The user manual is the shortest page of this guide, because its really really easy to get going.

  1. Power the EZ-Key with 3-16VDC power. Batteries work great: 3 or 4 alkaline or rechargeable 1.5V, a 9V, Lithium Ion/Polymer, Lead acid... Whatever you have!
  2. Pair the EZ-Key to your computer, laptop, tablet or phone
  3. Connect one side of a switch to GPIO #0 through #11. Connect the other side to Ground.
  4. Open up a notepad or text editor on the paired computer
  5. Press the switch to send a key code
  6. Profit?
You will be able to see the green LED blink every time it detects a switch and sends the keycode.

Since GPIO #0 through #3 are arrow keys, they might be more difficult to detect if the notepad software is empty. Try GPIO #4 through #11 which send printable characters

When a switch is pressed, a KEYDOWN command is sent, when it is release, a matching KEYUP goes out. You can have up to 6 switches pressed at once and it will be like they were pressed all at the same time. 6 is a strict limit of Bluetooth.

Don't forget: You don't have to use a plain clicky switch! Try tilt sensors, reed switches, conductive velcro, big stompy buttons, arcade joysticks, ANYTHING that makes/breaks two contacts

Here is the default switch-to-key mapping:
  • #0 - Up Arrow
  • #1 - Down Arrow
  • #2 - Left Arrow
  • #3 - Right Arrow
  • #4 - Return
  • #5 - Space
  • #6 - the number '1'
  • #7 - the number '2'
  • #8 - lowercase 'w'
  • #9 - lowercase 'a'
  • #10 - lowercase 's'
  • #11 - lowercase 'd'
You can customize these with a little bit of effort, see the Remapping Buttons page.

Dimensions in Inches & mm

This guide was first published on Sep 27, 2013. It was last updated on Sep 22, 2016.

This page (User Manual) was last updated on Sep 27, 2013.

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