Hardware TV too far away, Wiimote pointer not visible on screen until I move towards it

[lordelan]

I have this issue on my Wii U but since it basically involves just the Wiimote and the sensor bar, I figured it'd make more sense to post it here.

We moved over to a new place and now our TV is too far away from the couch. This is great since the space between our couch and the TV is perfect for just staying in the room, using the Wiimotes for things like Wii Sports or use the balance board or doing sports on the Nintendo Switch with Ring Fit.

However when playing games, sitting on the couch, that require the pointer (like House of the Dead or TV Show King Party), it seems like we're too far away from the sensor bar so we won't see the pointer/cursor on the TV.

We tried this with different first party and third party Wiimotes but mainly I'd love to use my Luigi Wiimote from the official Wii U Mario series.
None of them is able to show the pointer from that distance though.

Is there any fix to this? Like, do you guys know a good third party sensor bar with maybe some stronger light signals or something like that?
I'd love if it would be a wired solution with a bar being on top of my TV as I don't wanna deal with another wireless gadget where I have to keep track of a battery status.
Either the native sensor bar connector for plugging into the back of the Wii U or USB would be fine so it's a one time setup and I won't ever have to worry about it again.

I know I can use the Wii U Gamepad as a sensor bar, placing it on my table in front of the couch but tbh it's a little annoying having to place it there just for that functionality.

I really hope a (stronger) sensor bar can fix the issue and it's not a limitation within the Wiimotes.

 

[JuanMena]

If I'm not mistaken, the WiiMote camera functions according to the Sensor Bar Infrared LED's brightness.
You could try taking out the black thingies on each side of the Sensor Bar to allow the WiiMote cameras to read a stronger LED.

Alternatively, try the old candle trick or get more powerful infrared LEDs with an external power source.
5 volts could do the job fine, and you could ghetto a sensor bar with basic soldering skills, fed by the Wii's USB port.

 

[Lostbhoy]

The range on a wiimote is 5 meters and your supposed to be up and active, not sat on the couch playing tennis

Maybe your remotes are getting old/weaker? Unless of course your new house is humongous

 

[lordelan]

The range on a wiimote is 5 meters and your supposed to be up and active, not sat on the couch playing tennis

Maybe your remotes are getting old??

Did you even read my post?

I'm having this issue with pointer games like TV Show King Party (a damn quiz game) or House of the Dead (a railshooter). Why in the world would I "stay up and active" to play those?
Going by that logic I could also stay while playing New Super Mario Bros. or Smash Bros. Brawl for no reason.

They are certainly not getting old. The "Wii U Mario Series" of Wiimotes (those with motes inspired by Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bowser and Peach) was the most recent official Wiimote series by Nintendo and I bought a brand new Luigi Wiimote from that just a few years ago so "getting old" is most likely not the issue here.

 

[JuanMena]

It's very possible that, the infrared LEDs are dying off. They're probably 20 years old by now and if you used your Sensor Bar for years, it's obvious for them to wear down.
Either that or it might be that the Wii is failing to deliver enough power to the Sensor Bar, thus, dim/weak Infrared light.

It's well known that the Sensor Bar ain't doing anything special, it's just being fed by the Wii, so it should be easy to solve the problem with other infrared LEDs.

If other Sensor Bars aren't working for you, then I'd suspect that the Wii is having a low power issue, but then again, not a big deal since Wiimote will react to any external infrared light.

 

[skawo]

Have you increased the sensitivity to maximum in the Wii Menu settings?

 

[Maeson]

I imagine you already tried to change the Wiimote's sensitivity on the Wii's Menu, that goes from 1 to 5. Be mindful though that on 5, the Wiimote might pick up other LEDs around the sensor bar (they will show as smaller white dots on the screen).

Which now that I mention it, light pollution can be an issue. Highly iluminated rooms can interfere with this sort of technology, not just the Wii, which the sensitivity option could help with.

The only other thing I know you can do is browse for a wireless sensor bar that might have brighter LEDs, because all wired ones should be similar.

 

[lordelan]

It's very possible that, the infrared LEDs are dying off. They're probably 20 years old by now and if you used your Sensor Bar for years, it's obvious for them to wear down.
Either that or it might be that the Wii is failing to deliver enough power to the Sensor Bar, thus, dim/weak Infrared light.

It's well known that the Sensor Bar ain't doing anything special, it's just being fed by the Wii, so it should be easy to solve the problem with other infrared LEDs.

If other Sensor Bars aren't working for you, then I'd suspect that the Wii is having a low power issue, but then again, not a big deal since Wiimote will react to any external infrared light.

Thank you. I'm aware of how all that works so I was hoping there was a commonly known third party sensor bar with stronger LEDs or something. But if I have to, I'm also fine with soldering something on my own.

Post automatically merged: Aug 13, 2024

Have you increased the sensitivity to maximum in the Wii Menu settings?

I imagine you already tried to hange the Wiimote's sensitivity on the Wii's Menu

Thank you guys, I indeed totally forgot there was a setting for this. Oh man. I'll check back on that.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I have this issue on my Wii U but since it basically involves just the Wiimote and the sensor bar, I figured it'd make more sense to post it here.

We moved over to a new place and now our TV is too far away from the couch. This is great since the space between our couch and the TV is perfect for just staying in the room, using the Wiimotes for things like Wii Sports or use the balance board or doing sports on the Nintendo Switch with Ring Fit.

However when playing games, sitting on the couch, that require the pointer (like House of the Dead or TV Show King Party), it seems like we're too far away from the sensor bar so we won't see the pointer/cursor on the TV.

We tried this with different first party and third party Wiimotes but mainly I'd love to use my Luigi Wiimote from the official Wii U Mario series.
None of them is able to show the pointer from that distance though.

Is there any fix to this? Like, do you guys know a good third party sensor bar with maybe some stronger light signals or something like that?
I'd love if it would be a wired solution with a bar being on top of my TV as I don't wanna deal with another wireless gadget where I have to keep track of a battery status.
Either the native sensor bar connector for plugging into the back of the Wii U or USB would be fine so it's a one time setup and I won't ever have to worry about it again.

I know I can use the Wii U Gamepad as a sensor bar, placing it on my table in front of the couch but tbh it's a little annoying having to place it there just for that functionality.

I really hope a (stronger) sensor bar can fix the issue and it's not a limitation within the Wiimotes.

It's not the strength of the IR leds that's the issue. It's the distance between them. At long distance, the Wiimote is not able to recognize the sensor bar because the LEDs are too close together. You could chop a sensor bar in half and extend it with wires, but you don't need to, you can just use a bunch of IR LEDs if you figure out a good way to power them (for example USB, or you can buy a sensor bar extension cable and chop off the male end). That's how people were getting it to work with projector setups (as a side effect, it also makes the Wiimote think the TV is closer so the virtual screen that the pointer moves across is bigger)
If you want to do it with IR LEDs, IIRC the original sensor bar had 5 LEDs on either side and later ones have 3, it's probably best to use 5 since the brightness will be reduced due to the distance, since you can adjust the sensitivity it shouldn't matter too much, but you may have more false positives increasing the sensitivity. Keep in mind USB is 5V and the sensor bar is 7.5V but LEDs are designed for 3V so you will need appropriate resistors to limit the current. If you buy a 100 pack of cheap LEDs from China for a couple bucks often they will come with resistors and you can pick the voltage and they will send you appropriate resistors for that voltage.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Did you even read my post?

I'm having this issue with pointer games like TV Show King Party (a damn quiz game) or House of the Dead (a railshooter). Why in the world would I "stay up and active" to play those?
Going by that logic I could also stay while playing New Super Mario Bros. or Smash Bros. Brawl for no reason.

They are certainly not getting old. The "Wii U Mario Series" of Wiimotes (those with motes inspired by Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Bowser and Peach) was the most recent official Wiimote series by Nintendo and I bought a brand new Luigi Wiimote from that just a few years ago so "getting old" is most likely not the issue here.

Wow you need to calm down. I take it you own an iPhone??

Your wiimotes are over ten years old and you haven't even checked the distance settings?? I'll leave you be then, was only trying to help.

 

[grandosegood]

use a battery powered one and bring it closer to you (sensor bar)

 

[lordelan]

It's not the strength of the IR leds that's the issue. It's the distance between them. At long distance, the Wiimote is not able to recognize the sensor bar because the LEDs are too close together. You could chop a sensor bar in half and extend it with wires, but you don't need to, you can just use a bunch of IR LEDs if you figure out a good way to power them (for example USB, or you can buy a sensor bar extension cable and chop off the male end). That's how people were getting it to work with projector setups (as a side effect, it also makes the Wiimote think the TV is closer so the virtual screen that the pointer moves across is bigger)
If you want to do it with IR LEDs, IIRC the original sensor bar had 5 LEDs on either side and later ones have 3, it's probably best to use 5 since the brightness will be reduced due to the distance, since you can adjust the sensitivity it shouldn't matter too much, but you may have more false positives increasing the sensitivity. Keep in mind USB is 5V and the sensor bar is 7.5V but LEDs are designed for 3V so you will need appropriate resistors to limit the current. If you buy a 100 pack of cheap LEDs from China for a couple bucks often they will come with resistors and you can pick the voltage and they will send you appropriate resistors for that voltage.

Wow that was extremely helpful and it makes totally sense. Thank you very much!

Wow you need to calm down. I take it you own an iPhone??

Your wiimotes are over ten years old and you haven't even checked the distance settings?? I'll leave you be then, was only trying to help.

You're fun at parties, huh? I hate iPhones.
Well, since I've got a Wiimote from Nintendo's last official batch, it's as old as anybody else's Wiimote.
I also got different third party Wiimotes from AliExpress that are 2 or 3 years old. Of course, I don't know how long they were in the warehouse before they were shipped.
As for the distance settings: Yes I'm dump, I give you that. I really forgot that setting exists. The one and only time I ever saw it was 2008 when I bought my first Wii. Back then my TV was very close so it didn't matter to me at all and I completely forgot about it.

I appreciate you're approach to be helpful. I really do. I just get annoyed quickly when people suggest things to me that I have already excluded or otherwise addressed in my initial post. Like this guy I'm going to quote next...

use a battery powered one and bring it closer to you (sensor bar)

Thank you for your recommendation but I literally wrote this in the first post:

I'd love if it would be a wired solution with a bar being on top of my TV as I don't wanna deal with another wireless gadget where I have to keep track of a battery status.
Either the native sensor bar connector for plugging into the back of the Wii U or USB would be fine so it's a one time setup and I won't ever have to worry about it again.

 

[Maeson]

Suppossedly, the Nyko branded ones claimed to have stronger LEDs, but good luck finding one.

Did the sensitivity setting help you out?

 

[Jayro]

I have this issue on my Wii U but since it basically involves just the Wiimote and the sensor bar, I figured it'd make more sense to post it here.

We moved over to a new place and now our TV is too far away from the couch. This is great since the space between our couch and the TV is perfect for just staying in the room, using the Wiimotes for things like Wii Sports or use the balance board or doing sports on the Nintendo Switch with Ring Fit.

However when playing games, sitting on the couch, that require the pointer (like House of the Dead or TV Show King Party), it seems like we're too far away from the sensor bar so we won't see the pointer/cursor on the TV.

We tried this with different first party and third party Wiimotes but mainly I'd love to use my Luigi Wiimote from the official Wii U Mario series.
None of them is able to show the pointer from that distance though.

Is there any fix to this? Like, do you guys know a good third party sensor bar with maybe some stronger light signals or something like that?
I'd love if it would be a wired solution with a bar being on top of my TV as I don't wanna deal with another wireless gadget where I have to keep track of a battery status.
Either the native sensor bar connector for plugging into the back of the Wii U or USB would be fine so it's a one time setup and I won't ever have to worry about it again.

I know I can use the Wii U Gamepad as a sensor bar, placing it on my table in front of the couch but tbh it's a little annoying having to place it there just for that functionality.

I really hope a (stronger) sensor bar can fix the issue and it's not a limitation within the Wiimotes.

I would just take the official sensor bar apart, and space out the LEDs more, which tells the camera in the wiimote that you're further from the TV, and then 3D print a custom housing for it that can clip or mount to the top of the TV. (Or the bottom, I don't judge.) I suggest matte black PLA or PETG material, to blend in with your TV.

 

[Bladexdsl]

 

[lordelan]

Suppossedly, the Nyko branded ones claimed to have stronger LEDs, but good luck finding one.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Did the sensitivity setting help you out?

Not yet, been a busy week so far.

I would just take the official sensor bar apart, and space out the LEDs more, which tells the camera in the wiimote that you're further from the TV, and then 3D print a custom housing for it that can clip or mount to the top of the TV. (Or the bottom, I don't judge.) I suggest matte black PLA or PETG material, to blend in with your TV.

I wouldn't take the official one apart that came with my Wii U but luckily I have a few USB ones lying around here so I guess that's the plan if the settings won't help.