How/Can I do this ?

[phen0m]

I have this old Dell and I am going to change some things on it.
First, I want to move the power button and I have located on the inside and its connected to a little outlet along with 2 led's. But, the wire for it is so tiny I can't hardly move it. Can I extend this wire somehow? Maybe by pulling it off of the on/off switch and soldering it to a new longer wire and back on?

[Mach]

Can you cut the wire in half and solder in a longer piece in the middle? That way you don't worry about end connectors.

Any pictures of what you're trying to do?

[phen0m]

I'm sending them from my phone now but I don't have much service and it will be a minute or two. Anyway, the wires connect to it by two pins. It has six though. You will see. I cannot pull the wires off the pins, I probably shouldn't either :$

[phen0m]

Here you go:


This is where the wires plug into.

http://i38.tinypic.com/2h7knr8.jpg




This is the switch itself. You can see the 6 pins.

http://i33.tinypic.com/2qs5j5t.jpg




This is the whole. It is very small.

http://i37.tinypic.com/1zvo1u.jpg

:0

[Mach]

I'm guessing that you're ok soldering? If so you can cut the wires in half and solder in longer pieces. Don't disconnect the wires from the header or switch (don't melt the wires or header either). As long as you use similar diameter wire, you should be ok to lengthen the switch wires (assuming that's the only thing that you are moving).

[phen0m]

So, it doesn't matter what kind of wire? It just has to be similar diameter?

I think I am going to try it on the led's wires first, then if that works, try the on/off switch.

[Mach]

Pretty much, I've got a spool of ribbon cable that I use for this sort of thing. If you've got a choice, go for 26-28 AWG multi-strand wire. (you can do it with solid core wire but the connections are a PITA and not as strong) It's unlikely that you're going to find aluminum wire so you should be fine. Remember a flux pen is your friend. When you pick up supplies, grab a pack of heat shrink also. (Remember to put it on before soldering the wires. If I had a quarter for every time....)

On the leds, those adapters are on the end of the wires allow you to remove the leds if you want to take the time to switch out the colors. It's pretty easy to do. Just bend the pins down and pull the leds. You may need to solder in a resistor depending on you led tho.

Another thing that you might find helpful if you want to experiment with wiring before you solder things together. I still use one of these when I'm testing circuits. More importantly it comes with two books with exercises that explain the basics of LEDS, diodes, switches, etc.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102913&cp=2032062&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032062&kw=circuit&categoryId=2032062&kwCatId=2032062&parentPage=search

Although not strictly essential, "helping hands" makes life much, much easier.

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-buy-the-kronus-helping-hands-on-http-wwwradioshackcom--pi-2104639.html

[phen0m]

Okay. Thanks for your help.