Dolphinbar Wiimote Range Issue

04-17-2015, 10:14 AM #1

Hello all,

I have been playing Zelda Skyword Sword and having a lot of difficulty with the motion controls. I have gotten pretty far in the game but recently I noticed that if I am a few feet away from the dolphinbar the motion controls are super smooth but if I am 8 feet away at my couch it is very choppy. I have a 60" flat screen TV with the dolphinbar on top of the TV. The dolphinbar is set to "TOP" and the dolphin emulator is also set to top. I am running Dolphin 4.0-6025. The dolphinbar is set to mode 4. I am using an official Luigi and Princess themed wiimote with motion plus. I also have a Nintendo brand nunchuck (I think) if that makes a difference. I tried cleaning the dust off of the dolphin bar and the front of the wiimotes with no luck. I am actually amazed at how far I have gotten in the game with these issues.

Around the TV is a Wii U, a 5.1 wired speaker system, a PC (uses a wireless keyboard), a lamp, a wireless phone base station and an Ooma. I tried unplugging these various devices and they do not appear to be causing interference as far as I can tell.

Any thoughts? Thank you!

Tomkun · 04-17-2015, 10:29 AM #2

Do the controls in Skyward Sword use the LEDs on the Dolphinbar or just the motion sensor? It sounds like the LEDs may have failed (I had a similar problem). Take a photo with a digital camera and see if you can see them.

04-17-2015, 10:38 AM #3

(04-17-2015, 10:29 AM)Tomkun Wrote: Do the controls in Skyward Sword use the LEDs on the Dolphinbar or just the motion sensor? It sounds like the LEDs may have failed (I had a similar problem). Take a photo with a digital camera and see if you can see them.

Wow I just used my cell phone and could see the LED lights. There are 3 on the left that are lit and 3 on the right that keep flashing on and off. Are the 3 on the right supposed to flash? Are there supposed to be 6 total?

04-17-2015, 10:55 AM #4

(04-17-2015, 10:38 AM)zeldafan12 Wrote:
(04-17-2015, 10:29 AM)Tomkun Wrote: Do the controls in Skyward Sword use the LEDs on the Dolphinbar or just the motion sensor? It sounds like the LEDs may have failed (I had a similar problem). Take a photo with a digital camera and see if you can see them.

Wow I just used my cell phone and could see the LED lights. There are 3 on the left that are lit and 3 on the right that keep flashing on and off. Are the 3 on the right supposed to flash? Are there supposed to be 6 total?

I just turned on my Wii U and have its sensor bar on and Skyward Sword runs so much smoother with the wiimote! There are 10 LEDs in my Wii U sensor bar.

Does the Dolphin Bar come with a warranty??

Woogoo · 04-26-2015, 02:12 AM #5

The blinking does indicate a defective DolphinBar, but ZSS only uses IR signal to calibrate the Motion Plus. You will see major problems with games that use an IR pointer control though. It depends on where you bought the device from if it has a warrenty, check with the store. Here's a tip: The Dolphin Bar gets hot if it's on for long amounts of time, and this damages connections in the device. Never use it or let it be on for more than 4 hours, this will extend the device's life. Also note that if you plug it into a computer that is off but plugged into power, the device will turn on.

04-26-2015, 02:49 AM #6

(04-26-2015, 02:12 AM)Woogoo Wrote: The blinking does indicate a defective DolphinBar, but ZSS only uses IR signal to calibrate the Motion Plus. You will see major problems with games that use an IR pointer control though. It depends on where you bought the device from if it has a warrenty, check with the store. Here's a tip: The Dolphin Bar gets hot if it's on for long amounts of time, and this damages connections in the device. Never use it or let it be on for more than 4 hours, this will extend the device's life. Also note that if you plug it into a computer that is off but plugged into power, the device will turn on.

Thanks. It was like this from the get-go. I ended up getting a replacement from where I ordered it. Now everything works well!! I feel god like now in the game lol. I don't leave it powered on for more than a couple of hours and when my computer sleeps the USB ports are off.