Use ESP32 Capacitive Touch Sensor with Arduino Code

What is that?

Capacitive sensors are widely used to detect the pressure of our fingers, especially on touch screens. They can be used on the ESP32 to replace mechanical pushbuttons.

Capacitive touch sensors

Capacitive sensors are based on the change in capacitance (of a capacitor) when the sensor is touched. This variation is read and converted by the ADC (Analog to digital converter).

Indeed, many parasitic capacitances come into play and can modify the measured values.

Parasitic capacitors

It will be necessary to consider all these parameters and make an electronic circuit much more accurate and complicated to have good measurements.

Hard to do an easier circuit :)

Use on the ESP32

The code to use the capacitive sensors is pretty straightforward: only one function is needed touchRead() .

touchRead(4);
//ou
touchRead(T0);

Usage is very similar to the analogRead() function.

With a short code, the measured values ​​are displayed in the serial monitor:

void setup() {
    Serial.begin(115200);
    delay(1000); // Delai pour lancer le moniteur série
    Serial.println("ESP32 Touch Demo");
}

void loop() {
    Serial.println(touchRead(4));
    delay(500);
}

Curve displayed in the serial plotter

The hollows correspond to the moment the wire is touched. To determine if the wire has been touched, a threshold value must be defined. If we are below this threshold value, then the button has been touched.

The code with the threshold is:

int capacitiveValue = 100;
int threshold = 20; //Seuil a ajuster

void setup() {
    Serial.begin(115200);
    delay(1000); // Delai pour lancer le moniteur série
    Serial.println("ESP32 Touch Demo");
}

void loop() {
    capacitiveValue = touchRead(4);
    if(capacitiveValue < threshold ){
        Serial.println("Fil touché");
        }
    delay(500);
}

That’s it for programming! You can also add aluminum foil at the end of the wire for better sensitivity. https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Use-Touch-Sensors-With-Arduino/