Gaming Wii console in another room using wireless sensor?

[Ernie Pantuso]

I have a front projection setup in my living room (and playing Wii on a 100" screen is awesome - BUT projector lamps are EXPENSIVE) and an LCD TV in the bedroom. The bedroom is right next to the living room, and all our audio/video equipment is on the living room side of a shared wall. We'd like to be able to play Wii on the bedroom TV, but I don't want to move the Wii every time...

I've read conflicting reports about Wii technology. If it's true that the Wiimotes communicate with the console via bluetooth (and the sensor bar doesn't really have to communicate with the console) then it should work. The wiimotes would be less than ten feet from the console - but there would be a wall in between.

Can anyone confirm or disconfirm this for me?

 

[CarbonX13]

Yes, it should work, however I'm not sure whether your sensor bar would work if it's not plugged into your Wii. The only purpose it serves is to allow the Wii pointer to work as far as I know, though if candles do the trick, I doubt you actually need to plug that thing in for it to work.

 

[JonthanD]

You can buy wireless sensor bars.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26893

Buy that and the remote will work fine....

Your last issue will be piping the signal to your TV.


BTW I own 2 Wii's and its annoying when a remote is registered on the other Wii and taken out to play some (Mario Party) and some one decides to "turn on the Wii" it turns the one your playing on off... damn confusion! lol

So I can attest the remotes work through a wall and at least 30 feet away....


Edit: I should mention the Wall between the 2 Wii's is just plaster and 2X4's and is at a flat angle.... (If a wall is at an angle in relation to a transmitter and receiver it appears to be thicker then it is similar to how sloped armor deflects rounds as if it was thicker then it really is)

 

[Ernie Pantuso]

Yes, it should work, however I'm not sure whether your sensor bar would work if it's not plugged into your Wii.
The stock sensor bar definitely needs to be plugged into the Wii. That's how the internal IR emitters get their power.

QUOTE(JonthanD @ Sep 4 2010, 11:44 PM) You can buy wireless sensor bars.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26893

Buy that and the remote will work fine....

Your last issue will be piping the signal to your TV.

BTW I own 2 Wii's and its annoying when a remote is registered on the other Wii and taken out to play some (Mario Party) and some one decides to "turn on the Wii" it turns the one your playing on off... damn confusion! lol

So I can attest the remotes work through a wall and at least 30 feet away....

Cool! Thanks for verifying that! Piping the signal to the TV is already handled using HDMI over CAT5. I have a remote control 4x2 HDMI switcher that sends the desired signal to either the living room projector or the bedroom TV - but since the Wii only outputs RGB, I'm going to have to invest in a Wii2HDMI.

As for the wireless sensor bar, you can also make one pretty cheaply/easily but I think I'll buy one and mod it to be powered from the USB port on the bedroom TV.

 

[tisti]

Ernie, I suggest you take two small candles, light them and test it out with that. Place them 20-30cm apart.

Lit candles also emit IR light, which is what the Wiimote picks up.

 

[OSW]

Sounds like it'd work fine, so long as the bluetooth connection is strong enough. The sensor bar definitely won't be a problem, I have used a wireless one myself.

You don't need a sensor bar to test the bluetooth, just run a game that doesn't use it and test the buttons. Have another person in the other room to check whether it's responding or not.

And probably try to position the wii as close as possible to the wall to improve the connection.

 

[Ernie Pantuso]

Thanks for the responses, guys! Lit candles?! I didn't know that. Now I understand what CarbonX13 was talking about. I just ran a test using ModMii (navigating the menu). It worked fine so I ordered a wireless sensor bar on ebay. Cool!

 

[JonthanD]

Thanks for the responses, guys! Lit candles?! I didn't know that. Now I understand what CarbonX13 was talking about. I just ran a test using ModMii (navigating the menu). It worked fine so I ordered a wireless sensor bar on ebay. Cool!

Sounds like a fun project to me

If it wasn't for my Wii's being used all the time (both of them) I would probably have done something close to your idea.