WiiLi.org

Snark · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 115

I was surprised to learn that I could power the stock infra-red sensor bar that comes with the Wii with a single 9-volt battery without cutting the bar's plug off. What's more, it doesn't require any soldering or complex fiddling with voltage and diodes, etc. To top it all off, it's EXTREMELY cheap and easy. It took me only 5 minutes with stuff I had laying around at home.

The plug on the stock IR bar has two contact plates directly opposite of each other on the inside of the plug that makes this work. Look for yourself.

I got the information here

Here's what I did:

I had an old answering machine that used a 9-volt battery for backup power. So, I removed the battery and then used some wire cutters to cut the battery snap (thing the 9-volt battery plugs/snaps into) out of the answering machine (you can buy 9-volt battery snaps at Radioshack if you don't want to cut one out of an existing device), making sure I had enough wire length to play with. Then, I stripped the covering from the ends of the two cut wires from the battery snap to expose them. I then folded the two exposed wire ends into "balls" so that they would be large and therefore make excellent solid contact with the two corresponding contact plates on the inside of the IR bar's plug.

Finally, I cut myself a small piece of rubber away from an old black rubber test-tube stopper (you can use something else as long as it does NOT conduct electricity). I then put the piece of rubber inside the IR bar's plug and shoved the two stripped wire ends from the battery snap into each opposite side of the plug so that they snugly touched their corresponding contact plates, being firmly held in place by the rubber in the middle.

The large end of the plug is for the positive wire, and the small end is for the other one.

DONE! Then, I plugged the 9-volt battery into the battery snap and *presto*. The sensor bar works without being plugged into the wii. After I made sure it was working fine, for good measure, I taped it up with a little electrical tape.

People have reported that the bar will function continuously for almost 20 hours this way before having to replace the battery. Cool

edit

here are some poor quality webcam pics.

the plug for the battery

the battery plugged in and powering the ir leds

speaker219 · Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 187 Location: New York

Nice, thanks.
I think i'm gonna buy me a "spare" sensor bar Wink

Snark · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 115

Okay, but I think you are missing the point. Using this method, you could basically build a plug that you can slip on and off the sensor bar just as easily as you would plug and unplug it from your Wii - it would just require a little more time and effort than I and others have put into it.. You don't need to buy a spare bar if you do that...

fenwick · Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 2

Has anyone used a multimeter to read what the actual current/voltage is on the sensor bar? That would be helpful to know.

TiagoTiago · Joined: 20 Jan 2007 Posts: 709 Location: Brasil

wasn't there somthing like a resistor inside the Wii that was there to protect the leds on the sensor bar from burning up easily?
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Snark · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 115

I thought the wii puts out ~10-12V, so 9v should be perfectly safe... but obviously I'm no electrician.

The bar does work fine this way for extended periods, so the only concern- if any - is in the long term a reduction in the lifespan of the LEDs.

It's my guess that it is negligible.

Again, I'm no electrician.

Anyone?

Octovir · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 27

I'm surprised there's been no post about the safety of this modification.

If you do this be VERY sure that the two leads from the battery will have no chance of coming into contact with each other, especially if things get moved around often (portable sensor bar)..

The worst that could hapen is that your 9v battery explodes, but most likely the wires will smoke, melt, and break connection before that..

Anyway.. yes, the sensor bar output on the Wii is around 12v
see here

And yes, 9v will be negligible in terms of the LEDs life. It may however be noticeable in the range of your wii remote. As for the current, the resistors are in the sensor bar so that shouldnt be a problem either.