How to make a Wireless Nintendo Wii Sensor Bar.

this is my first instructable and im going to show you How to make a Wireless Nintendo Wii Sensor Bar.

Step 1: Materials.

For this instructabel you will need:-

1. x2 Infra Red LEDs
2. x1 60 Ion Resistor
3. About 5-6 inches of Wire.
4. x1 Switch
5. x1 4 "AAA" Battery Case

Here are this number's if you want to buy them from Radio-Shack:-

IR Leds - 276-143
"AAA" case - 270-414
Switch - 275-407 or 275-406
60 Ion Resistor - Im not sure but there quite easy to find

Comments

[BlueJaunte]

I don't get it. Don't Wii's come with a sensor bar?

[qwerty987]

cat will chew it

[amcmillin2]

@qwert987 Mine did!

[Game Master]

yeah thay do

[Game Master]

yeah it does but the wire is only about a meter long, so if your useing a projector its a real pain in the arse.

[BlueJaunte]

Ahh...cool.

[hondaman900]

Nice I'ble. Well done for your first. There's a new version of this as a project on Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621263610/the-megabar-free-your-wiitm
Seems to be a more complete system. I like their father-son kit idea.

[ThawedHead]

Nice instructable. The Radio Shack parts numbers help. I modified your design by using a 4 AAA battery case instead of a 2. I re-routed the battery circuits to only use two batteries. I then used one of the empty battery slots to house the 4x15 ohm resistors (couldn't find a 60 ohm one). In the other battery slot, I put holes for the two IR LEDs. This approach made it all nice and contained. It works like a charm.

[shakespeare1212]

Great concept but if you will check out my website, I think that you will see that I have created a better looking unit out of a burglar window alarm. I found these little guys at Dollar Tree, and they gave me a slider switch, great battery holder and batteries all ready to go. I did was drill a couple of holes, wired together two LEDs and a resistor and soldered the wires to the switch and battery. This IR source, as I call it, is also quite useful with Smoothboard 2.0, a Wii Interactive Whiteboard software, like a graphics tablet on steriods, or a super way to browse YouTube vids, from your couch. I'm James. Any question can be sent to [e-mail]


http://whaleboneir.com/ir_source_sale.html

http://whaleboneir.com/ir_%20source%20demovid.html

[qwerty987]

i found out that if you have a 4 light ceiling fan it will work too.

[xMIKEABx]

cat ate through my sensor bar too .... got a new sensor bar... i miss that cat though

[qwerty987]

my cat chewed through mine to my brother will probably kill the cat.  is it any good.

[xsammymanx]

worst electronics diagram/shematic ever

[Robot Lover]

the only reason the sensor bar plugs into the wii is for power. if it ran on batteries it would. i did this once with my dad. also if you position the wii remote in the sensor bar position than you can use the sensor bar as a cursor for the wii.

[markyb86]

cat keeps eating my friends cord so now that hes on the 3rd one I just took a 9volt battery connector and soldered it to the board on the original sensor bar, cost? free. took the connector from the inside of my alarm clock. who uses that feature anyway?

[alphamale962]

If i was the one doing this i would just use the original wii assembly, and just snip the wires, using a multi meter find the voltage of the wires, and then get a battery pack, a switch, and a resistor, saves ya about 4 bucks when you buy from radioshack, plus it looks well presented, nice idea, but i always say, think things through multiple times, make a desicion, and find a simpler way...

[seripj]

Just use two tea light candles, place them about the length of the sensor bar apart. all that the sensor bar does is send out an ifrared light to the wiimote so that the wiimote can determine distance and tilt, and the wiimote sends that information to the wii via bluetooth. The only reason the sensor bar has a wire is to take power from the wii in order to powers the LEDs. The flame from the candle sends out IR light that the wiimote picks up. This would probably be cheaper than making a wireless sensor bar see as you can buy a bag of about 100 tea for $5.

[shawdow5739]

he is absolutely right, my friend tried this when some tea light candles were screwing with his wiimote so we just took out the sensor bar stuck some candles on top of his tv and lit them. it worked exactly like the sensor bar (and didnt have tangled wires!!!)

[DYLEGO]

YOU MUST BE BRAND NEW TO ELECTRONICS BECAUSE ITS "OHM" NOT "ION" AND THAT IS THE EASIEST CIRCUIT IVE SEEN IN MONTHS

[abadfart]

lay off it's ok we all were here at one point

[Gamer917]

three words. infrared led throwies

[Derin]

no,don't flip them around.the leds are correct.some leds are just built in reverse.

[ProjectZro]

aw i wish i had seen that this was in metric, i looked this up quick and ran to my local radio shack and was pissed that i couldnt find a 60 ion resistor seeing that its in Ohms here its 56 Ohms by the way for 2 AA batteries and 100 Ohms for 4

[schetleft]

can't you just take the sensor bar that came with the wii, cut the cable, measure the voltage, and wire it up to the correct battery voltage?

[somerockenguy]

yes it would be wire less but the calble would be cut making it so theres not way to send the data to the wii

[Xynck]

I'm 99.99% sure that the Sensor bar sends zero information to the Wii. I believe the sensor bar is nothing but 4 IR LEDs, and the Wiimote picks up the light, interprets distance and tilt, and Bluetooths it back to the Wii.

[edsobo]

It's actually got 10 LEDs in it. It's pretty neat to look at with a camera that can pick up the IR light. (The one on my phone picks it up just fine.)

[somerockenguy]

i just realised that it was like that. i wonder why they did not make it wireless than.

[Xynck]

"I just... I wonder... wireless, then?" is how that sentence should have happened. And they didn't make it wireless, probably because they didn't want you to have to waste money on batteries for both the Wiimote and the sensor bar.

[abadfart]

Nintendo has wireless bars

[twist2b]

score! Yea no information is sent to the wii via the sensor bar. Its merely a way for the controller to know its change in distance/tilt. The original that comes with the wii has a cord for power supply. The official wireless sensor bar is pretty big, but worth it if you move your wii around often.

[Coolorange]

To let you all know they do have a wireless sensor bar you can even look it up

[nintendo wii]

What I don't understand is why would need a wireless senor bar for your Nintendo Wii?

[cattrain]

I am using a projector, and the wire on the sensor bar isn't long enough. I have to use a wireless sensor bar.

[earsdgfhg]

put it at the bottom of the screen and change setting

[JonDarkwood]

You don't understand. If the Wii is connected to a projector, the Wii is at the back of the room. The sensor bar that connects to the Wii isn't going to reach the top or the bottom, much less halfway to the screen in the first place.

[pickford78]

Get a whole bunch of RF cable and put the wii at the front of the room :P Cool project tough

[gamer]

"60 ion resistor"??! Something is wrong; the measurement for resistors values is ohm.

[arjibuh]

We have a wall that we are using as a screen. Its 10 by 10. Are you projector using gamers putting the senor bar at the bottom of the screen? Can you put it behind it? Our wall is 1/2 inch thick sheetrock, will the led's work through it? I assume not...

[technodude92]

you can put the bar at the top or bottom of the screen just adjust your wii options accordingly. the sensor bar has to be at the top or bottom, not in the middle, or else the wii won't know where you are pointing. and you could probably mount them in the wall, but not behind the sheetrock.