Demonstration
One of my friends is a manager at a local movie theater, which uses a digital projector to show advertisements between features. After seeing the It Burns When I Wii video, we figured we could one-up it with the equivalent of a 344" television screen. We wanted to use my friend's Nintendo Wii in the theater, but we didn't want to have to deal with yards of cabling. Inspired by doctabu's design, I built my own wireless sensor bar for less than $20. Doctabu left out something important; a resistor, which is needed to limit the current to the LEDs.
Parts - what's essential:
- 4 x Infrared 5MM LEDs (Radio Shack # 2760143)
- 1 x 15 ohm 1/2 watt resistor (Radio Shack # 2711102)
- 1 x Battery Holder for 4 AAA (Radio Shack # 2700413)
- 4 x AAA battery
- Small gauge electrical wire (at least 7 1/2")
Parts - what I recommended:
- 2 x Project Enclosure (3"x2"x1") (Radio Shack # 2701801)
- Housing for your device.
- 1/4" drill bit
- Drill holes in the housing for the LEDs and wire.
- 1 x Package of 5 LED Snap-Holders (Radio Shack # 2760079)
- Keeps the LEDs in place.
- 1 x SPST Submini Toggle Switch (Radio Shack # 2750612)
- Turn it on and off.
- Four small cable ties
- Place on either sides of the wire where it goes through the hole and trim. Keeps the wires from pulling out.
My design consists of two IR emitters connected by a single piece of wire in a series circuit. I left the battery holder on the outside to make it easier to change the batteries.
When you build your own and you're finished soldering it together, put the batteries in, take it in a dark room and flip the switch. The LEDs will have a very faint, flickering red glow. Infrared is beyond the range human sight, but there's a little bleed-through into the visual frequencies. Some cameras with will be able to pick it up as a greenish glow. To use the emitters, turn the device on and place it on a level surface with about 6-7 inches between the two inner LEDs.
Implementation
I built the wireless sensor bar, brought it over to the theater and tested it on a regular television. Fortunately, it worked! After the patrons left, we hooked the Wii up to the data projector and house sound, put in Wii Sports, and brought the controllers and the wireless sensor bar downstairs. We set the emitters on the backs of two chairs and stood a few rows back. The wireless range of the controllers was great enough to work! We suffered no technical glitches from the distance; we could even play up on stage, craning our necks up at the gigantic image, immersing ourselves in the game.
In conclusion, there's more than one way one can Wii, and sometimes, size does matter.
Edit - Thank you, Make Blog, Digg, Engadget, menéame, ElOtroLado.net, Kotaku, Kottke.org, QJ.net, Gizmodo, and GameTrailers.com for hosting a high resolution version!
Edit 2 - Over 500,000 views on YouTube and almost 800,000 views on a bootleg version on break.com!
