Best way to turn Arduino on & off?

Hi.
When done my project will use a Duemilanove and have an lcd , another shield on top of it and be pluggd in to a wall outlet that is hard to get to. The project does not need to be on all the time. Without unplugging the wall cable, what is the best way to add a switch or some other way of turning the Arduino Duemilanove on and off?

Thanks. :slight_smile:

Assuming you use a wall wart power supply, you can add a toggle switch inline with it:

WW +----- --------o o---- Ard+
WW - --------------o o---- Ard -

The \ is the switch. Keep in mind a wall wart will use some power even if the switch is open.

An alternative method is to use an X-10 module (or other AC powered switch) on the wall wart to switch it on and off.

-transfinite

Thanks. Do you mean like the switch on lamp's cord? Like a small lamp I might get at IKEA?
Any way to turn it on and off without touching the wall wart or incoming line?

Perhaps putting it to sleep would work for your purposes. Look in the Learning section for ArduinoSleepCode

Any way to turn it on and off without touching the wall wart or incoming line?

The standard Arduino Duemilanove is hard wired from the power connector to the regulator. I can't think of any way to interrupt power without cutting a trace on the pcb.

The seeduino has a switch to select the regulator or USB input. Setting it to USB effectively kills power to the board if USB is disconnected. So it can function as an on/off switch in that case.

As Brian suggests, sleeping may be your only alternative to a complete power down without interrupting the power input.

-transfinite

or some other way of turning the Arduino Duemilanove on and off?

Would not just unplugging the wall wart supply at the Arduino's external power input plug work? Or are you hardwired to the Vin pin?

Lefty

If it can fit, I recommend a device like this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/bb52/