📡 IR Sensor Check (Lighthouse tracking)

Tests every infrared photodiode on a SteamVR-tracked device — headsets, controllers, and trackers. Uses Valve's own lighthouse_console diagnostic through a small local bridge, and visualizes which sensors are receiving base-station sweeps and which are dead.

⚠️ SteamVR Lighthouse (base-station) devices ONLY: Vive / Vive Pro headsets and wands, Valve Index and Knuckles, Vive Trackers, Tundra Trackers, etc. Requires a Windows PC with SteamVR, the device connected by USB, and at least one powered Base Station in view.
NOT for inside-out headsets (Quest 2/3, Pico, Vive Focus 3 / Vision in standalone mode) — those have no IR photodiodes; use the Inside-Out Tracking Check instead.

1 · Setup

1
Connect the device by USB cable and power it on. Make sure at least one Base Station is powered and has line of sight.
Controllers & trackers: plug the controller/tracker itself in by USB and press a button now and then so it stays awake — wireless connections (via dongle or the headset's receiver) drop the console's link with "keepalive failed" errors. Test one device at a time: unplug other headsets/dongles so the console attaches to the right receiver, and close SteamVR fully (it competes for the device).
2
One-time setup — download this file and double-click it. It installs the bridge to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VRTechBay and registers a vrtb-bridge:// link so this page can start the bridge with one click from then on. Current-user only, no admin needed for setup, localhost only. If Windows shows a security warning when you run it, choose "More info" → "Run anyway" — the script is plain text, feel free to inspect it.
3
Click "Start Bridge" below. Your browser asks to open "VR Tech Bay Bridge" — tick always allow so it's a single click next time. Windows then shows one UAC prompt (lighthouse_console needs elevated USB access). If no devices appear after starting, close SteamVR fully and click Restart Console below.
4
Updating & uninstalling: to get new bridge features, download and run the setup file from step 2 again — it overwrites the old install in place. To completely remove the bridge (protocol link + all installed files), download and double-click: The page also tells you automatically (below) when your installed bridge is older than the current version.
🛠️ Prefer not to register the protocol? Manual start (click to expand)

2 · Bridge & Device

Bridge not running — click Start Bridge (after the one-time setup in step 2).
🚀 Start Bridge

3 · Results

Slowly rotate the device in clear view of your Base Station(s) for at least 30 seconds so every photodiode gets swept. Green = receiving hits · Orange = weak (far below median — shadowed or degraded) · Red = zero hits · Gray hollow dot = expected but never reported. Sensor positions with no photodiode on your device are hidden here — see “Hidden sensors” below.

Captures raw console + geometry + computed rates/stations into a downloadable JSON for troubleshooting.

📡 Base-station data demodulation

These sensors are successfully decoding the data stream embedded in the base-station signal. Both generations transmit data — 1.0 carries OOTX on its sync flash, 2.0 modulates data onto the sweep itself — so this does not indicate station generation. What it does prove: demodulation needs a clean, strong signal — a higher bar than counting hits — so these photodiodes and their analog front-end are in verifiably good shape. The pattern is a sampled data frame: 10 = decoded bits, · = empty slot.

🖥️ Raw lighthouse_console output (click to toggle)
📋 No bridge? Paste sensorcheck output manually (click to expand)
🛠️
Device not working right? If a test flags a fault — or something just seems off with your headset, controller, or tracker — our technicians can diagnose and repair it.
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