Griffin Powermate (Update OCT 14, 08)

[whammoed]

I wouldn't bother with the cable.  I put a different cable on mine and it made no difference.

[DaOld Man]

Ok I just put a new cable on the powermate and it didnt seem to help any at all.
Whammoed was correct.

I thought I was on to something by disabling the "pulse during sleep" option in the software.
After I did that it came up just fine every time I tried it. So I thought I would test this by re-enabling the pulse on sleep option.
It has booted just fine on last three attempts, so I just dont know.

Anyway, for my juke, I have studied the benefits of using a regular audio pot instead of the powermate.

Advantages of a PM over a pot to control volume:
I like the way the powermate looks, but I did find a very similar knob on ebay for a pot.
I like the "push to mute" function of the powermate. I cant do this with a regular pot.

Advantages of a pot over the PM:
Frees up a USB port.
Works first time and every time.
I can install a pot with a switch that will turn the power on and off, just like the old time radios (this would be very neat.)
Uses no computer resources at all (no software loads, etc.)

Disadvantages of using the PM:
Hit or miss on the power up. (This is a big issue for me).
Cannot turn power to the juke on and off. (However you can configure the software to shut the PC down with the PM, but I havent tried it.)
Very expensive compared to a pot.

Disadvantages of the pot:
Cannot mute sound by pressing on knob.
May not look as good as the PM (But that depends on the type of knob you use.)

[padstack]

Actually, you can get a pot with a push on/off mechanism built in.  Not sure of cost, etc, but you could always map that "button" to mute.  I've seen them before, but hadn't had to look for one in a while.

[padstack]

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/89365.pdf

here's one example.  I'm sure you can find something more local.  I think something like this might work, but you'd probably want an audio taper.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks padstack! Thats a very interesting approach.

It would be really really nice if I could find a stereo audio pot with a on/off switch AND a push switch for muting. I think that turning the knob fully CCW and hearing the click that turns off the jukebox would be really neat.
You know, with all the brains we have on this board, I bet we can come up with something that would kick the holy snot out of the PM.

I will see what I can find.

[Franco B]

Jesus, I feel for you dude. Who would have though something so simple would cause so many problems. I was going to go down the Powermate route, im glad I didnt now.

If you want I will make you a nice knob for your pot. No charge, at least that way it will look as pretty as a Powermate. You could even put a couple of LEDs behind it if you want it lit like a Powermate.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Franco!
I ordered one off ebay that looks a lot like the PM knob.
But if it turns out to be a flop, I may take you up on the offer.

On my first juke I used a stereo pot from radio shack.
All they had was a 100 K ohm, but I think a 25 K or maybe a 50 K would be better.
I am still going to use a pot with a on/off switch. More I think about it, the better I like it. Good idea about the leds behind the knob, that would be really slick.

[Ummon]

The other advantage of using a hard-wired switch is if the system locks or something and is blaring, you can turn it down right away. But I like the idea of peripherals. Especially glowey ones.

[GadgetGeek]

Don't know if you can use it for this application, but wouldn't a standard rotary dimmer switch (like for a light) that has the push on/off option be useful?

Also, using some sort of spring and microswitch might give you another option (similar to a push/pull spinner).

[padstack]

Don't know if you can use it for this application, but wouldn't a standard rotary dimmer switch (like for a light) that has the push on/off option be useful?

Also, using some sort of spring and microswitch might give you another option (similar to a push/pull spinner).

It COULD work, but not sure if the taper is adequate.  I've never tried it.

[whammoed]

Don't know if you can use it for this application, but wouldn't a standard rotary dimmer switch (like for a light) that has the push on/off option be useful?

Also, using some sort of spring and microswitch might give you another option (similar to a push/pull spinner).

No.  A light dimmer works very different.  They stopped using potentiometers many moons ago.

http://www.sprags.com/

[DaOld Man]

I agree about the dimmer. Older dimmers do have pots, but they are single pots. I will need a dual pot for stereo (two pots on one shaft.)
There is also a difference in pots made for audio signals.

I have found audio stereo pots with an on/off switch built on, and I have found some with push switches built on, but I cant find any with both on/off and push switches.

Also, judging from my experiences with Stevies Jukebox, I think the value of the pot needs to be 25K-50K. The 100K I used works, but it seems to take quite a bit of movement to notice a huge change in volume.

[padstack]

I agree about the dimmer. Older dimmers do have pots, but they are single pots. I will need a dual pot for stereo (two pots on one shaft.)
There is also a difference in pots made for audio signals.

I have found audio stereo pots with an on/off switch built on, and I have found some with push switches built on, but I cant find any with both on/off and push switches.

Also, judging from my experiences with Stevies Jukebox, I think the value of the pot needs to be 25K-50K. The 100K I used works, but it seems to take quite a bit of movement to notice a huge change in volume.

Are you using a linear taper or Audio taper pot?

[DaOld Man]

Audio

[padstack]

Audio

I got nuthin' then!