Electronics Would a 'touch lamp repair kit' make a servicable touch start thingy?

They sell these devices at my local Home Hardware called touch lamp repair kits. I've only read the box, but the gist is that they're little boxes with some wires coming out, and they can either repair an existing touch lamp, or turn an ordinary lamp into one.

Now, something like this makes me think. If it works on lamps, why not computers? Granted, it's designed for 120vac, so there'd have to be a relay set up. But still, it does have potential for a very simple touch start setup, that would hardly require any electronics knowledge. So is it worth picking up to try? It's only $15, but I'd like to know if it could work or not first.

 

for that money your best getting a kit from an electronics place thats designed to run on 5v/12v as you know you can mod it for a pc and it'll trun out cheaper i'm sure. I've been meaning to do this for some time, great little things some of them can even detect touch through 10mm plexi!

 

Agreed. The QT113H sensor from Quantum Research is about $2 and can project a sense field through air and dielectric materials. It only needs a small capacitor to work.

 

http://www.qprox.com/downloads/datasheets/qt113_102.pdf

....
any details of this in action?

 

Disco, here are a couple of kit sellers plus a diagram. Looks pretty easy, even to a non-tech like me.

http://safe.spsp.net/cgi-bin/debco/TS-1.html
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=TS1
http://kitsrus.com/pdf/k137.pdf

Hey you electro techies, it's evident to you
"Agreed. The QT113H sensor from Quantum Research is about $2 and can project a sense field through air and dielectric materials. It only needs a small capacitor to work."
but it's greek to a lot of others like me. A simple schematic with the parts list would be really appreciated. (rant concluded)

 

sounds damn cool

could i use it on my acrylic case. by touching the side panel turning my pc on

 

You'd need a bit of metal behind the acrylic wired to the sensor, but it would work through the acrylic yes, the touch area will be the same size as the metal plate behind the plexi.

 

Your wish has been granted. Page two.

 

OK then, if I understand correctly, and I want to use this as a power on switch, pin 1 vdd can be connected to 5 v (I guess from the ATX connector standby wire that is always on), pin 8 vss is connected to gnd (on the atx connector), pin 2 out is connected to the - pin? of the mb power switch header, and finally Cx represents someone touching the sensor panel.
or
can pin 1 be connected to the + side of the mb pwr switch header and pin 2 to the - side, and pin 8 to any gnd?

In this way we get an on time of 10 seconds.
Isn't that too long, normally all you get is a momentary connection to power up? and what about using this a a reset, is a 10 second on time too long?
Thanks

 

If you read section 2.2.1, you'll see that the 10 second timeout refers to the maximum time the sensor gives an output before it recalibrates to the new level. Pins 1, 3, 4, and 5 go to the +5 of the WOL header, pin 8 goes to the ground/earth of the WOL header, pins 6 and 7 are bridged by a capacitor (I recommend 0.01 uF), pin 7 also goes to the touchplate, and pin 2 goes to a transistor that has the power switch leads across its collector and emitter.

 

Thanks for the reply Viridius, I think I get the principle, but I have a couple more questions,
- my mobo has no on board nic so no wol header, so can I connect pins 1,3,4,& 5 to the +5 sb on the atx connector and pin 8 to a gnd on the atx connector
- what transitor would I use

Thanks for the help

 

there might still be a wol or wor header on the mobo, check around the PCI slots, should be white, with 3 pins.

 

I have a ? on the matter of QT113H-D. I want to hook one up to a 5V power supply to some LEDs. So would all I need to to is Pin1 to 5v and Pin8 to the ground and Pin7 to the touch plate? Now can the touch plate just be acrylic or does it have to be metal?

 

Conkbot, no wol or wor, (mobo is A7V266) closest thing is a set of jumpers for kb wake up.
Guys, is there something wrong with taking power from the atx connector instead of the wol or wor headers?
Any luck on the transistor number? anybody ?

Apoogod, the touch plate must be metal, and this circuit is a momentary switch, so the leds would go off after a while (determined by the comonents you chose).

 

No way, any way to make it not momentary? Is there a chip thats just for on/off


never mind it does act as a on/off switch.....http://www.qprox.com/downloads/datasheets/qt113_102.pdf 2.2.2

 

Oops, you're right! Well that's what I'm here for, to learn.

 

me to you scared me when u said that...I had just bought 13 of them right before you said that. I had to go back and check.

 

13? what the h... are you gonna do with 13? Min order? do you have any spares you're willing to part with?

 

Yeah i could take a good few of your hands if you have any spares, people are always emailing me about this stuff.

 

well if I can make it cheap enough I plan on selling glow pads with the touch sensor when I get the mouse pads Im having made. 13 was so I didnt have to pay the damn handling fee and some extras for testing.