Wiring OEM power/reset switch

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hiodie

Gawd
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Aug 24, 2008
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I recently bought an Antec Aria off of the forum and was told that the power switch was broken/cable missing before it arrived. Now that I have it, it isn't as simple as I though. I assumed there would be only 2, maybe 3 terminals as the power switches on the mobo only have 2 or 3. However, it has 6 terminals, and I don't think (someone can correct me if they know) it has an LED in it, which would explain 2 more of the pins. Does anyone know how I should go about wiring it? I don't have a multimeter (I really should though) and would rather not have to buy one for this. Here is a pick of the back of the switch (a little beat up with some heat shrink still on it).

 
A DMM or another way to test for resistance would be the easiest way to figure out the internal layout. Start with switch in off-position, measure pins, move to on-position, measure again, note differences. Now you know how to wire up the switch itself. The LED side is a bit trickier, but a LED is in essence a diode, with the same behaviour (small voltage drop in one direction, no current flow in other direction).
 
Two of the pins seemed to have been soldered before and the wire/solder broke, so I tried those first and got it to work. There isn't an LED in the switch, so I am not really sure what the other contacts are for. Maybe its just a one size fits all that was bought in bulk for other apps too. Oh well, I got it to work. Thanks.
 
hiodie said:
Two of the pins seemed to have been soldered before and the wire/solder broke, so I tried those first and got it to work. There isn't an LED in the switch, so I am not really sure what the other contacts are for. Maybe its just a one size fits all that was bought in bulk for other apps too. Oh well, I got it to work. Thanks.
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Yeah, the one-size-fits-all approach happens more often than you might think. I sell electronic kits, and I've found that for a 1uF cap, I can get 50V for cheaper than 35V, 25V, or 10V. So I end up including 50V caps in the kits, even though they'll never see more than 5V.
 
Just for your information , the switch in question is a DPDT momentary pushbutton.It's the standard switch for computer power buttons.

While yes , it has 6 pins (2x N.O. and 2x N.C.) only 2 are used....Interestingly , I've never seen a switch like that with only 2 factory pins.....Even the spst models just have the extra pins cut off.

:D
 
Well lucky for me that they didn't cut the others off. The first two broke off due to being bent back & forth too much (design flaw as the hdd caddy pushes right against the connections). So I soldered it on to another two and it is again working.
 
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