Wiimote Project

Hey gang. I've been working on a new pen concept that would fix the traditional problems with the original IR LED design: forward facing LED, IR wavelength not optimal, one LED not powerful or large enough. I found a different kind of LED light at Mouser.com that is smaller and flatter then your traditional LED. (see mouser link below) You can fit three of these across a dime and when you lay them on the table the light would shine up towards you not to the side. Their wavelength is 870nm which I understand from this forum is right where the wiimote is most sensitive to IR light. The old Vishay TSAL6400's are 950nm which work but I wanted every advantage when trying to get my wiimote to pick up the IR light.

So I set out to get these and put them on a previously made pen. I used the online LED calculator and got my new resistors (10 ohm 1/8 watt). The little LEDs were difficult to solder because of their size, but the end result was brilliant. Too bad I'll have to wait till work tomorrow to try them out. I expect great things however because if the old style pen kinda worked, this pen has got to give the wiimote a definite light source to follow.

I'll return and report how it performed, meanwhile please link to my Picasa page to view photos and specifics on the pen and the new diodes. Look at the second half of the photos to see the new diodes.

One last thing. I planned to make two pens: one large format pen with four leds for presentation use with a projector, the other will be a very small slimline pen for use at my desktop monitor using only one of these diodes for Photoshop work.



http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=oNDV51lhjEMyspNOxDDOcA%3d%3d
http://picasaweb.google.com/Micbridge/WiimoteWhiteboardProject

I was able to test the pen out at work today. The side-mounted LED works great. The wiimote picked it up easily and I didn't have to turn the pen in screwy angles.

I tested this pen out only on my 15" LCD monitor at my desk and it was surprisingly accurate. I found I had no problem clicking on the windows start menu and pick programs out of the small icon list. I could close windows in the far right on the first click, and grab the slider bar to scroll the screen. I actually had planned on making this the larger of two pens. The larger one I'd use with a projector on business trips. I will make a small one, probably out of a laser pointer, with just one led facing left. I think this smaller pen will further enhance the accuracy. I'll use it to paint on architectural renderings in Photoshop at my desk. The lighter setup of the laser pointer sized pen would also be easier to hold up for a long time.

I finally had a chance to use this pen in a real work presentation, well three presentations actually. I used it in conjuction with a powerpoint presentation and it's internal pen function. I used this pen to mark up floor plan changes requested by the clients in real time. It worked great. In fact, my Project manager originally thought I had used a red marker to mark on the client's wall. The look on his face was classic. It took forwarding to the next powerpoint slide to make him realize it was a digital markup. I also used my magnetic ceiling mount for the Wiimote.

I'm happy that after all this time I had a chance to use this stuff for a practical application.