Newbie: Is a constant closed USB circuit bad?

Submitted by Mugsy on Sun, 08/22/2021 - 17:48

I have an idea for a simple USB device that is not much more than an on/off switch.

My concern is that when it is on (triggering a program to run), raw power will be flowing non-stop through the switch until it's turned off.

Is this a concern? Do I need to include some sort of power regulator to avoid burning out the USB port?

TIA

What kind of USB type you are reffering?

  Joined February 12, 2018      696
Monday at 02:11 PM

Thx for the reply. Any version. Even old 1.1 is sufficient.

My idea: I want to attach a tiny mercury switch to my pivoting monitor that automatically runs a tiny program to change the screen resolution when I rotate the monitor, and switch it back when rotated back (it's an annoying cumberson task to do by hand.)

So it doesn't need hardly any power at all and doesn't need speed. But current will be running thru the device 24/7.

  Joined August 22, 2021      3
Sunday at 05:29 PM

Yeah that can be done.seems complex.

  Joined February 12, 2018      696
Monday at 02:11 PM

Hopefully, it shouldn't be too complex. A tiny program would have to always be running in the background (loaded off the USB) that constantly checks the state of the mercury switch. "On" = pivot, "Off" = normal resolution. No change? Don't run.

The light programming is no problem, but it would be my first USB device.

  Joined August 22, 2021      3
Sunday at 05:29 PM

The complexity is not in the code to run on USB, but to detect the orientation and sending back the info to manipulate the Video driver of the Laptop/PC. It is a teadous job to do it. Hope there are better option to solve the problem.

  Joined February 12, 2018      696
Monday at 02:11 PM

Thanks, but this is not complext at all. I plan to clip a tiny mercury switch to top of the monitor that is connected via USB. When flat, the circut is closed & the switch is on. Set a flag in the software and the program does nothing. Pivot the monitor, the circut is broken, the software toggles your resolution & the orientation flag (not complex). Pivot back, check orientation flag, if it changed, switch the resolution back.

It's really a rather simplistic.device.

  Joined August 22, 2021      3
Sunday at 05:29 PM

Yeah that is a good idea. Please share the output so everyone get benifitted from this who is willing to follow your path. Thanks a lot.

  Joined February 12, 2018      696
Monday at 02:11 PM