Planning Touch button question

Hey all, i have a quick question relating to touch sensetive buttons.

I am almost done on my little project, have been trying to put a PC inside a PS3 shell to use as a HTPC for a while now and the last thing that has me confused is how to turn it on.

As im sure you all know the PS3's buttons are touch sensitive and i was hoping to use these as functional buttons on the PC however i cant seem to figure out how to do it.

I dont have PCB making facilities or knowledge so i was wondering is there anything i can buy that will simply let me wire it upto the power switch pins on the motherboard and the metal button on the console and allow it to function as a on/off switch (will also be using another one as the DVD drive eject button)

Cheers for any help guys

 

IIRC correctly they work just like a glide pad on a laptop which is heat sensitive to your finger. This is why you can't use a non-warm abject to move your mouse or if it is hot out why your ipod wheel doesn't always work correctly.

 

ty for the reply, ahh i see. Any ideas what i could buy to be able to use the switches?

 

a lot of those type switches also use the static electricity that exists on your body, like the self opening door locks on cars

they can also work like this

At its most basic, a capacitive-sensing system works like this: The system controller supplies an electrical current to the grid. The metal channels that form the grid are conductors -- they conduct electricity. When another conductor -- say, your finger -- gets close to the grid, the current wants to flow to your finger to complete the circuit. But there's a piece of nonconductive plastic in the way -- the Click Wheel cover. So the charge builds up at the point of the grid that's closest to your finger. This build-up of an electrical charge between two conductors is called capacitance. The closer the two conductors are without touching, the greater the capacitance.

so unless you can build the controller or know someone who can then your stuck

 

IIRC the QT113 or something like that can do this. (cap sesitive IC)

Search the forums, there was a massive thread on it.

 

Yo.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=100148

 

still cant find anyone who will supply such an item to the UK, even eBay is of no help

 

UK QT113 supplies

They are neat little things, I should really put together my circuits...

Laz

 

yeah i was aware farnells sells them but am not too confident in actually making a circuit like this myself