Mate, relook at the momentary switch! on whatever form factor that suits you!!!
Amal made some great suggestions, and would work well in a fixed position or a low foot traffic area.
There are many ways to skin a cat, find momentary switch that works ergonomically on your box and install it.
fast installation, simple modification to wiring and effective REALLY effective.
That’s what I have done and would do in your shoes.
PLUS, I would add a 9V battery Jumper incase of lock out. (9V will operate xEM but not sure if it would operate you locking mechanism, but you could still use the 9V lead to a 12V supply, infact as I type and think, you could use this as your charging plug OR better yet… still typing and thinking, use your current charging socket and make a 9V battery adapter (if it operates your lock), Hot glue a magnet onto a 9V battery and stash it on your toolbox…)
I’ll shut up Now…
More batteries, diode on the charging circuit, up the charging voltage to compensaste for diode, and just generally clean up the build. It’s the little things that I could’ve done better in hindsight.
I think I’ll keep the entire original though and mount it on my shed door.
Gonna need a solenoid that’s compatible though.
I’m working on a similar project as far as an RFID controlled lock for my rolling tool cart, I’m using a cheap RFID cabinet lock and extending the antenna to outside the box(the box is all metal) I’ve already been able to program it to read my xEM and everything is working out so far.
1 is that the reader installed on the front inside of the box?
2 are you ditching the manual key and / or lock entirely? It looks like you’re keeping the upper loop. Maybe that’s just so you don’t get locked out durning the build? I almost did.
Once you’re fully operational, Video is a MUST.
edit. Food for thought. There’s room for a DT sticker on either side of the GENERAL logo under the lid. I’m gonna do it.
I haven’t installed the mechanism on the box yet and the antenna is going to go completely on the outside The mechanism is going to be on the inside, after I further extend the antenna. I’m also going to replace the power supply to a dedicated DC outlet to further reduce the risk of getting locked out. I might also include a back door switch. and yes I did completely remove the original locking mechanism.
Edit- I have a logo on my removable magnetic worktop
Spent a coupla hours today rebuilding a Milwaukie 20V drill battery. It was 5s2p for a total of 10 cells. Now it’s 3s3p with one extra cell that I had to put back in to make the holder work. Added a BMS and it looks good to go.
Also got the new box out and put holes, grommets, and the DC power jack in it.
Oddly enough, I can’t find a tube of silicone that I need to mount the battery pack.
For want of a nail, right?
The real progress was finding all the random bits that I’d gotten scattered across my kingdom. Progress soon.
Oh, and I ordered that capacitive touch sensor that Satur9 mentioned awhile back. The way everything works, you need your hand on the handle while scanning so that you can open it. The handle is bare aluminum. Should work great. Between the capacitive touch, and the bigger battery pack, I might be able to stretch my up time into months not weeks.
That capacitve touch board is cool. They make two different modules that are nearly identical, one momentary, the other toggles between on / off every time it’s touched. I need the momentary. Guess what? I ordered the other one. Dammit.
Ordered the right part, now I gotta wait some more. Will probably finish soldering up everything else, but taking my time as it’s kinda packed.
Board on the left is incomplete. It will have the touch sensor output go to a PN2222a transitor base, through a 330 ohm resistor. The collector will be 12V and the emitter will be wired to provide power to the xAC and (through the xAC) the coil of the relay.
If that checks out:
The two boards will be stacked with standoffs in order to conserve real estate inside the box.
Starting to come together.
Haha, happens to the best of us. You may find you need something higher than the 330ohm. Its just V/I*R to make sure you hit the right base current and not blow it up.
