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| ppilot:
Wow, what a lot of responses not telling you what you want to know :) I've done what you want to do on all of my cabinets; cut apart an old power strip and wired it inline with the toggle switch on the back of your cabinet. Just take the screws off the back of the power strip, take it apart, and look at the wiring going TO the switch from the strips. Cut these wires (Black Live, maybe a White Neutral, Green Ground). You now have no power going to the strip if it's plugged in, right? (And I know you're not an idiot, but of course do NOT have the strip plugged in when you cut the wires.) Next, cut the wires to the switch in your cabinet running from the switch TO the internals of your machine. How these'll be labelled I don't know, but there'll be a live and a ground wire. Solder the wires from the switch in the machine to the power strip, and put the power strip back together again. The switch on the power strip now does nothing, and the strip is now powered by the switch on your cabinet. Plug in the cabinet, plug a lamp or something into the strip to test, invoke whichever deity you prefer, and hit the switch. If it works, plug everything inside your cabinet into the strip and you're golden. Make sense? |
| Senator:
I am trying to extend the power switch on my computer to an arcade button on the top of cabinet. When I looked at the computer button there are four wires going to the mother board. I checked two other computers and they both have two like everyone here seems to have. Does anyone know why there are four (2 green and 2 white) and can help with how to hook up an arcade button? Also, I'm using a smartstrip but my tv does not stay on after power loss. I know this is a whole other topic (but related) and know there are several ways to skin this cat but I am looking to extend the tv power button, I can then use the button to simulate a "toothpick" approach where the tv is always in the "on" position. If this doesn't work, I can also make a 2-button approach with power for computer (and speakers and light thru the smartstrip) with a second button for tv power. Has anyone tried this approach of extending the tv power button? |
| Zebidee:
--- Quote from: Senator on July 12, 2007, 09:05:26 am ---I am trying to extend the power switch on my computer to an arcade button on the top of cabinet. When I looked at the computer button there are four wires going to the mother board. I checked two other computers and they both have two like everyone here seems to have. Does anyone know why there are four (2 green and 2 white) and can help with how to hook up an arcade button? --- End quote --- I have dealt with this before. Is your PC an IBM or similar ex-desktop? The IBM ATX case power switches have four wires, which represent two separate on/off actives and two separate ground wires. For some reason IBM designed their P4 m/boards like this, but only one wire pair actually needs to be grounded to trigger on/off. The switch is designed to trigger both signals simultaneously (I pulled it apart), but this seems completely unnecessary except perhaps as backup. I also spent some time testing this by restarting the machine with different wire pair combos and both at once, but it made absolutely no difference. I am almost certain that you only need to use one pair of wires (active & ground) to make the switch. That's how I did it on my IBM machine before, and I never had a problem with it (sold now). I just chose one wire pair and wired up an arcade button with adjustable trigger pressure. This way you can make it less sensitive, and more difficult to press by accident. Regarding your TV power switch - is it momentary or toggle? And I'm thinking ... have you considered wiring your PC and TV power to the same switch / button? You may have to visit the electronics store to get a two-way switch, probably going to cost you all of $1 or $2. |
| Senator:
Thanks for that Zeb, that's exactly what I have, IBM Netvista P4. Your solution should work. The TV has a momentary switch. My hope it to be able to just plug it into the smartstrip and have it go on and off with everything else. Your suggestion sounds like an interesting 1-button alternative. I've read a few threads about this but never saw that solution. I'm most interested in the difficulty of actually installing the extended button. I'm a novice at soldering and if I need to take to a tv repair guy I will. Also interested if anyone actually used this technique successfully. Thanks again. |
| Zebidee:
Senator, installing the 2-way switch shouldn't be at all complicated. The theory is no more complicated than any other arcade button. Just that you'll have one switch to ground two signals. There are about a zillion different switches out there, but you probably don't have to solder anything at all. Ask about switches at the electronics hobby store. If you like this hobby, try to make some time/opportunity to build your soldering skills as they are very useful ;) |
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