Is it wise to play with mains electric in a mentally compromised state?

[suicidal_orange]

I have a mains strip which is supposed to sense when everything connected is in standby mode then kill the power.  This is because I'm lazy and don't want to turn off my monitor and especially DAC which has bright blue LEDs lighting the room.  It still knows when it should switch off as the unit clicks and it's "on" LED goes off, but power to the connected devices is not cut.  Clearly it's just a faulty relay and after many years of use that's not surprising.

The fixer in me says "rip it open, must be a big relay to handle switching mains so easy to spot and big solder pads" while the sensible adult says "last time you played with mains (a computer PSU) you would have died if not for luck and you're a clumsy dumbass at the moment"

Thoughts?

[jamster]

Thoughts are that you mainly need a bit of Gaffa tape, or if you want a visible LED, get these:
http://www.lightdims.com/index.php

I have them on most my audio, computing and networking gear.

(Yes I know this totally sidesteps the power strip issue )

[fohat.digs]

which is supposed to sense

I am never trusting of that sort of thing. I rig up a maze of wires with a master kill switch near the wall outlet and upstream of all my gear.

At the end of the night I shut everything down and when I wake up in the morning I manually throw the switch back on.

But I am a grumpy old curmudgeon and trust mechanics a lot more than I trust electronics.

[suicidal_orange]

I rig up a maze of wires with a master kill switch near the wall outlet and upstream of all my gear.

That would be ideal and would have been cheaper too but the wall outlet is inaccessible behind a cupboard style desk and the mains lead runs in to the bottom of the desk where the magic box sits, you can lie on the floor to access the near end of it but the cable is at the back so you would need to remove a storage box needs to get to it, and to get the box out you need to pick up a spinney bottomed office chair...

By comparison the magic box has a button on a wire that's conveniently located inside the top of the desk and it turns itself off which is great when you realise you should have left already - you can just click shutdown and leave and a minute later it's all fully off.  It's been great for probably 10 years except for a week or so years ago when it did what it's doing now, it's had long enough this time that I don't think it's going to fix itself again.

Thoughts are that you mainly need a bit of Gaffa tape, or if you want a visible LED, get these:
http://www.lightdims.com/index.php

That's a great non-solution, doesn't prevent the heat of leaving transformers on though and with summer coming in a country with no AC that's not a good thing.  Might pick some up for the DAC anyway, it is stupidly bright!

[fohat.digs]

except for a week or so years ago when it did what it's doing now

Whoa! That's not good.

Once a piece of electronics goes hinky on me, if I can't diagnose and remedy the problem I can never really trust that component again.

[Leslieann]

The fixer in me says "rip it open, must be a big relay to handle switching mains so easy to spot and big solder pads" while the sensible adult says "last time you played with mains (a computer PSU) you would have died if not for luck and you're a clumsy dumbass at the moment"

If it's just a strip it's not likely to have a large capacitor, it would also be a pretty large strip. Regardless, I'd still drain the power by having something running on it while you unplug it from the wall.


And while I agree with:

Once a piece of electronics goes hinky on me, if I can't diagnose and remedy the problem I can never really trust that component again.

It's likely just a sticky relay and pretty easy to fix, but should have been done a while back.

[suicidal_orange]

If it's just a strip it's not likely to have a large capacitor, it would also be a pretty large strip. Regardless, I'd still drain the power by having something running on it while you unplug it from the wall.

Just as well I asked - I had forgotten about needing to unplug it   That's going to need removal of furniture, realistically not going to happen.  Might be able to get a big stick down the back to turn the socket off.  I wonder if the cable is even long enough to pull it out to access the screws...

And while I agree with:

Once a piece of electronics goes hinky on me, if I can't diagnose and remedy the problem I can never really trust that component again.

It's likely just a sticky relay and pretty easy to fix, but should have been done a while back.

I had it as diagnosed just not fixed and didn't think anything bad could happen from having power going where it's made to go.  If I'm wrong please correct me before I burn the house down!

[Leslieann]

I had it as diagnosed just not fixed and didn't think anything bad could happen from having power going where it's made to go.  If I'm wrong please correct me before I burn the house down!

It depends on what's going on inside, while unlikely, yes it could start a fire.

It could cause arcing and lead to a problem, but you're more likely to have interference, this can cause stability problems or even damage other electronics.

[suicidal_orange]

Poked a stick down the back and turned off the socket on the wall, can't get the block out of the desk but can access the back of it.  Has lots of two pin security screws (like a flat head screwdriver with the middle missing) but they're in too deep holes to get my socketed screwdriver bits in so that's the end of today's attempt.