How to wire a Wii's Bluetooth Module to a PC USB Port

[AnyOldName3]

Yeah, it seemed to come back to life when I rebooted the computer. However, I'm still having a couple of issues that might be completely unrelated to anything here. First, Dolphin doesn't seem to want to launch anything properly if emulation was stopped since the program was restarted, so I can run a game and quit it, but if I want to run it again or run a second game, I need to restart the whole of Dolphin. If I don't, it just freezes and burns a whole lot of CPU doing nothing. This only happens with Wii games and with Passthrough enabled, so I'm guessing that when emulation is ended, it's leaving the adapter in an unhappy state. Secondly, for a while I had it stop tracking the cursor when pointed at a region of the screen. I'm guessing that's just because my sensor bar started life as literally the cheapest available on Amazon in about 2010, and it's not got great coverage.

[mstreurman]

So, I have made a prototype of a Bluetooth passthrough sensor bar, which will come with 5ft/1.5m of (exchangable) USB cable and is outfitted with 6 IR LEDs and includes of course a real Wii Bluetooth module. I can make it available as a DIY-kit (thus needing soldering and assembly) or as a completely assembled product. For a small fee you will be able to select the color of your bar as they will be made on request (Free base color: Galaxy Black, The colors currently available for a fee are Silver/Grey, Vanilla White, Azure Blue and Lipstick Red, with more to come in the future.)

What would be a fair price point to sell these at?

My personal thought would be $25 US excluding postage as the non-passthrough compatible Mayflash Dolphinbar is this price, and $15 US excluding postage for the DIY-kit.

[mbc07]

That's very interesting, do you have any pictures?

[mstreurman]

(06-06-2019, 11:52 AM)mbc07 Wrote: That's very interesting, do you have any pictures?

The first prototype is being manufactured as I type this, so it will take a couple of hours before I can show you exactly what it is going to look like (I will probably need to make a few small adjustments to the model as tolerances might not be completely correct, but I can only do that once I receive the actual components )

[mstreurman]

So, I've completed the production of the case/housing of the PassthroughBluetooth and the PassthroughBar itself... I did however made a small mistake: I forgot to save/merge my latest model when I was manufacturing it... Thus it does not have the room to internally house the wires from the LED's, the final version however WILL have space for you to hide the wires in the bar itself (you can see the cover I made for it) Well... I guess that is why it is a prototype.

The length of the bar is 200mm and the height and depth is 16mm. The hole in the box is the size of a female USB-A connector which will be housed inside of the box. The hole in the cover of the box is where you thread through the wires to the LED's.

I already have some new ideas to make the bar and the box snap together... all in all it is still a work in progress. The current way to attach them is to superglue them together... Will post pictures of how it is supposed to look once I have finished assembling. The final case itself will, I hope, be a tool-less assembly. The kit ofcourse will need some soldering, but that is half the fun of making one of these

The color of this particular product is the silver/grey one.

I am open to suggestions on how to make this a better product!

EDIT: Added the assembled (though empty) unit.

                   

[AnyOldName3]

Quote:The hole in the box is the size of a female USB-A connector which will be housed inside of the box.

Just so you're aware, that violates the USB specification - only master devices are allowed an A socket. That means that you'll be a dirty specification-violator and that it'll be a nuisance to get replacement cables. It's up to you which of those you see as worse.



In other news, I took some photos when I was about to put the cover back on my bar. Here they are: https://imgur.com/a/PSceSbu

The buy the cheapest sensor bar on Amazon in 2010 and attach the cheapest long USB cable to it, then, years later, try and cram a bluetooth module into it, too approach came out pretty neatly. From outside, the only obvious difference is the presence of a sync button.

[mstreurman]

(06-06-2019, 10:52 PM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: Just so you're aware, that violates the USB specification - only master devices are allowed an A socket. That means that you'll be a dirty specification-violator and that it'll be a nuisance to get replacement cables. It's up to you which of those you see as worse.

Erm… replacement cables? You mean the bog-standard USB-A Male to USB-A Male cable that is available on almost every street corner? Yeah I think I'll take that risk  

[AnyOldName3]

Usually, you'll see male A to female A, or male A to some kind of male B, and if you're lucky you'll see things with USB C on one or both ends, but male A to male A is much, much rarer. Such a cable isn't even a USB cable as it's explicitly banned in the spec. You won't find them made by reputable manufacturers (although it's just a USB cable, so anyone buying a branded one is an idiot). In my life, I've only ever seen two - one with a really cheap shitty webcam, and one with the keyboard I have, whereas I've seen bazillions of all the other combinations. Although I can only link to the table directly above it, this wikipedia page has a table called USB cables table saying which plugs are allowed on the ends of the same wire.

Even if you're deep in the underbelly of Tianjin where specifications and standards are merely myths told to scare young sweatshop workers, and non-conformant cables are abundant, are you gaining anything by making a product that goes against the spec? USB B connectors come in all shapes and sizes, so you're bound to find one that fits your needs.

[mstreurman]

(06-07-2019, 05:43 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: Usually, you'll see male A to female A, or male A to some kind of male B, and if you're lucky you'll see things with USB C on one or both ends, but male A to male A is much, much rarer. Such a cable isn't even a USB cable as it's explicitly banned in the spec. You won't find them made by reputable manufacturers (although it's just a USB cable, so anyone buying a branded one is an idiot). In my life, I've only ever seen two - one with a really cheap shitty webcam, and one with the keyboard I have, whereas I've seen bazillions of all the other combinations. Although I can only link to the table directly above it, this wikipedia page has a table called USB cables table saying which plugs are allowed on the ends of the same wire.

Even if you're deep in the underbelly of Tianjin where specifications and standards are merely myths told to scare young sweatshop workers, and non-conformant cables are abundant, are you gaining anything by making a product that goes against the spec? USB B connectors come in all shapes and sizes, so you're bound to find one that fits your needs.

I can just walk into the "MediaMarkt" in Budapest, Hungary (or actually any MediaMarkt in Europe) or any shop that sells cables here in Croatia and get one of these cables, they are really abundant here in Eastern/Central Europe. But even in The Netherlands or Johannesburg, South-Africa it I just have to walk into a shop that sells cables and they have it. If I look on Amazon, AliExpress or Gearbest I can get these cable's so easily... But I might just go with a Micro USB cable then if it is that hard to get somewhere else in the world.

[Dylanlip]

Would you be willing to sell any bluetooth adapter boxes only w/o the bar? I've got a larger sensor bar for my TV and have no need for another one.