How to insert a power button on Arduino Nano

Question

I've an Arduino Nano to which a Micro Servo 9g is connected. The Arduino board and consequently the servo are powered by a USB powerbank connected to the board with a USB mini cable.

My question is: Is there a way to insert a power switch so I can turn on/off the board without plug/unplug the USB (that now is the way I use) ? I was thinking to cut the USB cable and work with the positive of it but if someone has an alternative or any tips I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

EDIT: If is needed I could make a wiring diagram.

Answer 1

Cutting a usb wire would be the easiest. Otherwise you'd have to cut traces in the pcb and attach wires. Not recommend for beginners. You can actually buy usb cable with a switch.

Another alternative would be to put the microcontroler in sleep mode and have it use very little power.

• Luigi Cerone: Thanks for your reply. If Arduino is in sleep mode does the servo still work?
• Gerben: I think that if you deattach the servo in software it doesn't use that much power. Otherwise you'd have to connect power to the servo using a transistor, so you can power it down during sleep.

Answer 2

As Gerben said, you can buy a cable with a switch built in.

Usb cable with switch