Electrical quality of cables

Post by **FZiegler** » 13 Feb 2020, 17:19

Hi,

I had some Neutrik plugs and bought some meters of pro audio cable to solder my own audio connection (instrument) cables. After soldering, I measured them out to check whether I can use them. I've got only 10~12 kOhms between the two poles. Do I have to resolder or may this be OK? It's round about the same with two cables.

I wonder because some speaker cables (with other material, but which I soldered, too) seem to be beyond some MOhms between the poles.

Bad work? I haven't been soldering for quite a time.

baekgaard · Post by **baekgaard** » 13 Feb 2020, 18:15

10-12 kOhm between the two is definitely wrong.

You should resolder - maybe you applied too much heat and melted some insulation or you have leaking flux or some other bad things

Start by inspecting both ends and fix the one that looks more suspicious first and then check again with the meter. Maybe it's only one end.

It may work as is in a pinch, but it will attenuate the signal and could color it too, and may get worse over time. So best to fix it immediately.

Post by **FZiegler** » 18 Feb 2020, 17:17

Thanks again, baekgaard!

I resoldered both cables. Got partially the same effect anew. But found out that it wasn't a problem of soldering alone: That was rather fine. So were the plugs. It happend only while assembling the plugs after soldering - sometimes all went fine (more than 10 MOhm between the two potentials), sometimes I had only some kOhm. Don't know why and how, but got to an end with it - after reassembling multiple times. Not inspiring much confidence, though.

What I want to hold on: It is possible to solder a plug so that there is a resistance between the contacts of more than 10 MOhm. Neither the cable nor the plugs provoke less.

Post by **Mr_-G-** » 18 Feb 2020, 20:17

Can you please post a photo of your soldered plug? (both ends please!)

baekgaard · Post by **baekgaard** » 18 Feb 2020, 20:34

Maybe both terminals somehow touch the outer part of the connector when you assemble it? Have you tried to place some insulation around the terminals before you mount the outer casing?

Post by **Mr_-G-** » 18 Feb 2020, 21:57

Yes I was thinking along the same line, perhaps the solder is too thick.

Post by **FZiegler** » 19 Feb 2020, 01:56

: soldered cable.jpg (728.22 KiB) Viewed 1816 times

Looks as if I only had problems with the angle plugs: My soldering iron is so clumsy that I had to leave a bit of the unmanteled inner conductor jut over - and maybe get too close to ground while screwing together the pull relief. Seems as if I should get a much more pointed tip for the soldering iron.

After redoing it a few times, I now can't do it better. Again, after taking the photo, I had the problem again. Reopened it and screwed it together more carefully - and all's fine.

Thank you all!

cgrafx · Post by **cgrafx** » 19 Feb 2020, 06:57

you seem to be missing the plastic electrical shield that isolates the connections and wires from the case.

The blue strain relief/isolator should be covering the entire interior of the connector.

Post by **FZiegler** » 19 Feb 2020, 13:13

My plastic shield was black - I moved it a bit backwards for the photo, but you can see it. Besides, I used the same model as you show on the photo.

The problem is, that the angle plug doesn't have any shield straight ahead where the brass piece of ground is. I tried it with a piece of shrinking hose just put in between, but that didn't help reliably - it may have moved around. When I closed the plug, that strain relief must have pushed the cable a bit forwards. I'm now more careful with placing that isolator (which is the pull relief as well) in the right place before closing the plug. If I should experience any problems in the next months, I could try with some thicker isolation material taken from the cable that I put in between.

Post by **Schorsch** » 19 Feb 2020, 15:37

Hi,

just for curiosity - is there a specific reason to solder these cables yourself instead of buying them, since they are available in high quality at decent price levels?

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Electrical quality of cables

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