Wiimote Project

Hi,

I cannot find any mention of a wired, or wireless extension for the Wii motionplus dongle.

So I made a wired extension cable for the MotionPlus dongle.

And it works.

In GlovePie 0.43 it reports true to hasMotionplus, and gives all the angular rates.

I tested it out with the lednerg motionplus script and it shows up the disparity in respective motions between the Wiimote x,y,z and MotionPlus yaw, pitch and roll. 

How to

I just needed to run six wires in a cable from the Wiimote to the MotionPlus dongle. So simple in principle.

The Nunchuk extension cable won't work, because Pin 4 is terminated and Pin 3 is tied to the 3.3 V pin via a loopback wire at the Wiimote end. 

This is the proof of principle prototype to test the concept out.

I use a male-male 6 pin firewire cable and cut one end off. On the free side of the cable I soldered-on solid sheathed wire ends suitable for making a connection to the Motionplus dongle.

Here is the connection trick. I inserted the wire ends into the spring slots on the face of the dongle connector.

Machined wire-wrap pins also fit solidly into the spring slots. However there is a tendency to bend the brass strips if inserted on the wrong side of the tongue. As another precaution, place a thin insulator in the slot so the opposing pins don't accidently bridge the gap. Lead wires can conveniently be inserted snugly into the other end of the machined pins.

Why

The freed motionplus dongle could be put to use for measuring angular rates for all kinds of things without the Wiimote being in the way, provided the attachment cable does not present a problem.

Not only that but the Nunchuk should still work fine if you want to combine external accelerometers and a joystick.

What next

Make a wireless verion please - It can't be that difficult in this day and age.


Thanks.

Hi,

I have got the modified MotionPlus connector in front of me. But no pictures.

I suggest a better method of connecting the wired motionplus module in order to avoid damaging it and fussing about.

Use a small PC board called the WiiChuk. This was made for an Arduino connection and it costs a few dollars.

WiiChuk Adapter -  http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9281

Pin 3 has to be connected to Pin 1 (3.3V) at the motion plus connection, to enable the motionplus.

Wire the male/male 6-pin firewire cable to the Wiichuk board, and its finished.

Thanks.

Hi,

I haven't been able to work out whether the Pin 3 wire from the Wiimote should go all the way to pin 3 on the Motionplus (this will work) , OR whether Pin 3 could be looped back to Pin 1 at BOTH the Wiimote and MotionPlus ends respectively.

The Pin 1 and Pin 3 is looped back at the Wiimote end of the extension cable already.

My guess about the purpose of the extra Pin 3 wire is to let the Wiimote know an attachment is plugged in, and to provide extra current for attached devices such as the Nunchuk or MotionPlus.

Another Doh! possibility, is simply to modify the Nunchuk end of the Nunchuk extension cable so that Pin 1 is connected to Pin 3. But I haven't tried this method, and it may not work. If so, it would be way cheaper than buying an expensive 6 pin firewire cable.


Let us know how your mod goes.

Thanks.