Adding keypad security to your automobile’s ignition system

keypad-based-car-security-system

[BadWolf] managed to make some free time to get back to his own electronic projects. This time around he's created a security system for his car. It's patched into the ignition, preventing the engine from starting when the key is turned. A driver must first insert the key, then type the combination on a keypad in the center console before the car will fire up. While he was working on the … [Read more...]

Repaired microwave keypad looks as good as new

microwave_keypad_repair

Instructables user [Rohit] had an out-of-warranty microwave with a broken membrane keypad. Much like our friend [Alexandre] from Brazil, he found the cost of replacement parts beyond reasonable, so he had to find a way to repair it instead. He disassembled the front cover of his microwave to get at the main controller board. Once it was detached, he removed the keypad’s cover to get a closer … [Read more...]

Keypad uses a PIC’s built in capacitance functionality

capacitive-touchpad

[Giorgos Lazaridis'] most recent project was to build a capacitive touch pad. Since he's using a PIC 16F1937 it will be relatively easy. That's because it has a 16 channel capacitance sensing module built right in. But there are still some design considerations that make the development a bit touching. This isn't the first time he's worked with capacitance sensing. Through past experience he … [Read more...]

Repairing a broken microwave keypad

microwave_keypad_fix

[Alexandre Souza] needed a microwave pretty badly, but he didn’t have a lot of cash on hand. He located one for a great price, but once he got home he found that things weren’t working quite like they should be (Google translation). After some investigation, he narrowed the problem down to a bad keypad membrane. Unfortunately for him, this model of microwave was never sold in Brazil (who … [Read more...]

Keypad input scanning by a 555 timer

555-keypad-scanner

[R-B] designed a 555 timer circuit to scan a keypad. Keypads are common interfaces for small projects and require row and column scanning by a microcontroller. [R-B's] setup allows you to reduce the number of pins used on the microcontroller to just two. One is an interrupt that is triggered when any of the buttons are pushed, the other reads the frequency from the 555 chip. Each button has its … [Read more...]

Building a security access panel

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It turns out that hacking together a security keypad is remarkably simple if you know what you're doing. [Don] needed to add a keypad with an RFID reader on it. He had previously built a USB RFID reader and thought he could integrate those concepts into the new unit. He once again started with a serial to USB converter and removed the voltage converter IC for later use since he doesn't need TTL … [Read more...]

Knitting machine hack by keypad emulation

more-knitting-adventers

[Travis Goodspeed] and Hackaday alum [Fabienne Serriere] joined forces to develop an alternative interface for a knitting machine. They're working with the Brother KH-930E machine. We saw [Becky Stern] use the same model by manipulating data on an emulated floppy drive for the device. [Travis] and [Fabienne] went a different route, and are emulating the keypad using an Arduino and a set of … [Read more...]