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Post Info TOPIC: Cutting and joining a charging cable
Ivan 01


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Cutting and joining a charging cable
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Hi I have one for the electronic gurus.

I am tidying up the charging cables foe my devices.

I have recently bought a charger that has the outlets to charge all of my devices.

I have collected a myriad of assorted cables over the years but most of them are OE cables which are at least a metre long. Some are even longer.

To make everything neat and compact I am asking if I can easily cut the cables and solder them at a shorter length. I figure about 300mm to 600 mm long will do most cables.

Will I have any problems doing this.

Or

Does anyone know if we can buy short cables without paying a fortune. I see a short USB to IPhone cable is around $33.00 which to me is a bit hexy.



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Roger Roger


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You can buy USB connectors and shorten the lead on some units, it is always required to check the actual wire colour for reconnection to the plug after cutting the cable. Google the USB pin connections. I most likely would not do it for an Apple Lightning cable as they are an intelligent cable ( some electronics in the actual plug)

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https://www.jaycar.com.au/usb-type-c-to-usb-3-0-a-socket-adaptor-150mm/p/WC7909



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https://www.jaycar.com.au/short-usb-lightning-cable/p/WC7759



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Ivan 01


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Thank you Roger Roger and WAWT.

I didnt thank about Jaycar but they are cheaper than many other places.

I can make these cables dedicated charging cables as they will be permanent in the charger and they dont need to be for data transfer.

I have found a bit of information on the University of UTube which explains a lot about the many many different types of cables. It is mind boggling

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dorian


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Is there any reason why you don't just gather the extra length into a multi-turn loop and tie it off with a cable tie?

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Ivan 01


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dorian wrote:

Is there any reason why you don't just gather the extra length into a multi-turn loop and tie it off with a cable tie?

 Only for the reason if nothing else but to satisfy my OCD condition.biggrin

I have the cables looped and secured at the moment and at least it helps by controlling what was the octopus of cable tentacles all over the place but I am thinking that if I do get another van I would like a nice and tidy charging area for my devices.



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Mike Harding


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We're talking USB cables only?

If the USB cable is *only* used for charging then cutting/joining will have no effect *providing* the charging power supply and the device being charged do not need to communicate over the USB protocol in order to agree charging rates and/or state of charge.

Because USB is a high speed protocol the cables, presumable, have a specific characteristic impedance and by cutting/joining you will change that which in turn may result in errors in the USB communications. Or it may all be OK, too many unknown variables to make an educated guess.

I would not do it.



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Ivan 01


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Mike Harding wrote:

We're talking USB cables only?

If the USB cable is *only* used for charging then cutting/joining will have no effect *providing* the charging power supply and the device being charged do not need to communicate over the USB protocol in order to agree charging rates and/or state of charge.

Because USB is a high speed protocol the cables, presumable, have a specific characteristic impedance and by cutting/joining you will change that which in turn may result in errors in the USB communications. Or it may all be OK, too many unknown variables to make an educated guess.

I would not do it.

 Thank you Mike, I can understand that.

I think my option is to source shorter cables or to turn my OCD eye from what I have at present. biggrin



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Mike Harding


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Ivan 01 wrote:
I think my option is to source shorter cables or to turn my OCD eye from what I have at present. biggrin

Yep, understood.

For the same reason as you I bought a selection of cables from E bay a few years past, one of two failed after a few months but most are still working.

Don't buy from shops, their mark-up on cables is criminal ie. buy in at $1.50 sell out at $24.95!



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Ivan 01


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Mike Harding wrote:
Ivan 01 wrote:
I think my option is to source shorter cables or to turn my OCD eye from what I have at present. biggrin

Yep, understood.

For the same reason as you I bought a selection of cables from E bay a few years past, one of two failed after a few months but most are still working.

Don't buy from shops, their mark-up on cables is criminal ie. buy in at $1.50 sell out at $24.95!

 Yes Mike the cost mark up on cables borders on criminality 

The short cable that WAWT linked to on JayCar which is $14.95 is $33.95 from a cable shop.

At $14.95 they would be attracting a handsome profit considering the cable was more than likely manufactured in China.

We should all note that to not even consider an OE cable if price is of concern.



-- Edited by Ivan 01 on Sunday 30th of October 2022 08:23:32 AM

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Ivan 01


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Dorian,

Your post referring to Ali Express has disappeared from here.

I checked on Ali Express and most cables are cheaper than the $7.95 delivery fee from the site.

Thanks for the advice.

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dorian


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I saw plenty of offers of $0.01, including free shipping.

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Ivan 01


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dorian wrote:

I saw plenty of offers of $0.01, including free shipping.

 I would be extremely wary of any deal with that pricing on anything.

I have found that whenever using AliExpress or Amazon I immediately after the order get bombarded with SPAM on my email and phone.

I bought a cheap potato masher on Ali Express and it took me a month of reporting spam and blocking to rid myself of nuisance information from extremely doubtful sources.



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Izabarack


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You might start here     

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004242843302.html?spm=a2g0o.home.15002.1.650c2145DFdiXI&gps-id=pcJustForYou&scm=1007.13562.295725.0&scm_id=1007.13562.295725.0&scm-url=1007.13562.295725.0&pvid=7f312a91-c14c-4f58-93e3-cd1e2df9198b&_t=gps-id:pcJustForYou,scm-url:1007.13562.295725.0,pvid:7f312a91-c14c-4f58-93e3-cd1e2df9198b,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000028500343254%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%223562%22%7D&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21AUD%214.03%212.01%211.82%21%21%21%21%40210323b316672538028062357e1457%2112000028500343254%21rec&curPageLogUid=7aJ1OW92vB1D

i have bought several of such from AliExpress and had good results.



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Ivan 01


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Izabarack wrote:

You might start here     

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004242843302.html?spm=a2g0o.home.15002.1.650c2145DFdiXI&gps-id=pcJustForYou&scm=1007.13562.295725.0&scm_id=1007.13562.295725.0&scm-url=1007.13562.295725.0&pvid=7f312a91-c14c-4f58-93e3-cd1e2df9198b&_t=gps-id:pcJustForYou,scm-url:1007.13562.295725.0,pvid:7f312a91-c14c-4f58-93e3-cd1e2df9198b,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000028500343254%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%223562%22%7D&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21AUD%214.03%212.01%211.82%21%21%21%21%40210323b316672538028062357e1457%2112000028500343254%21rec&curPageLogUid=7aJ1OW92vB1D

i have bought several of such from AliExpress and had good results.

 Thank you but I cant seem to open the page,

D413B4BA-9DF9-4876-92D4-4D92A15DA621.jpeg



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dorian


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Trim the cr@p off the end.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004242843302.html



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