Member Avatar for Mr.UNOwen

If anyone is familiar with the video game console Wii, I'm having trouble trying building an infrared bar for the controller to work on my pc. For those who don't know, the IR bar works as a reference point by constantly emitting IR light.

Currently I'm getting a weak signal from the bar. I'm getting power through usb(5v I think), the leds are connected in parallel with 10 of them and tried 33 ohms, 47 ohms and 50 ohms.

I'm using these leds: http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G13661&variation=

Can anyone tell me what resistor I should be using or if usb is not enough? I need it strong enough that I can see the light through a digital camera from a good distance(the same distance you'd sit from a TV)

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Member Avatar for Prometheus12345

USB is 5V, and should have more than enough power for an LED lightbar.....but are you sure you have polarity correct as well? Try adding one LED in the lightbar that projects visible light, so you know that you have power and have established proper polarity.

The LED's you indicated run on 2.8V, so you mighta blown them by forcing 5V through them. You may need to rebuild your lightbar. Try using a series-parallel circuit, with SERIES-PAIRS mounted in parallel (tie a pair in series, and then mount them on your "bus circuit" in parallel) on the lightbar. If all it has to do is emit IR light, then this might be your solution.

I'm not familiar with the Wii, but if I understand correctly, this is all you need to do. Try to get the highest output LED's you can (visible-light spectrum LED's are called "superbrights"), so see if you can find a "superbright" equivalent for IR LED's...

Hope this was of some help...

Member Avatar for Mr.UNOwen

Well it turns out I'm not getting enough amps. With the 10 IR leds in parallel I need 200 mA. So as of now I'm trying to do it with 12v, but I just cant seem to get it right. They're brighter than before but still dim. The annoying part of it all this is that the resistors aren't holding up. Currently I'm using 1/2 a watt resistors and they're heating up fast. By the way I'm using 47 ohms, does anyone know if I should be using less for 10 IR leds in parallel on a 12 v line?

Member Avatar for Mr.UNOwen

Does anyone know if the amount of wats a set of resistors can take increase through a parallel connection or a serial connection?

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