(08-22-2013, 10:14 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: I bought:Well I looked at sensor bars on Amazon, and many have very low reviews. I know reviews don't speak 100% for products, but if I was gonna spend 20$ for a sensor bar that is normally 10, i'd want it to work for a while haha. So I think I will just buy a official bar and use your guide. But I will definitely need help, because I don't own a multimeter. It's definitely something I need to get someday, but after that experience with buying a Dremel from Amazon, I gotta get these things from some place reliable
The cheapest Wii bar on Amazon.
The cheapest USB cable on Amazon.
I plugged the Wii bar into my Wii, and measured the voltage across each bank of LEDs and the voltage across the resistors with a multimeter. Also, I used the coloured rings on the old resistors to work out their resistance.
Bearing in mind that the output voltage of USB 2.0 is 5V, I used Ohm's law, the resistors in parallel equation and a piece of paper to work out the resistance of the LEDs, and therefore what resistance would be required to mean the LEDs had the same voltage across them.
I realised I had no 10 Ohm resistors, because 10 Ohm resistors are practically useless.
I realised a diode would cause the same voltage drop as I needed, so swapped the pair of resistors with a pair of diodes, and soldered the positive and negative power lines in the USB cable to where the power lead originally attached to the bar.
I plugged it in, and tested everything was as bright as it should be. It wasn't even on on one side.
I removed one diode, and put it in the other way around.
I plugged it in, and tested everything was as bright as it should be. It was.
I then cut a neat hole for the fatter USB lead to leave the sensor bar through, and then screwed it shut.
Thankfully, I decided to derive you a formula which should tell you what value resistors you'll need.
Rnew is the value of the resistance of the resistors you'll have to buy in Ohms.
Rold is the value of the resistance of the existing resistors which you found out from the coloured bands printed onto them in Ohms.
VLED is the value of the voltage across the LEDs in the Wii bar when you plug it into a Wii, which you measured with a voltmeter/multimeter in Volts.
Vold is the value of the voltage across the resistors in the Wii bar when you plug it into a Wii, which you measured with a voltmeter/multimeter in Volts.
5 is the number of volts USB outputs in Volts. If you feel less than confident about my memory, feel free to use a multimeter to test the voltage output of the USB port you're going to plug this into.
The equation:
Rnew = ( Rold * ( 5 - VLED )) / Vold
This is designed to work with sensor bars where one resistor serves both banks, provided you measure the voltage across the two banks of LEDs together, or where both banks are in parallel and each bank has a resistor, provided you measure the voltage across each resistor separately and each bank of LEDs separately.
If this is confusing, then follow just the buying things step, open the bar up, and take a good picture. I may be able to guide you through the rest.
(08-22-2013, 10:09 AM)ulao Wrote:Quote:Well if Nintendo's bar works, then a homemade bar with the equivalent number of IR LED should work in the same setting right?Not sure what makes you think that? A usb puts out 4.7-ush volts and is not steady, especially if you have more devices on it. The Nintendo puts out 7 something I think ( been a long time since I have looked it up). Most people think its 12 or 9 and that is way wrong.
Mine had 11 across the whole thing. I'm pretty sure the Wii regulates the voltage across the sensor bar by putting it in series with a resistor, so different sensor bars with different resistances get given different voltages.
Anyone reliable know how to make a nice USB sensor bar?
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08-25-2013, 12:17 AM
08-25-2013, 04:41 AM
If you buy the official bar, you need to buy a screwdriver which can turn its proprietary screws. When someone wanted me to voltmeter mine (as they didn't want to buy a voltmeter they'd never use again, but needed to know what resistors to buy) I spent a couple of hours grinding one, and by the time I'd got the end small enough, it was too fragile to use. Then again, I did make it out of brass, so that could also be an issue.
The main point here is that by getting the official bar, you open yourself up to having to spend money on more stuff.
OS: Windows 10 64 bit Professional
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5900X RAM: 48GB GPU: Radeon 7800 XT
Ok usb bars are $5 http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pcs-Wired-Sens...484b96a197
Also if you want to play with a real bar PM me I have 5 or so left I dont need. We can work something out. Can't give you my screw drive though. Also not having a meter is suicide for the USB port. Yes they are very durable but you can fry them. Of course not knowing how to use one is nearly = to not having one. main page Working controllers [url=http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tGD-U_eW1Rc7rNyqkpgJuIg&output=html][/url] 09-18-2013, 03:31 AM
Got busy with work and forgot about this, as its not really a necessity. Well I would have considered buying one pre-made off of you, but since that eBay link already offers what I want (or so I hope lol) at 5$ and free shipping, that alone is worth the risk. I'm gonna go ahead and order one, I'm sure the range won't be long, even though buying IR LED's bulk costs nearly nothing per unit, but I still expect them to go cheap with the quantity. I will definitely respond back here with the experience though
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