Universal (theft) protection for electronic equipment or cars with invisible switch

I'll show how you can utilize a reed switch as a universal protection for electronic equipment or cars. All you need is a reed switch and a magnet. For cars you'll need a power relay to increase the switching capacity of the reed switch.

A pictorial and a video demonstrates how to build an invisible switch into a PC. A schematic is shown how to apply this technique for cars.

Step 1: How to make an invisible switch in a PC step 1

I'll show how to protect a PC with a hidden switch. You'll be the only one who can turn it on and thieves will not directly be able to turn it on unless they take your pc apart and start 'fixing' it.

The first picture shows the reed switch which we will use. It's a glass tube with two contacts which are pulled towards each other making contact when a magnetic field is present. You can reed(read ;-) ) more details on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_switch

For the PC we'll use a read switch with a make contact.

The first step is to remove both side pannels from the pc housing by unscrewing the bolts shown in the picture. After that the front panel can be removed by pushing the front panel retainers together with your fingers to unlock them.

Comments

[daemonkrog]

So you're putting a magnet.. by your hard drives...

[skylane]

Hard drives have two extremely powerful magnets inside them.
WAY, WAY more powerful than the magnet in this instructible.
No one is ever concerned about getting their hard drives too close
to other magnetically sensitive materials.

Your concern is good, but flawed :-)

[Th3H4rRy]

the magnet needed is no where near strong enough to damage the hard drives. Hard drives have surpassed the time now that near by magnetic waves damage them. Unless those of a very strong power

[daemonkrog]

Useful information. I was pretty skeptical about that answer.. but you're right. I stand corrected.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/116572/busting_the_biggest_pc_myths.html

[illdoyourdrugs]

Ha ha ha Exactly! Not so smart.

[animal0307]

Very impressive. I like the idea. But I have a small suggestion to make. Forget the switch at all and just put in the reed switch. You could mystify your friends by just waving your hand over your computer case, (with a magnet concealed with a bit of slight of hand) and like magic it turns on. You are now a true master of technology.

[nolte919]

Your video was removed by Metacafe.  I don't suppose you'd make it available again.

[R3N3]

very nice. will use.

[ixisuprflyixi]

you could also mount a magnet in the table under the PC and the reed switch in the bottom of the PC, so it sits just above the magnet then hook the reed switch to an alarm in such a way so that if the PC is picked up or moved slightly it would sound an alarm. That is another theft prevention device.

[gannon12raiders]

I've been looking all over online and I can't seem to find reed switches, and the local Radio Shack, Circuit City, Best Buy, Hobby Lobby, Fry's Electronics, and (of course) Wal*Mart ALL yielded nothing. Anybody got a suggestion?

[ratgod]

I got some cheap door alarms from Dollarama, they have a reed switch in the sounder side.

[yoyo123aj]

1 word ebay, I bought 20 reed switches for 5 bucks.

[apburner]

Mouser is where I go for most of my discrete components.
Here is the link to the page in there catalog for reed switches.
The bottom ones are truly tiny little things.
reed switches

[craftsman]

i lose stuff alot and am afraid of losing the magnet are there any other switches that might be like this like a finger sensor?

[lux4x4]

Very good ..i use it about 20 years!!!!!! in my cars i use a step-step switch, so i use the reed switch only for a second to pulse a + ! It works from 20 years!!

[Artificial Intelligence]

Cool, however harddrives + magnets is not the best combination.

[Derin]

a hd is shielded which means covered with metal and there are huge magnets in a hd

[Artificial Intelligence]

Not all HDs are shielded and an external magnetic field would disturb the magnetic fields created by the magnets inside the HD. However this doesn't happen every time.

[wesie42]

if i am correct, as soon as you take your magnet off, the computer will turn off

[Rob K]

Nope power buttons on computers are momentary, Hanzablast could have just used the reed switch to turn it on,

[dusty.crockett]

No, it won't. That wire isn't nearly big enough to provide the power to run the PC, just the switch to turn it on.

[dkfa]

yea?? wont it turn off like wesie said?

[Go_Back_To_School]

....wow... just wow.... NO it WONT turn it off. I wont even bother explaining why. Just live with it.

[daemonkrog]

problem is.. this wont protect your data at all, nor your pc from being stolen. More of a keep my friends and family from being able to turn my pc on type thing.

[casey321b]

try doing the same thing but with your mouse too. that would be super cool!!!

[Yerboogieman]

find a way to mount that magnet in your finger

[casey321b]

like they said a ring that is magnatized

[casey321b]

I would make a slot and put the magnet inside the key(probly your house key that would be good) so you would use the key and no one would suspect it was a magnet at all!!! and it would look cooler

[jdege]

More fun with reed switches. How about this one: 1. Build a magnet into a ring. 2. Wire a reed switch into your TV remote control. 3. Irritate everyone you live with, when you're the only one who can change channels.

[gannon12raiders]

That. Is. Amazing.

[DeusXMachina]

ULTRA WIN! You could pretty much make all your stuff in your house, your car, etc based off of reed switches, if you were so inclined/paranoid.

[FrenchCrawler]

I installed a momentary push switch into ours due to certain reasons. Now it'll only work if the battery cover is on (for some reason the battery cover would always get lost before, so I used that to incorporate the location of the switch).

[hanzablast]

This really is a great plan!!!! I may have to try that one :-))))

[cooldog]

where do you get the reed switch and are they water proof

[solidacid]

In an electronics store, most reed switches are waterproof.

[acewingman]

The momentary switch that turns the ATX PC on just completes a short between two pins on the power supply. Inserting the reed switch is just like adding another momentary switch. Once the power supply is turned on it does not matter if the circuit has continuity and therefore the magnet being removed will not cause the PC to turn off.

[apburner]

Also most case frames are steel. The magnetic field will not go though this to any great extent. I find that if I place magnets on my case I can use them to hold Small parts or other things on the computer while I work at my desk. I have a letter opener and TV remote both stuck to my computer with magnets that I have glues to the remote and opener. No problems with the hard drive. The only thing that might be bothered is the floppy drive and I haven't seen a floppy used in several years now.

[S1L3N7 SWAT]

Sweet!! This would be good for laptops.

[membrane]

Neat trick I might try it on one of my cars though you might want to solder the connection vs just twist wires on the reed switch.

[23mcharlotte]

Nice Ill do somthing like this in the future