Hacking a SmartStrip - Help! [NEW PICS (09.26.07)]

[javeryh]

I am about to try and hack a SmartStrip by basically cutting off the plug and wiring it to a different plug/electric socket.  I want to achieve a "finished" look on the outside of my cabinet as well as be able to disconnect the power cord if I feel like it.  Plus, I've never done something like this before and I'm always up for learning something new.

I haven't actually cut the plug off of the SmartStrip yet in case someone wants to talk me out of this due to any potential dangers - the cabinet is going in my daughter's room so it must be 1000% safe.  If no one can help without getting a look at the inside of the SmartStrip power cord then I guess I'll cut it open and post more pics.

Anyway, I have three wires coming out of the plug thingy and (presumably) three wires in the smartstrip after I cut off the plug.  How should I connect the wires in the SmartStrip to the wires on the plug/socket thingy?

Thanks!   

[javeryh]

More pics, including the power cord I'll be using.

[RitchieTheBrit]

Okay, well in theory, there should be nothing wrong with your plan.  Basically, that socket will be carrying mains voltage from the cable to the cabinet, so you won;t be forcing it to do anything it's not supposed to.

Something like THIS is what I think you are looking for.  Completely safe, and a rather neat finish to boot.  Of course, this is UK spec, so US voltage will be different.

It'll be interesting to see this work.  Very neat solution.

[Green Giant]

Assuming the socket you are using is rated to handle the computer/monitor power draw, you are fine.

An easier alternative that won't ruin your smart strip is hack up an extension cord.  I did this for mine.  I cut open a 10 foot cord and dropped in a high power switch.  Now I can just flip that switch to send power to my power strip.  Just grab a 6 foot cord or whatever you have, as long as it is heavy duty with ground, and chop off the end of it.  Wire in your adapter and you are done.

[BobA]

It is not going to work the way it is wired.   I cannot see 3 connections to the incomming AC.   I can only see a black and yellow on the top connector.   It also loolks like the red wire comes from the fuse but there is no input to the fuse.   Can you priovide a full on back shot of the wires as most of your pics do not show the complete back clearly?

BobA

This is the main pic I am going from.

[javeryh]

It is not going to work the way it is wired.   I cannot see 3 connections to the incomming AC.   I can only see a black and yellow on the top connector.   It also loolks like the red wire comes from the fuse but there is no input to the fuse.   Can you priovide a full on back shot of the wires as most of your pics do not show the complete back clearly?

BobA

This is the main pic I am going from.

Hmmm... really?  I'll post some more pics tonight when I get home from work.  I'll be a little disappointed since I don't want to just drill a hole in the back for the SmartStrip power cord... I want it to look nice! 

Thanks for all of the input so far!   

[bfauska]

Bob,
It looks to me like their is a bridge from the 2nd line of the plug to the one side of the fuse, then the fuse jumps to the switch  and then out.  If you look at several of the views it looks like there is a metal strip connection the plug and fuse.  If that is the case then the project should be ready to go, otherwise just adding that wire would complete the circuit.  A new picture would be helpful for sure, but I think it's looking OK.

Jav,
Didn't somebody here make that plug for you?  I don't remember who it was but I thought I remember somebody sending one out to you, I was going to but they were faster and more generous I thought.  If so, who was it, they could help us here.

[BobA]

It is no problem.  The unit you have will work fine but it has to be wired properly for safety and to function properly.

[BobA]

Bob,
It looks to me like their is a bridge from the 2nd line of the plug to the one side of the fuse, then the fuse jumps to the switch  and then out.  If you look at several of the views it looks like there is a metal strip connection the plug and fuse.  If that is the case then the project should be ready to go, otherwise just adding that wire would complete the circuit.  A new picture would be helpful for sure, but I think it's looking OK.

Jav,
Didn't somebody here make that plug for you?  I don't remember who it was but I thought I remember somebody sending one out to you, I was going to but they were faster and more generous I thought.  If so, who was it, they could help us here.

Thanks, that could be.   Just having a hard time seeing it with the pics provided so I thought that I would rather be safe then sorry.  I guess the old eyes are not what they used to be when staring at this screen. 

[javeryh]

Jav,
Didn't somebody here make that plug for you?  I don't remember who it was but I thought I remember somebody sending one out to you, I was going to but they were faster and more generous I thought.  If so, who was it, they could help us here.

Yes, spacies sent it to me earlier this year (for free!). 

I will definitely post more pics from different angles tonight.  I'll also see about cutting the plug off of my SmartStrip and getting a few shots of what's going on in there.  My wire cutter isn't going to be big enough to cut through but I'll think of something.  I'm literally going to need someone to tell me to connect the green wire to the red wire, etc.  Better to be safe than sorry.   

[Green Giant]

From the sounds of it, bob might have thought this was just supposed to be a switch, not its own terminal for a power cord to connect.  You will be just fine from what I can tell. 

It should be really easy to connect the sliced up smartstrip to the switch/connection thing.  Once you cut it open you will know what you are dealing with, but in general, green is ground.  Sometimes there is a copper stranded wire wrapped around two inner wires.  The outside unshielded is ground, the two inner are your live and neutral power connections.  Typically in the US black, red, or blue are your live connection and white is the neutral.  On a wall socket, the left wider slot is neutral, the right slot is hot or live, and the bottom is your ground connection.

If I am looking at yours correctly, your red wire is the live wire, black is your neutral, and green is ground.

[mountain]

javeryh ,

Use the Diagram below to familiarize yourself with the location of hot, neutral, and ground. Plug in your cord to the input jack. Using the diagram and a meter, you will be able to figure out which wire is hot, neutral and ground. Do the same thing with the Smartstrip. Cut the plug off and meter wires to the receptacles on the smartstrip.  Now all you have to do is match them up to each other and you are done.

[Jouster]

I did something very similar to this myself...I used a $3 power strip and did Spystyle's hack with the relay...used a socket from an old power supply for the back of the cab...looks very clean...inside too.  Plus it came with the added bonus of losing unneeded length from the strip's power cord.  I really liked that part.

Just the above mentions of wire colors to make your connections...and of course don't test it in your cab!!!  Just in case...

Jouster

[gonzojoey]

Here a link to Kaytrim's post (with pics) were he did a powerstrip spliced into a busted PC power supply plug hack (like mentioned above by Jouster)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=66082.msg683216#msg683216

[BobA]

Javeryh

If Spacies wired it for you it is good to go.  Sorry for my worries but I did not see a buss bar on the terminals that I thought were unwired.  Just follow the advice given by Mountain and others and it will be fine.   Just remember your red is hot, black is neutral and green is ground. 

[javeryh]

More pics... I haven't summoned the balls to cut my smartstrip in half but I will man up this weekend.  I need to get this done!

Thanks for all the help so far.   

[BobA]

Great picture of the back.  Now I can see the buss strip.   Looks like it is made with it attached.

You aren't really going to cut open your smartstrip right?   Just cutting the cord as originally planned?

[javeryh]

This is a double post from my project thread but I still have a question or two about what I'm doing.  Anyway, here's the latest:

I bought a plastic box at Home Depot for $2 and the idea is to completely seal off the wiring block and any chance of someone touching a live wire. The wire from the SmartStrip goes in one end and the wires from the plug recepticle go in the other - pretty basic stuff. This is about as safe as I think I can make it. Here's the box:



And here is kind of sort of what I'm trying to accomplish... actually, I don't even know why I took these pictures but here you go:





Here's the exciting "before" picture of the plug. Wow.



And here is the "after" shot. It was like ripping off a band-aid. I just closed my eyes and made the cut with my trusty utility knife.



At this point there was no turning back. Inside, there were three wires representing positive (white), negative (black) and ground (green). The next step was stripping each of these wires to expose about 1/4" of the interior copper wire. Thie next picture shows the three wires (but not stripped).



I matched these wires up to the wires in the wiring block that spacies set up for me. All I really had to do was screw them into the wiring block attached to the plug recepticle. This is how it ended up before I closed the plastic box:





Here are the final shots of everything all closed up:





I'm not totally finished with this (I should be tonight) and I plan on wrapping the wiring block in electrical tape before closing up the plastic box for good. Also, the last thing I want to do is somehow cover the back of the plug recepticle with either electrical tape or some sort of foam - I can still see metal sticking out and I can only assume that once the cabinet is plugged in it will be "hot" all the time whether the computer is on or off.  Any ideas on how to do this?  Foam seems kind of permanent and messy (not like I'll be taking it apart ever but still...).

[XyloSesame]

Dude, it's just electricity.  Muddy Waters invented it 50 years ago for you and I to enjoy.  Relax.

I know that and you know that, but my son may not...

Better safe, you don't know what may happen when children are present.

[javeryh]

Dude, it's just electricity.  Muddy Waters invented it 50 years ago for you and I to enjoy.  Relax.

I know that and you know that, but my son may not...

Better safe, you don't know what may happen when children are present.

Exactly.  I can't have there be any chance if injury - it's my daughter we're talking about.

Also, can someone tell me if I wired it properly?  I went green to green [ground - I'm pretty sure about this], black to black [negative] and white to red [positive].

What happens if I reverse positive and negative?

Thanks!

[Green Giant]

Safer to test it out with something you don't care to much about.  Some things like lamps don't care what order then positive and negative are.  If it seems to work fine, then it is working fine.

From the looks of it, I would say you wired it up correctly.

After you confirm it, wrap the plug portion and the wires behind it with electrical tape.  Lots of it so the don't ever get pulled out .  You can also wrap the plastic box if you like.

[javeryh]

What happens if I reverse positive and negative?

You'll trip a breaker if you touch something else while you're playing it.  Good chance your heart will stop, too.

See... this is what I'm afraid of.  I (obviously) have ZERO experience when it comes to this stuff. 

Safer to test it out with something you don't care to much about.  Some things like lamps don't care what order then positive and negative are.  If it seems to work fine, then it is working fine.

From the looks of it, I would say you wired it up correctly.

After you confirm it, wrap the plug portion and the wires behind it with electrical tape.  Lots of it so the don't ever get pulled out .  You can also wrap the plastic box if you like.

I plan to wrap everything with a ton of electrical tape as well as drip some hot glue on the tiny bit of exposed metal on the back of the recepticle.  I don't want to take any chances whatsoever.

[spacies]

Great picture of the back.  Now I can see the buss strip.   Looks like it is made with it attached.

The Live feed comes in, goes down the metal strip, through the fuse, up to the switch and out the other side. Magic huh!? LOL

JaveryH. Sorry I missed this thread. Please check my post in your build thread.

Are you going to mount it to the outside as planned? Just asking because you have already wired it to that junction box before it has been attached to the cabinet 

Cheers.