Help with foot pedal modification

[JPU]

Hi All

I purchased a foot pedal of Ebay. Its rated 240V and is a generic part for sewing machines. My intention was to strip the pedal and install a PICAXE chip with a bluetooth wireless link. This is to send the data from the foot pedal to another BT module connected to a motor controller. The end result being a very cheap blue tooth foot pedal for use with a motor as an alternative to the current button control.

I have stripped the pedal and measured the resistance across the terminals and the range is 0 to 2K ohm. I thought this would be a simple case of apply a 5V voltage and then read the voltage using a PICAXE readadc etc. However the problem is not only my very serious lack of knowledge but the fact I only know how todo this with a POT and this isn't a POT. I have tried a couple of configurations but nothings works.

Please can someone tell me if I am flogging a dead horse here or is there a way I could get this to work (simply) using the given components.

I have included some pics of the under side and components. There are only two terminals on the device shown.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Arouse1973]

If your happy to work with the range of 0 to 2.5 Volts then another 2K resistors connected from 5 Volts to one side of the pedal and connect the other side of the pedal to 0V, then where the resistor and foot pedal connection meet is your tap of point and will go from 0 to 2.5 volts. If you want exactly five volts input range then this can be achieved with a simple x2 gain opamp or transistor circuit. You might not be able to do this with a potential divider as the values would need to be quite low and would draw excess current from the supply.
Adam