I'd like to modify one of these A/V selectors like you find at WalMart
- has 4 in & 1 out plus a 1/8" stereo headphone out jack, and rewire it so that there are 3 in & *2* outs that you can switch between.
I opened one up and find there are 3 sections of circuit board, and the switching is accomplished with this spring loaded catch mechanism. There are various places where pieces are hot-glued together.
Anyone ever done something like this?
I see a number of problems.
The cheapest way to manufacture such a device is with single-throw switches. That is, pressing a switch doesn't disconnect anything. Rather, it simply connects the selected input to the output jacks. The previously selected input is disconnected by the mechanical interlock that releases the previously pressed switch. If you forced down two or more input switches, all their signals would be connected to the output.
Unfortunately, switching the selected input _between_ two outputs requires a double-throw switch. And I would bet my life that this unit doesn't contain any.
There is also the fact that the board is hard-wired, and trace-cutting and re-routing will be needed.
I'd suggest this... Buy two of these switches. Connect their _outputs_ (yes, their outputs) together. You then connect the program sources to the inputs of one of them, and the monitors, etc, to the inputs of the other. Select the input on the first, then the display on the second. Easy as eating pie. Four inputs on one, four displays on the other. Any one to any other one.
QED.
I'm waiting to hear people argue about this.
s,
s .Interesting and potentially useful. Part of my goal for my immediate purposes was to avoid having to get another one, and also just as an experiment. My initial examination made me think it wouldn't be a simple matter but I don't have a lot of experience. The first thing that struck me is that things just aren't very accessible the way they're built and would require a *lot* of desoldering just to separate the pieces to get a clear view and clear access and then try to figure out what's routed where and how to change the course of the river.
At times I've used them in reverse, using the out's as in's since it's nothing but pathways.
Would be more likely with more eyes seeing it. Wondering why you stripped out the other groups to which this is a relevant topic? I assume the Google/Usenet gods made it possible to x-post because they felt there was a valid reason to do so.
Technically, it's relevant only to the original poster. Anyhow, people are always griping about cross posts, so I stripped the others.
(yes,
inputs
pie.
That's it. You got it.
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