DIY wireless Wii sensor bar

As some early Wii adopters have discovered, the Wii's sensor bar turns out to be far less complicated than it seems at first glance, consisting of nothing more than a couple of standard IR emitters, with that lengthy cord cluttering up your living room supplying nothing but a trickle of power to the device. While even a couple of standard TV remotes can serve as a substitute in a pinch, for a more workable wireless solution you'll have to bring your DIY skills to bear. Thankfully, as Brian "DoctaBu" Moore explains on his LiveJournal, the process is about as simple as homebrew projects get, requiring only an inexpensive trip to Radio Shack and some minimal soldiering abilities. While it ain't pretty, the contraption pictured above will let you enjoy a game of Wii Sports bowling (at your own risk) and rid one more wire from your life at the same time. Of course, if you're still hesitant to get your hands dirty, you can bet that there'll be more than a few third-party (if not first-party) options finding their way to store shelves before too long.

[JRA219psu @ Nov 24th 2006 12:57PM]

sweet

[MASA @ Nov 24th 2006 1:06PM]

Is it just me or does that stick look like bamboo.

[Rohit Kapur @ Nov 24th 2006 1:06PM]

So... 4 Duracell batteries?!?

[MASA @ Nov 24th 2006 1:09PM]

4 AA according to the blog post.

[nickels @ Nov 24th 2006 1:19PM]

so what is the sensor bar actually for?

[NeoteriX @ Nov 24th 2006 1:38PM]

The Wii remote has an IR sensor in the front, picks up the two signals (sides) of the sensor bar, and uses that information to triangulate its position.

[AudiSport @ Nov 24th 2006 1:21PM]

Nice...it kinda sucks that there using ir emitters tho.

[youruglyclone @ Nov 24th 2006 1:22PM]

still very cool, will give this thing a try one of these days

[Colin @ Nov 24th 2006 1:38PM]

...What's the point in this?

[NeoteriX @ Nov 24th 2006 1:40PM]

Like the video mentioned, it is very useful for projector setups, where there is a large distance between the projector and the screen. The Wii system must be near the projector to provide the video inputs to it, while the sensor bar must be at the screen. Apparently, the current sensor cord isn't long enough for a lot of those situations.

[Alexander @ Nov 24th 2006 1:45PM]

"so what is the sensor bar actually for?"

It provides a point of reference for the wiimote to figure out the relationship between the movement of the wiimote and the screen.

"Nice...it kinda sucks that there using ir emitters tho."

Why? IR is completely safe, and it has the benefit of being invisible--so you don't get blinded by the thing when your playing the game, or annoyed when you watch TV.

It would be interesting to see how far you can put these things apart, and see how that changes the range of the wiimote. Some people were having troubles with their projection displays not tracking correctly--I believe this is that the tiny camera in the wiimote that is looking for the IR emitted by the wiimote cannot distinguish between the display and the sensor bar. By placing them farther apart, you could move back away from the wall/screen and the interference from the screen would be reduced, if not eliminated.

[Rikko @ Nov 24th 2006 2:02PM]

So it looks like the sensor bar doesn't actually transmit any data, but rather simply lets the Wiimote triangulate itself and then the positional data is sent via bluetooth like the rest of the control data...
Does that mean we can increase the Wiimote's effective range (for pointing) and accuracy by placing the IR diodes farther apart and providing slightly more power to them (much like putting an extra quarter of a volt to an LED to increase brightness)? Anybody know?

[Matthew @ Nov 24th 2006 2:27PM]

I don't need this bar yet, but I think this will be very good to bookmark for the future.
And increasing range is a very interesting concept.

[Carmine @ Nov 24th 2006 2:42PM]

I'm trying to build a sensor bar AC adapter. Why should I have to change batteries? My projector screen is right above a wall outlet. I put a multimeter to the sensor bar port on the back of the Wii and read about 12V at 120mA. Now I just need to see if I have the right AC adapter to splice onto the actual sensor bar...

[Alexander @ Nov 24th 2006 3:15PM]

You can't measure Amps unless the meter is in-line with the circuit. Meaning, it has to be turned on and working with the meter inserted in the circuit to measure.

Here. pictures explain better.

[Wii]=-----=[SB]

[Duncan C @ Jan 10th 2007 10:30PM]

You can cut the wire to the sensor bar and solder in a couple of 1/8" (3.5mm) mono jacks.
Then you can either plug the sensor bar into the Wii, or connect it to a REGULATED 12v power supply. Make sure you use a regulated supply. On my first attempt at this, I used an unregulated supply and fried the sensor bar. While I was waiting for a new sensor bar from Nintendo I made a new one.

The wire is quite thin, so you might actually want to take the sensor bar apart and solder in a new wire in place of the old one. That's what I did. Here's a link to a photo gallery showing how I modified our sensor bar:

http://www.pbase.com/duncanc/wii_sensor_bar_hack

[silentbob343 @ Nov 24th 2006 3:02PM]

Very cool.

[Paul @ Nov 24th 2006 3:59PM]

Hey, somewhat related to this topic... is there any reason why sony can't sell a similar type of controller for the PS3?

[infinityPlusOne @ Nov 24th 2006 4:12PM]

I think it is only a matter of days before someone hacks the retail sensor bar to add batteries to it, and maybe an on/off switch. That would be a much nicer hack than the perf board. Hopefully would blend in better.

[Chris @ Nov 24th 2006 7:07PM]

really, how hard can it be to attach batteries to the original bar?

[J. Furlan @ Nov 24th 2006 7:36PM]

wouldn't it be better if you were to put one rf sensor on either side of the tv?

[Dave @ Nov 25th 2006 12:35AM]

Hmm, how will the number an location of IR emitters affect gameplay? I've got my sensor bar at the bottom of my 10 foot diagonal screen. It's annoying that I basically need to point at the bottom of my screen for the cursor to appear in the middle.

What would having 2 emitter, one at middle-left and one at middle-right, do? Or maybe one emitter for each corner?

[Keef @ Nov 25th 2006 9:42AM]

I am VERY interested in this, and when i finnaly get a Wii when they are released on the UK, im going to make one of these, hell ill make 1 now ready 4 when i get 1.

i have a projector and it would be SUPER awkward having a wired one.....

i woulda never have guessed that the "Sensor" bar would be just a bunch of IR LEDs that dont even send any info to the Wii.

oh well, makes it easier for a DIY sensor, woot, time to get making the perfect bar, ill attach it to the bottom of my screen so it never gets moved or nocked about.

[cahrdr @ Nov 25th 2006 12:11PM]

What I did was buy four IR LEDs (276-143) and two single AA holders (270-401) from Radioshack. I attached two LEDs to each battery holder in parallel. I can adjust the distance between each self contained IR emitter depending on the size of the TV. (I have a 13' wide front projector and with approx three feet between them, I can stand about 15 feet back.) Simple, easy, and costs $12.
Not having a soldering iron handy, I used crimp on telephone connectors (64-3073) by sticking two LED ends in one side and a battery lead in the other then crimp with pliars. Be sure to either install a switch or pull the battery out when not in use!

[pixelbath @ Nov 25th 2006 9:06PM]

Soldiering abilities? What does the army have to do with the Wii?

[Henry Sommer @ Dec 1st 2006 4:18PM]

My company already released a Wii wireless sensor bar, http://www.wirelesssensorbar.com. Uses a 9 volt battery. We're 250+ orders away from dropping price $10.00, so check us out! http://www.wirelesssensorbar.com

[Wii_Lil_Friend @ Jan 5th 2007 5:11AM]

i read somewhere on the net that you can use psp ir with a software hack to use as a ir sensor bar and the more the better. ;)

[Aidan @ Jan 5th 2007 9:10PM]

Why not just extend the component cables to run from the Wii console back to the projector, thats the way i did it and it works perfect

[Kyle @ Jan 11th 2007 12:23PM]

@ J.Farlan

Yea that's what I was thinking. A lot of people have a hard time with the concept that you have to point the Wiimote at the sensor bar and not the TV. I think that'd be a really nice way to avoid confusion, and make things easier. Then you really could just point it at the TV.

One thing's for sure, I'll sure be trying out this mod, and having the sensors on either side of the TV. Nice idea Engadget!

[emenBlade @ Mar 16th 2007 6:50PM]

is it just me or does every one have triangulation a lillte messed up? for trianglation to work you need to know the length of you baseline (in this case the sensor bar) so even if you were to set the distances of the ir transmiting leds furthere apart, the wii mote and also the wii only htink it is aprox. a foot. how is it supposed to accuartly triangulate the position of the wii mote if it doent have any of the mesurments right. (niether the base line or any other side.)

[Austin @ Apr 12th 2007 8:28PM]

I am currently trying to design a "perfect sensor system" for the Wii. It will use J.Farlan's idea (For a while I though that I was the only one with that idea.) so that you can aim straight at the TV screen! It will also plug into an AV outlet; it will also have an easy to get to switch to shut it off without unplugging it. (It will have to be unplugged to optimize the life of the IR LEDs)

I have used trigonometry to calculate what angle bulbs that I need to provide optimum distance for all sizes of TVs. It will be small and will attach to a stick-on velcro tab on the side of the TV. That way you could pull it off of the TV and plug it onto a different TV easily.

It will look clean and professional, so you will not be embarrassed by pieces of trash stuck to the sides of your TV.

When I am done with it, I will sell it for a reasonable price from http://www.webdesignermagic.com/wii.

The site will not be up until the sensor is finished. Feel free to email me for updates on how the design process is coming. ([e-mail])

[Garden Ge @ May 22nd 2007 1:52AM]

We are a Wii accessories supplier located in China, offering updated Wii gadgets. If you are a wholesaler or retailer interested in this, please contact [e-mail].
Thank you!

[{HHx}Sinker @ Jun 9th 2007 12:29AM]

Does anyone know if it is going to be possible to use one wii on two tvs in different rooms. I would guess you might be able to do this if there were some way to use two sensors at once. The reason I ask is because my house is very small, which means so are the rooms-I'm sorry but it's all I could afford. So lets say I wanted to have four 3 of my friends come over to play wii tennis. If you could split the connection to the sensor and hook up two sensors then split the component out and hook to two tvs would I be able to put 2 of us in one room and two in another room and play against each other? It'd be kind of like using the wii as a server and having two workstations connected to play one game.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this, even if it's just to tell me how stupid this idea is.

Gracias Amigos and Amigettes

[Vitalious @ Jul 6th 2007 10:43AM]

Actually,

The Wiimote doesn't "triangulate" it's position per say.
It looks at the location of those 2 dots on its camera and decides where to point the cursor.

I already made a homebrew AC sensor bar only to find out that at significant distance (about 14 ft or so), the bar is too short. The two dots appear to close on the IR Cam at a distance, and the Wiimote gets confused.

I'm gonna have to make my own now... the problem is estetics...