DIY Shielded power cable

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Hello again everyone!

I finally got around to finishing my shielded power cable's so i thought i would share I made 3 set's :eek: 1 for my AVR, 1 for my xpa5 and 1 for my LCD :cool:

Tools used: Wire cutter/stripper, box cutter, helping hand's, lighter, phillip's screw driver, soldering iron and a heat gun



Please note that whenever building cable's try to make them directional, for example: Most cable's have text on the sleeve so what i like to do is have the signal path following the text So in this case i started the build on the male IEC end with the text flowing to the female end. Sorry i'm not very good at explaining thing's but i hope it help's

Part's used: Belden 83802 shielded power cable, Oyaide style IEC connector's (c079 & p079), 16g tinned MIL spec hook up wire, Dayton 4% silver solder, 3/8" Techflex and lastly 1/2" 3:1 heatshrink. All Component's have been deep cryo treated for improved charecteristic's. I started out with 15ft of the Belden and cut to length as needed.



Some pic's of the process, they are pretty self explanatory but if you have any question's just ask













Thank's for looking

george daniel

Nice work again sir,,I would be interested in how you perceive the performance/sound change. One thing,,what is the short piece of green wire for?

fbm211

I think the green wire is for the shield connection.At the IEC end if Im not mistaken.

disneyjoe7

So how does it sound?

kawizx9r

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

So how does it sound?

Would also like to know of any noticeable improvements

I'm contemplating making my own power cables, utilizing this IEC and one of these plugs from Marinco. Also thought about their hospital grade version here.

george daniel

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

So how does it sound?

Hey,, I've already asked that Steve,, are you trying to run your post count up before the holidays? :)

sTiLlLeArNiNg

george daniel wrote: »

Nice work again sir,,I would be interested in how you perceive the performance/sound change. One thing,,what is the short piece of green wire for?

Thank you george! It was VERY fun to make my own cable's and i will enjoy making more in the future I will answer the green wire & sound Q further down in this post since a couple people asked

fbm211 wrote: »

I think the green wire is for the shield connection.At the IEC end if Im not mistaken.

The green wire is indeed for the shield, it "power's up" the shield lol

This particular Belden cable is double shielded with 100% coverage using both a mylar foil and a copper braid, but for added "performance" i had them drain to the ground in the wall circuit

You want the EFI/RFI draining to the wall circuit, not into the equipment. Therefore it is on the male end

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

So how does it sound?

TBH i have less than 50hrs on the cable set plus my audiophile "lingo" is lacking lol but i'll give 'er a go

These were noticed immediately after installation: The cable's are very "clear" and "transparent". I have noticed a lower "nosie floor" and since swapping over, my LCD also has slightly better picture quality! In short i don't think they add or remove anything from the sound just that they clean thing's up and as a result make thing's more audible....

kawizx9r wrote: »

Would also like to know of any noticeable improvements

I'm contemplating making my own power cables, utilizing this IEC and one of these plugs from Marinco. Also thought about their hospital grade version here.

I answered the sound quality Q in the response above your post Those Marinco connector's are basically the same thing as the one's i used save for a few difference's, they are highly regarded connector's and will work well. Use hospital grade part's whenever possible What are you planning to use as cable?

My next DIY jobbie is to bring the 20a service in my kitchen to my media room with a six outlet "break out" box I think i'll get a really nice improvement when i do this because i came to find out that ALL of the bedroom outlet's (3 bedroom's & minimum 4 outlet's per room) run off of the same 15a breaker!! DOH!! :mad:

There are two 20a breaker's in my panel One 20a breaker is for the fridge/stove and the other is not powering anything I just need to figure out what exactly i need so i can git 'r done :cool: Anyone with ideas of how i can go about doing this safely please let me know!

Thank you

kawizx9r

Not sure when, it's not on my must-have's list but I'll get around to it unless you want to build them for me?

Now that I think about it, I'd attach a ferrite clamp on the female end of a cord. What do you think?

sTiLlLeArNiNg

kawizx9r wrote: »

Not sure when, it's not on my must-have's list but I'll get around to it unless you want to build them for me?

Now that I think about it, I'd attach a ferrite clamp on the female end of a cord. What do you think?

I can build you a set if you like, not a problem Let me know what length/s you need and if you want shielded/non-shielded, cryod /non-cryod, 2 conductor wire/3 conductor wire/Star quad, standard connector's or Oyaide/Wattgate style, flex tech or no tech flex, etc, etc.... We can work out a price

Ferrite's have no place on a cable IMHO. I truly think they can change the "harmonic's" in certain application's. Manufacturer's/OEM's use them because they don't want to spend the cash on the proper shielded cable's

kawizx9r

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

I can build you a set if you like, not a problem Let me know what length/s you need and if you want shielded/non-shielded, cryod /non-cryod, 2 conductor wire/3 conductor wire/Star quad, standard connector's or Oyaide/Wattgate style, flex tech or no tech flex, etc, etc.... We can work out a price

Ferrite's have no place on a cable IMHO. I truly think they can change the "harmonic's" in certain application's. Manufacturer's/OEM's use them because they don't want to spend the cash on the proper shielded cable's

If you're talking ferrites on shielded cables, then yea that's a bit of a waste but it can help unshielded/poorly shielded cables at the source of output. That's just stuff I learned at in class couple years ago, measuring noise/etc. on a power cable with/without the use of a ferrite clamp and the differences between cables as stated above.

I'd like to grab something for my amp, shielded since there are several components/wires around the damn thing but the plug looks to be a bit too big to be used on my amp.

Also, I'd consider one for the subwoofer....non-shielded is ok but the cable doesn't have a ground although it is polarized.

TECHNOKID

[QUOTE...Now that I think about it, I'd attach a ferrite clamp on the female end of a cord. What do you think?[/QUOTE]For the LCD it would worthwhile but useless for audio, right?

sTiLlLeArNiNg

I will state again: IMHO a ferrite core has no place on a cable. If you have/use the proper cable the need for a ferrite core is NOT required

Freddy if you are serious about the cable's send me a detailed PM with what you want/need and i'll get back to you ASAP and we can work something out

kawizx9r

Yeah I am, but not yet since I don't have extra funds otherwise I'd be doing it myself. I do get where you'd use the Dayton silver solder because the temperatures here aren't a concern, I don't often build cables at all so it's what I just happen to have around.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Why buy something if you have it laying around already?

If you or anyone want cable's just shoot me a PM and let me know what you want/need. Being partially disabled leave's me quite a bit of "free" time So i can provide pretty much anything you/anyone need with good turn around time

george daniel

You know,,I really enjoyed building/making power cables also.My wife helped me make the Bob Crump DIY cable, similar to yours,,different grade/type Belden. I think I'm gonna try to make a few using the grade of Belden that you have.If you would,,please post your impression in this thread,,say,,in about 30 days if you don't mind.One question,, could you have connected the "drain" to the ground directly?Thanks in advance,,and enjoy the cables.:)

BTW-- can you post where/who you bought the cable and component paarts from?

disneyjoe7

Where did you got that wire?

TECHNOKID

FOI, I wonder if full shielding (using metal shielded plug) would be benificial for such project versus partial shielding (which is applied here by mean of a ground plug instead of a fully shielded plug)? I am asking because dealing with home audio systems might be a little different then the typical set-up we had in the military. The goal is still the same, trying to avoid any RF in and/or out but who knows, maybe some I don't see here?

Now, from what I am reading, you are connecting your shield at the plug ground alone in order for the shield to act as an antenna thus returning any unwanted RF to plug ground, am I correct? This would also differ from full shielding (both end must connected)... Can you explain the major difference(s)/benefits between the 2 process?

Thanks;
TK

fbm211

Im curious about shielding and if I really need a saftey ground for my digital front end or not.I look at VH Audio DIY AC Power Cables and see that the shield is only connected at the IEC end and a saftey ground to both ends.Can you elaborate on his designs.Thank you.>>http://www.venhaus1.com/diymains.html

TECHNOKID

fbm211 wrote: »

Im curious about shielding and if I really need a saftey ground for my digital front end or not.I look at VH Audio DIY AC Power Cables and see that the shield is only connected at the IEC end and a saftey ground to both ends.Can you elaborate on his designs.Thank you.>>http://www.venhaus1.com/diymains.html

"Flavor #1" is actually what sTiLlLeArNiNg is accomplishing with his own DIY while he connects the opposite way doesn't really matter as it eventually gets back to the wall safety ground anyway. This is what I am referring as using the shield as an antenna. This type of cable connection will be used if and only if your componet use safety ground.

If your component doesn't require safety ground (IE: most CD/DVD players "flavor #3" would allow you to hook your shield to the house safety ground through a 3 prongs male.

Basically, the type of cable used by your gear will dictate if #2 or #3 is appropriate, right?

Hummm, very interesting notes on ferrite use

Notes:

* Try experimenting by using a ferrite clamp on the safety ground only at the load end (the end with the IEC). Many people have suggested that use of Ferrites help filter out garbage in power cords, but I have found that Ferrites constrict the dynamics of the system and they ADD inductance to the hot/neutral (rather than lower it- which is our objective). By putting the ferrite on the safety ground only, we are able to attenuate any unwanted nasties that try to make it into the component via the ground. (you don't need to do this tweak with "Flavor #3", because the ground is not coupled to the component)

* If you have the experience, and want to "trick out" your AC even more, I would suggest going to Magnan's site and read tweak #2: "Do-it yourself approach to AC line filtering". Lots of good stuff on his site. I especially like the idea of using ferrite toroids on other AC cords around the house to keep garbage from being dumped into the lines!

I really like their easy to follow step by step instruction, makes it for a flawless project :cool:

Cheers!
TK

TouchOfEvil

very nice work.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

First i'd like to say that i REALLLY REALLY suck at explaining stuff, that is why i posted only pic's in my first post but i'll try my best

george daniel wrote: »

You know,,I really enjoyed building/making power cables also.My wife helped me make the Bob Crump DIY cable, similar to yours,,different grade/type Belden. I think I'm gonna try to make a few using the grade of Belden that you have.If you would,,please post your impression in this thread,,say,,in about 30 days if you don't mind.One question,, could you have connected the "drain" to the ground directly?Thanks in advance,,and enjoy the cables.:)

BTW-- can you post where/who you bought the cable and component paarts from?

Doing lil' project's like these are always fun IMO and i look forward to doing more as time goes on I don't think i came across the "Bob Crump" cable build TBH?

My gear only has 2 pin male IEC (equipment side) so in my case it made no sense to go with the 3 conductor wire OR to connect the shield to a dead pin on that end, that's why i went with 2 conductor and ran the shield out through the ground pin on the socket. Maybe there would be a benefit to connecting the shield on the opposite end i don't know The idea is to "catch" the "dirty" EMI/RFI signal's and get them away from the wire's that are directly connected to the equipment

I thought I had already posted but my source but i'll post again everything was sourced from TakeFiveAudio here in Ontario, Canada

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Where did you got that wire?

Please read my first reply

TECHNOKID wrote: »

FOI, I wonder if full shielding (using metal shielded plug) would be benificial for such project versus partial shielding (which is applied here by mean of a ground plug instead of a fully shielded plug)? I am asking because dealing with home audio systems might be a little different then the typical set-up we had in the military. The goal is still the same, trying to avoid any RF in and/or out but who knows, maybe some I don't see here?

Now, from what I am reading, you are connecting your shield at the plug ground alone in order for the shield to act as an antenna thus returning any unwanted RF to plug ground, am I correct? This would also differ from full shielding (both end must connected)... Can you explain the major difference(s)/benefits between the 2 process?

Thanks;
TK

I cannont comment on the first part of your post TK as i am really not knowledgeable enough to do so, it may be beneficial but honestly i think using something similar to what i have used here will work well enough for audio application. You being an electrical engineer/tech would know MUCH MUCH more than me ;)I'm pretty shure the military application is more concerned with full/total shielding as the use's are more critical.

For the second part of your post yes the goal is to have the shielding on the cable act as an antennae and draw the EFI/RFI out and send them out through the ground pin on the male end and into the wall. To be completely honest i am not an electrical engineer and i could not fully answer this part of your question but if you read part of my first reply in this post you will see why i chose to go with this method in MY application. To clarify the Belden cable i used has a 100% coverage mylar foil shield and an 85% coverage braided shield plus the teflon casing so IMHO it is quite good, if it was in 10g i think it would be that much better

Hey TK what are your thought's on cryogenically treated component's? I beleive the theory behind it It's supposed to demagnitize the metal and improve overall charecteristic's IIRC

fbm211 wrote: »

Im curious about shielding and if I really need a saftey ground for my digital front end or not.I look at VH Audio DIY AC Power Cables and see that the shield is only connected at the IEC end and a saftey ground to both ends.Can you elaborate on his designs.Thank you.>>http://www.venhaus1.com/diymains.html

As i previously mentioned a couple time's i am not an electrical engineer or electrician, i am simply an enthusiast with a great interest for DIY project's and a lot of tool's/spare time lol So i like to try and keep buisy Sorry i can not elaborate any more than i have already

To be honest i took my inspiration from the project's posted at VH audio, same link you posted I read through them and a few other post's on the web concerning/regarding wire's/cable's. I also got some good info on cable's from our fello Polkie DarqueKnight I then proceeded to contact the local DIY supplier and got confirmation on what i wanted to do and needed to complete the job, ordered up the part's and voila!

TouchOfEvil wrote: »

very nice work.

Thank you

Here is another link with some good info about cable theory/charecteristic's/properties whatever you want to call it http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/aq_cable_theory.pdf Big thank's goes out to DarqueKnight for the helping word's and link to the audioquest .pdf