So you plug in your wii, configure everything, and play your favorite games. But have you ever given a second thought to how the sensor bar works? Probably not, unless you are experiencing problems with it. I will do my best in this article to explain its theory of operation.
So it’s called a sensor bar, right? So how old am I? Not a sensor bar at all? Most people assume that a signal is somehow sent from the wiimote and captured by the sensor bar. This is the opposite of what actually happens.
Theory of Operation:
The wii sensor bar is just two constant sources of infrared light. The WiiMote sees these two points of light and measures their position as you move the WiiMote and these points of light change. Imagine this, if you have two landmarks, you know where you are all the time. If you roll left and right, the dots roll. As you move up and down or left and right, the references move in the opposite direction. If you zoom in, the landmarks will move further away. Get farther away and the dots get closer. If you’re having trouble viewing this, go to Wii Settings and Sensor Settings. Move the WiiMote around and see if you can control what I explained earlier.
Problem solving:
So you are playing with your Nintendo Wii and your cursor is always jumping erratically, what do you do? Well first, since the WiiMote is looking for infrared light to use as a reference, make sure the only infrared light you see is from the sensor bar. Since infrared light is heat, remove all light and heat spots behind the Wii Sensor Bar. Since light and heat are reflected, look for things that can also be reflected behind the sensor bar.
Cool tricks:
Since your WiiMote “sees” infrared light, you can use it to see infrared signals! Go to your sensor settings again, point your TV remote at the WiiMote and change channels, you should see your screen showing infrared signals.
Move your sensor bar where it cannot be seen, take two candles, place them 8 inches apart in front of your TV, now use them to play your Wii!
