looking for a sensor bar with external power

[ulao]

LOL wow, ok man I appreciate the advice but I know how to work with electronics. I dont think I was clear, my fault. I have 3 OEM Nintendo wii bars. All bars have the same resistors in them. I know the original wii supplies 12v to these bars, and I merely use a 12 power supply with the same current rating. What I noticed is the LEDs burn up over time. So linkinworm here said sometime about a v2. So my question is, what is the value of the v2 resistors.

[AnyOldName3]

The reason they burn out is that the supply is that it's a 7.5-12V supply, and most bars run at about 8V, so you're cooking them.

And sorry I briefly forgot you are mr blissbox, and therefore would know more than basic electronics and soldering. Bit of a Derp moment.

[ulao]

I have multiple sources showing my its 12 volts. Could you please link me to something showing that info?

Here was what I found.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/759093/9v-battery-powered-sensor-bar-hack see post 17
http://www.wiimoteproject.com/general-hardware-talk/voltage-for-original-wii-sensor-bar/

[MayImilae]

Quote:Could you please link me to something showing that info?

I'm bored, I'll do it.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20061128/124569/
http://www.hunterdavis.com/2011/05/04/no-solder-no-tools-no-trouble-usb-wii-sensor-bar-conversion/

According to these, the sensor bar LEDs receives ~7.3v measured from the wii. So sounds like a 7.5v base. V2 sensor bars dropped several LEDs (second link), so it seems like the v1 sensor bars with more LEDs could handle the higher voltage, and the v2's cannot.

[AnyOldName3]

The LEDs in the V2 should be brighter than in the V1 according to something I've read. basically it said 5 cheap LEDs = 3 more expensive bright LEDs. If that's the case, then they'd use about as much power as 5 older LEDs.

[ulao]

MaJoR, thx!

[linkinworm]

just do what i did, get a wii sensor bar with 10 leds total, remove the 2 most outer ones and solder the connection back up (so the connection is complete again since removing the LEds breaks it on the ends) attach the usb cable (red and black wires) to the pads the old wire is on and your done, i didnt do any resistor mods and its fine. its a 30 second job

[polygaryd]

I cannot seem to find a picture of a sensor bar v2 to see how the leds are laid out. I have seen the 3 center ones facing straight ahead as a config, the two ends at angles and then the center one as a config, and the one last talked about by @linkinworm where you have the first 3 on each side.

My question is which config is best for the wiimotes to pick up the leds? I have 3 sensor bars and originally set one up the way linkinwork said to, but then when i was about to do the second wii bar mod I thought well maybe the 2nd config i mentioned would better for people that arnt straight on with the tv such as in a multiplayer game which would be a benefit when I play with the kids. But then I was like hmmm... what about the 3 facing straight ahead for maximum brightness for the wiimotes to pick up.

any thoughts?

[AnyOldName3]

The layouts are like that because the viewing angle on cheap LEDs can be pretty bad, so sometimes you need five to cover a range, but if you've got slightly better ones, you can get away with three. If you're making something yourself rather than mass-producing it, you might even find it's worthwhile to track down some higher-end LEDs with a really big viewing angle and only have one on each side.

[polygaryd]

all these people are using three per side with the oem nintendo leds in thses three different configurations. im just trying to find out which config is best using the oem equip. although these are for personal use and i wont be selling them any time soon so if someone links some really good leds that work better and what config to use them in id be willing to test them.