uk mini power minder

[mbenney]

Hey, hi guys. Im trying to get my cab set up with a one button shutdown/power up and i saw the minipower minder on the think geek website.  Seems like an excellent and cheap solution... but for US only... im in the UK and i cannot find a similar product anywhere, can anyone help me out?
thanks
matt

[ras2a]

I'd be interested in this also

[Hoagie_one]

you may have to build your own relay.  not as hard as it seems.

instructions

[garyh]

I'd agree. I did this for my uk cab. The relay from Maplin costs

[mbenney]

Hmm, im not really all that comfortable with electronics like this.
Can someone explain it a little more, is that multiple plugs on top of that box?

[MrWhippy]

Would this be any use?

search http://www.maplin.co.uk for the product code below.

bit pricey though

[mbenney]

yep that looks like it would do the trick... is a bit pricey though, hmm.

[MrWhippy]

i think i saw something similar last time i was in B&Q a couple of months ago.
can't find it on the B&Q website (http://www.diy.com) but that's no suprise, it's a rubish site.

think it might have been in the 25-30 quid range, but i might be wrong. wasn't actually looking for one, just noticed it.

anyway, point being if you live near a B&Q, might be worth bobbing in for a look. they might be cheaper now...

[SteveJ34]

Hmm, im not really all that comfortable with electronics like this.
Can someone explain it a little more, is that multiple plugs on top of that box?

If you see an actual relay circuit, its pretty straight forward.

There is a 12v side that triggers a switch inside the relay that completes the circuit for the 120 volt side.

You wire the 12v side to 12v leads from your PC power supply.

You wire one or more legs of the 120v side to make a complete circuit when the 12v is active.

In the  link provided, he wired his into an outlet box. One outlet is always hot (PC plugged in here), other outlet goes active when PC is turned on, he plugs a powerstrip in here so all those outlets go active when PC is powered up.

Rather than create a switched outlet as in the example, I just replaced the toggle switch in a power strip with the relay circuit rather than wiring the relay into a seperate outlet.

My ATX power supply has an auxilary plug on the back of it, I used an adaptor to plug power strip into that outlet.

That help at all?

[mbenney]

  maybe ill give it a try... can anyone give me a list of all the parts i will need? i dont really know what sort of wire needs to be used etc.
thanks
matt

[SteveJ34]

maybe ill give it a try... can anyone give me a list of all the parts i will need? i dont really know what sort of wire needs to be used etc.
thanks
matt

The link above : http://home.bendcable.com/werstlein/

lays out the parts if using the relay from Radio Shack. 

That's what I used. I didn't need any wire for the 110v side of the circuit as I just replaced the toggle switch in a power strip I was hacking. I just snipped wires running to toggle switch and wired them to the 110-120v side of relay.

For the 12v side of the circuit to run to the PC power supply, I think used 18g wire I had laying around.

I then used a "Y power splitter" which I cut one end off of in order to plug the 12v side to a plug from PS.


My parts where:

1 Relay,
some 18g wire,
Y Power splitter,
1 Power Strip
and 3-4 ice cold beers while I worked

[mbenney]

sorry if im being stupid here, but what do you mean by toggle switch on a power strip? do you mean a powerstrip that has an on/off switch built onto the strip (additional to the one on the power outlet it plugs into)?

[SteveJ34]

sorry if im being stupid here, but what do you mean by toggle switch on a power strip? do you mean a powerstrip that has an on/off switch built onto the strip (additional to the one on the power outlet it plugs into)?

Exactly.

One approach is to replace the on/off toggle switch on the power strip with the relay which in turn is also wired to a 12v lead from your PC power supply.

Power PC, relay trips, power strip goes active.

That's what I did.

[MrWhippy]

remember that UK mains voltage is 230V, not 120.
so make sure your relay can handle that.

[SteveJ34]

remember that UK mains voltage is 230V, not 120.
so make sure your relay can handle that.

*very* good point....