bizarre capacitance

Richard Hadsell wrote: See, I don't get the point of that. Nearly every latching push-on/push-off mains power switch I've seen will hold in the "on" position if you press it in and hold it while it's in the 'on' state. There's even less point doing this to a rocker or toggle switch... The only time I can see any point to it is when you're dealing with a fairly recent PC -- holding down the power switch on an ATX system forces the power off. You've still got DC 5V running through the components though (via the 5V standby power circuit). I wouldn't touch one of these without pulling the IEC plug out of the back of the power supply (though /technically/ it's a wire-mounted socket -- sockets generally have holes, plugs have pins). Of course, it's entirely possible (and highly likely) that I've got the wrong end of the stick here. That said, my Standard Operating Procedure of finding the end of the mains cable and pulling it out of the wall before removing the case screws has served me well for long enough. -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/