for a 70" screen when they have a line of like 5 LEDs on each side of 12" bar. gg.

last, if you want to be able to line up your sights like you mentioned, then forget putting it on your speaker tower, dvd whatever, etc. the place to put them is on the far left and right of your display, halfway up from the bottom of the display

[Edited on November 26, 2006 at 4:15 PM. Reason : s]

11/26/2006 4:13:52 PM

Quote :

"like I mentioned earlier "

so 8=======D = Excoriator?

That makes sense. You smell like a troll under this name too.

Quote :

"also I like how you're starting with "at least 2 LEDs""

Would you like for me to look up the definitions of the bolded words for you? Because clearly you're having trouble understanding their meanings.

Quote :

"last, if you want to be able to line up your sights like you mentioned, then forget putting it on your speaker tower, dvd whatever, etc. the place to put them is on the far left and right of your display, halfway up from the bottom of the display"

You know the wii has settings for where you place the sensor bar, right? And it makes allowances for where it's located? The only way to find out the correct placement is to get some LEDs and move them around a bit. And even if I did have to put them out to the side of the picture, who's to say I couldn't find a way to make that happen? I still haven't figured out what your deal is Are you just trolling for the sake of trolling or is there a point to all this?

11/26/2006 6:13:02 PM

I've got to agree with El Nachó on building a custom bar isn't for everybody, but some of us would really benefit from it. Also, who wants to slice and dice a product they've not even owned for more than a week?

When getting into the extreme distance from the screen the Wii controllers become more and more sensitive to movement. We've found this out here when playing Super Monkey ball and having one player on my couch, a good 11' from the screen, and somebody ahead of the coffee table, 6' from screen. When you're closer its possible to play the games that use the sensor bar (easily found out since Monkey Ball makes you "calibrate" before the game).

Some people in the online forums even mention how they placed the sensor bar on their coffee table to help reduce the sensitivity in a projection setup.

I'm hunting around now to find some high performance LEDs to use (Radio Shack wants $1.79 / each, f-that) and a enclosure that will blend into the base of my screen. Also, you can START with 2 LEDs, if you poke around on the videos posted here in this topic you can find somebody used CANDLES, FRIGGIN' CANDLES to trick the IR sensor in the remotes. I am going to use a two by two grid on each side of my screen most likely so that any leaking sunlight into the living room, or the candles on the fireplace don't affect the signal (which to get my remotes to register the sensitivity must be set on 5).

11/26/2006 7:50:47 PM

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category/340250/Infrared.html

11/26/2006 8:36:47 PM

You know the wii has settings for where you place the sensor bar, right?
Yes.

And it makes allowances for where it's located?
Yes.

The only way to find out the correct placement is to get some LEDs and move them around a bit. And even if I did have to put them out to the side of the picture, who's to say I couldn't find a way to make that happen?
The reason i brought it up is because it seemed clear that you haven't even played around with the placement of the bar - the first thing you should do in trying to understand the goddamn thing. My whole point has been that you're not really thinking this through very well. Just hold on - take a breath. The wii isn't going to run away while you're not working on your LED project. Now, sit down and think about what you're planning to do, why you're doing it, how you're going to do it, and what could go wrong.

It blows my mind that we now have two people (one of whom is allegedly an engineer - god help his employer) on here saying, "oh the designers of the system don't know SHIT they put in a lot of LEDs but i'm only going to put in one or two LOLZ stop trolling!!11"

[Edited on November 26, 2006 at 8:39 PM. Reason : s]

[Edited on November 26, 2006 at 8:40 PM. Reason : s]

11/26/2006 8:37:20 PM

Quote :

"The reason i brought it up is because it seemed clear that you haven't even played around with the placement of the bar"

you're basing this on what exactly?

Quote :

"the first thing you should do in trying to understand the goddamn thing"

Good idea! Maybe I should try to discuss how the thing works on a message board with other people who also want to figure out how it works? What an excellent plan!

Quote :

"My whole point has been that you're not really thinking this through very well."

Well seeing as how I'm still in the planning/discussion phase of this enormous project, I think it's too early to make that statement.

Quote :

"Just hold on - take a breath. The wii isn't going to run away while you're not working on your LED project. Now, sit down and think about what you're planning to do, why you're doing it, how you're going to do it, and what could go wrong."

This was a joke right? I'm putting a couple of LEDs on a wall. Not building a nuclear bomb out of earwax and banana pudding. The worst thing that could POSSIBILY go wrong is I ruin $3 worth of parts from radio shack. OH THE HORROR!

Quote :

"It blows my mind that we now have two people (one of whom is allegedly an engineer - god help his employer) on here saying, "oh the designers of the system don't know SHIT they put in a lot of LEDs but I'm only going to put in one or two LOLZ stop trolling!!11""

Since when did anyone claim the designers "don't know shit"? It's been shown that 2 candles can provide an adequate replacement to the sensor bar. And 2 remote controls. It's not like we're pulling out wires and solder and trying to upgrade the processor here. You can't say for sure that 2 high quality LEDs won't be just as good. Or better if they are placed correctly. Maybe I will end up using more. I haven't decided yet. Isn't that what you want me to do? Have some great master plan before I rush off to build my huge project?

11/26/2006 9:01:48 PM

Anybody know where I can locally get about ten IR LED emitters for less than $1.79 / each?

11/27/2006 2:29:01 PM

Not locally, but I know we use DigiKey for that kind of stuff in ECE.

11/27/2006 2:31:00 PM