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The Top Ten Off Switches

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the no-i-can't-make-this-up dept.

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.""

20 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Toggle FTW! by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Toggle switches rule 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.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
    1. Re:Toggle FTW! by CaseyB · · Score: 5, Funny

      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."

    2. Re:Toggle FTW! by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

      --
      init 11 - for when you need that edge.
    3. Re:Toggle FTW! by The_Wilschon · · Score: 4, Funny

      My favorite kind of switch is the magic kind.

      --
      SIGSEGV caught, terminating

      wait... not that kind of sig.
    4. Re:Toggle FTW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    5. Re:Toggle FTW! by icebrain · · Score: 5, Informative

      It happened. As told in the book, 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.

      --
      The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
    6. Re:Toggle FTW! by RGRistroph · · Score: 4, Informative

      The flip-up protective cover is officially known as a molly guard.

    7. Re:Toggle FTW! by vonhammer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      #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.

  2. Top Ten Turn-offs? by djasbestos · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Top Ten Turn-offs? by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

  3. controls logic by ch-chuck · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:controls logic by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
    2. Re:controls logic by darthflo · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

  4. Slashdot = Biggest Off Switch by alcmaeon · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  5. Slashdotted? by jafiwam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  6. Re:In the era of managed shutdown... by gazbo · · Score: 5, Funny
    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.

  7. Wall mount lever by jhines · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  8. Data's LEG? by glindsey · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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*"
  9. Data's entry is wrong by fudgefactor7 · · Score: 4, Informative

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

  10. Re:In the era of managed shutdown... by RollingThunder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.