μblog: engineering from the trenches

Knowing that the 17th would probably be the last time this year that I would be able to get a Wii (Christmas weekend shopping is a bit crazy), I decided to go to a local Target at 3AM to get a console when they open at 8AM. The deal was that I would go buy it but June would finance the operation. Long story short, I waited five hours in 35-40F weather and got the fourth unit of fifteen available with a line that grew to hundred people by 7AM. The first impressions are that the controllers work very well and the display looks decent even with composite input on a 64″ rear projection TV. The unit was silent during operation and did not get very warm after five hours of play. The sensor bar is only about a foot long and seems to have two IR LEDs in it and the remote contains a camera with an IR filter. By seeing where the two LEDs are, the remote determines where it is pointing on the TV screen. Finally, the remotes work through bluetooth and do not turn on if the system is not turned on. That is, each remote has a power button and can shut down/turn on the main console. If the system is shut down, then all of the associated remotes also turn off and will not turn on unless the system is powered on. I will try to (very carefully) take apart at least a wii-mote if not the console its-self and post some further details, scans and schematics.

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