looking for a sensor bar with external power

**ulao** · 06-23-2012, 12:48 PM #1

Hey, I was wondering. Does anyone know of a sensor bar that works off an ac adapter. I find the usb jobs are two weak and the OEM bars ( converted to 12 v ) failed over 6 months.

**AnyOldName3** · 06-23-2012, 09:34 PM #2

I don't think there will be any. Just swap the resistors for weaker ones in a USB one, and that should make it brighter as long as you do it right.

linkinworm · 06-23-2012, 11:29 PM #3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969350@N04/7348284302/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969350@N04/7163073625/in/photostream

I made this mod couple weeks back, works fine no issues what so ever, the current v2 sensor bars are actually set up like this, except they use a lower ohm resistor but i was too lazy to swap it, just means a bit more juice for the remaining LEDs, this mod was done on both side except the wire is only connected on one side obviously.

**ulao** · 06-24-2012, 12:18 AM #4

Do the v2 sensor bar's have a name? I'm not sure how to find them?

belomeclone · 06-24-2012, 10:33 AM #5

You seem to have forgotten an incredibly important form of power - batteries.

http://www.nyko.com/products/product-detail/?name=Wireless+Sensor+Bar

**AnyOldName3** · 06-24-2012, 10:41 AM #6

Usually, battery powered sensor bars go flat unreasonably quickly, so are often avoided.

**ulao** · (This post was last modified: 06-25-2012, 12:54 AM by ulao.)

Quote:Usually, battery powered sensor bars go flat unreasonably quickly, so are often avoided.

Yes they dont last for me, and from what I find never have enough power. I really find only the 12v bars work. I'd like to try this so called v2 bar but thus far I can not tell from shopping around. Is it a v2 usb bar, wireless bar, or oem Nintendo bar?

**AnyOldName3** · 06-25-2012, 02:41 AM #8

It may be the newer style of Nintendo bar which has a different number of different powered LEDs and different resistors.

Really you'd be best of just converting one to USB and changing the resistors. That's how I did mine (although I changed my resistors to diodes, as I didn't have any weak enough resistors, but diodes provided the right voltage drop).

**ulao** · (This post was last modified: 06-25-2012, 06:58 AM by ulao.)

Well I'd rather convert to 12v supply then usb as the OEM bars are rated at 12 volts? Though I can see what is going on here, the first LEDS are getting cooked and the resistor is taking a beating but still working. I think the last led shows 8 volts. So its your belief that the OEM version 1 resistors are not good and they need to be replaced with a different resistance? Does anyone have the correct vale for the "good" resistors. The markings are chard on mine...

**AnyOldName3** · 06-25-2012, 07:07 AM **#10**

If you have a Wii bar for a Wii which is unmodified, plug it into a Wii, and measure the voltage across each bank of LEDs. Then use V=I/R (Voltage = Current divided by Resistance) to work out what resistors you'd need to replace the originals with to get the same voltage with a 5V supply. Either that, or bypass all resistors by replacing them with wire, and get a power supply which gives out the voltage the resistors want from the start. Either of these, and it should theoretically give out the same brightness of IR light as originally.

You can measure the resistance of your current resistors with a multimeter, which you probably could do with for everything listed above. They're also useful for about anything electronic, from testing batteries, or fuses, to checking if you're about to electrocute yourself, so I'd recommend getting one if you don't already.