Buttons?

[SunnyUK]

This may be a weird question, but bear with me....

I want to have my PC at the back of a cupboard completely out of sight. The only thing I want out in the room is the monitor (long VGA cable) and the keyboard/mouse/dvd (USB cables can be long as well). So far so good. But occasionally I'll need to switch the PC on or off, so I'm also going to need a power and reset button, plus ideally a power-led. Basically I need all the "stuff" at the front of the cabinet moved from the cabinet to a spot about 10 meters away (cabling neatly behind the skirting board).

Does anyone know of a UK supplier of "lose" power buttons that I can just fit with very long cables? Ideally it should all be fitted in a net plastic "box" like the ones ordinary electrical on/off switches are wall-mounted in.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Tomas

 

[[email protected]]

What you could do is to install a fused spur and set the pc to boot on restore of power. This would give you the option to shut down then power off from the spur. When you switch the power back on from the spur the PC would boot automatically.

Alan

 

[cskates]

You should be able to do this from the keyboard, without needing to extend the switches. In Windows power management you can set the sleep key on the keyboard (if it has one) to turn the PC off or hibernate it. In the BIOS you can usually set it to power on when a key is pressed on the keyboard, usually the space bar.

 

[SunnyUK]

[email protected],
fused spur??? Sorry, I'm a bit slow, I guess. Could you explain in a bit more detail? It's not the 220 V I intend to extend - my PCs do not auto power-on when the power comes on

cskates,
brilliant idea! Sadly one of the PCs I'll be hiding doesn't have the functionality in BIOS to switch on/off via keyboard. But other than that, it was a really good idea!

 

[rob_w]

You can just extend the leads to the power on/off button. Its a simple 'push to make' contact switch. I made my own front panel using a 'vandal' resistant switch from maplins.

Look inside your case and you'll clearly see the twisted wire going to the on/off switch, and the leads to the led's..

It's just as easy to extend the leads to an led.....

I'd imagine cat5 cable would do well to connect.

You may have to fabricate a panel to mount them in, but thats not rocket science.. Or try a blanking plate for a standard plug box, and drill out the holes for the switch/led.


http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=040203225321600&moduleno=19093&Products=1

Cheers

Rob

 

[SunnyUK]

Thanks Robwells. So a couple of 'push to make' contacts. I assume that the reset button is the same kind as the on/off.

Thank you very much for the help... can't wait to get down to Maplin and pick out the bits and pieces!

 

[rob_w]

""So a couple of 'push to make' contacts""

You got it - good luck with your project.

Rob