Thx for this info Mactester. A couple of questions...
1. The green inverter wire I have is currently wired for 3.3 Volts. Do the 2 resistors you have shown in the circuit suffice for reducing the 5V from the Picaxe unit down to the 3.7V max? I don't know much about resistance calculation, perhaps you could enlighten me.
2. Does the Picaxe unit need to be programmed to provide the dimming function? Or have you programmed it simply for your sleep LED?
This looks great. I think I'll be doing this. On the interior side of the DVD door, at each end, a small thin sensor could be placed on the backside of the door for the + and - dimming touch function. There'd be no mistaking the touch locations at either end of the door, and the plastic is very thin there, so may work great. Maybe you could test those 2 locations for me to let me know if the touch works or not, before I go ahead with this.
Thanks for your efforts and sharing this valuable solution.
EDIT : Just bought an 08M on eBay for 8 dollars shipped from the UK.
Ersterhernd