Extend Your Own Sensor Bar - Page 7

Now that's very interesting. I have the regular wireless sensor bar from that company, but hadn't heard about this new "HD" version. Looks like it's 15" wide vs. 9". The one I have works well, but I'm curious if this one would work better. The one I have doesn't have an on/off switch, but since it plugs into AC it's not as big of a deal.

Certainly let us know how it works.

Guy

The HD part is just to say its for the bigger TVs. It has nothing other than its wider. I dont know about having two LEDs on each side. Might not be bright enough for 30 feet.

Still waiting for it.. hopefully another couple of days.

Bud

Sensor bar arrived yesterday (I got home about 1:30 AM, so not opportunity to hook it up). I'll try and hook it up and post some pictures today at some point. Looks like it'll work out nicely. Doesn't have an on/off switch, so I'll see if I can tie it into my switched outlet on the receiver. I bought the extra 30 ft extension cable cable, now I just need to get the cable from the rack to behind my screen wall. I suppose it could stay plugged into an outlet behind my screen wall and just stay on 7x24, but not sure if it'll burn out (sensor bar or AC adapter). One thing I don't like is its grey, which means it'll stick out in front of the black velvet on the screen during a moving. Easily remedied though.

I also sent them an email do see if you could extend the bar past the 30 feet (if you ever had to, but would expect an outlet to be readily available within 30 feet). Anyone know what the max distance the remotes will work away from the console itself?

Bud

So here are a few teaser shots I took just to get something out for you guys to see. Even though its longer than the standard bar, it's "girth" is much smaller, probably because it doesn't need the room for the batteries anymore. I tossed a quarter in there for scale. One nice thing is that the bottom comes with double sided tape installed so you stick the sucker anywhere. In these pictures, I hook it up with the optional 30 ft extension. The AC power supply is tiny and has about 6 feet of cord with it.






Bud

So after a day with the new sensor bar, I'd highly recommend it. Seems to make the cursor a lot less shakey. Having no batteries is a big plus as well. I just plugged it in and let it go. I don't plan on doing anything special about trying to trigger it or turn it on/off. It is what it is.

Bud

Yes being wider does stabilize the shake but I dont see anything helping the claim of 30 ft. Can you go that far back?

My room is only 19 feet deep. I' try and exit the room and see what happens...

Bud

On their website it can be ordered in black, gray, or white. I have the black non-HD version and it's almost invisible under my screen.

Guy

You're correct, I missed the pull down and ended up with the grey, but not a big deal. I was not able to test it more than about 15' since I don't have line of site to the bar from outside the room.

Bud

Thanks for the report. So at 15ft, do you get any shake at all, even when turning the Wiimote sideways? I find that is when I get the most jitters.

No, no shake, but don't recall specifically turning it sideways to test. Very stable, definitely works well. I'll take a stab at it tonight and see what happens.

Bud

Cool, thanks. Think I might order one.

Sideways works just fine, no shaking.

Bud

Nextronics company is great, really easy to work with. I would recommend the HD sensor bar for sure.

I'm here to debunk all other instructions on how to add an AC adapter to the Wii sensor bar. I'm sure you've heard conflicting information about the correct voltage AC adapter to buy. THESE IS THE CORRECT INFORMATION:

*************
You need to use a 12V adapter with a 47 ohm resistor (1 watt) in series with the sensor bar.
*************

This should be familiar to you if you've ever built a power supply for a LED. Many of the other suggestions I have seen in this thread or on Google will CAUSE DAMAGE to the sensor bar. Send me a PM if you want the raw data supporting this conclusion. Suffice it to say that this is the Thevenin equivalent circuit and will function identically to the Wii connection. Note that the resistor might get a bit warm, this is normal (and the reason to use a 1 watt part). Don't wrap it in tape or it might overheat.

Just an FYI, after cutting the Wii sensor bar cable, and attaching it to the back the of wii with the bare wire leads, I pulled 12.04v DC off it. (Red +, Copper - ) So adding in a power adapter not at 12v seems strange to me.

2ndly, I easily extended my wii sensor bar cable over a cat5e+ pre-wired in my walls to home theater system. My equipment is approx 50' away (of cable length, 35' linear) in a back room.I soldered the Wii cable onto a cat5e+ cable, and plugged it into a cat5e jack, which ran over the 50' cable, to another cat5e jack behind my TV. Before I connected it to the sensor bar, I metered the voltage and came up with 12.03v DC. Being this was in range, I soldered the cat5 wire onto the sensor bar wire, and no problems with my WII from ranges of 1' to 10' away.

In short, I'm not sure what people are needing the additional power for. Just my .02 worth.

The Nextronics HD sensor bar comes with a power source or your choice and one of those choices is a USB power source.

Can it be plugged into the USB on the Wii?

Also.. would splicing the existing sensor wire provide enough power to power the bar?

thanks.

anyone have any idea?

The existing sensor bar uses roughly 12v, and USB provides 5V, so you probably wouldn't want to splice. I don't see why using their USB solution wouldn't work, though. I am not sure if the Wii's USB ports turn off when it is in standby, so you might want to check that.

The company has an option for USB power so I imagine their bar works with 5V.

How many volts does the sensor bar cable (the one on the Wii) put out? I read a few reports that it puts out 11V. Is so that would be a nice alternative since it would turn the bar on and off.

I got 2 sets of Dragon Sensor Bar extension cables for around $5 each, shipped. They extend it 6'... no cutting or mods... no turning the bar on and off...

Like Untamo, I also extended my Wii sensor bar cable with simple CAT5e - I didn't even solder it, just tight twisting of the multi-stranded Wii copper lines to the solid CAT5e and checked it for operation before I taped the lines off. I ran the CAT5e from the front wall of my theater screen, where the sensor bar is located, through my attic and back to the AV rack...about 35' total. Then, plug and play! It works perfect, exactly as it did before I extended it. It seems like everyone is making this way more complicated than it has to be.

I'm curious, of the max distance the Wii can be from the sensor bar to work. Also, could I create other Wii sensor bars in other rooms.

A client of ours is wired for an A/V closet on one side of their basement near their recording studio. the theater room is also on this floor, probably within 100' where the main sensor bar would be located. However they would also like to utilize the Wii in other rooms up on the 2nd or 3rd floor. probably within 200' distance. Now we ran extra cat5e behind every display and wall panel. Im assuming that having them all connected up at once would cause confusion as to which ir's (sensor bars) to use at that given time and the Wiimote coordinates would be off. but what it we devised some sort of switcher to switch from one sensor bar to another. even if it were more of a manual operation like keeping all cat5e lines disconnected, but plugging the one you want to use in in the room you want to play the Wii in.

Having multiple ones hooked up won't matter, as long as only one is seen by the Wii remote, or if multiple bars are seen they are in a configuration that looks like the original sensor bar (a set of two IR sources at each end). The name "sensor bar" is a misnomer. It's just a set of 4 IR LEDs. There is no communication between it and the Wii, other than for the Wii to sense that current is flowing out the sensor bar port. The real sensing and communication is done in the Wii remote.

There are many wireless sensor bars out now. The bar does not have to be even remotely close to the Wii. The limiting factor on placement of the console is the ability to communicate via Bluetooth with the controllers.

Are there any advantages to the Flexonic HD sensor bar to other sensor bars, so far as picture quality or sensitivity of the IR signal processing, or both? I have front projection and would be placing the sensor bar above the screen on a shelf that is a shadow box over it.
Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

Has anyone used that Nextronics HD bar with a 52" (or smaller TV)? Or, is it just designed for projectors?

I think it'd be nice to add a little stability to the wiimote, especially since I've been playing these rail shooters (HOTD:O is awesome, btw). I'm afraid, though, that having 15" of space between the sensors (instead of 9") will only be good if you're sitting 15 feet from a very large (projector sized) screen.

I saw a sensor bar on sale at amazon with an ac adaptor, $14.99 plus shipping. I think they caught on to what has been done here.

Has anybody tried making their own sensor bar that uses the sensor bar plug from the Wii for power? I have a 120” projector screen setup with my Wii in a stereo cabinet. I am using a Cat5 cable to extend my Wii sensor bar. That all works great but the distance I sit from the sensor bar is too far. Since I have the Cat5 ran and that works I was wondering if there is a way to modify the sensor bar or make one that can use the power from the Wii but have a farther range (up to 25 feet)? If anyone has done this could you provide circuit diagrams, pictures or description on how it was made?

Thanks

Sorry to thread resurrect, but I just did a sensor bar mod and wanted to share a couple of details.

I used a Canon 7.5vdc wall wart from a long forgetten printer or scanner or who-knows-what (always save wall wart power supplies!).

Instead of messing with the thin, stranded, funky-coated Wii sensor bar wire, I opened up the sensor bar and desoldered the Wii power lead from the printed circuit board. Use a very small, jewler's flat head screw driver on the weird Wii screws...six of them, two below the white stickers.

I soldered in a new, 2 conductor lead, reassembled, and threaded the new lead thru the drywall at the base of my home theater screen. Joined that lead to the 7.5vdc power supply and plugged in to an outlet in my workshop on the opposite side of the wall that is my HT screen.

One other detail: I was able to mount the sensor bar below the bottom frame of my HT screen. Once you have the sensor bar open to do the wiring, you see lots of space and opportunity to drill for mounting screws.

Well worth taking it apart rather than messing with the wiring Nintendo used.