DIY DC power cables

[Forehaven]

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Well tinning is nice for bare copper wire as copper-oxide does not conduct (not sure if tin-oxide does or not; I know silver oxide does conduct), but the main reason I suggested tinning is that it will be nearly impossible to shove a maxed-out cluster of wire into the screw terminal openings without having a bunch of strands getting caught and hanging out.  I can stick an untinned single 18AWG in with no problem, but I any bigger (from twisting 2+ conductors together) and one is asking for a mess. 

I totally understand that now I come to think, one of the ends of my Y cable has a short and I'm going to have to tear it up and redo...I bet that's b/c of loose wires.  I had thought, wrongly apparently, that when you tin copper wire, it adds more width/density that would make it even harder to insert into the screw terminal.

Thanks Alex for taking the time to help me on this!

Chris

[Middy]

@R1200CL cheers... My cousins are from Ramsbottom?

Will give it a proper read tommorow....

 

If people can't solder especially for y cables here is a nice cheat using a heat gun....More options never hurt..may be the wallet..

Heat shrink and a low melting solder. .

 

ect 

25 Pcs Heat Shrink Solder Sleeves Electrical Wire Butt Terminals Connectors White https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MSWCDB8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8LofzbJF619Q8

 

[RichB]

I've tried my own hand at making a DIY  cable using a custom spec Cardas wire (best way to describe it as being coaxial like in design - 16Ga Cardas enameled stranded. No fun to solder to in the 2.5mm Oyaide plugs I bought) - definitely not a star quad design :-O :-)  I know this wire is probably not optimal for this application, but I thought It does not hurt to give it a try.

 

Problem is that I am without Uptone LPS-1 at the moment to try it with my microRendu so I can't say how it sounds/works just yet.

 

[Middy]

@Forehaven

 

Hi Chris if you split the sleeving but then pull and rotate this keeps the wires really tight.

Also tinning should be just enough to turn the copper silver and still see the wires showing through.

Do both wires so they become stiff tinned... if you have about 1cm stripped a bit less it is easier to have them lay next to each other. Use tweezers or thin nose pliers to hold them tight and just melt the 2 tinned wires. Both soldered together, no wider than the 2 bare wires.. Just cut back any excess length to suit.

 

pic of wire retaining cut sleeving.

Twist and pull ...

 

[Forehaven]

18 minutes ago, Middy said:

@Forehaven

 

Hi Chris if you split the sleeving but then pull and rotate this keeps the wires really tight.

Well that's a cool tweak there

18 minutes ago, Middy said:

Also tinning should be just enough to turn the copper silver and still see the wires showing through.

Ah!  That helps.  It's not I used a ton, but def more than being able to see wires.

18 minutes ago, Middy said:

Do both wires so they become stiff tinned... if you have about 1cm stripped a bit less it is easier to have them lay next to each other. Use tweezers or thin nose pliers to hold them tight and just melt the 2 tinned wires. Both soldered together, no wider than the 2 bare wires.. Just cut back any excess length to suit.

Ok Middy, but more solder will go on no when I first apply solder to iron, and then iron to  tinned pairs?  Or don't use any solder on the iron initially at this stage?

18 minutes ago, Middy said:

 

Thanks Middy

Chris

[MikeyFresh]

44 minutes ago, RichB said:

I've tried my own hand at making a DIY  cable using a custom spec Cardas wire (best way to describe it as being coaxial like in design - 16Ga Cardas enameled stranded. No fun to solder to in the 2.5mm Oyaide plugs I bought) - definitely not a star quad design :-O :-)  I know this wire is probably not optimal for this application, but I thought It does not hurt to give it a try.

 

Problem is that I am without Uptone LPS-1 at the moment to try it with my microRendu so I can't say how it sounds/works just yet.

 

I hate to say it after all of your nice work on that cable (did you have to use a solder pot to melt Litz enamel off the wire?), but those 2.5mm plugs are the wrong size for the LPS-1 and microRendu, you need the 2.1mm plugs.

[tboooe]

I believe 2.5mm plugs will also work in 2.1mm, at least for me it does.

[RichB]

Yep - what's a half mm between friends! :-)

[Middy]

32 minutes ago, Forehaven said:

Well that's a cool tweak there

Ah!  That helps.  It's not I used a ton, but def more than being able to see wires.

Ok Middy, but more solder will go on no when I first apply solder to iron, and then iron to  tinned pairs?  Or don't use any solder on the iron initially at this stage?

Thanks Middy

Chris

 

You can do both ?

Just heating the 2 tinned wires you do need to flux. .. there may be enough to solder them together .

You can add a bit to the iron but it's NP if you add a bit too much. Just wipe the iron clean and it will remove some excess when you pull away.Re flux wire

Practice first with some scrap before attacking your prized wire.

Fluxing wire  especially liquid aim the wires down so gravity helps from flooding under the sleeving only a tiny amount.

Aim the wire up when soldering. Heat wants to go up so it doesn't tin to far under the sleeving.. well gives you a second or so extra.... Touch on and draw up to the end of the wires less than a second. .

 

All this is varied on wire thickness strand's, solder mix, flux, Tip shape, temp of your iron....ect.. so practice practice practice so you get the feel in your set up.

Clean up with Alcohol meths ect and cotton bud q tip ect.

Just have fun trying. John's done the hard work, we can run off like excited kids buying and trying?

Good luck

Dave 

[Forehaven]

Awesome instructions Dave, and practice I will!?

 

One last thing, why do you have to use a solvent to clean up the solder joint? Can't you just use a paper towel and wipe it clean, and go from there?

[Middy]

Ah sorry, I use a rosin based liquid flux.

Not a water based soluble one. 

But in my mind if you are just tinning and using a mechanical pressure fixing ie a clamp and not soldered then you want the cleanest metal on metal contact. No flux dust bits of cotton bud q tip paper towel....between the 2.

I am anal and clean every matting surface and use deoxit gold. 

Don't worry to much... 

Oxide forms instantly in air.. this reduces this.... But Nth degree is Audiophile meat and potatoes..

 

Have a good one 

 

Dave

[Speedskater]

14 hours ago, R1200CL said:

 

.....................................

Edit

Just found this article that may be of interest for some of you. 

http://phmusic.co.uk/pharri5833/connections1.htm

When a paper has information about 'technical earth/ground' systems to Mother Earth, I worry about what other mis-understandings that it contains.  And while the paper has lots of good information, it adds confusion in other areas.

[JohnSwenson]

21 hours ago, R1200CL said:

 

How about the earth wire then?

Cause a star quad with earth, will not be a star quad or ?

(which I think was your point)

 

Edit

Just found this article that may be of interest for some of you. 

http://phmusic.co.uk/pharri5833/connections1.htm

For AC power cable you need the hot and neutral in the starquad arrangement, the ground wire is then layed next to or wrapped around the starquad.

 

VH Audio does this in their flavor 4 cable. You can get their starquad power cable for $10 a foot, plus you need a ground wire to wrap around it. Chris has not published a DIY recipe for the flavor 4, so you would have to "roll your own".

 

John S.

[Speedskater]

Remember that the cross-section area of the Safety Ground/Protective Earth needs to be the same or large than the total cross-section area of all the Hots or Neutrals.

[Speedskater]

I went back and read more of the Peter Harrison articles at PHM Consulting. It may not be so much errors but the need of a good copy editor and some is Overtaken By Events (OBE) in his later writing.

 

His British English writing style is a bit of a challenge.  I read a lot of stuff from the UK but his is a little bit different.

[RichB]

22 hours ago, MikeyFresh said:

 (did you have to use a solder pot to melt Litz enamel off the wire?)

 

No solder pot.... I have been working with (soldering) with Cardas wire for several years now and have my technique down for tinning it that uses some flux, a good (I like my Hakko) temperature controlled solder station (set at my preferred temp for particular gauge of Cardas enameled wire), and (generous use of) Cardas solder. If I did a lot of work with it, I would probably use a solder pot though.

 

I'd be interested to see If someone who has a similarly short (about 9") Star Quad DIY cable would be willing to give my cable a listen/comparison for a few days I can snail mail it to them (since I don't have a place to use my DIY cable yet). I'm curious to see if it is any good or not.

[R1200CL]

19 hours ago, Speedskater said:

I read a lot of stuff from the UK but his is a little bit different.

 

Then you may like this one as well. 

 

Power and Grounding for Audio and Video Systems

A White Paper for the Real World – International Version

 

And maybe this one:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ground_force_zero_e.html

 

[R1200CL]

@JohnSwenson

Are you involved in this design ?

 

If yes, can you go to that thread and explain what the upgrade is ?

 

 

[Speedskater]

3 hours ago, R1200CL said:

Then you may like this one as well. 

Power and Grounding for Audio and Video Systems

A White Paper for the Real World – International Version

Two versions of the same excellent Jim Brown paper.

I'm always posting links to the about 50 Jim Brown papers and Power Points.

 

http://www.audiosystemsgroup.com/publish.htm

[Speedskater]

3 hours ago, R1200CL said:

And maybe this one:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ground_force_zero_e.html

 

Mark Wheeler doesn't have a clue on how electricity works.

[tboooe]

Hey guys...pls excuse the really nooby soldering question...when I try to apply solder onto my Canare cable and the Oyaide plug, the solder just forms into little balls.  What do I need to do to make the solder "stick" to the wire and the connector?

[One and a half]

6 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Hey guys...pls excuse the really nooby soldering question...when I try to apply solder onto my Canare cable and the Oyaide plug, the solder just forms into little balls.  What do I need to do to make the solder "stick" to the wire and the connector?

You need to coat the connection with flux and then a little higher temperatures.

[Ralf11]

what is the inductance for a typical length of the StarQuad cable?

[JohnSwenson]

1 hour ago, tboooe said:

Hey guys...pls excuse the really nooby soldering question...when I try to apply solder onto my Canare cable and the Oyaide plug, the solder just forms into little balls.  What do I need to do to make the solder "stick" to the wire and the connector?

If you are using a flux cored solder there should be enough flux to tin the wire. The little balls mean you don't have enough heat.

 

For me at least I've found the best way to do this is hold the wire in some sort of clamp, so you can hold solder in one hand and iron in the other. Melt a blob of solder on the end of the tip. Touch the tip with the melted solder to the end of the wire. Hold it there to heat the wire up. If you don't have melted solder on the tip of the iron this will take a LONG time, the melted solder transfers the heat to the wire. If you have the wire hot enough, touch the solder to the wire (NOT the iron!) and it will melt and flow into the strands by capillary action. It doesn't take very much solder to make this work.

 

If this doesn't quickly flow into the strands, you don't have them hot enough.

 

John S.

[JohnSwenson]

8 hours ago, R1200CL said:

@JohnSwenson

Are you involved in this design ?

 

If yes, can you go to that thread and explain what the upgrade is ?

 

 

Yes I worked on it, but I cannot discuss details of anything without explicit permission from my client (Jesus in this case)

 

John S.