Conclusion

So, does it work? Quite well. When the contraption on, there's nothing out of the ordinary visible on my wall:

But when you take a picture with a camera that's sensitive to infrared light, suddenly two big bright spots appear:
(And yes, they're not perfectly horizontal because I messed up while gluing the reflectors to the leds -- it doesn't really make itself felt when you play a game though.)

Ofcourse, I can't make a photo of the gameplay, but the contraption works like a charm: no more mis-pointing the Wii because the sensor-bar is lying on a table or disappearing cursors because the it's too far away. I'm quite happy with it and even games relying heavily on the WiiMote as a pointing device, like Okami, play great.

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15 comments

Redfoxa wrote at 20 Sep 2014, 14.56:

Hi there Can you please post a component list and which voltage supply is needed. Cheers

jon wrote at 8 Feb 2014, 19.56:

can you please build me one of these? name your price my email. Jonathanholik@gmail.com

Martin wrote at 20 Feb 2012, 11.39:

Nice work! Does this enable 1:1 tracking with the wiimote? I\'ve been frustrated with shooting games where the cursor never matches where the wiimote is pointing. If this sorts that out i\'ll defo put one together.

Steve Nied wrote at 29 Aug 2011, 17.58:

I would gladly pay someone to build one of these for me? Anyone interested? I have about 12 foot throw from ceiling mounted projector. steve.nied@sbcglobal.net

Rutger wrote at 27 Jan 2011, 10.16:

The 940nm lasers were too expensive. Therefore I copied your approach. I wasn\'t able to get the LM2575 to work and therefore installed just used a LM317. This one actually doesn\'t get very hot, so I think I am not wasting a significant amount of energy for the duration I use the WII. Sprite TM, What is the distance you have between the led\'s and the wall? I tried to place them above the projector (5-6m from the wall), but even with a fresnel lens the spots were too weak. Instead I placed the led\'s on the side wall, about 2 m from the wall. Not perfect, but it works. I especially enjoy the fact that you now need to point the wiimote at the screen, instead of below. Great work!

Sprite_tm wrote at 5 Oct 2010, 8.23:

Aaron: Depends; if the flashlights give a nice small spot and if they are bright enough, it might just work.

Aaron wrote at 4 Oct 2010, 21.21:

Don\'t know if it\'s too late to post a question here, but I\'ll give it a shot...I\'m not sure if my engineering skills (or lack thereof) are up to the task of making this nifty device, and IR lasers seem a bit scary. Do you think a pair of single LED IR flashlights (940nm) pointing at the screen be powerful enough to pull this off?

passmadd wrote at 17 Sep 2010, 11.43:

This is one cool build, and such a novel and interesting way of \'cheating\' the Wii in to thinking the sensor bar is in place (reflecting the light). I think the lasers would work well too. a pair of 25-50mw 940nm lasers, de-focussed to about 10CM on the wall should be plenty bright, and safe enough to use without any long term eye issues. Now I have found this site, I have a lot more reading :)

Skypig wrote at 17 Sep 2010, 6.59:

Forget what i said. i should have read the whole comments section ;)

Skypig wrote at 17 Sep 2010, 6.58:

@ Rutger: these are no ir-lasers . there are just ir-diodes. no harm to the eye. great work besides.

Halo wrote at 17 Sep 2010, 3.32:

Rutger: As Sprite_tm warns, IR lasers can be dangerous. Actually very dangerous if you don\'t have professional experience. Experimenting with even moderate power IR lasers without certified laser goggles will almost guarantee eye damage. tinyurl.com/IR-goggles-0 With this type of use the Entire beam, from laser to projected dot, must be kept above eye level (7ft). The guys at LaserPointerForums.com can help with safety & the laser build.

Sprite_tm wrote at 16 Sep 2010, 22.38:

Rutger: Take care with these. First of all, you\'ll need them in 940nm-variants, 850nm IR doesn\'t work nearly as well. Secondly, I pump out quite a lot of IR, albeit in quite a broad beam. If you use a laser to make a tiny dot and then look into that very small beam... bye-bye retinas I s\'pose.

Rutger wrote at 16 Sep 2010, 19.45:

Nice approach. I am awaiting the IR lasers I ordered to get the same result

Sprite_tm wrote at 16 Sep 2010, 10.00:

I used thermal paste to let the little thermal pad of the led make contact with the heatsink, and epoxy to fix the led in place. Using a thermal adhesive would be better, but I didn\'t have any on hand.

Tom wrote at 16 Sep 2010, 9.29:

Great job! What type of glue did you use to fix the LEDs to the heatsink?

Virtual Wii Sensor-bar - Conclusion

Conclusion