# Using gfxhat buttons after mounting in a box

**URL:** <https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [February 13, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026 "2020-02-13T13:13:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![OmegaMale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@OmegaMale](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/OmegaMale)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/1 "2020-02-13T13:13:03Z")

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I recently purchased a gfxhat and I have it working displaying information from my Owl Intuition water heater. However I would like to mount it in a box to make neat job of it and I can’t see any way to use the capacative touch buttons once I’ve done that. Is there any way to do this?

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**Author:** ![Crowbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/crowbot/32/5888_2.png) [@Crowbot](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Crowbot)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/2 "2020-02-14T03:01:31Z")

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I can’t tell from the photos on the site but it looks like the touch pads are bare gold. You could solder a thin wire to each pad and move the “buttons” to a case.

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**Author:** ![OmegaMale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@OmegaMale](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/OmegaMale)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 9:00am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/3 "2020-02-14T09:00:29Z")

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Interesting. I don’t know much about how these capacitive buttons work.

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**Author:** ![Crowbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/crowbot/32/5888_2.png) [@Crowbot](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Crowbot)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/4 "2020-02-14T12:16:37Z")

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It’s fairly straightforward. The board puts a tiny charge on each pad. A finger touching it will discharge the pad. The board senses that. A thin wire (22-24 gage) and a small foil pad at the end can extend it.

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**Author:** ![OmegaMale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@OmegaMale](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/OmegaMale)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/5 "2020-02-14T12:48:18Z")

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ok I might experiment this weekend…

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**Author:** ![OmegaMale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@OmegaMale](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/OmegaMale)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 10:41am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/6 "2020-02-17T10:41:32Z")

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I discovered that you can adjust the sensitivity in software so that the buttons can still be read even if theyare behind a layer of plastic. This might be all I need. I couldn’t find any documentation anywhere to explain this, I found it by looking in the code.

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**Author:** ![trofer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e68b1a/32.png) [@trofer](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/trofer)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/using-gfxhat-buttons-after-mounting-in-a-box/13026/7 "2020-07-15T20:30:44Z")

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Hey Omega,

Did you find a way to edit the sensitivity? I am currently trying to case it and the buttons are posing a little bit of a problem