9V Battery Powered Sensor Bar Hack - Page 3

I just rigged an old cell phone charger to power my sensor bar. It's a Kyocera charger with a 5.2 volt output. It has a cylindrical metal output plug with a small hole in the end. I put a very thin wire into the hole in the end and then bent it back around a tiny bit of a wooden toothpick that I placed parallel to the metal plug. Then I just plugged the whole thing into the plug on the sensor bar so that the metal part of the charger touches against the narrower end of the slot and the wire (separated form the metal by the toothpick fragment) touches the opposite end. If you point a camcorder at the sensor bar while you're experimenting you can tell when things are working. The camcorder can see IR. I can take a picture of the thing if anyone wants, though I'm not sure I'd know how to post it.

In my quest to find some detailed instructions, I came across the following:

http://one.revver.com/watch/116383

I needed to download the .mov file in order to view it, but it is the most step-by-step guide that I've seen so far. I'll be trying it out tomorrow morning & let you know whether I'm successful or not.

Yeah I'll have to go the same route; luckily I have an outlet near the PJ screen where the sensor is.

Success! The wireless sensor bar works perfectly!

The guide (see my post above) was able to step me thru everything. Once I bought IR LEDs, I was all set. My son and I used some of the leftover black cloth that I used for edging on my DIY screen to wrap around the block of wood that we mounted all of the sensor bar parts to. I cut out two little holes to let the IR sensors poke through, but everything else is under the draped black cloth. Good stuff!

Thanks so much for all these tips, especially this cell-charger one. I'm a complete moron at this stuff, but figured this out and got it working within 30 minutes. I'm using an old 9v wall charger to power the matchstick-plug into the sensor bar. I had to snip off the wall charger's connector end (too big) and separate and strip the wires. Hardest part was figuring out which wire was +/-.

Thanks again. We had been using candles as IR sources (2 candles works just as well as the sensor bar), but that's not a good long-term solution. But if your bar burns up or you mess it up trying hacks, candles work perfectly in the short term until a new sensor bar arrives.

I replaced my 9v battery with a 9v adapter from RShack, and the bar did get HOT! I measured the voltage and found it to be 11.5, so I exchanged it with a 6v one with much cooler results.

To update, I nixed the 9v adapter and replaced it by splicing a long run of cheap speaker wire in the middle of my already-cut-in-two sensor bar cable. I was just not getting good enough battery life from my rechargeable 9v batteries. Still, those crimpable 'butt' connectors came in handy for my extension job as well. Works great & no more batteries!

I was going to try the 9V hack this morning, but I couldn't get it to work since I haven't gone to the chinese buffet to get some chop sticks.

Anyhow, I tried to use the LED puck lights that you get for lighting under cabinets, etc. I bought them from Costco. 3 for 16 bucks or so. Anyhow, they worked great. No, they're not IR, but I guess these still put out in the IR spectrum.

Maybe I can get some IR LED's and retrofit these pucks. But at least I now have an easy hack to move the Wii and everything else back into the closet.

If you've already got the 9V battery in place and a plug nearby, you should be able to buy an AC/DC adaptor and plug it right in. The one I bought had all sorts of options for the plug, including a 9V battery cap--which plugged right in to replace my 9V battery.

Here's what I bought at a local store:
http://www.farnsworthelectronics.com...power%2020.gif

I hooked my sensor bar up to an AC adapter but after about 2 weeks, the one side of the sensors has quit working. The side that still works gets hot on the bottom of the sensor bar when plugged in. Everyone seems to be saying 9V is the correct setting, but I'm wondering if that is what it really should be or if the sensor bar can handle being powered on directly to an AC outlet for an extended time.

I'm running mine at 4.5V. I think 9V is way too much unless you're going to be 30ft back. IIRC, 3V gives me 12ft distance, then it's 3ft for every 1.5V there after (or something like that--it's been a while since I tested it).

Use a regulated DC supply for the sensor bar. Some of those unregulated wall-warts have terrible ripple voltage and transient spikes when turned on. This can kill the LED's.

Planning on making my own Wii IR LED sensors to use on top of of my projector screen. Any advice? We figured we could use 2 IR LEDs in both "sensor" powered by 2 AA batteries. Also will be able to switch on and off. Is this enough (LED wise and power wise? I'll be standing about 12 feet away in my HT room. Everything will bought at Radio Shack. Any info would be appreciated. Figure the project will only cost about $20 total.

That way I can have 2 portable IR LED arrays to put any distance I want apart on top of any size screen I intend to use. Thanks in advance.

well guys...i think this stuff is cool and all...however, as far as i can tell...no one has described how the wii recieves the sensor bar data...(i am probably wrong though) although you have stated that it works, i can't be sure!

AKAIK, the Wii doesn't receive anything from the sensor bar, the remote uses the leds to calibrate itself. The cord from Wii to bar is simply for power to leds, which is thus replaced by batteries. Check out youtube videos of using candles for the wii; it works the same.

So after being in the same boat as everyone else with a projector, I stumbled on this forum.

At first I wanted an extension, but didn't want a wire running down the floor from the dresser next to the couch with the projector to the wall where the image is projected.

My setup is quite restrictive since I live in a bachelor with my GF and conservation of space and esthetics are everything in such a cramped space.

Anyhow, I stopped by The Source (Cdn Radioshack) and picked up a soldering kit, some wire, electrical tape, and an 800mA Universal Adapter.

I couldn't get a connection going for the life of me when I tried the chop-stick/wooden peg method. I saw the connections inside that connector, but the wires were fairly rigid, and I couldn't get them to stick.
I tried soldering them to the connection thinking I'll unsoder if anything, but realized I'm melting the plastic.

After much frustration, I decided to cut the wire - all while my GF is playing with 2 candles. I probably spent a good hour trying to connect the cut wire of the sensor bar to the wires I connected to the AC adapter... but I would get no current going through them!
Only after looking closely at the 2 red/orange wires, I realized that they have an insulating film around them. I quickly rubbed the wire on the solder gun to remove the film and VIOLA! The digicam showed signs of life!

I'm not quite sure of the increments on the adapter, but it ranges from 3-12V
I get dim lights at 3V, but the Wiimote can't read them. I start getting a readable signal at 5, and up all the way to 9V.
Problem is, that the wall is about 15 ft away from me, and at 5V the cursor jitters. In fact, it's jittery no matter how high the voltage is. At 9V its jittery the least, but the bar gets EXTREMELY hot.

On a side note:

While fiddling around with the wires, I got frustrated and thought I'm gonna replace them with the one I bought. I was quite surprised when I saw that Nintendo used their own screws to close the bar. Anyone knows what can open them?

Also, I found some old remotes around the house and removed the IR lamp from them. They're quite weak, and one looses signal at over 6-7 ft.

I'm starting to think that the jittering is not due to the strength/weakness of the lamps, but the distance between them. As you get further away from the bar, the 2 IR dots become closer, making it harder to triangulate accuretaly, perhaps a custom bar for that kind of distance would be more appropriate... Any thoughts?

Anyway, great forum guys, glad I stumbled on it. Lots of pioneers and experimentalists here

PS.

I think if you separate the distance on the IR lamps but maybe another 2-3 inches, you will get more ranger on them + lower sensitivity.

I think the pencil erasor might work better than the chopstick for keeping the wires snug against the contacts (squeeze them through the opening just a little). You'll have to have a little patience shaping the eraser, but probably less than the "tear it apart" route...

the plug looks like a USB Type B plug.

allproducts.c_m/communication/kinsun/14usb-b-l.jpg

(replace the c_m with com)

has anyone tried to connect it to that, instead of cutting the wires?