No matter! Wii "sensor" bars are easy enough to make with materials I had lying around the house. There are tons of these builds floating around the web but electrically I think mine's one of the more sound ones out there.
Most people use resistors to drop the current for LEDs but I've instead used an LM317 variable voltage regulator as a current limiter. It's a common use for the chip and I can see why: the thing works like a horse to keep the current at the desired level.
I was surprised that the current didn't divide when I wired the second set of LEDs in parallel; the LM317 compensated to keep me at a cool ~20mA per LED. I opted not to use another LM317 for voltage control since it's more or less impossible to go over 2 volts per LED with this circuit.
The LEDs themselves were scavenged from a couple super-cheap IR helicopter controllers. The wiimote seems to love them.
Oh no don't look! It's a super secret soldering trick!
I didn't have a battery holder so I used Super Sculpey and chopsticks to make one. In hindsight, it was probably a waste of valuable Super Sculpey, but it works. Behold, the ugliest Wii sensor bar ever created!
Awesome! Now we can play some Wii.
Edit: Here is the schematic in case anyone's interested. Critique / criticism welcome!
