Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

There are two revisions of the Dolphin Bar AFAIK

I own the first one and it has a hardware flaw where it powers the IR LEDs with too much current and they eventually end burning. Firmware updates were released to it and in the current version it simply doesn't turn the IR LEDs on if there's no Wiimotes connected to its internal bluetooth chip. While this greatly alleviates the issue of the IR LEDs burning, it's just a workaround since they're still being fed with too much current and long play sessions can still burn them.

The second revision is said to have an additional on/off switch on the back for the IR LEDs so the user can enable them whenever they want. I hope they also corrected the hardware flaw of the previous version by not overpowering the LEDs and making they burn prematurely this time.

If you happen to own the first revision of the Dolphin Bar with the updated firmware and also have some basic soldering skills, you can mod it to power the IR LEDs all the time and also can fix the flaw by replacing the resistors with proper ones so the IR LEDs don't end burning of being fed with too much power. I did that with mine (after having to replace 2 burnt IR LEDs and taking the stupid firmware update which introduced the new behavior)...

(09-24-2018, 12:14 PM)Helios Wrote: [ -> ]You don't.

The Dolphinbar is 100% incompatible with this method of connecting the wiimotes.

If you want to use the Dolphinbar, do not turn on bluetooth passthrough and just set controllers to "Real Wiimotes", set Dolphinbar to Mode 4, and press the sync button on the bar + wiimotes.

If you want to do this, you need a USB powered sensor bar. The sensor bar is just a bunch of infrared lights for the wiimote's IR tracker camera to track. The Dolphinbar is designed to shut off the IR lights if nothing is synced to it, which makes it unusable for this.

Isn't the whole point to passthrough the bluetooth to the Broadcom chip so it thinks it's a real Wii?? https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?t...assthrough

(09-25-2018, 04:02 AM)buzzworm Wrote: [ -> ]Isn't the whole point to passthrough the bluetooth to the Broadcom chip so it thinks it's a real Wii?? https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?t...assthrough

That's the point of Bluetooth passthrough, yes. And you can't do that with the DolphinBar.

(09-25-2018, 04:06 AM)JosJuice Wrote: [ -> ]That's the point of Bluetooth passthrough, yes. And you can't do that with the DolphinBar.

Ok, so I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. I've built a real bluetooth dongle from the wii. If I enable "Passthrough a Bluetooth adapter" it will ONLY work with the wiimotes and NOT the DolphinBar?

In order to get the dolphinbar to work, I can't use the "Passthrough a Bluetooth Adapter" setting which means I'm not using the custom bluetooth chip.  Is this correct?

Can I have it so the wiimotes work through the passthrough over the custom bluetooth chip and the dolphinbar connected some otherway or is this just a fantasy?

(09-25-2018, 04:16 AM)buzzworm Wrote: [ -> ]In order to get the dolphinbar to work, I can't use the "Passthrough a Bluetooth Adapter" setting which means I'm not using the custom bluetooth chip.  Is this correct?

If you want to use the Bluetooth functionality of the DolphinBar, that is correct. If you just want to use the IR LED functionality of the DolphinBar, it depends on the firmware and hardware revision.

(09-25-2018, 04:18 AM)JosJuice Wrote: [ -> ]If you want to use the Bluetooth functionality of the DolphinBar, that is correct. If you just want to use the IR LED functionality of the DolphinBar, it depends on the firmware and hardware revision.

I really want to use the custom bluetooth chip as I can have 4 wiimotes connected without any issues. Isn't this the advantage to hacking this module together?

Ideal world is to have custom module and the dolphin bar working at the same time. From what I'm reading there is NO WAY to do this with the custom module.

(09-25-2018, 04:25 AM)buzzworm Wrote: [ -> ]I really want to use the custom bluetooth chip as I can have 4 wiimotes connected without any issues. Isn't this the advantage to hacking this module together?

Yes, it is. I recommend that approach, I just wouldn't recommend using a DolphinBar (rather than a normal sensor bar) along with it.

(09-25-2018, 04:25 AM)buzzworm Wrote: [ -> ]Ideal world is to have custom module and the dolphin bar working at the same time. From what I'm reading there is NO WAY to do this with the custom module.

Do you want to use the DolphinBar's Bluetooth functionality or just the IR LED functionality?

I use this with my bluetooth module and it works fine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UAAX60

(09-25-2018, 04:48 AM)Helios Wrote: [ -> ]I use this with my bluetooth module and it works fine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UAAX60

Thanks guys. Been driving myself nuts trying to get the dolphinbar to work with the this bluetoothmod. I'll by that basic sensor bar and give it a shot

(09-25-2018, 04:35 AM)JosJuice Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, it is. I recommend that approach, I just wouldn't recommend using a DolphinBar (rather than a normal sensor bar) along with it.


Do you want to use the DolphinBar's Bluetooth functionality or just the IR LED functionality?

Is it possible to use the DolphinBar's IR LED functionality only? Could I use mode 1,2, or 3 with the bluetooth mod?