Need help wiring a power button

[Hituro]

Alright, I've been working on my arcade for a while now.  I have three main power sources in it.  One is for the Speaker amplifier, another the monitor, and the third is the power supply to the PC.  I originally had these all on a power strip and then had that plugged into the wall.  But what I want to do is wire the power strip so that the power strip is connected to a button on the back of the cabinet.  And when the button is pressed, the main power will turn on.  That way I can conceal the power strip inside the cabinet, and only have one plug running out the back.  Does anyone have any suggestions for this?  I tried taking apart a power strip to hard wire the button that way, but the button on the power strip is soldered to its circuit board.  There really isn't a whole lot on this subject online, which is why I thought I'd ask.  If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very thankful!

[PsychoMikey]

I use a master/slave power strip with the PC as master. Then wired the pc to a button on top of my cab so when i press that button everything powers up. When i press it again everything shuts down.

You could ofcourse just rewire the cable to the power strip and place a switch in between. Then you need a pc that will boot as soon as it gets power.

[Hituro]

You know... I actually figured out a way to rewire and resolder the button.  But your method sounds much safer and easier   I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before.  This way I can just have 1 button on the Arcade and not have to flip two.  Thanks so much!  I'll just have to go and get my hands on one.  Any brand suggestion or are they all pretty much the same?

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Another thing to consider is something like this:
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKPS01&Show=ExtInfo

You wire it up to a USB or other +5V source on your PC (such as the (probably unused) floppy disk power) and then when the PC is on everything plugged into the powertail turns on. You'd just run a second power strip off of it for your amp, monitor, etc.

This would also allow you to put your PC into standby mode instead of full shutdown. It uses minimal power, but allows for near instant-on operation. This is how I've had both of my cabs configured.

[severdhed]

Get a smart power strip, it is easy and safe, and not too expensive.  i have a craftsman autoswitch in one of my cabinets, i picked it up at Sears for $20.  in my other cabinet, i have a Phillips smart power strip i got at walmart for $20.  both of them work very well, however the Philips unit has more outlets on it, so i like it better.  i turn on the PC and it turns on everything else, when the pc shuts off, so does everything else.  then you just wire a pushbutton to your pc power switch and you are good to go

[garnerb350]

 

Get a smart power strip...

+1 with severdhed...

I have one and all i did was mount it inside and ran the cord out from the cab... The one i have powers my PC, external HD, external USB hub, Lights, Monitor, speakers, and also a used home theatre unit (insane jukebox)... PC is in the master plug, hit the power button, BAM, everything comes on....when i'm done, power button shuts everything down...

[Donkbaca]

+2 severdhed

The advantage also, is that you can set your power management on most pc's to have the pc shutdown windows and turn off when you hit the power switch, so its one tap to turn the whole thing on and one tap to turn the whole thing off

[PsychoMikey]

One thing you might want to consider is buying a version with more then one "always on" (for lack of a better words) power outs. I have a battery charger in there that i don't want to lose power when everything els turns off.   

[CapriRS302]

Or just wire up an outlet and a junction box inside your cab.  You can run it to a switch on top.  Home depot, about 5 bucks.

[torcer]

Get a smart power strip, it is easy and safe, and not too expensive.  i have a craftsman autoswitch in one of my cabinets, i picked it up at Sears for $20.  in my other cabinet, i have a Phillips smart power strip i got at walmart for $20.  both of them work very well, however the Philips unit has more outlets on it, so i like it better.  i turn on the PC and it turns on everything else, when the pc shuts off, so does everything else.  then you just wire a pushbutton to your pc power switch and you are good to go

I've read this explanation for years, but I'm a wiring idiot.  Does anyone have a very detailed description, or better yet a picture of this?  IOW, how exactly would I wire a pushbutton to the PC power switch? 

[crashwg]

I've read this explanation for years, but I'm a wiring idiot.  Does anyone have a very detailed description, or better yet a picture of this?  IOW, how exactly would I wire a pushbutton to the PC power switch? 

The power button on your computer is connected to a pin header on the motherboard like the one in the first picture with a wire that looks like the second picture.  All you have to do is extend the two wires to a normally open (NO) momentary pushbutton which will close the switch in the same fashion as the current button on your PC.

The smart strip comes into play like this:  You plug your PC into the "Control Outlet" which is blue in the third picture.  You plug everything that you want to come on with the computer and turn off when you shut down into one of the "switched outlets."

When you push the power button that you've extended to the outside of your cab it will shut down the computer.  Once the computer has shut down completely it draws very little current which the Smart Strip senses and turns off the "switched outlets."

[torcer]

I've read this explanation for years, but I'm a wiring idiot.  Does anyone have a very detailed description, or better yet a picture of this?  IOW, how exactly would I wire a pushbutton to the PC power switch? 

The power button on your computer is connected to a pin header on the motherboard like the one in the first picture with a wire that looks like the second picture.  All you have to do is extend the two wires to a normally open (NO) momentary pushbutton which will close the switch in the same fashion as the current button on your PC.

The smart strip comes into play like this:  You plug your PC into the "Control Outlet" which is blue in the third picture.  You plug everything that you want to come on with the computer and turn off when you shut down into one of the "switched outlets."

When you push the power button that you've extended to the outside of your cab it will shut down the computer.  Once the computer has shut down completely it draws very little current which the Smart Strip senses and turns off the "switched outlets."

THANK YOU!

[ids]

Here's what I did.

Started with stuff a lot like these items:


It wasn't a dryer cord, just a regular one, but this should give you the right idea.  Regular plug on one end, nothing but the wires on the other end.

Wired as shown below - with the device box and outlet inside the cab, and I've mounted the switch inconspicuously at the top of the cab.  I also use a smart-strip like device.  With this setup, you could put a power bar into one outlet, for the always on stuff, and the smart strip for controlling things.  Note that when the master switch is off, EVERYTHING is off.

[Nephasth]

What about a TV in a cab? Will the smart strip turn on a "newer" CRT TV? If not, could the button wired for the computer be teed into for the TV? Or would a seperate button have to be wired in for the TV. I've already looked for DPDT or even SPDT microswitches that would fit on the bottom of a standard arcade button for this, couldn't find anything. Cherry told me they don't make any either. If they were made, I wouldn't still be scratching my head. 

[Donkbaca]

Depends if the TV has the option to turn on after a power restore.  You can test this easy, just turn on the TV, unplug it and then plug it back in and see if it turn on by itself.  Most newer CRT's have this option.  If it doesn't turn on by itself. trying turning it on while holding the power button in, if it stays on, then unplug it and plug it back in while still holding the button.  If it turns on then all you have to do is wedge something to keep the power button pressed.

Assuming that your have figured this out, and your simple question is if the smart strip will send power to the tv, yes it will.  THe smart strip I have has one MAIN outlet, a few switched outlets and a couple "always on" outlets.

The MAIN outlet controls the switch outlet.  THe smart strip measures the current flow on this outlet, and when it detects an increase, it powers on the switched outlets, when it senses a decrease, it powers the switched outlets on.  You plug your PC into the MAIN, your TV, speakers, marquee, powered USB hub, whatever into the switched outlets.  When you turn on your pc, everything else turns on, when you turn your pC off, everything shuts off.  Then all you do is extend your power button on you pc to wherever you want on the cab.  All you need is a standard NO momentary switch.  I have a regular arcade button turn my stuff on and off.