Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this sort of idea. Looking to mod my case, going to post up my plans soon and get some advice. One of my ideas is a touch sensitive power button ala the phat playstation 3. my idea is a thin piece of perspex above a switch. Hopefully have the perspex flush with the top of my midgard and just thin enough so that when the computer is on you can see the glow of the Led. I've got hardly any experience with electronics at all so thats where I need some advice. any help at all will be very interested
Google has some useful references: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=100148 http://www.electro-tech-online.com/...at/105678-touch-sensitive-power-switch-2.html
I made one. It was really annoying and didn't work properly at times. I'm sure it's possible to make one that does work properly though.
What about piezo-switches? Way easier then touch-sensitive and they look and work just the same basically from a design-POV. You can buy them for $20 ready to go.
Ive built some this week, i used a Picaxe 18m2 and a simple code. you can have up to 4 buttons off one chip too
I've actually had a very close look at the innards of PS3 touch controls, and although I'm not well versed in electronics I can say I don't know how they work :S The part you touch has a little "z" shape of metal under it. Touching that bare metal on its own without putting any pressure on it switches on the console - I wondered at first if the tip of the "z" shape bent down when pressed and made a circuit but its a single piece :shrug: What jrs77 said about piezos looks good to me. But then to me the word "piezo" is synonymous with "magic". Anyway good luck.
I had the same idea with my case mod, though I plan to use the eject button to eject a dvd from the stealth face plate on my tj-07 . I think, though I'm not sure, that the PS3 uses cappacitive touch buttons that detect a voltage drop when the button is touched, which then opperates the required function by some clever electronics or magic stuff that happens inside.
Funny how these things were all the rage and now you don't see them much. However, there were different 'sensitivities' of these things, with ones that worked if you almost just looked at them and some which needed reasonably firm contact, without any actual movement.
i happened to stumble upon this http://pcbheaven.com/wikipages/How_a_Touch_Button_works/?p=0 it is interesting if you want to know more about how they work.
Search! The chip has changes to a 118 have several but use a small relay so as to not latch 5v down the power switch header... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=100148&highlight=qprox
Why not just steal the button of a dead PS3. Some one out the in bit-tech land is bound to have one sitting around.
funny you mention it.... lol no bad ac22297 shouldnt sell other peoples ps3 components go sit in the corner *slinks away*
I bought some replacement buttons for the PS3 thinking that they might be more technical than they actually are, they are in fact just painted aluminium blocks. they attach to a PCB via a length of metal spring just to transfer the capacitance of a touch, or something.
