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BYO Auto-Switching Power Strip
crashwg:
Just to keep anyone interested informed and also to get a second opinion...
I contacted Mouser and asked them what I should use. I told them exactly what I was planing on doing and gave them a general idea as to what I will be powering with the strip and they responded with the following products.
--- Quote ---The best relays that may work would be p/n 528-9122-5, 528-9522-5 for pc mount or 528-9152-5, 528-9552-5 for flange mount.
--- End quote ---
All those products can be found HERE
I went ahead and ordered 528-9152-5. It cost $3.12 + shipping, which I didn't catch how much that was.
Should be here in a couple days, then I have to go and get a power strip and we'll see from there!
Oh, and BTW, if you know anything about electronics and you think the part that I ordered may cause problems, please PLEASE let me know. I don't want to break anything!
crashwg:
Good news & Bad news.
First the good:
I picked up a powerstrip at Wal*Mart and it seems to have enough room inside for a relay and it looks straight forward when it comes to adding a relay.
And the bad:
For some reason my bank declined debit payment to Mouser. >:( I just got off the phone asking them to give it another go and I'm pretty hopefull that it will go through. For the life of me I can't figure out why it didn't the first tome though... I've got the money in there!
crashwg:
YAY! My relay came today.
Now all I need to do is figure out what wires go where...
OK, so it's got 5 pins, well 4 realy, 1 has been cut off.
they are labelled as:
NC - The cut off one
NO - Large tab
COM - Latge tab
no label - Small tab
no label - Small tab
So, I'm thinking COM would be ground on the USB and NO will be the 5v+ and the ones with no labeling are for the 110v... Sound about right?
I'm a little confused as to why the 5v tabs are larger than the 110's...
Anyways, I'm just going to post this in here for now, but if I don't get a response in a few hours I'll probably post this in it's own topic, so please don't guess. Only reply with an answer if you KNOW the answer. I don't want to blow nuthin up!
CIA_Guy:
NO - the contact on the relay that is closed when power is applied (open when "at rest")
NC - contact that is closed w/o power (circuit is complete at rest)
common - the center contact of the relay that is at rest on against the NC contact and pulled down to the NO when power is applied
The other two -- the wires for the electromagnet that pulls the common contact down when power is applied.
JohnNevets:
Ok I'm trying to put CIA's coments into home electrical/my dumb a** lamens terms. I think I understand it, but I may be completly wrong (I'm thinking of trying this myself, so I'd like to understand it).
You take the hot side wire from the 110 plug cut it in two and hook the side closest to the plug up to the "NO" conector, you then hook the other 1/2 of the cut wire to the "common" connector. The 5 volts from the usb conector can be hooked up to either of the small tabs, as can the ground from the usb conector.
Now when you turn the computer on 5V DC should go down the usb cable activate the electromagnet and flip the spst switch and allow power to flow to anything you have plugged into the power strip.
So, Howd' I do? Do I understand it, will I fry myself, or would it do nothing at all.
Thanks for starting the post Crash.
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