Why Wii Nunchuck Arduino? You can create and build endless electronics design and project with the powerful Arduino, for example a robot. By attaching Wii Nunchuck Arduino, you create the opportunity to control Arduino using the way we most familiar with, the way we play games!

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. I receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these affiliate links. This helps support the free content for the community on this website. Please read our Affiliate Link Policy for more information.

Not to mention, Wii Nunchuck is cheap (~5 US dollars), and it also has three-axis accelerometer for motion sensing, which is very useful.

What hardware are required?

• Arduino
• Wii Nunchuck
• Nunchuck – Arduino Adapter

Wii Nunchuck Arduino Hardware Explained

| 135 | | 246 | |___---___|

Hook up Arduino Uno and Wii Nunchuck

Hook up Arduino Mega and Wii Nunchuck

• + to +3.3V
• – to GND
• d to SDA (pin 20)
• c to SCL (pin 21)

That’s the hardware part, let’s have a look at the software side (library)

If you want to discuss or share your ideas, you can post something in our forum here.

Wii Nunchuck Arduino Library

I have attached the library we need, and explain the the functions we use, and how to use these functions. This is a modified version of the original source code from Here

How to use them?

you need to include these libraries:

 #ifndef NUNCHUCK_H #define NUNCHUK_H #include <Wire.h> #include "nunchuck.h" #endif

Then initialize nunchuck in the Void setup() function

Serial.begin (19200); // Required by Wii Nunchuck NunC_Init(0); // initialize nunchuck

In Loop() function, you check whether there is a new command, after the if loop, you send a signal back the Wii Nunchuck to tell it you are ready for next input, and add a little delay to allow transmissions to happen:

if (NunC_RecieveCommand() == true) { // Get the input values, and do your stuff here } NunC_SendNextByteRequest(); // send the request for next bytes

delay(10);

To get the inputs, you can use these global variables

// NunC_JX - 0 to 255 // NunC_JY - 0 to 255 // NunC_AX - 0 to 255 // NunC_AY - 0 to 255 // NunC_AZ - 0 to 255 // NunC_BC - 0, 1 // NunC_BZ - 0, 1

For example, if I want to get the accelerometer X-axis value, I do this

X = map(NunC_AX, 0, 255, -13, 13);

I map it to a range that is useful to the application.

Here is the Library source code:

 #define POWER_VIA_PORT_C2_C3 1 #define USE_NEW_WAY_INIT 1 #define WII_IDENT_LEN ((byte)6) #define WII_TELEGRAM_LEN ((byte)6) #define WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR ((byte)0x52) #include "WProgram.h" #include <string.h> #include <utilitytwi.h> #undef int #include <stdio.h> static uint8_t outbuf[WII_TELEGRAM_LEN]; // array to store arduino output int cnt = 0; // -------- output ------- byte NunC_JX = 0; byte NunC_JY = 0; byte NunC_AX = 0; byte NunC_AY = 0; byte NunC_AZ = 0; boolean NunC_BC = 0; boolean NunC_BZ = 0; // =========================================================== // ================ Private Functions ====================== // ========================================================== byte readControllerIdent(byte* pIdent) { byte rc = 1; // read identification Wire.beginTransmission (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR); // transmit to device 0x52 Wire.send (0xFA); // sends memory address of ident in controller if(Wire.endTransmission () == 0) // stop transmitting { byte i; Wire.requestFrom (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR, WII_TELEGRAM_LEN); // request data from nunchuck for (i = 0; (i < WII_TELEGRAM_LEN) && Wire.available (); i++) { pIdent[i] = Wire.receive(); // receive byte as an integer } if(i == WII_TELEGRAM_LEN) { rc = 0; } } return rc; } void clearTwiInputBuffer(void) { // clear the receive buffer from any partial data while( Wire.available ()) Wire.receive (); } // Decode data format that original Nunchuck uses with old init sequence. This never worked with // other controllers (e.g. wireless Nunchuck from other vendors) char nunchuk_decode_byte (char x) { #ifndef USE_NEW_WAY_INIT x = (x ^ 0x17) + 0x17; #endif return x; } void ConvertOutputs(){ /* Joy - X 0 137 255 [0] Y 0 142 255 [1] Acc - X 290 560 715 [2] (*2*2) Y 320 535 750 [3] (*2*2) */ // will use Joy X, Y for Coxa and femur, Acc Y for Tibia /* PosX = outbuf[1]/4; PosZ = (outbuf[0]-128)/2; PosY = (outbuf[2] - 72)/2; */ NunC_JX = outbuf[0]; NunC_JY = outbuf[1]; NunC_AX = map(outbuf[2]*2*2, 256, 768, 0, 255); NunC_AY = map(outbuf[3]*2*2, 256, 768, 0, 255); NunC_AZ = map(outbuf[4]*2*2, 256, 768, 0, 255); if ((outbuf[5] >> 0) & 1) NunC_BZ = 0; else NunC_BZ = 1; if ((outbuf[5] >> 1) & 1) NunC_BC = 0; else NunC_BC = 1; // buffer 5 also contains the least significant bit of accelerometer data if ((outbuf[5] >> 2) & 1) NunC_AX += 2; if ((outbuf[5] >> 3) & 1) NunC_AX += 1; if ((outbuf[5] >> 4) & 1) NunC_AY += 2; if ((outbuf[5] >> 5) & 1) NunC_AY += 1; if ((outbuf[5] >> 6) & 1) NunC_AZ += 2; if ((outbuf[5] >> 7) & 1) NunC_AZ += 1; } // =========================================================== // ================ Public Functions ====================== // ========================================================== // params: // timeout: abort when timeout (in ms) expires, 0 for unlimited timeout // return: 0 == ok, 1 == timeout void NunC_Init (unsigned short timeout) { // ----------------------- setup power pins ----------------------- #ifdef POWER_VIA_PORT_C2_C3 // power supply of the Nunchuck via port C2 and C3 PORTC &=~ _BV(PORTC2); PORTC |= _BV(PORTC3); DDRC |= _BV(PORTC2) | _BV(PORTC3); // make outputs delay(100); // wait for things to stabilize #endif // ----------------------- timer speed? ----------------------- Wire.begin(); // initialize i2c // we need to switch the TWI speed, because the nunchuck uses Fast-TWI // normally set in hardwarelibrariesWireutilitytwi.c twi_init() // this is the way of doing it without modifying the original files #define TWI_FREQ_NUNCHUCK 400000L TWBR = ((CPU_FREQ / TWI_FREQ_NUNCHUCK) - 16) / 2; byte rc = 1; // ----------------------- initialize nunchuck ----------------------- #ifndef USE_NEW_WAY_INIT // look at <http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wiimote#The_Old_Way> at "The Old Way" Wire.beginTransmission (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR); // transmit to device 0x52 Wire.send (0x40); // sends memory address Wire.send (0x00); // sends sent a zero. Wire.endTransmission (); // stop transmitting #else // disable encryption // look at <http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wiimote#The_New_Way> at "The New Way" unsigned long time = millis(); do { Wire.beginTransmission (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR); // transmit to device 0x52 Wire.send (0xF0); // sends memory address Wire.send (0x55); // sends data. if(Wire.endTransmission() == 0) // stop transmitting { Wire.beginTransmission (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR); // transmit to device 0x52 Wire.send (0xFB); // sends memory address Wire.send (0x00); // sends sent a zero. if(Wire.endTransmission () == 0) // stop transmitting { rc = 0; } } } while (rc != 0 && (!timeout || ((millis() - time) < timeout))); #endif // ----------------------- finish setup ----------------------- // display the identification bytes, must be "00 00 A4 20 00 00" for the Nunchuck byte i; if(readControllerIdent(outbuf) == 0) { Serial.print("Ident="); for (i = 0; i < WII_TELEGRAM_LEN; i++) { Serial.print(outbuf[i], HEX); Serial.print(' '); } Serial.println(); } Serial.println("Finished setup"); } boolean NunC_RecieveCommand(){ Wire.requestFrom (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR, WII_TELEGRAM_LEN); // request data from nunchuck for (cnt = 0; (cnt < WII_TELEGRAM_LEN) && Wire.available (); cnt++) outbuf[cnt] = nunchuk_decode_byte (Wire.receive ()); // receive byte as an integer clearTwiInputBuffer(); // If we recieved the 6 bytes, then go print them if (cnt >= WII_TELEGRAM_LEN){ ConvertOutputs(); return true; } else return false; } void NunC_SendNextByteRequest() { // I don't know why, but it only works correct when doing this exactly 3 times // otherwise only each 3rd call reads data from the controller (cnt will be 0 the other times) for(byte i = 0; i < 3; i++) { Wire.beginTransmission (WII_NUNCHUCK_TWI_ADR); // transmit to device 0x52 Wire.send (0x00); // sends one byte Wire.endTransmission (); // stop transmitting } } void print () { Serial.print (NunC_JX, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_JY, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_AX, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_AY, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_AZ, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_BZ, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print (NunC_BC, DEC); Serial.print ("t"); Serial.print ("rn"); } 

Testing Wii Nunchuck with Arduino

To test the Wii Nunchuck and making sure it’s working properly, we can verify it’s input in the Arduino Serial Monitor. In the Serial Monitor you should be getting data like this.

[sourcecode language=”cpp”]

#ifndef NUNCHUCK_H
#define NUNCHUK_H
#include <Wire.h>
#include “nunchuck.h”
#endif

void setup(){

Serial.begin (19200); // Required by Wii Nunchuck
NunC_Init(0); // initialize nunchuck

}

void loop(){

if (NunC_RecieveCommand() == true){

NunC_print ();

}
NunC_SendNextByteRequest(); // send the request for next bytes
delay(10);

}

[/sourcecode]