Big Red Button

It's big. It's red. In this exceedingly theatric reference implementation, it'll send a Ctrl-V to whatever USB host it's connected to. We used it at the public launch of my university's Science DMZ to start a set of big downloads, so that the assembled VIPs could watch a Grafana bandwidth gauge redline. Could be used for any launch, decommissioning, or other special occasion.

Science DMZ Launch Event

Demo Video

Big Red Button Demo Video

Components

  1. Big Dome Pushbutton - Red from Sparkfun
  2. Toggle Switch and Cover - Illuminated (Red) from Sparkfun
  3. Big Red Box - Enclosure from Sparkfun
  4. Teensy®++ 2.0 Development Board from PJRC
  5. USB-A to Mini-B 2.0 Cable from Monoprice

Breadboard schematic

Big red button breadboard schematic

Detail Photos

Big Red Button

  • Thin yellow wire connecting microswitch common terminal to Teensy++ B7,
  • Thin white wire connecting LED anode terminal to Teensy++ D6,
  • Thick white wire connecting microswitch NO terminal, LED cathode terminal, and one side of toggle switch

Big Red Button

Toggle Switch

  • Thick white wire connecting one side of toggle switch to Big Red Button,
  • Thin black wire connecting same side of toggle switch to Teensy++ GND,
  • Thin red wire connecting other side of toggle switch to Teensy++ D0

toggle Switch

Code

Found in big_red_dmz_button.ino. Should be easy to follow, and you can easily change which IO pins the switches are connected to and what key combination you want to send when they're both switched.

TODO

  • Use other digital inputs to decide if the button should send a Ctrl-V, Ctrl-Shift-V, Command-V, and possibly send an Enter key afterwards.