I picked up one of those relays today, and the socket to go with it.
I had a metal 6 outlet surge protected power strip, so I cut a hole in the side of the strip and mounted the socket.
I then wired it so that the first receptacle by the on/off switch is always hot and the other five are turned on and off by the relay. I cut the hole for the socket with a jig saw, got in a hurry and it looks uglier than I like, but it will work.
Made a few scratches too, but thats life I guess. It will be hidden inside the arcade cab anyway.
Now if the relay fails, it will be very simple to unplug it and plug in a new one.
Parts List:
Radio Shack #275-0220 10 Amp relay socket -- $2.99
Radio Shack #275-0218 10 Amp DPDT 12 VDC coil Relay -- $9.59
Power strip: I bought it a few months ago, I chose it because it had an easily removable back, and it has standard "house type" receptacles, so I knew it would be easy to hack. I think I got it at lowes, for around 10 bucks.
You might find the relay and socket on the web a lot cheaper, but I wanted it quick.
I tested it with a 9 volt transistor battery to turn relay on and off, and plugged a toaster and a hot air gun in the outlets.
I found out that the toaster (rarely used) is broke, it would not turn off (on its on) after several minutes, so by finding this out, this project could have saved my house from a toaster fire.
The modified power strip works like a charm. Just another part for the Little Rage!
Anyway, here are a couple of pics.