The Top Ten Off Switches

Dan Jimbokla submitted a story that normally i would pass over, but I actually oddly enjoyed it. "CNET.co.uk has a truly funny and read-worthy article up about the top ten off switches. One of my favorite switches from the piece is #4 — The illuminated toggle switch: "This switch isn't designed for high-drain uses, typically it can only provide a maximum of 20 amps at 12 volts. That will make it suitable for a number of exciting uses though, and what it lacks in power handling, it makes up for in practicality. This switch will illuminate when the device it controls is turned on, and go off when the device is deactivated. This is logical and practical, and that has earned this switch a place in our hearts. What's more, it's far from expensive and there are even a choice of colors.""

Toggle FTW!

[stoolpigeon (454276)]

Toggle switches rule [amazon.com] period. Batman used toggle switches in the batmobile. Fighter pilots flick toggle switches in the movies before they blow up bad guys. The Millenium Falcon probably had a couple hundred thousand toggle switches. Cool electric guitars? They've got a toggle switch. When I built my first model rocket launcher - I think it had 3 toggle switches. A good solid 'click' of the old toggle is just the thing - all other switches pale in comparison. Even the big red button.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[CaseyB (1105)]

The only thing better than a regular toggle switch is a toggle switch with a flip-up protective cover. It says "You had better be damn sure of what you're doing before you toggle me. You need executive orders to flip me, and those orders must have been confirmed with the one-time codeword. Lives are at stake, here."

Re:Toggle FTW!

[Silver Sloth (770927)]

Or a piece of paper taped over it Apollo 13 style - my all time favourite protective cover. I often wonder whether that actually happened or whether it was artistic license.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[The_Wilschon (782534)]

My favorite kind of switch is the magic [catb.org] kind.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[icebrain (944107)]

It happened. As told in the book [amazon.com], before the time came to do the jettison, Swigert had nightmares that he'd flipped the wrong switch and watched his crewmates drift away. He made the sign (saying NO) as one more check in the system. I seem to recall that he asked one of the guys to check him on it, too.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[RGRistroph (86936)]

The flip-up protective cover is officially known as a molly guard [wiktionary.org].

Re:

[q-the-impaler (708563)]

I am not young enough to know everything.
    - Oscar Wilde

Re:Toggle FTW!

[Billosaur (927319)]

You're forgetting... the original Enterprise used toggle switches, especially in Engineering. You can bet Scotty wouldn't trust just any old switch to fiddle with antimatter.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[by Anonymous Coward]

Knife switches are better. Toggle switches are inappropriate for mad scientist use.

Re:Toggle FTW!

[vonhammer (992352)]

#8 on the list was the Emergency Shutdown.

I used to work with a guy that had been in the Air Force in Vietnam working in some type of data center. He told me a story about an event that happened one night that forced an emergency shutdown. If I remember correctly, a water pipe burst and the data center was being flooded. As he was on duty that night, he went around shutting down all of the equipment. One machine, in particular, had an "Emergency Shutdown" lever. In training, he was told that he would never need to use it, but it was there. This seemed like an emergency, so he pulled the lever. What he didn't know was that it released a weighted blade that fell down through the backplane severing every wire in its path, essentially destroying the machine.

The aftermath was, a couple of Air Force techs spending weeks soldering the thing back together again, and he got every s#^t job that came up for the remainder of his tour.

History Eraser Button

[ukemike (956477)]

The best off button EVER:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhzvCyhkg8c [youtube.com]

See this button?
DON'T TOUCH IT!
It's the History Eraser Button you fool !
--so what'll happen ?
That's just it! We don't know.
Maybe something bad...maybe something good
I guess we'll never know.
Cause you're going to guard it.
You won't touch it, will you?

[narrator]
Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out?
How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence?
Will his tortured mind give in to it's uncontrollable desires?
Can he withstand the temptation to push the button, that even now, beckons him ever closer?
Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history, at the mere push of a single button?
The beautiful shiny button.
The jolly candy-like button.
Will he hold out, folks?
Can he hold out?

Re:Toggle FTW!

[Kong the Medium (232629)]

I watched "Ratatouille" on the weekend. The Prelude was a little gem by Pixar called "Lifted". Not to spoil anything, but this little film featured a toogle switch board with ca. 1000x50 toogle switches, all unlabeled!. The poor sod, who had to operate them got a little bit frustrated. And his superior handled this board as Glen Gould did his piano keys.

speaking of star wars

[SethJohnson (112166)]

I think this CNET article is irresponsible for giving credit to some un-pictured mythical switch on Data's leg while not acknowledging the tractor-beam shutdown switch Obi-Wan Kenobi flipped. That sucker filled his whole palm and was mounted on a ledge with a 1000' drop-off. Here's a photo [wikia.com].

Seth

Big red switch

[brejc8 (223089)]

Can't believe they forgot IBM's big red switch [lesser-evil.com].

Re:

[LWATCDR (28044)]

I remember that. There was on on the Model 38 at a hospital I worked at. On night we where doing a test of the hospital back up generators. They would power the computer but not the AC. There was a problem getting back on mains power, as the temperature started to get really high we started to do a shutdown. It took a while and the head of the department said that if it hit 95 in the machine room and the system still wasn't down that we would pull the big red switch.
We got mains power and AC back on at 92 a

Awesome.

[Aladrin (926209)]

This is one of those articles that you think 'Why isn't there more of these!? It's great!' but then remember that if there were more, they'd quickly become old-hat.

Kudos to them for doing it right... #7 was sure a surprise.

Dork

[Gaima (174551)]

My god, that must be the dorkiest list in the world, ever.
Love it!

Top Ten Turn-offs?

[djasbestos (1035410)]

Usually that's a lead-in to some bullshit dating article...too bad toggle switches don't apply in that field!

That could also be dangerous, as many slashdotters would begin to be able to understand the opposite sex.

Re:Top Ten Turn-offs?

[eln (21727)]

I don't know, I'm pretty sure talking about toggle switches on a date would be a pretty big turn off. If you find a girl that isn't turned off by it, you should marry her immediately.

Do relays count?

[LM741N (258038)]

If so, the vacuum relay. Can switch large amounts of power and comes in a relatively small package. These are very fast as well. High power radio transmitting systems use them

Re:

[ajlitt (19055)]

You mean the thyratron [wikipedia.org]. Because at the heart of every high energy physics experiment or giant pulsed laser is a thyratron (or a thyristor, the solid state equivalent).

Re:

[LM741N (258038)]

No I mean vacuum relay. But the hydrogen thyratron is the fastest (as I'm being entered into the no-fly list)

controls logic

[ch-chuck (9622)]

Also remember to wire your emergency 'off' switches as normally closed, so if the switch fails the equipment will stop. Nothing worse that going to switch off a 30HP motor that your tie is stuck in and the damn switch isn't working.

Re:controls logic

[Linker3000 (626634)]

Unless of course it's the overload switch of an electromagnetic lifter (ie: Scrapyard crane) where you don't want that 4 ton load to suddenly drop from 60ft onto you just because someone heard a gear grind and pressed the panic button - better to lock the electromagnet ON.

Re:controls logic

[darthflo (1095225)]

This may just be me, but I'd rather use an antigravitational switch for that. Locking the magnet to "on" might crush whomever's between magnet and load while "off" would crush the person underneath it. Hovering seems the best alternative to me.

Re:

[zippthorne (748122)]

Obviously, he's management. Notice how he thinks that "closed" means "off."

Pessimistic

[Sockatume (732728)]

I prefer to think of them as "on" switches. Err, except the ones which actually are off-only. Obviously.

Slashdot = Biggest Off Switch

[alcmaeon (684971)]

Given that the article appears to be already slashdotted, it appears this website is really the biggest, baddest off switch around.

Lighted switch?

[russotto (537200)]

An even more useful switch is one which lights up when the device it is controlling is off, and goes dark when it is on. But the #1 switch should be the Frankenstein-style knife switch. Nothing says fun like exposed very-high-current conductors.

Re:

[Detritus (11846)]

My pet peeve is switches that offer no visual indication of their state when the power is out. This is important when you are trying to turn off a room full of equipment during a power failure. Besides removing load, it helps prevent damage to the equipment when the power is restored.

In the era of managed shutdown...

[Tony Shepps (333)]

...we will forget the off switch. I understand the need for managed shutdown, but there was always something satisfying about activating a solid on/off switch to cut all power to the system. The switch always did the same thing. It was dependable. Sometimes, if it was spring-loaded, it even had a satisfying "chunk" noise to tell you with extreme prejudice, this machine is OFF. Industrial!

At one time, before the widespread adoption of journaling file systems, people said that the requirement of managed shutdown would make Unix/Linux unacceptable for most people. Ha! Nowadays when people hit the START button to get to the SHUTDOWN, Windows will sit there, "saving your settings" for a good minute or more.

Re:In the era of managed shutdown...

[gazbo (517111)]

Windows 95 was released over a decade ago. That should help to give you a bound on when the start/shutdown "joke" ceased to be funny or original.

Maybe you should branch into other areas of observational comedy: I hear Alanis Morissette has a song about things being ironic that is ripe for parody by a man of your talents.

Re:In the era of managed shutdown...

[RollingThunder (88952)]

My father worked for Imperial Oil (aka Esso) at a bulk transfer plant, and they had really, REALLY fun switches there. Gas-powered switches that you pumped up then triggered, so they would throw the blades at an insanely fast speed to minimize the chance of sparking (and therefore minimize the chance of going WOOMF). They sounded like a freaking gunshot. Great stuff.

Re:

[xaxa (988988)]

I was told (at a chemical factory's power substation) that the switches were in a special oily goo that prevented sparks, and were also spring loaded. You could still get a spark, but the oily goo meant it was safe even if there was hydrogen around. This was for switching 33kV.

Slashdotted?

[jafiwam (310805)]

Link is not working for me.

Did they include the "guy standing over rope with axe" switch to shut down the Manhattan project reactor pile?

Sometimes low tech is the best tech.

Re:

[Tteddo (543485)]

Wow! That brought me back to nuke school!
SCRAM Safety Control Rod Axe Man

Re:

[Fear the Clam (230933)]

SCRAM - Get off my lawn, you kids!

Re:

[rlazarus (1002774)]

Not the Manhattan project, but Chicago Pile-1 [wikipedia.org] (first criticality December 2, 1942) - the first controlled nuclear reaction, as opposed to the first nuclear bomb. As you may imagine, they couldn't find anybody to stand next to the first Manhattan test with an axe; not even a grad student. Which didn't matter, since (as you may further imagine) the bomb had no control rods.

Best switch ever

[idontgno (624372)]

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html [catb.org]

Wall mount lever

[jhines (82154)]

The traditional wall mounted box with a pull lever on the side. It opens so you can see the simple mechanical switch inside. Lockable, so that you can insure that it won't get switched back on, while your hands are inside the guts of something electromechanical.

Simple, safe, and sure. That is why they have been used, and will be, for years.

Data's LEG?

[glindsey (73730)]

From the article:

#7 - Lieutenant Commander Data's leg
Yes, you read that right, one of the best off switches ever is fitted to the android from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Data, as he's known to his friends -- seen here snogging the face off the Borg Queen -- had one secret he only told a select few people. He could be deactivated with a power button on his leg.

Yeah... but it was on his hip, not his leg. Which, I suppose, could make sex with the Borg Queen a bit of a pain...

"Oh yeah, yeah, wait, no, don't touch me th*thunk*"

Re:

[deander2 (26173)]

no, it was on his back [memory-alpha.org].

(sad that i know this so certainly...)

Dead Man Switch

[MDMurphy (208495)]

They could have left one of the toggle switches out and included some sort of a dead man switch. Foot or hand operated from a train perhaps.

I used to operate light rail vehicles. If you let go of the switch the the train went into maximum braking. I remember it was abrupt, can't remember if it automatically dumped the sand in front of the steel wheels or you had to do that yourself.

Data's entry is wrong

[fudgefactor7 (581449)]

No, try again.... Not Leg, not armpit, but beneath his right shoulder blade. (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/character/1112457.html)

Data

[Triv (181010)]

cnet's talkback feature appears to be broken, so I'll do the thing here:

Data's off-switch is awesome, but the dude's got it wrong - it isn't on his leg, it's in his side above his hip. If I remember right, above his right hip.

Triv

Ethernet controlled-switch

[raddan (519638)]

This [digital-loggers.com] is one of my favorite switches. Of course, we bought it, and then realized that we don't have much use for it. But it's a neat idea! Someday we'll hook it up to something.

Re:

[stoolpigeon (454276)]

Apparently I threw the off switch on your attempt. Or did I throw the on switch to your failure? Don't give up though skippy - you'll get there one day.

Re:

[faloi (738831)]

I believe we're no longer allowed to refer to them as "kill" switches, there's an obvious implication of violence. We have to refer to them as unpower switches.

Thankfully I'm not serious...yet.

Re:Confusing Switches

[coolGuyZak (844482)]

The mnemonic is an "open" ( O ) versus "closed" ( | ) electrical circuit [tpub.com]. A circle could be seen as open, as the circuit appears to "break" as it passes through the center of the O. Meanwhile a closed circuit passes directly through the center of the line, unbroken.

Re:Confusing Switches

[Rob the Bold (788862)]

Ah, but if you see it as a circle and a horizontal line instead of a numerals 0 and 1, then that logic doesn't work.

Please rotate user 90 degrees.