When the on-screen Nintendo Wii safety instructions say “make sure that furniture, objects and people are out of the play area so you don’t accidentally bump into them while playing”, it might be a good idea to follow their advice. My housemate and I were bowling one evening and I failed to move the coffee table all the way up to my hearth. I tried to throw a really hard hook shot and instead ended up slamming the Wiimote straight into the coffee table. We both heard a distinctive cracking sound and my shot was very much not what I wanted (which usually happens when I try any spin or power in bowling). When I looked at the Wiimote, I noted that the power was off and it would not turn on and that there was a pretty serious crack in the side and a piece of the plastic was missing from the front. Fortunately, I had three Wiimotes with another on loan from somebody else, so I could finish the game. A few days later, I ordered the requisite triwing screwdriver from the Electric Quarter and when it arrived, it was dissection time!

First, a couple of pictures of the remote before the operation began. Here is the front view of the damage Wiimote with a decent portion of the plastic missing and this is the crack on the side. Rather then cheat and look at other online resources, I decided to dig right in. The Wiimote is held together primarily by four small tri-wing screws located under where the batteries are housed. The small triwing screwdriver made quick work of the screws and it was time to pull off the cover.

Note the loose piece of plastic from the black IR port cover near the back of hte D-pad and more importantly the loose chip above the back of the A button. Here are the internals of the busted Wiimote all laid out on my desk. Save the loose chip and a few bits of plastic, everything looks fine though the piece of plastic missing from the very front is no where to be found. Hrm. Time to look for online resources. The New York Times article Wii’s Means of Motion proved to contain the answer to my Wiimotes lack of function (go to the third slide page after bypassing the advertisment). It seems the loose chip is the accelerometer. Here is a scan of the bottom of the chip and where it should be attached. The accelerometer even has a key pin and everything.

Assuming that nothing else is broken, I am wondering if I could just re-attach the accelerometer to that spot somehow if the Wiimote would function properly again. In roughly five minutes of Googling, I have not been able to determine how exactly the accelerometer is attached to the circuit board. I am also very unaccustomed to dealing with a chip that small. I am guessing whatever adhessive that is used cannot be conductive otherwise it would short out the pins.

Anywho, I am tabling the project for now since I don’t really need the Wiimote to be working and I will need to do some more research. I don’t particularly care if I get it functioning, though it would be really amusing to ressurect it from the dead. As a result of the Wiimote folly, I have modified the layout of my furniture so there is no furniture that can be easily hit by an errant Wii Sports maneuver. So at least there shouldn’t be a repeat offense. Below I have linked to the various articles discussing Wiimote dissection.

Wikipedia - Wii Remote
New York Times - Wii’s Means of Motion
Popsci.Com - The Wii’s Wild Controller
Spark Fun Electronics - Wii-mote Guts
IGN - Nintendo Wii-remote Dissection
Nintendo Wii Zone - A Look Inside the Wiimote