"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Robert Green wrote:
I've got the typical minivan keyless entry keychain fob but it's got a
serious design problem.

stuff snipped

I might be able to work a small slide or lever switch inside the fob, but
it's tight. In the interim, I made a clamshell type case made of hard
clear
plastic bubble packing material and one of those retracting string
keychain
things so I can slide it out to activate it and then let the rewinding
mechanism withdraw it. So far, the hard plastic sheath has reduced the
accidental openings, but it's butt ugly, ungainly and not a very good
solution. Plus, it came unglued more than once. There's a lot of
interesting stresses in pockets and pocketbooks. Ideas, anyone?

Hmm,
More likely you'll end up dead fob. I'd rather carry it in a little
sturdy pouch if I need to.

I don't wanna be a dead fob. Sounds awful. (0:

The problem is that it's a weird, rounded teardrop shaped thing and only a
hard case will keep the buttons from getting accidentally depressed. I
managed to find some of the very hard clear plastic bubble packaging that
had close to a similar shape, but it was still much larger than the keyfob
itself.

I have a good friend that's a soldering pro and who used to build custom
devices for NASA that I could ask to do the soldering. He's tackled worse
for me before, soldering tiny SMD devices and repairing tiny pushbuttons.
I'd really like a solution other than a case. I tried that for a while.
The biggest problem, other than the added bulk, is that a case requires two
hands to operate, and might be very hard to do with gloves on. I already
dropped the keys into deep snow fiddling with the case once this year.
That's just one of the many reasons I don't like the case approach.

I think there's enough room if I find the right switch. I've taken some
photos. The circuit board is very sparse, consisting of traces going to the
switch, a single IC, and the power source.

Thanks for your input, Tony.

--
Bobby G.