I'm trying to activate a button of a mp3 player with Arduino. Well, the main idea is very simple, just make a short with 2 wires in a tiny period of time to "simulate" a button pressed (the mp3 player has a smd pushbutton where I soldered 2 wires to make the short). Anyone have a idea how can I do that? I know I can use a relay, but I don't want to make a large final solution so, I was thinking in something smaller.
A transistor would work, and they can be very small. Also, if you can figure out what the voltage going through the switch is, it may be possible to hook it up to a digital output and just use digitalWrite.
I've used transistors to simulate button pushes on a tv remote and it worked well. An optical isolator chip might also be a good option (but the local radio shack does not carry them).
The idea with transistor is what this picture shows?
It would do if it were right, but its wired up all wrong.
While a transistor can work, much better is an FET as this actually changes resistance. I have had situations where a transistor would not trigger something but an FET would. Remember you also need to connect the ground of your device and the arduino ground together.
Just replace the transistor with a logic level FET and make the base resistor (which is now a gate resistor) 100R.
Do not connect the drain (was the collector) to +12V or a resistor but common up the grounds between your device and the arduino.
I'll try with the FET tomorrow. I used a 12V relay and it worked but when the pushbutton was pressed by the relay, I heard a loud noise on the speaker - don't know why..