Bluetooth and Sensor Bar recommendations

josh6135 · 12-05-2010, 06:10 PM #1

i currently own a wii motion plus remote and a wii nunchuck. i have a good processor and video card which leads me with two more items that i need, bluetooth adapter for my pc and some sort of sensor bar (at least l think i need it because epic mickey on my laptop - which has bluetooth- would not let me move the circle target on the screen)

i purchased the rocketfish RF-MRBTAD and i can not get it to put the "B" bluetooth icon in my taskbar to add a new device. rocketfish phone support is useless. can anyone recommend a bluetooth adapter for a desktop pc running windows 7 home premium?

will this product work http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875983003&cm_re=bluetooth_adapter-_-75-983-003-_-Product it seems similar to the rocketfish bluetooth adapter however newegg claims it "Allows any computer with a USB connection to become a Bluetooth enabled computer"

also can anyone recommend a sensor bar? or directions on how to cut the original wii sensor bar wire and solder it with a usb wire?

thanks for your help

**DacoTaco** · 12-05-2010, 07:58 PM #2

sensor bar to usb will not work since the sensor bar needs 12v and not 5v (usb) unless you use some fancy electronics to lower the current to trade in with voltage. without the numbers i wouldn't be sure about doing that.

as for the bluetooth dongle you have now; whats wrong with it? i mean, did you install the drivers correctly?

inteGReddy · (This post was last modified: 12-07-2010, 01:21 AM by inteGReddy.)

(12-05-2010, 07:58 PM)DacoTaco Wrote: sensor bar to usb will not work since the sensor bar needs 12v and not 5v (usb) unless you use some fancy electronics to lower the current to trade in with voltage.

this isn't entirely true. why would some led's need 12v? well.. they don't. the truth is: any sensor bar that plugs into a 12v source very likely regulates that voltage as 12v would be overkill for such a device.

my sensor bar: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Nintendo-Wii-Wireless-Sensor-Extended/dp/B002E1MLR8 utilizes 4x aa batteries which is roughly 6v (4 * 1.5v). However, my guess is there is a voltage regulator wired in that uses some number of voltages less than that. So... I used 4x aa rechargeable batteries (4 * 1.2v) and it worked fine. Therefore I knew 5v would be enough to power it.

I just wired a usb cable from an old xbox controller to it. It is really easy, with any usb cable you simply solder the negative wire to the negative contact on the far side of the battery compartment and the positive wire to the contact on the positive side of the compartment. i used a dremel to slot out a hole for the cable to keep it looking factory but, that isn't necessary.

Some naysayers will try to act like this wont work because they spend too much time trolling and don't get enough hands on experience.

(12-05-2010, 06:10 PM)josh6135 Wrote: i purchased the rocketfish RF-MRBTAD and i can not get it to put the "B" bluetooth icon in my taskbar to add a new device. rocketfish phone support is useless. can anyone recommend a bluetooth adapter for a desktop pc running windows 7 home premium?

The iogear one is what I am using, I am running 7 x64 ultimate btw. The iogear dongle works with both the microsoft generic bluetooth drivers and the broadcom 2046 driver provided on the iogear website. One thing you could try to get the rocketfish one working is to bring up device manager and go to the bluetooth device, right click on it and select update driver, click on "browse my computer for driver software" and then click on "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" and then select "Generic Bluetooth Adapter." then see if it works. just a thought. The only con to using the iogear one is i havent been successful in getting dolphin to pair the motes up when using either driver. manually adding them with the taskbar works just as good except you have to remember to remove them or hold the power buttons on them when you are done playing otherwise they will drain your batteries. hope this helps!

josh6135 · 12-07-2010, 02:07 AM #4

(12-07-2010, 01:13 AM)inteGReddy Wrote:
(12-05-2010, 07:58 PM)DacoTaco Wrote: sensor bar to usb will not work since the sensor bar needs 12v and not 5v (usb) unless you use some fancy electronics to lower the current to trade in with voltage.

this isn't entirely true. why would some led's need 12v? well.. they don't. the truth is: any sensor bar that plugs into a 12v source very likely regulates that voltage as 12v would be overkill for such a device.

my sensor bar: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Nintendo-Wii-Wireless-Sensor-Extended/dp/B002E1MLR8 utilizes 4x aa batteries which is roughly 6v (4 * 1.5v). However, my guess is there is a voltage regulator wired in that uses some number of voltages less than that. So... I used 4x aa rechargeable batteries (4 * 1.2v) and it worked fine. Therefore I knew 5v would be enough to power it.

I just wired a usb cable from an old xbox controller to it. It is really easy, with any usb cable you simply solder the negative wire to the negative contact on the far side of the battery compartment and the positive wire to the contact on the positive side of the compartment. i used a dremel to slot out a hole for the cable to keep it looking factory but, that isn't necessary.

Some naysayers will try to act like this wont work because they spend too much time trolling and don't get enough hands on experience.

(12-05-2010, 06:10 PM)josh6135 Wrote: i purchased the rocketfish RF-MRBTAD and i can not get it to put the "B" bluetooth icon in my taskbar to add a new device. rocketfish phone support is useless. can anyone recommend a bluetooth adapter for a desktop pc running windows 7 home premium?

The iogear one is what I am using, I am running 7 x64 ultimate btw. The iogear dongle works with both the microsoft generic bluetooth drivers and the broadcom 2046 driver provided on the iogear website. One thing you could try to get the rocketfish one working is to bring up device manager and go to the bluetooth device, right click on it and select update driver, click on "browse my computer for driver software" and then click on "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" and then select "Generic Bluetooth Adapter." then see if it works. just a thought. The only con to using the iogear one is i havent been successful in getting dolphin to pair the motes up when using either driver. manually adding them with the taskbar works just as good except you have to remember to remove them or hold the power buttons on them when you are done playing otherwise they will drain your batteries. hope this helps!

thanks for your help. i don't even have bluetooth in my device manager, rocketfish phone support just blamed microsoft. regardless i ordered the iogear bluetooth and i will be returning the rocketfish to best buy.

i already jumped the gun and ordered a official nintendo wii sensor bar. so i guess making it battery powered is out of the question. do you know any links to to a video or instruction on how to convert the wii sensor bar to usb? i would use your directions but i don't have a battery compartment to work with like yours. i found a video online but the quality is terrible, the audio is terrible , and it cuts off half way through.

thanks for your help again

mavlok · 12-07-2010, 04:30 AM #5

(12-07-2010, 02:07 AM)josh6135 Wrote: i already jumped the gun and ordered a official nintendo wii sensor bar. so i guess making it battery powered is out of the question. do you know any links to to a video or instruction on how to convert the wii sensor bar to usb?

There's a usb sensor bar fron Nextronics.

Densiozo · 12-08-2010, 08:48 PM #6

OK but this Nextronics sensor bar works for PC??? Because if it works I buy it right now!

mavlok · (This post was last modified: 12-08-2010, 09:14 PM by mavlok.)

(12-08-2010, 08:48 PM)Densiozo Wrote: OK but this Nextronics sensor bar works for PC??? Because if it works I buy it right now!

Yup. It also has an AC adapter on top of the USB one. Go for the HD one.

Densiozo · 12-08-2010, 09:25 PM #8

Great. Thanks for th info. I can now buy a wiimote and of course a bluetooth usb and I'm ready for play ^^

inteGReddy · 12-09-2010, 01:45 AM #9

(12-07-2010, 02:07 AM)josh6135 Wrote: thanks for your help. i don't even have bluetooth in my device manager, rocketfish phone support just blamed microsoft. regardless i ordered the iogear bluetooth and i will be returning the rocketfish to best buy.

i already jumped the gun and ordered a official nintendo wii sensor bar. so i guess making it battery powered is out of the question. do you know any links to to a video or instruction on how to convert the wii sensor bar to usb? i would use your directions but i don't have a battery compartment to work with like yours. i found a video online but the quality is terrible, the audio is terrible , and it cuts off half way through.

thanks for your help again

well, i saw where you found the other thread about converting the nintendo one to usb. the one i have is an official nintendo one, it is just extended. dunno why you got the actual one that plugs into the wii though, lol. if you have a radio shack near you, take it to them and they can probably give you some insight on what you would need to convert it to run off of ac power. assuming you can solder wires, there shouldn't be much else involved except maybe a voltage regulator.