Wiring an ATX power switch to a button

[TOK]

Are the power switches on ATX cases the same type of "Normally Off" switches we use for cabinet buttons?
I was thinking about extending the lines from my PC's power switch and just using an out-of-the-way standard button to power it on. Powering it back down isn't an issue, since I'm using XP and can shut down through Windows after a session.

Sorry if this has been covered already. I looked around a bit and didn't find info.

Tim

[crashwg]

Yes.  You are 100% correct, this will work, and has been discussed before.  But I'll let it slide... This time  

J/K

[TOK]

Yes.  You are 100% correct, this will work, and has been discussed before.  But I'll let it slide... This time  

J/K

Three whole minutes for that answer. What took ya so long?

Thanks a bunch!  

[MonitorGuru]

same thing goes for reset buttons.

[mattv]

Crashwg has said it all

An ATX power switch is a standard normally open momentary switch. You close the circut once and it goes on, you close it again and it goes off.

So any standard arcade button will fill this role just fine.


On a totaly unrelated note, the fact that the ATX power button is a "stateless" momentary switch means that there is power running through your PC regardless of if it is on or off. for this reason it is not always a great idea to swap AGP video cards unless your machine is off at the wall.
Also, on some older keyboards this results in the caps/number/scroll lock LED's still working when the machine is off. Not 100% sure if that little gem will be useful to anyone, but it's too good to keep to myself.

[Demon-Seed]

Here is a great link to learn how to do it.

http://joelsgadgets.com/computeronpushbutton.html

I did it works great!

[Nefesis]

what about hacking a light switch? i'm thinking about doing this for my cab, but am still "researching" it.