DIY DC power cables

[JohnSwenson]

As to what JSSG is doing in many cases is NOT preventing interference getting into the cable, it is preventing the wires in the cable from radiating leakage current out into the space around the cable, which can be picked up by your audio interconnects etc.

 

I only found this out very recently, BOTH Ethernet and USB cable radiate quite a bit if noise when leakage is flowing through them, properly done JSSG keeps that from getting out of the cable.  Of course you can also prevent it by making sure that there is no leakage current flowing through the cable in the first place.

 

For a DC cable it can be even more effective. The changing current loads that cause voltage fluctuations also cause emissions  from the cable, JSSG will stop those. So even if you have vanquished leakage current it can still be useful for DC cables.

 

John S.

[charlesphoto]

Bummed I just got a new dc cable from Ghent for between the rendu and LPS-1and didn’t know about the JSSG option. Got it on the ethernet cable and using the USPCB so all good there. Oh well.... 

 

Is there a post that has good instructions and/or pictures on building a dc cable with JSSG?

 

Best,

 

Charles

 

[fayerichard]

Sorry, I did not catch that.

 

What is JSSG?

 

How can we apply it to our dc cables?

[Cornan]

53 minutes ago, charlesphoto said:

Bummed I just got a new dc cable from Ghent for between the rendu and LPS-1and didn’t know about the JSSG option. Got it on the ethernet cable and using the USPCB so all good there. Oh well.... 

 

Is there a post that has good instructions and/or pictures on building a dc cable with JSSG?

 

Best,

 

Charles

 

 

You have to special order the Ghent DC cables with JSSG. My versions with banana plugs in one end looks like this.

 

 

The JSSG is really just a braid with a insulated drain wire soldered to each end of the braid. You can add it on top of the DC cables as well as I beleive @lmitche have done it.

[Cornan]

30 minutes ago, fayerichard said:

Sorry, I did not catch that.

 

What is JSSG?

 

How can we apply it to our dc cables?

 

Here is a post on this thread by @R1200CL about JSSG that shows how it is constructed.

 

 

[charlesphoto]

Ok thanks. Will either have to figure out how to do it over or maybe send the one I just got back to Ghent. I wanted to order some other cables anyway so maybe that would make most sense vs messing up the beautiful cable he made with right hand plugs (Perfect for the rendu and LPS-1 I might add). 

[BigGuy]

19 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

Not sure why you want to add a polyethylene foam tube before (inside) the shielding? IMO if you want to add a shock absorber you probably want it after (around) the shielding. I would have the JSSG as close to the wires as possible for best results. Remember that JSSG acts like a Faraday cage for cables. You want to keep all the electromagnetic fields close to and inside the JSSG. Adding too much space inbetween might give it an escape route through the air spacer. I think you want to avoid it as much as possible. My two cents ofcourse.

 

My Ghent DC cables have copper braid and my ATL have tinned braid. I have'nt detected any difference, but copper braid looks nicer! ? With that said silver plated braid sounds noticable better on coaxial cables IME. Not sure if it will matter much on JSSG though.

Based on post by JohnS indicating that in the case of DC (as well as ethernet & usb), the grounded shield is to keep crap in rather than letting it radiate, it does make sense that the shield should be as close as possible to the cable/conductors.

 

I have seen the use of teflon tubes, foamed polyethylene tubes, or cotton sleeves mentioned in other cable DIY threads.  Where would the use of these dielectrics be best used...interconnects?  other?

 

Secondly, I have some "aircraft grade" 26(?)ga 2-conductor, teflon coated, silver-plated copper wire which has a braided shield and teflon jacket.

I was thinking I could DIY a quasi-quad-core DC cable by taking 2 lengths, twisting them together,  and then using 1 conductor from each as the plus and the other 2 as minus.  I could connect an insulated wire to each end of the existing shields (x2)...OR just add a JSSG to the outside of the bundle.

Thoughts?

[Cornan]

1 hour ago, BigGuy said:

Based on post by JohnS indicating that in the case of DC (as well as ethernet & usb), the grounded shield is to keep crap in rather than letting it radiate, it does make sense that the shield should be as close as possible to the cable/conductors.

 

I have seen the use of teflon tubes, foamed polyethylene tubes, or cotton sleeves mentioned in other cable DIY threads.  Where would the use of these dielectrics be best used...interconnects?  other?

 

Secondly, I have some "aircraft grade" 26(?)ga 2-conductor, teflon coated, silver-plated copper wire which has a braided shield and teflon jacket.

I was thinking I could DIY a quasi-quad-core DC cable by taking 2 lengths, twisting them together,  and then using 1 conductor from each as the plus and the other 2 as minus.  I could connect an insulated wire to each end of the existing shields (x2)...OR just add a JSSG to the outside of the bundle.

Thoughts?

 

I would say that telefon tubes are great, if not one of the best wire insulation materials around. Works great IME. 

 

Not sure what a quasi-quad-core DC cable is, but it sound like starquad with dual braids. Here is a picture of my 8 conductor USB cable with dual shields JSSG style which sounds truly great.

 

 

It makes sense to use dual shields when you want to separate data+ & Data- from GND & 5v, but doing the same thing with a single DC cable does'nt sound like a good idea to me. You want to run the positive and negative wires from the same source together in a starquad configuration. If you have two DC cables running side by side a dual shield JSSG would make more sense, since you want to avoid coupling/interfearences between the two sources.

[BigGuy]

2 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

I would say that telefon tubes are great, if not one of the best wire insulation materials around. Works great IME. 

 

Using Teflon tubes as a dielectric for DIY is good but getting wire centered within a (presumably) oversized tube to optimize the air (dielectric) distribution around the wire would definitely be a challenge.   I am pretty sure that is why foamed polyethylene tubes are a suggested alternative.

 

Would I be correct in assuming that use of a dielectric around the + and - conductors is best suited for interconnects?

 

2 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

Not sure what a quasi-quad-core DC cable is, but it sound like starquad with dual braids. Here is a picture of my 8 conductor USB cable with dual shields JSSG style which sounds truly great.

 

 

It makes sense to use dual shields when you want to separate data+ & Data- from GND & 5v, but doing the same thing with a single DC cable does'nt sound like a good idea to me. You want to run the positive and negative wires from the same source together in a starquad configuration. If you have two DC cables running side by side a dual shield JSSG would make more sense, since you want to avoid coupling/interfearences between the two sources.

What I am suggesting for my "quasi-star-quad" construction would be having 2 parallel runs of my twisted conductor wire and then joining the 2 "black" conductors for + at each end and then doing the same with the 2 "white" conductors for the -.  Then I would use a single JSSG around the whole assembly.

 

Or, I could buy some star quad wire and use one quad for the D+ and D- and the other quad for 5V and GND like in your cable as pictured.

 

I was just trying to get close to a star quad using wire that I already have.

[Cornan]

50 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

Using Teflon tubes as a dielectric for DIY is good but getting wire centered within a (presumably) oversized tube to optimize the air (dielectric) distribution around the wire would definitely be a challenge.   I am pretty sure that is why foamed polyethylene tubes are a suggested alternative.

 

Usually you want to use solid wires for Teflon tubes since it is much easier. Otherwise there are ready made wires with thin teflon sleeves that is quite easy to find on eBay. Polyethylene tubes might be a good insulator as well.

 

50 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

Would I be correct in assuming that use of a dielectric around the + and - conductors is best suited for interconnects?

 

Yes!

 

50 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

What I am suggesting for my "quasi-star-quad" construction would be having 2 parallel runs of my twisted conductor wire and then joining the 2 "black" conductors for + at each end and then doing the same with the 2 "white" conductors for the -.  Then I would use a single JSSG around the whole assembly.

 

This sounds more like a proper starquad with JSSG. It is basically two twisted pair cables. In a starquad all wires are twisted in the same direction.

Here you can see how a starquad is made. Note that the wires are U-shaped when twisted and cut in two pcs afterwards.

 

 

50 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

 

Or, I could buy some star quad wire and use one quad for the D+ and D- and the other quad for 5V and GND like in your cable as pictured.

 

Yes, if you want to make your own USB cables it will work, but only if you can find USB plugs that fits. USB A male screw terminal plug fits thick wires, but you'll run into problems finding USB B male screw terminal plugs. Soldering even 8 pcs 22awg wires to a USB plugs requires a very steady hand! ? 

 

50 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

 

I was just trying to get close to a star quad using wire that I already have.

 

I think you would be best off butchering the cables by removing the inner wires, twist them in a U-shape in the same direction, add a JSSG and a braid sleeve on top. 

[BigGuy]

2 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

Usually you want to use solid wires for Teflon tubes since it is much easier. Otherwise there are ready made wires with thin teflon sleeves that is quite easy to find on eBay. Polyethylene tubes might be a good insulator as well.

 

 

Yes!

 

 

This sounds more like a proper starquad with JSSG. It is basically two twisted pair cables. In a starquad all wires are twisted in the same direction.

Here you can see how a starquad is made. Note that the wires are U-shaped when twisted and cut in two pcs afterwards.

 

 

 

Yes, if you want to make your own USB cables it will work, but only if you can find USB plugs that fits. USB A male screw terminal plug fits thick wires, but you'll run into problems finding USB B male screw terminal plugs. Soldering even 8 pcs 22awg wires to a USB plugs requires a very steady hand! ? 

 

 

I think you would be best off butchering the cables by removing the inner wires, twist them in a U-shape in the same direction, add a JSSG and a braid sleeve on top. 

Thanks for the pic, Cornan.

 

There may be more than one version, but when I look up star quad, I find pics that look like this...

 

If you change the yellow to black and the red to blue, same colored conductors are not adjacent to each other as in your pic.   The twisted bundle would look like this...

 

 

[Ralf11]

is something wrong with the Ghent cables?

[fayerichard]

So, I would like to make my dc cable by using Audioquest NRG1.5. It is 4 x 19awg, which is 16awg total. It is also pure copper in a starquad design. I will remove the power plugs. Then I will try to install Oyaide DC2.1/2.5 plugs on both ends.

 

However, as you can see the NRG1.5 cable already has braided sleeves. How do I still install JSSG wire in this situation? Where should I buy it and what material should I use? Can I also use carbon fibre sleeve?

[Cornan]

6 hours ago, BigGuy said:

Thanks for the pic, Cornan.

 

There may be more than one version, but when I look up star quad, I find pics that look like this...

 

If you change the yellow to black and the red to blue, same colored conductors are not adjacent to each other as in your pic.   The twisted bundle would look like this...

 

 

 

Yes, with my example you will connect red/red & black/black together. Look inside the JSSG where you can see that the wires run black/red/black/red. I just showed it because I know it could look very complicated on most pictures online. It is really quite simple if you want to DIY. Just mind to use the right wires for positive and negative. 

[Cornan]

5 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

is something wrong with the Ghent cables?

 

Nothing wrong with Ghent. He makes great starquad cables with ready made cables from well-known cable manufacturers like Canare and Belden.

[Cornan]

1 hour ago, fayerichard said:

So, I would like to make my dc cable by using Audioquest NRG1.5. It is 4 x 19awg, which is 16awg total. It is also pure copper in a starquad design. I will remove the power plugs. Then I will try to install Oyaide DC2.1/2.5 plugs on both ends.

 

However, as you can see the NRG1.5 cable already has braided sleeves. How do I still install JSSG wire in this situation? Where should I buy it and what material should I use? Can I also use carbon fibre sleeve?

 

The shield of Audioquest NRG1.5 should not be connected to the plugs, so you'll need it to be floating. You can probably add a thin roughly 22awg insulated wire on the outside of the cable, strip the ends and solder it to each end of the shield braid. Now this will work, but I doubt it will be as good as if the thin wire is in close contact with the shield braid. 

[JohnSwenson]

1 hour ago, fayerichard said:

So, I would like to make my dc cable by using Audioquest NRG1.5. It is 4 x 19awg, which is 16awg total. It is also pure copper in a starquad design. I will remove the power plugs. Then I will try to install Oyaide DC2.1/2.5 plugs on both ends.

 

However, as you can see the NRG1.5 cable already has braided sleeves. How do I still install JSSG wire in this situation? Where should I buy it and what material should I use? Can I also use carbon fibre sleeve?

The whole concept of the JSSG is a separate wire outside the shield that connects one end of the shield to the other. The shield should NOT be connected to anything else. SO in an existing shielded starquad cable connect the four wires in the starquad geometry to the power plug, do NOT connect the shield to the plugs at all, and connect a separate wire to one end of the shield and the other end of the wire to the other end of the shield. It does NOT have to be a thick super duper wire. I use a 24AWG wire in mine.

 

You can either just lay the wire in parallel to the main cable, or loosely wrap it around. Loosely wrapping around main cable is fine, I use 3 turns per foot or so.

 

John S.

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, JohnSwenson said:

The whole concept of the JSSG is a separate wire outside the shield that connects one end of the shield to the other. The shield should NOT be connected to anything else. SO in an existing shielded starquad cable connect the four wires in the starquad geometry to the power plug, do NOT connect the shield to the plugs at all, and connect a separate wire to one end of the shield and the other end of the wire to the other end of the shield. It does NOT have to be a thick super duper wire. I use a 24AWG wire in mine.

 

You can either just lay the wire in parallel to the main cable, or loosely wrap it around. Loosely wrapping around main cable is fine, I use 3 turns per foot or so.

 

John S.

 

Has anyone bothered to do the job properly and encase it all in heat shrink ?

They may work well, but they sure are home made looking !

[Cornan]

38 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

Has anyone bothered to do the job properly and encase it all in heat shrink ?

They may work well, but they sure are home made looking !

 

Why would a heat shrink be more proper than a braided sleeve? Remember that most of the cables I have posted pictures off are while under construction. Not the end-result. The Ghent is pictures of the end result though. Do you really think it looks home made?

 

 

[Cornan]

Here is pictures of the end result of the two other cables.

 

 

[fayerichard]

Pictures?

[sandyk]

16 minutes ago, fayerichard said:

Pictures?

 

Most of the pictures that I have so far seen of DIY efforts look quite amateurish, although they may function quite well.

Not everyone is in the position of getting somebody else to make them for them, at additional cost over the standard item. 

If you pay to have them made for you , then they are no longer DIY as per the title of this thread.

 

[fayerichard]

OK, but where are the pictures?

 

Ghent's jssg's look really nice.

 

I only care about result, but if it looks good then that would be great.

 

How much are the DC jssg's?

 

20% more?

[fayerichard]

Sorry for my question, but the braided jssg wire should not be attached to the Oyaide dc plug.

 

Where exactly should it be soldered?

 

What is meant by shield?

 

"SO in an existing shielded starquad cable connect the four wires in the starquad geometry to the power plug, do NOT connect the shield to the plugs at all, and connect a separate wire to one end of the shield and the other end of the wire to the other end of the shield."

 

Maybe I should sketch this?

 

The nrg10 already has the braided sleeve, so I could just solder it directly onto the sleeve, or do I need to add another copper layer braided sleeve onto the existing sleeve to solder it on both ends? I guess this is meant by the shield right?

[Cornan]

2 hours ago, fayerichard said:

Pictures?

 

Sorry, here they are 

The 8 conductor USB cable with JSSG and the DC cable which was shown earlier as a work in progress.