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Auto-powerup cabinet with LCD monitor
BrianP:
So, I am getting close to finishing my first cabinet (see my thread in the project announcement). I have been using the book as much as I can. So, I hit an interesting snag this week and I got ready to buy the PC and the peripherals.
The book talks about getting a 'smart' power strip where there is one master outlet and the other outlets turn off when the master turns off. So, you hook the PC to the master, when that turns off, everything else turns off.
So, I was thinking about monitors. The older CRT monitors generally have a physical switch that remains depressed when powered on. This would work great with the smart strip. But I was planning a wide screen LCD (rotated 90 degrees) behind plexi. But I have yet to see a LCD monitor with a physical switch. And I have never seen one that you can set to auto turn on with power (like most BIOS in computers now a days).
I could (I guess) use the LCD on the master and the PC on the secondary but that could cause issues making sure the PC is shut down before powering off. I could put a small hole in the plexi and use a paperclip (ewww). This has me pretty confused right now. :dizzy:
Anyone else tried this?
- brian
BobA:
Just leave the LCD screen powered on all the time. It will default to low power mode when the video signal is lost and will use almost no power in that state. It will come back on when the signal is received from your computer.
drventure:
Well, not sure what LCD you've got, but I've got a dell 2405fpw, and it works exactly like you'd expect.
If you power it up, then UNPLUG the power cable (or in my case, hook the power cable for it up to a smart strip), the smart strip will completely shut it off when I power down the pc.
And when I turn on the PC, the smartstrip restores power to the LCD, which immediately powers on, no button pushing required.
But other lcd's might not work that way.
romshark:
We have a number of LCD monitors in our house. All the computer monitors stay on if the external power is cut. I'm not sure about LCD televisions, though.
Just checked one of our televisions (Sharp). It doesn't have an option for coming on. So I'd stay with a computer monitor.
getnate:
Like drventure says... It might work anyways, just plug the LCD in and see if it automatically turns on when the powerstrip is turned on. Mine does, I have a Samsung 214T.