WTB: Infrared LED Pen for Wiimote Whiteboard

[KurtangleTN]

Hey Macrumors, I'm looking to buy a premade IR LED for the Wii Remote whiteboard. I've tried three times now and probably spent about $30 in supplies and now I just want to see if anyone here has one available or would like to make one (supplies can all be bought at Radio Shack).

This is for my senior project.

For those who don't know and do this type of stuff as a hobby, or just want to try to help me (:)) heres a quick schematic and guide.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Ejohnny/projects/wii/pen.jpg

http://www.terracode.com/IR_Pen/DIY_IR_Pen.html

Thanks!

[Agurri]

What went wrong when you did it beside the , I guess, "It doesn't work". It's not a hard circuit....

I *could* try to make one.... but it won't be this week... I still have 3 finals in 3 days... As a matter of fact... I have my electronic exam tomorrow.... But for he pen, it might go as far as next friday ........

And most important....... I don't have a wiimote to test...... but I could "borrow" one from Wal-Mart ;). Tell me what you think.

[KurtangleTN]

What went wrong when you did it beside the , I guess, "It doesn't work". It's not a hard circuit....

I *could* try to make one.... but it won't be this week... I still have 3 finals in 3 days... As a matter of fact... I have my electronic exam tomorrow.... But for he pen, it might go as far as next friday ........

And most important....... I don't have a wiimote to test...... but I could "borrow" one from Wal-Mart ;). Tell me what you think.

I'm honestly not really sure what went wrong, I think I'll give it another go and go buy another LED and some batteries, since that will be only like $5.

All you have to do to see the IR is look through a digital camera of some sort, I've been using my iMacs.

[frov]

Heya,

Worked fine for me, just using the parts listed above (http://www.terracode.com/IR_Pen/DIY_IR_Pen.html). I don't know much about electronics but I do know that unlike incandescents, LEDs actually care about the polarity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led#Considerations_in_use) (+/- direction) of the battery. Maybe it's something along those lines?

Also, I tried it with a "Super Sharpie" instead of a skinnier pen (got the idea from my sister, who's made two ^_^). This allows the whole mechanism to fit inside, however the battery casing was just slightly too big and needed to be shaved down a bit, otherwise it works perfectly. Good luck!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/2455747631_99dc210e88_m.jpg

[KurtangleTN]

Heya,

Worked fine for me, just using the parts listed above (http://www.terracode.com/IR_Pen/DIY_IR_Pen.html). I don't know much about electronics but I do know that unlike incandescents, LEDs actually care about the polarity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led#Considerations_in_use) (+/- direction) of the battery. Maybe it's something along those lines?

Also, I tried it with a "Super Sharpie" instead of a skinnier pen (got the idea from my sister, who's made two ^_^). This allows the whole mechanism to fit inside, however the battery casing was just slightly too big and needed to be shaved down a bit, otherwise it works perfectly. Good luck!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/2455747631_99dc210e88_m.jpg

Actually I'm doing a bit better now, I actually got an LED to light up with a switch, now i just have to solder it in the highlighter.

I do have a new problem iwth this LED, it appears that it focuses most of the light at the tip, which isn't good for this project, did you use the recommended one from this project, perhaps that's why he has it inside unlike most pens where they stick the LED out.

[frov]

I do have a new problem iwth this LED, it appears that it focuses most of the light at the tip, which isn't good for this project, did you use the recommended one from this project, perhaps that's why he has it inside unlike most pens where they stick the LED out.

Hmm... Yeah I'm using the radioshack "Infrared LED (1.5 V) 276-143" from the link, and yes, it does seem to focus the light mostly at the tip. I didn't really think about how that might affect performance of the wiimote whiteboard, though. You think it performs better if it's further inside? I would have thought that would just hide more light from the Wii sensor, which, I've found, has enough trouble when light is blocked by my hand.

[KurtangleTN]

Hmm... Yeah I'm using the radioshack "Infrared LED (1.5 V) 276-143" from the link, and yes, it does seem to focus the light mostly at the tip. I didn't really think about how that might affect performance of the wiimote whiteboard, though. You think it performs better if it's further inside? I would have thought that would just hide more light from the Wii sensor, which, I've found, has enough trouble when light is blocked by my hand.


Yeah, the Wii remote won't detect it coming from the sides unless it's real close, and even then it's been fairly inaccurate for me, maybe it will improve with a projector (I'm guessing less pixels per inch??) so I'll give it a try in a couple of days.

I've also read that if you try putting a bit of Q tip fluff with hot glue (since it's clear) it can act as a diffuser and helps a little bit.