Powering up-Quick confirmation before purchase

[am_monkee]

Okay sorry for the newbie question, but I just want to make sure I have it right before i make a purchase. I've read a lot of the forums and think I have it figured out. I'd like to start my mame cab with one switch so here's what I have:

I have a bits smart strip. I was going to attach the toggle switch pictured here to the blue connector on the strip. Then I would attach the computer, monitor, and speakers to the white connectors on the switch.

If I did this, would everything power up (and the computer turn on) at once? I noticed in a lot of the forums people mentioned the bios screen. Do I need to change the BIOS settings for this to work?

Please respond with any help you can give me. I really appreciate it.

[SavannahLion]

I just saw a review of that earlier today. I don't own one so don't take my word for it. I think the intent is the PC is supposed to be plugged into the blue socket. Powering up the PC powers up the white plugs while the red plugs are always powered on.

If you use an ATX power supply, the switch you need is a momentary push-button switch which you wire into the motherboard itself.

That plays nice with the PC and OS you're using.

Didn't you get any instructions with it when you made the purchase?

[am_monkee]

Yea, that's the problem though. I don't want to mess with wires in the motherboard. I have read that people put the computer's power cord in the blue thing, but I'd like to use this switch so I don't have to open up the cab to turn on power. Any thoughts? Does this seem doable?

[am_monkee]

also: i haven't bought the switch yet, so all i have now is the smart strip, which had basic instructions describing the colors. what do you mean by atx power supply?

[FrizzleFried]

Plug the PC in to the blue part of the strip.  Plug the devices you want to power up in to the white parts.   Set your BIOS to start on keystroke.   Make sure you have a PS2 connection to your IPAC or whatever device you are using to connect your joysticks.  Plug the strip in to the wall,  move a joystick and the computer will come on as will the devices you plug in to the white part of the strip.   Turn off the computer and the PC will turn off as will the devices plugged in to the white part of the strip.

If you were just looking to hook up a switch,  you wasted money on the smart power strip.  You could have taken any ole' $5 strip,  pulled it apart,  disconnected the switch that comes with the strip,  add some wire and the switch you linked to above,  and you would be  golden.   That is EXACTLY what I did with my two stand up MAME cabinets.  My cocktail uses the smartpower strip but because I am a dumbass and got the USB Ipac,  I can't power it up with a flick of the joystick...I use a standard HAPP button to power it up.   I have an external stereo also hooked to the smartstrip as my cocktail doubles for a jukebox and when I power up/down it also powers up/down the external stereo amp.

Here are some pix of my $5 power strip solution.

Please keep in mind that you are dealing with 110v and you do not want any metal from the wires exposed.   The two black wires you see going up the side of the strip lead to the switch you see at the next picture.  I flick on the switch its as if I switched on the power switch on the strip.  Works nicely.

PS:  The toggle switch you see at the top of the cabinet is the stock switch that is still hooked up directly to the monitor and marquee.  So if I want to leave the PC on but turn off the monitor and marquee,  I can flip that switch.   The switch at the back of the cabinet is the one I added.

[am_monkee]

frizzlefried,

that's exactly what i was going for! now i wish i didn't spend the 30 bucks on the strip (could have put it towards the coin door i've been eyeing...). so i guess the switch pictured is useless and there's no reason to purchase it...too bad, because i really like the cabs i've seen on here that have a switch. it makes it so authentic...

thanks for answering the question so clearly. absolutely what i needed to know.

[am_monkee]

the more i think about it, the more i want to utilize this toggle switch. can't i just extend the wire from the smartstrip's switch to the toggle switch pictured? that way, when i flip the toggle switch, it'll turn on the computer and as a result everything else?

if not that, can i just wire the toggle switch to my mini ipac (what i'm using)? then change a setting in bios to turn the computer on with a keystroke (in this case the switch)?

i know it seems so trivial, but these small details seem to make a world of difference on the cabs i've seen here....

[saint]

The toggle switch is counter to the purpose of the strip you bought. The strip you bought will sense when the device plugged into the control (blue) outlet is turned on, and will turn on the rest of the outlets that are slaved to it. There's no mechanism that I'm aware of to attach a switch of some kind to the blue outlet. You have to turn something on that's drawing power from the blue outlet. You don't have to splice any wires from your PC - just plug the PC into it.

[am_monkee]

sorry, maybe i was unclear. i wasn't looking to attach the toggle switch to the blue outlet. rather, i was looking to extend smartstrip's flip switch to the toggle switch so it can be outside the cab. that way, when i flipped the toggle switch, it would be the same as flipping the switch on the smartstrip, thus sending power to the blue outlet, blah, blah.

what do you mean by the statement below? plug the pc into what? the smartstrip? thanks for any help.

<<You don't have to splice any wires from your PC - just plug the PC into it.>>

[ahofle]

That should work as long as your PC automatically powers on when the AC power is returned (this is usually a bios setting).  But I do think you wasted your money on the smartstrip as fizzle mentioned.

[FrizzleFried]

Yes,  you could extend the toggle switch with wire...but DON'T DO IT to that $30.00 smart strip.  Go out to Home Depot and buy a $5.00 power strip.   Utilize the smart strip elsewhere.   You are defeating the whole purpose of the expensive smartstrip by doing what you propose. 

Hell,  if you are dead set on doing this,  send me your smart strip.   I will buy a $5.00 power strip and pre-wire it for you and mail it back.    I will be up one smart strip and you will get exactly what you want.   If you are serious about this,  PM me and I will shoot you out my address.   I would need to know only one thing...how long you want the wire to be between the strip and the toggle switch.   I'll go to home depot,  buy the $5.00 strip,  buy the $2.00 toggle,  wire it up,  and send it to you ready to install.

I'd hate to see you kill a perfectly good smartstrip.

[am_monkee]

pm sent

[shorthair]

I like the smartstrip idea.