Turn on Arcade Monitor w/ Computer?

[Honzo]

Hey, I have a MK2 cab i'm converting for mame.  The K7000 I got working is going to be the monitor so now I'm just working on powering it all.  Originally, I planned on plugging everything (florescent bulb behind marquee, arcade monitor, computer) from a power strip and rewire the button to the one on the cab.  Well, after reconsidering, i realized  I just want the power button to turn on the computer and I'm going to replace the florescent with cold cathodes used for lighting up computer cases.  Only thing i have to figure out now is turning on the monitor when the computer comes on.  I was thinking some sort of relay hooked to a 5 or 12 volt power connector coming off the power supply.  Has anyone done this or have ideas?  Thanks!

[MonMotha]

Some people use a "Smart Strip" for this, but there are reports of this causing damage to the monitor.

A relay is a possible solution.  Just grab a suitably rated relay and wire it in-line with the AC power for your monitor.  I'd suggest switching both sides using a dual pole relay.  I'd suggest a 10A contact rating minimum, and go for a 15-30A if you can find one.  The inrush current on a monitor can be pretty high, and overspecing never hurts.

12V relays of this nature are more common than 5/6V, and they are readily available at e.g. Radio Shack or from online suppliers like Digi-Key, Mouser, Jameco, etc.  Just run the coil off the appropriate output of your PC supply, and things will turn on whenever the PC is on.

Remember that you're talking about a home-grown AC power solution.  Always keep safety in mind.  You don't want to shock yourself or start a fire.

My solution when I have a PC in an arcade cabinet is to just wire the AC line for the PC off the cabinet AC distribution block which is switched by the cabinet power switch(es).  Set the PC to automatically start upon power return.  Proper shutdown (if you desire and/or is required by your setup) is still possible: just hit shutdown, wait for shutdown to complete, then power off the cabinet.

[Honzo]

Hmm... that seems a good option, but I wasn't sure whether windows machines could do that.  Even so, I'm not sure if I would like that set up still.  But it does seem like you have a very good amount of knowledge of this stuff so do you think this would be a suitable relay? http://www.opto22.com/site/pr_details.aspx?item=120D25&qs=100610161053,,,11,26& I was also suggested I fuse both ends of the control line in the case of current jumping from the AC line on the other end... I think

[MonMotha]

That's actually a solid state relay (SSR).  For this application, a mechanical relay might be a better choice.  SSR would usually have better isolation between control and power side, but they don't like large inrush like that seen on monitors very much, and turn-off can exhibit some "funny" behavior.  Attempting to switch both AC lines (recommended for safety reasons) with SSRs can also cause problems.

Fusing the control lines won't do much to prevent damage due to "cross over".  A good relay should not exhibit "cross over" like that, anyway.  UL actually allows suitably rated mechanical relays to cross double insulation boundaries, and UL is notoriously conservative on safety.

Might be a good idea to fuse the AC lines, though, just in case anything funky happens.

I just hard-power most of my PC systems.  I set my Linux based systems up to not care (ramdisk/read-only drives), and if a Windows system kicks the bucket, I just re-install it.  Seems required occasionally anyway.  Several commercial arcade games run on Windows and hard-power things.  A popular "solution" seems to be to run chkdsk on startup.

[matman]

Some people use a "Smart Strip" for this, but there are reports of this causing damage to the monitor.

Can you elaborate on this? Or point to some threads that talk about this? I am looking to get one, but haven't read anything negative about it.

[MonMotha]

Some people use a "Smart Strip" for this, but there are reports of this causing damage to the monitor.

Can you elaborate on this? Or point to some threads that talk about this? I am looking to get one, but haven't read anything negative about it.

Mostly seems to be problems with them spazzing out and powering the monitor on and off repeatedly (and rapidly) all day long while everything is unattended.  I don't have any thread references handy, but I've seen that exact problem reported more than once.

[isucamper]

Some people use a "Smart Strip" for this, but there are reports of this causing damage to the monitor.

Can you elaborate on this? Or point to some threads that talk about this? I am looking to get one, but haven't read anything negative about it.

Mostly seems to be problems with them spazzing out and powering the monitor on and off repeatedly (and rapidly) all day long while everything is unattended.  I don't have any thread references handy, but I've seen that exact problem reported more than once.

I've been using a smart strip with my WG D9800 for several months.  No problems here like you're talking about.

[SirPeale]

This is horribly over complicated.  Leave the cabinet wiring the way it is.  It's already working.  When you flip the switch your power is already going where it needs to.  That includes your lighting. 

Instead, route the AC power from the power supply to your computer power supply.   There are several tricks to get your computer to boot when power is applied to your power supply, and they're mentioned in the Wiki.

Then all you have to do is configure the computer.  Far much less work.

[Ummon]

And most FEs have an auto shutdown feature.

[MonMotha]

This is horribly over complicated.  Leave the cabinet wiring the way it is.  It's already working.  When you flip the switch your power is already going where it needs to.  That includes your lighting. 

Instead, route the AC power from the power supply to your computer power supply.   There are several tricks to get your computer to boot when power is applied to your power supply, and they're mentioned in the Wiki.

Then all you have to do is configure the computer.  Far much less work.

This is what I always do.  However, it means that if you just hit the power switch on top/back of the cabinet, you'll hard-power your PC.  Most modern OSes don't really appreciate this, though there are some things you can do to make it matter less or not at all, depending on your OS of choice.

[SirPeale]

This is horribly over complicated.  Leave the cabinet wiring the way it is.  It's already working.  When you flip the switch your power is already going where it needs to.  That includes your lighting. 

Instead, route the AC power from the power supply to your computer power supply.   There are several tricks to get your computer to boot when power is applied to your power supply, and they're mentioned in the Wiki.

Then all you have to do is configure the computer.  Far much less work.

This is what I always do.  However, it means that if you just hit the power switch on top/back of the cabinet, you'll hard-power your PC.  Most modern OSes don't really appreciate this, though there are some things you can do to make it matter less or not at all, depending on your OS of choice.

Make everything read-only (once it's set up) with a RAM drive for swap space.