Buttons for Knobs

[_drunk_]

I have been drawing out specs for a light and fan control panel and have finally reached a problem. Is there a way to use two buttons (up and down) to take the place of a knob/dial for a rheostat? If possible, I would rather not have to use a motor as that would take more space, and I want to keep this as small as I can.

Here is a (badly drawn) schematic of what I want:

Thanks for any help in advance.

[Frakk]

buttons for knobs? now you want a button or a knob? it is possible to have a 3 way switch to controll speed of the fan, 12V+ and GND(0V)- gives you full speed, 12V. if your positive is 12V and the negative is the 5V, you will have a slower speed with 7V. 5V+ and GND- will give you an even slower speed with 5V going through the fan. with a switch you can change these connections, therefore controll the fan. what do you want to use a motor for? i think you wanted to say potentiometers, or variable resistors that you can turn to controll the fan? well they dont take up a lot of room, in fact they might be smaller than some switches.

[_drunk_]

Ok, well then where could I find a variable resistor and where/how would I use it on the schematic? Would it just go where my weird looking switch is for the fans?

[Frakk]

you can probably find some in radioshack or other electronics store. if you are familiar with resistors, you should know how and what they are used for. if you dont i recommend reading some more about electronics before you jump into a project. but here it is: 12V+______resistor_____+Fan-____GDN
all the resistor will do is lower the voltage, therefore the fan will slow down as you increase the resistance.

[_drunk_]

And to increase/decrease the resistance, I can set it to switches, right? Like I said, I don't want knobs, but more like a standard TV remote's volume controls.

[Frakk]

oh i get what you mean. no, with a variable resistor you cant have buttons to do that, at least if you dont come up with some mechanical thing to do it. what you want to do is fairly complicated, as it recieves digital signals(the button push). you would need a separate controller chip and a complicated circuit board and it would be a lot bigger than a switch. you could do the 12-7-5 volt switch with 3 speeds, but whats wrong with dials?

[_drunk_]

Well, I am trying to make a remote to control the hardware, and I would rather study up on what type of circuits I would need then just put some type of ugly motor to turn the dial.

[Frakk]

good luck with that. my friend in my computer engineering class tried to read the signals from an infra red remote control. he made 3 different circuits connected to eachother plus the program reading it in and he couldnt get it working in 2 months. i dont want to disencourage you, but if you want to make it all by ureself you will have to do some serious research. and it would probably cost you a lot too. not to talk about the size of your circuit boards.

[_drunk_]

Yea, I know it won't be easy, but I think it would be pretty cool to sit back on the sofa, grab a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and use your computer from accross the room. I have seen many software-driven versions, but screw that. I want something that isn't software reliant. It will be more "me" that way.

[Frakk]

and it will take a lot of research,time and effort. not to talk about how good and effective it will work. anyways ill give you the props thats for sure