I am planning to build a coin slot that when a coin is dropped in will turn the PS3 on. Very simple. I figured the quickest and easiest way to do this is by using a Teensy to send the PS button (or other 'on' signal) via USB to the PS3. The problem I've been having is trying to find how best to mimic this 'on' command. Can anyone point me in the right direction on communicating from a Teensy or Arduino to the PS3?
The easiest way will be to get a logitech harmony to ps3 IR adapter and do it with IR.
The alternative would be a Bluetooth setup. USB interfacing can be tough even with a system built for it like teensy.
Any cheaper solutions? The IR receiver + remote runs ~$50. Even hacking a PS controller directly would be less expensive (I've found one for $20 on craigslist).
It IS expensive, but does the trick. One thing to think about is that control like this is not the intended functionality of the system. The reason I mention is that powering ON is one thing, but powering OFF (perhaps a timer in your sketch based on when the coin was inserted) can be awful. It's not just POWER OFF. It's a sequence of events that with the logitech is a macro that executes. It takes care of the menus that pop up and try to stop you from powering down. I would say also that if you're using a wireless controller for PLAY and try to do the power down macro, the person with the controller could stop the shutdown sequence pretty easily. With wired system, you'd just cut the power to the controller before starting, but not so easy with the wireless.
The end result: you can hack up a PS remote and it will give you the PS button that you can just connect with a relay or similar. It will be hacky but whatever. That remote should be constantly powered. it will ALSO show up in the list of connected controllers for the system. This might cause sync issues if you play certain games that when they detect more than one connected remote will try to force you into two player mode.
You can sniff the USB out using these techniques: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfwnss_collin-s-lab-usb-hacking-with-arduino_school if you really really want to go that route, but I'm guessing you would need to have a connected, paired controller to implement the results, which triggers the 1p vs 2p issues above.
oh - and if you want to go down this road: you could always try attaching leads to the capacitive power button on the PS3 and try fooling it into thinking someone has touched it.
edit: I realized I didn't mention how to fool it. In the past, I've been able to do it by taking a conductive slug (copper, steel - both fine) and connecting it to a massive resistor to a small positive source. Note this is an open circuit. You can then use a relay to switch it over to be directly connected to ground. 100-200pf of capacitance is likely enough. This is relatively easy to cobble up and try if you're game.