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

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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.   :cheers:

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

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:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on September 26, 2007, 12:07:09 pm ---Dude, it's just electricity.  Muddy Waters invented it 50 years ago for you and I to enjoy.  Relax.

--- End quote ---

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:

--- Quote from: XyloSesame on September 26, 2007, 12:33:23 pm ---
--- Quote from: pinballjim on September 26, 2007, 12:07:09 pm ---Dude, it's just electricity.  Muddy Waters invented it 50 years ago for you and I to enjoy.  Relax.

--- End quote ---

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.

--- End quote ---

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!

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