Foot switch Disassembly:
The footswitch comes with a nice long flexible 3-conductor cable. But who wants a long wire on a wireless switch? So we'll start by cracking open the foot switch and removing the cable. You can put it in your spare parts bin to save for some other project.
Remove the two screws from the bottom of the foot switch. Remove the bottom plate - being careful to keep the bottom of the switch facing up.
Locate and remove the small locking-pin near the front edge of the switch. It should fall out easily when you turn it over.
Push on the end of the hinge-pin with the tip of the screwdriver. While squeezing the foot switch, pull the hinge pin completely out.
Be sure to hold the two halves of the switch together as you remove the pin so that the spring does not pop out!
Be sure to hold the two halves of the switch together as you remove the pin so that the spring does not pop out!
Wiring it up:
The switch and the battery get connected by a few short jumpers. We'll add a key-code selection header so that you can easily reconfigure the switch my moving the jumper.
We'll use a jumper with a female connector on one end so that we can select the keycode. We need another jumper for the ground connection.
Separate two jumper wires from the ribbon. Clip the connectors from the male end and strip the ends of the wires.
Solder one wire to the terminal marked "NO" and the other wire to the terminal marked "C".
Separate two jumper wires from the ribbon. Clip the connectors from the male end and strip the ends of the wires.
Solder one wire to the terminal marked "NO" and the other wire to the terminal marked "C".
Cut a 12-pin section from the right-angle header strip and solder it to the holes marked 0-11.
Make sure to position the pins so that they angle toward the center of the EZ-Key!
Make sure to position the pins so that they angle toward the center of the EZ-Key!
Position the EZ-Key on top of the battery holder as shown. Measure and cut the wires so they are just long enough to reach the Vin and Gnd holes on the board.
Solder one of the wires from the switch to one of the other Gnd holes, and clip the soldered wires close to the board.
Press down on the top half of the switch to align the holes and insert the hinge pin. Make sure that the notch in the hinge pin is positioned to line up with the small locking pin you removed earlier.
Final Assembly:
Now we'll put the foot switch back together and package the whole thing up into a nice compact unit.
Cut a piece of double-sided foam tape about as wide as the plastic plate (1 3/4") and stick to one end of the plate.
Cut another piece of tape to fit on the bottom side of the EZ-Key. Mount the EZ-Key to the top of the battery box. Keep to the left so you don't cover the ON/OFF switch.
Connect the jumper to pin #1 of the right-angle header. And you are ready to go!
(Optional step) - If you will be using this on a slippery surface, you may want to add some rubber bumper feet to the bottom of the plastic plate.
(Optional step) - If you will be using this on a slippery surface, you may want to add some rubber bumper feet to the bottom of the plastic plate.
Page last edited January 26, 2014
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