Easy hack for computer on/off switch.

[crackbone]

Seen a lot of questions about making external power switches for a cab.  Found a good base for the switch.  Sorry if this has been posted before, but I've never seen anyone mention it.

I couldn't find a connector like the kind a standard ATX motherboard takes for the power. I noticed that a standard audio cable (the kind that goes from the sound card to the CD-ROM) works perfectly if you cut in in half.  Here's a bad drawing but hopefully it'll show what I mean.

Standard power switch       Audio Cable
w w                                    ww   w
w w    (wires)                      ww  w   (wires)
___                                    ______                                                                        
| | |                                    | | | | |
| | |                                    | | | | |
| | |                                    | | | | |
----                                    ---------

The plastic is soft enough to cut and file down to match a standard power connector size.   Wire it up to a momentary contact switch and you don't have to cut any of the original connections out of your case or wire up a connector for the motherboard pins.


Crack

[shmokes]

Wow...thanks.  Great idea.

[OSCAR]

Yes, nearly every motherboard header I've seen use .100" spacing, also known as MTA-100.  The black cd-rom audio cables also use MTA-100 connectors as you found, and I've used them quite a bit for these types of things.  Very cheap way to go, sometimes cheaper than just buying the connectors themselves.

[crackbone]

Hey Oscar, where can you get those things?  I went to Radio shack and 2 local shops to find those stinking connectors and nobody had em!!!  

[OSCAR]

I buy them in bulk online at places like www.mouser.com or www.digikey.com.  See this page, http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T023/V5/0072.pdf, they are right at the bottom.  You need both the crimp terminals and the housings.

[StarGoddess222]

what kind of switches do comps use?

[crackbone]

Stargoddess-

I don't know the real name for them, but if you look at any current computer case, you'll see a set of connectors, that are long, thin plastic, almost like elongated jumpers.  You attach them to a row of pins on a motherboard.  They're sized from one pin to four pins. Usually for power, reset, internal speaker, and hard drive access light.  
Hope I haven't confused you further.  

Crack.

[rampy]

what kind of switches do comps use?

SG,

They are spst  momentary switches (single pole single throw)... "doorbell type" ...  I got the one I needed from HD...  (it's the same "style" as an arcade pushbutton for what its worht...

obligatory thread reference  

EDIT 1  darnit that was the wrong thread...

this thread has 1 button powerup that might help with the "next step" after you run an extension for your PC, you'll want an easy way to turn on marquee light, speakers, etc.. at the same time automagically...

rampy

[_Iz-]

Most cd-roms these days come with 2 cables. 1- 4 pin analog audio cable and 1- 2 pin digital (spdif) cable. The spdif cable is a perfect fit for the power connector with no modification. I just cut the cable in 1/2 and then extended the wires to my switch.

[Wade]

There is a simple solution that I think will work for most people.  Probably everyone posting in this thread has already determined this won't work for them, since they are trying to move the ATX power on switch.  But just in case...

If you have an old AT style power supply with a standard on/off switch:

Plug all your cabinet power stuff into a power strip.  Open the power strip and replace the on/off switch with a switch of your choice and mount it on the back of your cabinet.  Turn everything on that is on the strip and just turn the strip on and off to power everything on and off.

If you have a newer ATX case with a momentary on switch, just do the same as above but set the "Power On after Power Failure" in the BIOS settings to TRUE.

Most PC's fall into one of these categories but some of the early ATX models don't have the auto power on feature.  Usually in the ballpark of 500 mhz.

Wade

[_Iz-]

There is a simple solution that I think will work for most people.  Probably everyone posting in this thread has already determined this won't work for them, since they are trying to move the ATX power on switch.  But just in case...

If you have an old AT style power supply with a standard on/off switch:

Plug all your cabinet power stuff into a power strip.  Open the power strip and replace the on/off switch with a switch of your choice and mount it on the back of your cabinet.  Turn everything on that is on the strip and just turn the strip on and off to power everything on and off.

If you have a newer ATX case with a momentary on switch, just do the same as above but set the "Power On after Power Failure" in the BIOS settings to TRUE.

Most PC's fall into one of these categories but some of the early ATX models don't have the auto power on feature.  Usually in the ballpark of 500 mhz.

Wade

This method is not the way I'd recommend going as it means you're just killing power to an active windows system. It's a great way to corrupt your OS and drive.

[SirPeale]

This method is not the way I'd recommend going as it means you're just killing power to an active windows system. It's a great way to corrupt your OS and drive.

...if you're using Windows.

[_Iz-]

...if you're using Windows.

True! My bad, I forget about DOS, probably much like the DOSers forget about Windows...

[Wade]

That's true, it could be a problem for windows pc's.  On the other hand, I've been turning off my main win95 machine without shutting down for 5 years now and I always skip scandisk, and I haven't had any problems.  Win2k/XP might though.  I suspect Win98 would likely take it okay also.

Wade

[_Iz-]

That's true, it could be a problem for windows pc's.  On the other hand, I've been turning off my main win95 machine without shutting down for 5 years now and I always skip scandisk, and I haven't had any problems.  Win2k/XP might though.  I suspect Win98 would likely take it okay also.

Wade

I've had systems (win9x) brought to me that wouldn't boot at all (except from floppy, hardrive was totally corrupt and couldn't be accessed). I had to fdisk and format the drive and re-install to fix. When questioned, the user admitted to killing the power with the powerbar switch and skipping scandisk on startup. This was their daily procedure for using the computer. It's luck of the draw. The longer you do it, the more likely it will bite you in the --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules--.

[shmokes]

I would think it would be the other way around.  I am under the impression that FAT 32 is much easier corrupted by a power failure than NTFS.  I pretty much thought it was FAT 32 was easier corrupted in any concievable scenario than NTFS -- it's faster, though.

[_Iz-]

I would think it would be the other way around.  I am under the impression that FAT 32 is much easier corrupted by a power failure than NTFS.  I pretty much thought it was FAT 32 was easier corrupted in any concievable scenario than NTFS -- it's faster, though.

This is correct. I still wouldn't want to do it on either. It's way too easy to just hook eveything up correctly.

[Chris]

That's true, it could be a problem for windows pc's.  On the other hand, I've been turning off my main win95 machine without shutting down for 5 years now and I always skip scandisk, and I haven't had any problems.  Win2k/XP might though.  I suspect Win98 would likely take it okay also.

Wade

Windows 98 will power off gracefully on a full ATX system; there is a minimal delay as it does the graceful shutdown thing. I have not installed the patch that does the 2-second delay on shutdown, though, but I haven't seen any issues...

If you do power off a Windows system on a regular basis, make sure you make backups!

--Chris