I'm working on a little project I call my "Green Box". Basically, I'm trying to drop my electric usage as low as possible, without losing the convenience of my gadgetry.
So far, I'm incorporating a passive IR sensor for motion detection, an ambient light sensor, and using [hopefully] a small SNMP subset to an ethernet shield to determine the state of activity. Based on these factors, I want to turn on/off various devices (PWM for fans speed of laptop cooler, IR to power on/off a few components, wireless X-10 for controlling lights), etc. I'll admit, I'm lazy; I could just do all of this myself, but with 6 kids running around, it's easy to forget to hit a power switch (let alone 5 or 6).
I have 2 Samsung monitors which have capacitive touch controls on the front. I would like to trigger these with the Arduino in the box to turn the monitors on/off, without having to rip them apart and hack them. I'm a perpetual upgrader, and I'd like to sell them in "like new" condition when I decide to.
So, from googling, I've found a few people mention that I could put a small metal plate over the sensor, and use a transistor to ground that plate to trigger the touch. I know nothing but theory of how capacitive touch works so:
This seems plausible to me; is it?
If so, can it be ANY gound (the one from the Arduino), or does it have to be the ground from the monitor?
Based on answers from the previous questions; could I run a single lead to a PNP transistors base and collector, and connect the emitter to the plate? Would this work?