Nintendo Wii Sensor Bar Demystified

[VGPlayer78]

Lol at the topic -> "Nintendo Wii Sensor Bar Demystified". As it ever had to be mystified in the first place. There's never something mystical about a little piece of easy to understand technology.

[AndrewDaniele87]

i knew it! yesterday i got netflix on wii but the sensor bar was broken so i had limited functionality, i couldnt go to the search button because it had to be pointed at. i aimed my wiimote left of the tv, and it picked up some signal and i was able to navigate much easier, oddly, outside of netflix i wasn't able to get that same IR signal.

[vex123]

Anyone know of a PC test app that can do this?

[TB1337TM]

Sensor bar is 2 led lights.

[bfibtcod]

@TB1337TM it has like 8 i took mine apart years ago

[XXXMAC187XXX]

i need help. my wii doesnt read the sensor bar. when i plug it in the back of the wii, it doesnt find the controller. the sensor bar isnt broken cause i tried it on a different wii and it worked. i bought a wirless sensor bar and it doesnt work eather. ive even tried other "tricks" and it still doesnt read . can anyone help

[ZoeMarcela]

que pendejo

[darkspyro159]

that is awesome i don't know how you and your bro did it but its awesome it makes me think how i don't get along with my brother!

[MangaSpinin01]

Everytime i play a game the game allways shakes and shit and im pointing the controller at the sensor

[OreozAdvance]

i did it once and it work but the 2nd try it don't work any more please help me.

[OreozAdvance]

does it suppose to be right length of the control seperation

[shadowmoon522]

a bit unorthodox, but intrigeing none the less. infact my "pointer" for my wii acts erratically system on occasion, probably because my sensor bars scratched.

[dannydunlop]

You are so hot.

[JAL3NSMITH]

you look like fred savage



[infamoustutt]

thanx it does work

[suddenxshock]

on 0:37, is it hayride transmitters? 

[magicwand667]

dude, u need to make more vids like this one.

[ufclivestreams]

if anyone wants some free wii point codes then go to wiicodes info today

[CokeandMentosCP]

lol the sensor bar LEDs were blinking.

[CokeandMentosCP]

no, the IR LEDs in the sensor bar are not transmitters. there just normal IR LEDs.

The Wii Remote and the Wii communicate over bluetooth.

[123hello10]

So you mean to say that is we have 2 IR sources like err... 2 suns in a room, you can have a wireless sensorbar!? Awesome!

[nickolai357]

How many dolars is WII?

[ImNoJadedImsoniac]

@nickolai357 too many.

[FTWker]

Dude, I've got a question. My brother screwed up our sensor bar, and we bought one wireless DreamGEAR sensor bar. Well, it sucks, it doesn't catch up from a distance longer than 1 meter, and it catches a low, poor signal, it certainly sucks, and the pointer blinks a lot. Is it the bar problem's? What should I do? I'm certainly desperate.

[crodney1]

@FTWker use 2 candles like a sensor bar. works for me. if you dont wanna buy a new one

[SpookerstheSpoo]

Heh. I left my sensor bar at home when I brought my Wii to a different house. I accidentally pointed at the light over my head, and it started working. XD

[live4god5]

Thanks guys, by seeing your viedo, i actualy made my own wireless senerer bar with two remotes, battery holders, and carbord, it works great

[dxprog]

I'm glad you found it useful.

[PaperEngine]

no,there's a camera inside, nintendo said it themselfes

[TwoUpWeb]

@PaperEngine No, there's no camera inside. Nintendo didn't say it themselves.

[PaperEngine]

@TwoUpWeb yes they did

[KillerGuy96]

man,i got my wii,NEWLY FRESH,but....I CANNOT USE THE WII REMOTE,the remote is working,but is something with the sensor bar,i checked EVERYTHING,but not working

[eeerri23]

okay i got a question if the sensor bar stops working do the wii controllers stop working too

[dxprog]

The wiimote itself will work fine, but you won't be able to use the pointer until you've replaced the sensor bar.

[UnderManiac]

Hell, you can use two candles to replace the "sensor bar".

Google "Wii sensor bar candles" to find out that the sensor bar is only an IR light source. The remote is a bluetooth device and the console has a bluetooth receiver in it.

The heat from the candles is in the IR spectrum. By having them the same distance apart as the bar is wide, the remote can pick it up as it would the bar.

[GoWeegee]

I saw lights inside the sensor bar with my cellphone cam :V

[RICANPAPY27]

wii need hdmi

[Ar7ific1al]

lol anyone with half a brain about electronics can figure this out =P

IR LEDs are awesome

and even more awesome is ANY, I repeat ANY, digital camera, be it on a cellphone, a digital video recorder, WHATEVER, can pick up IR light =] it's amazing, isn't it? XD I'm uploading a video of the Wii "sensor bar" in the dark =P

[02lpatelp]

this guy luks like the white version of tayshaun prince

[cursedswordsman]

cool. is there anything else that you could use besides candles?

[patrickcanttype]

u can buy LED lights and a battery with some wires. that should work too

[bobby51500]

yeh i dont need a sensor bay watch my video

[SilverOmegaDotCom]

i still want 2 use my sensor bar.

):<

[DavetzWin]

It works with candles, yeah seriously

[WoWRehabPatient]

how odd... in my video the IR lights in my wii sensor bar are red, not white like in this one.

[streetwheels]

your brother is a very smart person to figure out that ...very well done!

[SnortMeSilly]

All the sensor bar does is power 2 Infared lights, you can also used a candle if you want to some fun :P

[xxconversegrlxx]

damn my mom vacuumed the house and the wire got caught it the vacuum and now i cant play guitar hero world tour -_-

[loitzlouis]

my sister did that to me, and i cn't fix it cos i dont have a 3 ended screwdriver, but IR LEDs work just as well.

[drybones234]

the sensor bar has lights!?

[deathsyth09]

Yes.....

[jbee02]

you can also use two candles instead of the sensor bar too. I've done it. it doesn't work to well but it does work

[Lachlant1984]

So the sensor bar simply contains 2 IR lights, the Remote detects the lights and tells the system unit where it is in relation to the lights. Do I understand this correctly?

[deathsyth09]

Yes you get it

[indyjon3s]

@Lachlant1984 Don't forget the bluetooth.

[phobik2000]

@Lachlant1984 pretty much. the wiimote actually contains a very decent IR camera, capable of HW tracking of 4 independent IR sources, hence it's used by the DIY community for various projects.

[mandolinplayer13]

I HAS YOUR POSTER!!!!!! I have that same poster thats above his tv!!!!!

[ALAPAT1]

How come the IR on the sensor bar blinks? I understand why the IR from the remotes blink, but why does the sensorbar? Could it have something to do with the way the WiiMote picks things up?

[Arbiter9]

We are unable to see the lights because our eyes do not have a high enough visible spectrum. They are actually always like that.

[Entertainmentwf]

the sensor bar is important to have attached in the case so the wiimote has a point of reference to produce the right sensor matrix calculations relative to the position and distance from it with the wiimote. It is important but, not neccessary as long as the wiimote has a point of reference, it's sensor for shaking and motions independent do work anytime.

[bestSVMS]

i heard 2 candels work too

[cmanatlan]

HOLY CRAP! My maid cut the cable of my sensor bar! I wanna play brawl so bad, but I can't. Thank you so much for this fix.

[johnwashere22]

that is exactly what happened to me!

two candles does in fact work

[poolshark152006]

you dont need a sensor bar for brawl other than clicking the game to start it...

[TomNook007]

You can use a whole bunch of shit as a substitute for the sensor bar. And, just saying, you can actually buy a third party wireless sensor bar which would probably be easier for most people.

[darkdaemon48]

can you list a third party provider? just wondering

[RaiderX]

The sensor bar should be dubbed transmitter bar

[Zune49]

wow nice discovery not that important but nice job anyway

[rangelearner]

you rule

[Knives11ryu]

is that why lights appear on the sensor bar while on videos? i always thought about that

[cloud9ineteen]

it's like when they said "Give us your idiots, your assholes, your incompetents, your douchebags, longing to be respected..., and we'll make them put comments all over the internet about everything, even when they don't know crap about what they are saying"

it's become terrible with the obsessive folks who go to every single new item somewhere and post 'FIRST' and then the next idiot who missed his chance and posts 'No.. you beat me to it." I've had enough web 2.0, can i have my web 1.0 back?

[moddymadeye]

that's cool man.

Wow.. you have a SNES next to the WII. Like father and son.

[n30l1nk]

Great-grandfather. XD

[fatmcnugget]

hehe :)

[justheretofap]

@moddymadeye

more like great great grandfater :]

[Link2006]

Why it Shows Bright White Lights

while in real-life it dosnt ?

if you asked your self that question heres the answer (sorta):

Its because cameras are sensible to IR :P

...that was kinda easy!

[sasuke5987]

cause lcd cameras one things like a video camera or a cell phone only pick it up.

[ryanaqui]

actually it is because humans cannot see infra red radiation but it can be picked up by cameras.

[wannafanta777]

i broke mine, candles worked but were a hazard so i taped 2 dollar store mini flash lights to a small board, 2 dollar sensor bar,

[natpalm13]

thats so gay yes you do need the sesnor bar

[coldsteel26]

no. you. don't.

[ikszta07]

depending on what sort of camera i use my light on the sensor bar is a different colour on my 11mp camera its a REALY bright white. 6mp its red .2mp purple. vga ORANGE?!?!?!

[Fike2308]

Sweet.

[flarn2006]

Is that a Casio WK3300 keyboard? I got one of those for my last birthday!

[fearshakenworld]

just use two candles, they emit infra red rays. Surely thats an easier, cheaper, wireless solution.....

[ponmile1]

oo and its also it cheaper when your house burns down and you don't have insurance?... think about it.. im not being an ass or anithing but im juus sayin

[fearshakenworld]

That would be an ass. I just wanted to feel clever sharing my knowledge, I guess some people shouldn't play with fire cos some people are clumsy retards. Be careful now.

[fearshakenworld]

That would be an ass. I just wanted to feel clever sharing my knowledge, I guess some people shouldn't play with fire, some people are clumsy retards. Be careful now.

[Flamegal12]

OMG!! U SAVED ME!!! We had lost our sensor bar, and REALLY wanted ot play on the Wii, and we looked EVERYWHERE to find an alternative sensor bar, and WE FOUND IT!!! THANK YOU!!!! You have NO IDEA how happy you made me and my firnd!! *hugs*

[dxprog]

You know, for the hundreds of nasty comments I get, it's things like this that really lift my spirits. I'm glad it helped you :-).

[MogarPurpleFilth]

Kermit the frog!!

[gangsta1Rida]

everyone do this. look at your wii sensor bar. then close the light of the room. take a video camera or any vid camera. i used a cell phone. then on your camera you can that there are yellow lights coming from the sensor bar. I wonder what it is. reply if it works

[wiitwilightprincess]

my lights are purple

[K9rosie]

They are the five red LEDs (they should be red) on each side to track the Wii remote.

[atlplaya1234]

you don't even need anything at all! i disconnected my sensor bar and didn't put anything else and for some reason when i pointed to the right of my tv with my wiimote it was a weak signal but it showed the hand thing maybe it was the electrcal outlet or that light i have that's activated by a light sensor and it only turns on when theres no light....

[JeZii]

Not really: candles emit infrared light. Those two sources of IR light could then replace the Sensor Bar's two IR leds.

[jimkop000]

wii sensor wont read

[cargodudeMT]

yeah, i found this out by trying to make a video of my wii, u can see the light's on camera, so when i put the vid on my pc, i was suprised.

[noobking111]

make a sensor bar and take a it to a movie thetar. THAT is a cool idea. its been done too.

[0428733]

actually you can replace the sensor bar with two candles

[dangon007]

candles?

[asfdelta]

yes candles, ive seen it done before, u just need 2 small candles under, or ontop of your tv on either side and it works!

[drizzle2006]

yeah but the wax will drip all over your tv. i saw someone use 2 flashlights it worked better

[wiitwilightprincess]

the wax wont drip if you use the little candles in the tins. also if u point your wiimote at the sun on a bright day it works aswell

[mariotaz]

Pretty cool :)

[callmewilson]

O, I thought the motes were all via irda link

[Stainless666]

...

wii-mote link IS via Bluetooth

Sensor bar is just for the pointer ¬¬

[callmewilson]

Nintendo should had made the wii-motes link via Bluetooth, Wii users simply sync their motes with the console units and you dont have to worry about line of sight and sensor bars, bluetooth receiver built into console instead.

[dwizard2009]

you can also use candles because they give off inferred as well. i saw it on g4tv.

[Alpaca83]

the blinking is because older tv remotes send signals kinda like morse code, it blinks in a some sequence really fast, i heard it even works with candles which sound logical since heat sends out IR or something :)

One thing this is handy for is for making a stronger transmitter, this one is only effective for about 3-5 meters, even less if you have strong sun comming in the window.

[cobblergobbler77]

DUde ur a fag

[meaneaa]

Is that earthbound in ure snes?

[dxprog]

I'd like to say it's Tetris Attack. I don't own Earthbound.

[meaneaa]

cool

[ffxiholyxx]

sensor bar has a loong wire and it come with the system if it breaks they dont cost much to replace. this if for the poor black & white tv users lol.

[xin0]

really good:)

nice you discovered it...but still the senor comes with the console..its not as if you buy it separately.

HOWEVER! If you sensor does get damaged...you can use this option:P

[gudbussiness1]

woah, nice TV man, and nice wii. Rich person >:0 xD

[crystalcheats]

It's not that much of a mystery. If you go to the Wii website they tell you everything that's in this video. They even tell you to take a digital camera in the troubleshootig area since cameras can block out the infared shield

[azuzaj1]

are you guys stupid didnt you see that uncontrollable blinking and glitches you need the sensor bar thats why they made it

[PikeMan44]

Dude u dot really need the sensor bar.u can play without it

[marc2006z]

do you have to a sensor bar?

[prodygee]

This was discovered a long time ago.

[Ingruler1116]

ok?????

[murderrapelove]

so I guess the "sensor bar" just blinks little infrared lights to provide an arbitrary fixed set of reference points for the wii-motes? That's actually pretty slick. I bet the r&d guys of sony are kicking themselves.

[JLisTurkishName]

And the point is?

[Zoomer30]

So is the myth "busted" or "confirmed"?

thats what is really odd about digital cameras. I dont know HOW thye pic up that "light" from remotes. I did that with my Canon A550 and my TV remote. hmmmm.....human eyes suck :)

[jenius92000]

it's called infrared light you moron

[mckludge2002]

oooooooon mike's super short show

[smuffy]

Good video. Thank you.

[martin9457m]

Your Tv's awesome

[afroboy89]

hmm

i gotta try this

[adawgdafab]

Saved my night! I left my Sensor bar at a friends and he is out of town. Me and some other friends wanted to play some Mario Strikers (GC) but couldn't start the game due to the Wii interface. I had heard of the Candle method but don't have any. So I saw this, we tried it, and it saved our night ^__^

Thanks!

[TomVice]

All people who've commented on this video with comments in a "well done idiot lol" style fashion, can go ahead and shut the FUCK up. I for one found this video really useful, as my sensor bar just broke, however now I have a new method to still play Wii =) Thanks for the vid dxprog =D

[minicrush]

i have a wii too

[sullazzy]

well congratufuckenlations einstion

[mod1971]

Is that Screech?

[ninjadude753]

WEWT!!!! i saw you Super Nintendo!! THE BEST GAME SYSTEM EVUR!!! cept for the wii!

[dxprog]

That's probably the smartest comment I've seen posted on this thread.

[kogwheel]

so why should this matter its not like you dont have to go out and but a seperate one

[tripplehelix]

So... all the sensor bar does is send a signal to the remote for the remote to sense where abouts it is... The plug is simply power. All you need is two IR LED's and you can make a woop ass sensor bar LOL I may play with this if I can ever be bothered.

[jaque9]

first of all the wii has a extra one built in the console and it wont work if your playing games like red steel and you need to hold up a sword ect

[Nasharoo27]

Nice one, knob

[sparta0607]

u meen noob? lolz

[Nasharoo27]

no i don't, i mean knob

[justsomepeople]

ya candles work too, work better than remotes. the more candles, the clearer the signal.

[pixelanime101]

yeah me too

its a bit flashy thought without teh bar

maybe it enhances the signal

[milliondollarboy1]

I saw on tv how to use candles as a system bar...

[Jwp315]

its not a camera dumbass its infra-red or IR

[FalseOmnipotent]

Good job kermit.

[CowAbductionInc]

Lol I was just thinking that.

[sliderkk]

TT the sensor bar is used to find ur position in the room, not where the mote is pointed

(dumbass)

[marcovarius]

i heard u can do the same thing using two candles... is that true/

[DMXP100]

it uses IR (infrared) LEDs to detect position, and RF for the buttons.

[dixiehai]

Kermit's voice XD

[vikingthor]

haha! you right!

[luerexbob]

What I sill dont get is what part of the Wii uses Bluetooth? Everyone who has made a homemade Wireless sensor bar uses High output INFRARED LED'S.

[supercheetah]

Bluetooth is used to transmit calculations of tilt (acquired from gyros in the controller) and angle (acquired from the IR sensors).

The sensor bar isn't for the Wii. It's for the controller, as pointed out by this video, which then transmits that information to the Wii.

[pickup12]

dont wiimotes use bluetooth not infared...

[JavierRuiz82]

Not sure about it, but the guy's right about the infrared; used only to detect the remote's twist and closeness to the screen... but all of the signals FROM the controller to the system (general orientation, buttons) must use another type of signal (probably bluetooth, or maybe RF like the WaveBird... dunno)

[mendkurtisx]

w.e

[giansantiago]

i dont really get it on the t.v. remote control part

[ivanraikov]

you can use candles , it works but who wants to use other item than the sensor bar? i think is there cause its part of the console

[gamefreak138]

Lol i liked how your bro button mashed the remote.

Brilliant, it would explain why the so called "sensor bar" wire is thin.

[nathanmeyerflanders]

Wikipedia is actually only 20% right.

[xjosephx504]

hey my brother has the same napoleon dynamite poster!

[bandofmercy]

im still trying to figure out how the nes blaster works

[JavierRuiz82]

It's also a little "camera"... notice how every time you press the trigger, the targets blink a square light? That's what the blaster picks up. So it can't tell you where you pointed at, only whether you hit the target or not. (Still not sure how it distinguishes which target... maybe different frequencies?) So if your TV's brightness is too high, you'll probably hit every time. If it's too low, you won't be able to hit the ducks at all.

Now about the Super Scope.... that's a mystery for me.

[forktie]

Supernintendo at 1:55.

[Gojira222]

this is a lie because i have a nintendo wii and u do need the sensor because all u did was shut of the lights so nobody can see not unplugg it the sensor bar has a long cord so where ever u put it at it will still pick up motion

[rwpexpert]

Well, first of all you don't actually need the sensor bar. All the sensor bar is is a bunch of IR LEDs that transmit IR to the Wiimote. So you can use any 2 constant sources of IR and use it on your Wii. The only thing going to the sensor is power, not information so you can pretty much use candles to play on the Wii with absolutely no change in the game play. Also he wasn't turning off the lights, the camera brightness adjusted when the extremely white and bright Wii menu came up.