IR sensor distance apart vs power?

[bwall244]

I've done a bit of reading reguarding aftermarket IR bars and not being able to fit it exactly to my situation. I bought an usb powered aftermarket bar and the performance across my living room is poor. Up to about 5 or 6 ft it works perfectly, but about the point it stops dead, unlike my experience of a normal wiimote which has a large grey area of working, this just suddenly gives up. I took the covers off in front of the diodes and picked up about another foot, but I need to be about 10-12 feet back. Is this an issue with the two sets of lights being too close or a lack of brightness of the aftermarket ones?

[0118999]

USB supplies 5VDC. Wired Wii sensor bars get ~7VDC from the Wii, IIRC. The intensity of the output of the infrared LEDs is related to the voltage applied to them. The higher the applied voltage, the greater the intensity. I don't think you're ever going to get the range you want out of a USB powered sensor bar unless you modify it. You could try buying a 6 or 7VDC adapter and connecting it to your sensor bar. You'd have to cut the cord to connect it, but this would probably improve your range.

[AnyOldName3]

A) The Wii voltage ranges from 6-12 V depending on the resistance of the bar. It isn't a great power supply.

B) No reasonably priced LED can survive that much voltage with any reasonable current flowing through it. There are resistors in series with the LEDs to drop the voltage to a different level.

C) While it's true that the total voltage across a bar will vary between the Wii and a USB port, the manufacturers of Wii bars know this, and put in weaker resistors to balance this.

D) This means that any bar bought as a USB bar powered by USB should work as well as any bar bought for the Wii powered by the Wii.

E) The only explanations for differences are a poor quality bar (meaning its designers didn't know Ohm's Law/ the specs of their LEDs) or that it's a home converted bar and it's owner didn't know they needed to swap out the resistors.

[0118999]

A) The Wii voltage ranges from 6-12 V depending on the resistance of the bar. It isn't a great power supply

B) No reasonably priced LED can survive that much voltage with any reasonable current flowing through it. There are resistors in series with the LEDs to drop the voltage to a different level.

Really, when has anyone ever put a resistor in series with a diode?

C) While it's true that the total voltage across a bar will vary between the Wii and a USB port, the manufacturers of Wii bars know this, and put in weaker resistors to balance this.

D) This means that any bar bought as a USB bar powered by USB should work as well as any bar bought for the Wii powered by the Wii.

E) The only explanations for differences are a poor quality bar (meaning its designers didn't know Ohm's Law/ the specs of their LEDs) or that it's a home converted bar and it's owner didn't know they needed to swap out the resistors.

I'm not confident second-hand manufacturers took the same care as Nintendo. It would not surprise me if they used identical resistor values to the official Wii sensor bars, which would explain the weak output. Never underestimate the potential stupidity of a company trying to save money. Why hire an engineer when you can just copy Nintendo's design?

I wasn't trying to give this guy a course on diodes. I was trying to give this guy a general idea of what he would need to do to improve the range on his bar. With these after-market sensor bars, you can generally increase their intensity by increasing the voltage input. If you raise the voltage too much, you run the risk of destroying the diodes, but that's a risk you take when fiddling around with this stuff. I mean, I doubt he has the specs on those LEDs.

[AnyOldName3]

A) The Wii voltage ranges from 6-12 V depending on the resistance of the bar. It isn't a great power supply

B) No reasonably priced LED can survive that much voltage with any reasonable current flowing through it. There are resistors in series with the LEDs to drop the voltage to a different level.

Really, when has anyone ever put a resistor in series with a diode?

C) While it's true that the total voltage across a bar will vary between the Wii and a USB port, the manufacturers of Wii bars know this, and put in weaker resistors to balance this.

D) This means that any bar bought as a USB bar powered by USB should work as well as any bar bought for the Wii powered by the Wii.

E) The only explanations for differences are a poor quality bar (meaning its designers didn't know Ohm's Law/ the specs of their LEDs) or that it's a home converted bar and it's owner didn't know they needed to swap out the resistors.

I'm not confident second-hand manufacturers took the same care as Nintendo. It would not surprise me if they used identical resistor values to the official Wii sensor bars, which would explain the weak output. Never underestimate the potential stupidity of a company trying to save money. Why hire an engineer when you can just copy Nintendo's design?

I wasn't trying to give this guy a course on diodes. I was trying to give this guy a general idea of what he would need to do to improve the range on his bar. With these after-market sensor bars, you can generally increase their intensity by increasing the voltage input. If you raise the voltage too much, you run the risk of destroying the diodes, but that's a risk you take when fiddling around with this stuff. I mean, I doubt he has the specs on those LEDs.

Nintendo use reasonably high quality LEDs, so even off Wii voltage, this tactic of direct copying wouldn't work with cheap LEDs.

[0118999]

Nintendo use reasonably high quality LEDs, so even off Wii voltage, this tactic of direct copying wouldn't work with cheap LEDs.

My comment about not hiring engineers when you can copy was made sarcastically. That's what a business person who knows very little about engineering might think. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what some of these after-market manufacturers do to reduce cost.

[bwall244]

So best course of action is to modify the usb bar OR purchase a wireless one? Is there a way for me to confirm the problem is Diode output?