Products for USB Sensing and Control
Products for USB Sensing and Control
For a seamless user input solution that differs from the ordinary pushbutton, try the Touch Keypad Phidget. It works like a smartphone's touchscreen, sensing the change in capacitance as you finger comes near. As such, you can place the Touch Keypad Phidget behind up to 3mm of glass or plastic, allowing you to enclose the hardware to make the panel child-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
With seven capacitive touch regions, you can assign different functions to each with events in our API. You can also detect the proximity of a finger before contact is made, and you can adjust the sensitivity to improve performance in your application. If an object stays on a region for sixty seconds, the board will recalibrate and ignore that object until it is removed. This feature prevents regions from being locked by unintentional objects like dirt or debris.
| Sensor Properties | |
|---|---|
| Controlled By | VINT |
| Calibration Time | 45 s |
| Sampling Interval Max | 1 s/sample |
| Sampling Interval Min | 25 ms/sample |
| Detecting Distance Max | 5 mm |
| Electrical Properties | |
| Current Consumption Max | * 3.6 mA |
| Current Consumption Min | 50 μA |
| Physical Properties | |
| Operating Temperature Min | -40 °C |
| Operating Temperature Max | 85 °C |
* Current consumption varies with data interval. See the technical section of the user guide for details.
Sensitivity Settings| Sensitivity (0-1) | Application |
|---|---|
| 0.8 - 1.0 | Behind up to 3mm of glass |
| 0.2 | Inside default enclosure |
| Channel Name | API | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Capacitive Touch Sensor | CapacitiveTouch | 0 - 6 |
| API | Language | OS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapacitiveTouch | C | Multiple | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | C# | Windows | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | Java | Multiple | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | JavaScript | Any | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | Objective-C | macOS | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | Python | Multiple | Download |
| CapacitiveTouch | Visual Basic .NET | Windows | Download |
| Date | Board Revision | Device Version | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2017 | 0 | 104 | Product Release |
Welcome to the HIN1000 user guide! In order to get started, make sure you have the following hardware on hand:
Next, you will need to connect the pieces:
In order to demonstrate the functionality of the HIN1000, the Phidget Control Panel running on a Windows machine will be used.
The Phidget Control Panel is available for use on both macOS and Windows machines. If you would like to follow along, first take a look at the getting started guide for your operating system:
Linux users can follow the getting started with Linux guide and continue reading here for more information about the HIN1000.
After plugging the HIN1000 into your computer and opening the Phidget Control Panel, you will see something like this:
The Phidget Control Panel will list all connected Phidgets and associated objects, as well as the following information:
The Phidget Control Panel can also be used to test your device. Double-clicking on an object will open an example.
When you double click on a Capacitive Touch object, a window like the one pictured will open.
Since capacitive touch sensors rely on checking capacitance against a threshold to detect when they are touched, they need to keep a good baseline of the capacitance of their environment. The HIN1000 will re-calibrate its baseline levels if it detects a constant touch for more than 60 seconds, in order to prevent getting stuck in a touched state. Similarly, it will re-calibrate its baseline capacitance to adjust to falling capacitance (such as when it is moved away from a surface) in order to prevent getting stuck in a not-touched state. The latter adjustment happens soon after the baseline is detected to have fallen.
The current consumption of the HIN1000 varies depending on the data interval that you choose. When it is connected but not configured, it will draw a minimal current of around 50 µA. Once it has been configured, current consumption will increase as the interval between data events is shortened, as illustrated by this graph:
This Phidget is a smart device that must be controlled by a VINT Hub. For more information about VINT, have a look at the VINT Primer. You can use a Phidget Cable to simply and easily connect the two devices. Here's a list of all of the different VINT Hubs currently available:
| Product | Board | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Part Number | Price | Number of VINT Ports |
 |
HUB0000_0 | $30.00 | 6 |
Use a Phidget cable to connect this device to the hub. You can solder multiple cables together in order to make even longer Phidget cables, but you should be aware of the effects of having long wires in your system.
