DIY DC power cables

[mozes]

8 hours ago, austinpop said:

Thanks, @Superdad and @Michael-Elijah Audio

 

A little practice and those pictures - many thx again! - did the trick. I made two cables for my 2 LPS-1s in short order.

 

While testing with a multimeter showed all was good, I connected them with trepidation. No worries - everything worked. My first handmade cables! So proud. 

 

My setup is in flux at the moment, but I agree with you @tboooe. Definitely more clarity and air, a bigger image, and overall a bit more relaxed.

 

Here's my face at the moment: 

Congrats there you go now. Officially joined the DIY gang

[mozes]

47 minutes ago, Cornan said:

 

Alex is Aleksandar Tsankov at ATL Hi-Fi https://www.atlhifi.com who made many of my ac mains starquad cables, DC cable with JSSG, starquad & star-earth wired PSD, balanced IT with floating & grounded center tap and of course the USB starquad cable with JSSG.

 

The construction of the USB cable is clearly visable on this picture.

 

 

It is a starquad, so all wires are double. Totally 8  conductors. GND plus 5v and Data- plus Data+ wires are housed in separate shielding sleeves. The insulated JSSG loop is soldered to all four shield ends and are not in contact with the metal parts of the USB A or B plugs. That's basically it!

 

As I said in the other thread I am in contact with Aleksandar and we are working out a optimized version of the USB cable with Mundorf gold/silver wires, silver plated shield sleeves and better plugs. I am only doing this because I think it will be my final USB cable. I want it to be as good as it can be and not unimportant good looking as well. I want it to look something like this cable in the end.

 

 

Anyway, the details are still under discussions. I might change the GND and Data- wires to pure silver since I beleive that all 0v reference and negative wires usually sounds better with high silver content.

 

The price for the original one is around EUR30/pc which is very affordable, especially when you consider the hassle to solder 8 conductors to a small USB plug. I will let you know what the new one will be in the end, but based on the material it will of course be a lot more. Since Aleksandar is away for a week or so and are working on shunt regulators with starquad Kelvin cable and plugs for me as well (for DC cable path) it might take 2-3 weeks before I know how much it will be.

Your ultimate usb cable may be referred to as Cornan usb cable later on  

I would be interested to try it for sure!

The choice of the wire is critical as not all silver wires are created equal. I highly recommend stranded UPOCC silver from Neotech. For 1m, it won’t break the bank.

[mozes]

Hi @JohnSwenson

 

I know this thread is for DC cables, but I am interested in your view regarding the shielding of AC cables. 

Thanks in advance!

[mozes]

4 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

My shielding techniques are very effective at preventing AC cables from radiating noise. The problem is that even "shielded" cables don't do it right. You need to have the external wire from end to end to make it effective.

 

An intermediate approach is starquad AC cables, they cut down a lot on the radiated noise, but are not as good as a full JSSG.

 

John S.

Thanks John, my AC cables are not shielded, so will try the JSSG on a

couple of cables.

[mozes]

1 hour ago, d_elm said:

Belden 9418, 4x18 AWG implementing a starquad, + JSSG is likely all that is needed for a DC cable.  The starquad pattern is for lowest inductance and 18 AWG is for lowest resistance with wires that will fit into an Oyaide connector.  Silver conducts only 6% better than

copper and silver wire is very expensive so I did not consider it for building a cable.

 

Connectors can make a large contribution to the resistance of a cable.  Low cost connectors ($0.50 each) I measured were about 5.0 milliOhm and Oyaide DC-2.1G[L] connectors were less than 0.5 milliOhm.  The 80cm DC cables I made had a resistance on each line, including Oyaide connectors, of 8.0 milliOhm.  I do not have a working signal generator to determine the inductance.

 

To make a starquad I purchased Neotech hook-up wire, 18 AWG stranded with PVC insulation.  This wire with silver insulation is 2.76 mm OD and with red insulation is 2.83 mm.  The same wire with PTFE insulation, much more expensive, I have read is 2.2 mm OD, perhaps a bit easier to work with.

 

I started with soldering two red wires to a DC-2.1GL.  The wires are horizontal in connector.

 

 

The insulation is too thick for four wires to go through the Oyaide connector barrel so I replaced insulation on the silver wires with heat shrink tubing.

 

Ensure the heat shrink tubing is long enough to clear the end of the connector barrel.

 

There is a temporary piece of heat shrink tubing to aid in connecting the silver pair to the connector.

 

Remove after soldering as there is little room inside the barrel.

 

I used 1/4" pieces of 3/8" 2:1 heat shrink, about every 1.5",  to hold the four wires in a starquad pattern.

 

I covered the starquad with 1/4" braided shield before the second connector was attached.  If the second connector is attached

first 3/8" braided shield is needed, to get over the connector.

 

 

The other connector I used is an Oyaide DC-2.1G and the red wires are soldered in the vertical position.

 

And the final assembly of the straight connector.

 

I covered the cable with 1/4" Techflex clean cut pet expandable tubing and held it in place with 3/8" heat shrink tubing.

 

Have fun !

 

 

Awesome post, especially for those who are beginners to DIY.