Posted by T. Robbins on 15, 2001 at 8:12 PM:
In Reply to: wiring up power switch posted by Jason on 15, 2001 at 3:42 PM:
The easiest way to determine that would be with a cheap meter, you can get one from most any hardware store.
Take one of the probes and place in against the metallic case of the computer system, the other against first the green and then the white wire. The one that is ground should show almost no resistance.
Personally though I think you might be making this a little more difficult than it really needs to be, and if your connections are not solid you may run into a short that could damage your system.
If it were me, I would probably use a standard power strip mount it inside your enclosure. Then take a cord from the power strip and wire to a light switch on the exterior of your enclosure and then the switch could be wired to a standard power outlet mounted near the computer on the interior of the enclosure. This method provides you with several advantages - it doesn't require modifying the computer in any way, it provides you with surge before your switching arrangment and if you plug another power strip into the outlet mounted inside the enclosure it will allow your switch to control not only the computer but all of the periphirals as well.
Just a thought.