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need help: 3.5mm jack w/ a micro switch?

i'm putting a wired fm modulator in my car; it's the way i want to run my mp3 player into the existing radio. the modulator has a 3.5mm phono jack for the mp3 player to hook into, with the thing powered by the car battery (i'm going to use the cig lighter). it also has an on off switch. But what i would like to do, if possible, is have it so that the modulator is turned on when i hook up the mp3 player to the phono jack and is turned off when i remove the mp3 player from the jack. i'm thinking maybe there's some combination of 3.5mm jack and micro switch. or could i make something like that?

if so perhaps someone could tell me what part(s) to get at radio shack and how to put the thing together.

thanks!

Reply to
floatee
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What you are looking for is a jack with an auxiliary contact isolated from the signal connections. I'm sorry, but this item does not exist.

3.5mm jacks currently available can have audio signal disconnect contacts (if required), but not an additional isolated make contact.

Jacks which do have isolated contacts are used in telephone exchange equipment areas and these are 1/4" (6.35mm) types. See jack config. 'C'

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At best, a 3.5mm jack will be arranged as in config. 'D'

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Ross Herbert wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Or a make contact (not break) on the ground wire. THose exist, and I've even seen a separate aux switch on one 3.5 mm jack socket. You're right about custom though. Very. As fitting one will almost certainly mean adapting a case to take a socket that wouldn't otherwise fit, and as 3.5 mm is a lousy standard anyway for reliability, why not rehouse the modulator in a metal box and fit a quarter inch jack? That way you're more likely to find a standard part with a switch on it, as well as get something that will stand up to the kind of wear it's going to get in a car.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

Important (damage prevention) followup!

When plugging the jack through the ground contacts, if you do use a make- contact in the ground, even with a fused supply, there is a chance of the

12V supply dumping into the output of the MP3 player, so independent switching is vital really. And if you have to rehouse, you're not limited to jacks at all. >:)

Why not use a 5 pin Neutrik XLR? That would be pretty much bombproof, and you could use the two extra pins in the socket for the positive supply line, and short them in the plug. You might get by with the four-pin XLR and use the screen as ground. I think miniature XLR's exist too.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

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