ConnectHowTo.com

Connect How To: Stereo Plug

Randy — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:44:06 +0000

Here is a basic diagram on how to wire a 1/4″ or 1/8″ stereo plug. If you are going to use it for speaker connections, you do not want to use shielded cable.

Wiring Diagram: 1/4" or 1/8" Stereo Plug

Randy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:06:07 +0000

I have the blessing (and sometimes the curse) of being relatively fearless in my endeavors. Couple that with an extreme and haunting curiosity – “I wonder what would happen if I did this?” – and you have the recipe for some pretty good messes. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, right?

As a result, I have family and friends who call me for technical stuff, and I’ve found that there are a lot of people that look at the back of a computer, stereo, or even house wiring and go into brain freeze because there are so many connections. I guess some people just don’t like the smell of fried electronics. Hard to understand, but that’s O.K. There’s one thing I enjoy more than blowing up my stuff, and that’s blowing up someone elses! (Just kidding!)
Anyway, I’ve put this Connect How To site together with simplified how to video clips and how to diagrams to help my family and friends (and future friends) with their wiring and cable connections .

If you have a specific subject you want me to cover, or suggestions on how to improve the site, I’d be happy to hear from you – just e-mail me at mail@connecthowto.com or leave a comment on one of my posts.

Radio Noise?!!

Randy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:04:39 +0000

Radio noise!! The sound guy’s (gal’s) worst enemy!

We had a church built about a year ago with a really nice sound system that was AMAZINGLY better than the old one. I was constantly fighting noise of some kind in the old church, so this new one made me almost giddy with excitement. I was like a kid in a candy store!

Then it happened. We had a lightning strike! NOOOO!!!!

Not everything was taken out, but just enough to limit our capabilities for a couple of weeks. We called in the professionals and they replaced everything that was apparently affected, but now we have a country-western radio station rearing it’s ugly head intermittently.

Now don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against country-western music. I enjoy all types of music in their proper place. It’s just that I’m kind of a control freak and don’t appreciate uninvited music stations during the church service!!

I think it may be coming in through the electrical service somehow, but the electricians that wired the new church are now out of business and the elders are hesitant about paying for someone to come in and troubleshoot the problem, so it looks like I’m going to have to get off my lazy butt and spend some time tearing into the church’s electrical systems to see if I can find a clue.

Sigh…. honeymoon’s over.

One positive note, though – I do enjoy a good challenge, and by golly, I’m not letting a radio ghost kick my butt!!

More later…

I FOUND IT!!

Somehow one of the aux outs from my sound board got plugged into a line in.

I’m going to blame one of the video guys because it was behind their computer ;>).

I can see how it happened, though. First, let me explain how I have the video computer set up:

There is a dual adapter plugged into the video computer speaker jack – one line goes to the sanctuary sound system and the other one is supposed to go to the local computer speakers.

There is also an output from the sanctuary sound board that goes to the computer for recording the audio portion of the church service.

At some point, the speakers got unplugged and the recording input line got plugged into the dual speaker output adapter.

After I corrected it, the sound system output increased a lot, and the radio noise went away. (Please don’t make me explain where the radio noise came from or went to because I can’t) It took a couple of weeks to reset all my gains, but now I’m back in my happy place!

Connect How To: Sound Card Connections

Randy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:33:09 +0000

Here is a diagram of some of the typical sound card input and output connections on a computer.

Computer Sound Card Connections

There are normally at least 3 jacks (holes) and a rectangular connector in the sound card section of your computer. The audio output jack, the microphone input jack, the line input jack, and the game port. The 3 similar jacks accept a 1/8″ or 3.5mm (same size) plug. Of course, higher end cards may have more of these types of jacks for extra surround sound speakers, but I am only going to cover the basic type here. The rectangular connector is a 15 pin D-sub connector that’s called the game port.

Audio Output Jack:
The audio output jack is normally color coded green, and is a stereo output for your speakers or headphones.

DO NOT plug your electric guitar amplifier speaker OUTPUT into this jack, or you may have to go shoppin’. You can, however, plug a cord from this audio output jack into your guitar amplifier INPUT to greatly amplify the song playing on your computer. Doing that will also greatly amplify your parent’s/wife’s voice. ;>)

Microphone Jack:
The microphone jack is usually color coded pink and is strictly a low level, mono, microphone input.

Line Input Jack:
The line input jack is usually color coded blue and is for playing or recording music or sounds into your computer from the line output jacks on a keyboard, CD player, etc.

Game Port:
The game port is a 15 pin, D-Sub, input/output (I/O) port for a joystick, game controller, or MIDI device. It’s unique shape and size prevents someone from inserting the connector in wrong, or from inserting the wrong connector in. Here is a diagram of the computer game port pin out:

Computer MIDI Game Port Pin Out

For older computers that don’t have the MIDI capabilities, pin 12 would be connected to ground and pin 15 would be +5V out.

Connect How To: Stereo Adapter, 1/4″ or 1/8″ Plug to two RCA plugs

Randy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:46:17 +0000

Being an ex-band roadie and now a church sound guy, there have been times when I have had to make adapters on the fly. Seems like there are always two things that need to be connected with different types of connections, and troubleshooting problems can be difficult if you don’t know what hooks up to what. Here are some wiring diagrams of adapters I deal with quite a bit.

Stereo Adapter 1/4" - (2)RCA

This adapter works well with connecting a headphone output with a line input or recording input. There are even some stereo speakers that have RCA type input jacks.

As you can see, I have illustrated the right wire as being red and the left wire as being white. The wires aren’t typically those colors, but the casings usually are, and those colors are standard on all the stereo equipment that I’ve ever seen.

Although this diagram illustrates how to wire a 1/4″ stereo plug, it’s the same diagram for a 1/8″ (3.5mm), only smaller.

Wire How To: 4-Way Switch

Randy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:33:52 +0000

There are 2 diagrams below, the first one is a diagram of how to wire 3 switches to the same light. You use a combination of two 3-way switches with a 4-way switch in between.

The second diagram shows how to wire 4 switches to the same light by adding another 4-way switch in series.

You can hook up as many switches as you want by just adding 4-way switches, as long as you have a 3-way switch on each end.

The white neutral wires all tie together to supply the light with a return (neutral) path, and the ground wires all tie together as well. If the switches have a ground screw, it would be good to connect the bare ground wires to them as a safety factor, but not absolutely essential for the circuit to work.

Just remember that with connecting two 3-way switches, the hot wire goes to one of them and the switch leg goes to the other one, with two travelers in between.

Wiring Diagram: 4-Way Switch (3 switches)

Wiring Diagram: 4-Way Switch (4 switches)

If the power feed (hot wire cable) and the switch leg (light wires) go into the same box, you can connect the wires like this:
Connect the white neutral wire coming from the light, into the white neutral wire coming from the power feed.
Connect the black hot wire from the power feed, to the third leg of the 3-way switch in that box.
Connect the black wire that comes from the light, to the white wires in your travelers.
Connect the white wire from your traveler in the last switch box, to the 3-way switch there.

Since your light can pick up the neutral from the power feed in the same box, the white wires in your travelers can be used to transfer the switch leg to the last switch in your circuit.

BUT – Be careful to mark the white wire you use for this somehow, like with a piece of black tape toward the end.

Click here for a diagram that will give you a basic idea of what I’m talking about.

Connect How To: Your Computer Connections

Randy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:37:21 +0000

The great thing about computer connections is that they were designed to be “idiot proof” for the most part. Very few things can be plugged into the wrong place without force, and if it is plugged into the wrong place, usually no damage is done. All you have to do is match up the shapes of the cable ends to the connector on the back of the computer.

Here’s a quick video that explains some of those connections:

There are only 2 exceptions that I can think of where you can get things turned around with negative (but not drastic) results, and that’s the sound card connections and the PS/2 ports.

The PS/2 ports are the 2 small round ones with several pins in them. Your mouse and keyboard plug into these. Typically they are color coded, but not always. There is usually a symbol next to them on the back of the case indicating which one goes where. If you get them switched, no harm done, they just won’t work right. Just turn the computer off, switch them, turn the computer back on, and they should work fine.

I might add that the connectors need to be turned the right way before pushing them in. Never force them in. If they don’t seem to go in relatively easily, inspect the pins to see if any are bent.

Here’s a diagram of the connections on the back of a Dell Dimension:

Wire How To: Light Switch

Randy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:25:58 +0000

Wire How To: Single Switch and Light

This is a typical diagram of how to wire a light switch. There may or may not be a power out line that feeds something else in the circuit, or there may be more than one power out line, depending on what was handy for the electrician at the time.

CAUTION:
DO NOT EVER WORK ON LIVE ELECTRICITY! ALWAYS TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER BEFORE TOUCHING THE WIRES! EVEN IF YOU TURN OFF THE POWER, TREAT IT LIKE IT IS STILL HOT! ELECTRICITY CAN KILL YOU!

Ground Wire:
The orange line represents the ground wire. This is typically the bare wire or sometimes it’s green. Not all switches have a ground wire connection, but it is a good idea to have it. Some older homes don’t have a ground wire in the wiring, so it may not apply. It’s just an extra safety precaution in case the switch breaks on the inside and somehow connects the hot wire to the body of the switch (wouldn’t that be a rude awakening?). If the ground wire is connected and that happens, the circuit breaker will see a short circuit and kick off.

Neutral Wire:
The neutral wire is the circuit return path and is normally colored white. All the white wires should be tied together to complete the circuit, and as you can see, there is no connection on the switch for it. DO NOT connect them to the switch unless you want to see fireworks (or at least a popped breaker)!

Hot Wire:
The hot wire is typically the black wire. Tie all your hot wires together to feed the other devices in the circuit, except the one going to the light (called the switch leg). If there are no power out wires in the box, only the one hot wire coming in, you can just connect it directly to the switch. If there are other power out wires, you will have to tie them all together and cut off a short piece of black wire and connect it in with the others to supply power to the switch.

It’s always a good idea to twist the wires together with your pliers before screwing on the wire nut to ensure a good, solid connection. It will help to prevent intermittent problems.

Wire How To: Single Switch and Light (alternate)

This wiring diagram is for when your power feed is in the light box instead of the switch box. You’ll notice the main difference being that you use the white wire in the cable going to the switch box as the switch leg and the black wire as the power feed.

Some electricians will tie the white wire in with the power feed and use the black one as the switch leg, but either way, the switch doesn’t care which is which.

Again, I cannot stress enough to be very careful with your connections here. If you accidentally tie the white wire from the switch into the other white wires in this configuration, there will be fireworks!

Here’s a wiring diagram of a light circuit with three lights hooked up to one switch and an outlet receptacle in the same circuit. You can hook up as many lights or receptacles together in this way as the circuit will handle.

Wire How To: Three Lights on a Single Switch and an Outlet Receptacle

Wire How To: 3 Way Switch

Randy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:32:50 +0000

Wiring Diagram: 3-Way Switch

This is a typical diagram of how to connect 2 switches to the same light. It’s especially handy for stairs, hallways, and big rooms.

You will notice that the power feed goes into one switch box, while the switch leg (light wire) goes into the other. There is also a “traveler” line that connects the two together.

Traveler:
The traveler is a 3 wire Romex cable with a ground. In other words, there are 3 insulated wires and an uninsulated ground wire.
The ground wire is for added safety and all grounds should be tied together to maintain the safety path.
The white wire is the neutral wire which is the circuit return path for the light. It also goes to ground, and all white wires should be tied together to maintain the circuit path.
The red and black wires are the travelers that hook the two switches together. These are attached to the 2 top terminals (or bottom – depending on how you’re holding it). It doesn’t really matter which one goes where on those 2 terminals.

Wiring Diagram: 3-Way Switch (alternate)

This is an alternate way to wire 2 switches to the same light. Sometimes it’s more convenient to put both the power feed and the switch leg in the same switch box.

Install How To: Memory Upgrades: RAM

Randy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:17:07 +0000

One of the quickest and easiest ways to increase your computer’s speed and capabilities is to install more Random Access Memory (RAM).

Here’s the How To steps:

Find out how much RAM your computer has.
To find out how much RAM you have in a PC or laptop that is running the Windows operating system, right click on the “My Computer” icon on the desktop or the start menu, and choose “Properties”. On that page you will find how much memory (RAM) your computer has.

Find out what type and how much RAM your motherboard will accept.
That same “Properties” page will also tell you the manufacturer and model number of your computer, unless it’s a generic type computer, then it will only tell you the CPU type and speed.

If you know the manufacturer and model number of computer:
Look in the book you received with your computer to determine the type of memory you need and how much you can add. If you no longer have that book, then you should be able to find the information you need from the support section of the computer manufacturer’s website.

If you have a generic computer or don’t know who made it:
Remove the cover and look on the motherboard itself. You will find a model number printed somewhere on the top of it, usually close to the center and in bigger type than everything else.
Sometimes you will find the manufacturer’s name, but not always. If you find the manufacturer’s name, go to their support website and find the owner’s manual/spec’s for that motherboard model number to find out how much and what type of memory to install.
If you don’t find the manufacturer’s name, do a web search for the model number and look for the manufacturer’s website there.

If all else fails:
Open the case, locate the existing RAM card(s) (a small circuit board approximately 5″ long by 1″ – 1.5″ tall, plugged in perpendicular to the motherboard), and count how many slots there are total that are the same size right next to it. Then push the tabs on each end of the card to remove it, and take it to your local retailer and tell him “Give me some of these, only bigger.”

CAUTION: ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING COMPUTER COMPONENTS – STATIC ELECTRICITY CAN EASILY HARM OR DESTROY SOME OF THE CIRCUITS. ALWAYS REMOVE THE POWER AND GROUND YOURSELF (TOUCH THE CASE) BEFORE TOUCHING THE ELECTRONICS, AND USE ANTI-STATIC PACKAGING FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORTATION WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

Installation:
Once you have removed the computer cover and located the RAM slots, make sure the clips on each end of the RAM slots that you are planning to fill are pulled back.
Line up the slot on the contact edge of the RAM card with the key inside the motherboard RAM slot. It is slotted to prevent installing backwards.
Place the card in the slot and press firmly. You will know that it is locked in when the tabs raise up and lock into the slots in the end of the RAM card.
Replace cover, hook up computer, and you’re off to the races!

Disclaimer: Eveything on this website is for my entertainment only – If you screw up and break something or hurt yourself, you’re on your own.