Author Topic: DIY Power Cable  (Read 40424 times)

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #40 on: February 08, 2011, 10:11:32 PM »
very impressive oz i really admire you dedication to power
just imagine you bring it to steves house and it pisses on his
LOL,  I dont think so mate.  He's got better ferrite magnets than my Jaycar cheapy.   

The only thing mine has,  is the copper sheathing skin (that you gave me the tip on),  and you know it's not just cosmetic,  the freaking thing conducts !!    But there is bugger all EM interferance up our way to worry about.

It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

crazikid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #41 on: February 08, 2011, 10:40:53 PM »
ha.. mine are the pissy jaycar as well .. where can i get the BIG ferrite rings?

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #42 on: February 09, 2011, 07:11:04 AM »
ha.. mine are the pissy jaycar as well .. where can i get the BIG ferrite rings?

Steven told me once (some place in Sydney), but I didnt write it down.   [doh]   I'll ask him again, next time I see him.
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline treblid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #43 on: February 09, 2011, 11:52:50 AM »
Steven told me once (some place in Sydney), but I didnt write it down.   [doh]   I'll ask him again, next time I see him.
That is the clipsal power plug you mentioned early in the thread? I wonder if I can get my mate to order that for me... Will check.... That's not for sale to the public in general?

Nice of you to offer the cable to the DTV community...

BTW. I've tried the noise test (mentioned in DTV) again last night and it was quite bad. Then I poured a bucket of pond water around the earth spike and that dropped the noise right back down to the levels after the power cable swap..

This is my craziest tweak yet... :p

Wondering if it's because the earth stake didn't go deep enough... :( Or due to Perth's extremely dry weather. hmmm..

Offline vitavoxdude

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #44 on: February 09, 2011, 02:31:25 PM »
Earth stakes..........

Yes most properties appear to only have a single stake.  This might meet codes on the day its installed but from the next week onwards its all going downhill fast.  Because most people who do not live in the hills only have sand for their homes to rest upon the quality of grounding is very poor.  I have a series of ground spikes all tied in together and watered when ever I remember.  My outdoor office has its own ground system too and here I do the old roadies trick of peeing on the earth stake daily (not whilst anyone is in earshot and the bushes cover the being seen element)!  ;)

Resistance to earth should be low, trouble is, your neighbours earth is likely to be naff and if yours is super good then you could have thier earth currents flowing back via you excellent ground, damn!  :'(

The DIY mains cable with the copper screen should be sleeved, any shorts to live or neutral could be very nasty indeed and the insurance would walk away rapidly.  Mains plugs are not fused here in Oz and if you've got dodgy old fuses then its good by Vienna........ :o

Get your self a nice 10Kva balanced isolation transformer to  feed the audio and 10mm thick earth bonding with screening, now your talking low background hash and fuzz, or better still have a bank of batteries the size of a small shed c/w an invertor.....think you are a dedicated audiophile yet?  :P
V

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Offline vitavoxdude

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #45 on: February 09, 2011, 02:43:36 PM »
Quote
The only thing mine has,  is the copper sheathing skin (that you gave me the tip on),  and you know it's not just cosmetic,  the freaking thing conducts !!    But there is bugger all EM interferance up our way to worry about.

What...no EM radaition up your way, the whole globe is infested with the damn stuff.  Don't you have a moo-bile phone?
It's bad enough with the Russians blocking all the really low frequencies....HF hash is all around us, radio, TV, Microwaves, you'd have to be in Alaska or Antartica to be free of all the normal junk. IMO :)  Did you not make the 'crystal set' whilst at school?  a wet piece of string would conduct a signal let alone hi res audio systems with their myriad of spagehitte wires. :o
There are some who beleive in no screening and there are some who live in the 21st century, your milage may vary.
V
« Last Edit: February 10, 2011, 06:06:42 PM by ozmillsy »
We all like different things so lets all agree to disagree and if any common ground is found then worship it.  Mine is the KD hence being present on this forum.

Offline treblid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #46 on: February 09, 2011, 05:41:42 PM »
Earth stakes..........

Yes most properties appear to only have a single stake.  This might meet codes on the day its installed but from the next week onwards its all going downhill fast.  Because most people who do not live in the hills only have sand for their homes to rest upon the quality of grounding is very poor.  I have a series of ground spikes all tied in together and watered when ever I remember.  My outdoor office has its own ground system too and here I do the old roadies trick of peeing on the earth stake daily (not whilst anyone is in earshot and the bushes cover the being seen element)!  ;)
Yeah it's sand :(... Mine has 2.. one to the pipes, and one to the ground... Can't really pee in that spot (open area to main roads).. :p

Resistance to earth should be low, trouble is, your neighbours earth is likely to be naff and if yours is super good then you could have thier earth currents flowing back via you excellent ground, damn!  :'(
Hmm. Never thought of that. But all the water should have dried up by now.. Wondering if it's ok to put water crystals or mulch that area up..

The DIY mains cable with the copper screen should be sleeved, any shorts to live or neutral could be very nasty indeed and the insurance would walk away rapidly.  Mains plugs are not fused here in Oz and if you've got dodgy old fuses then its good by Vienna........ :o
Wouldn't the RCD kick in? Hmm. Seems a good idea to sleeve it then. Is there a reason not to?

Get your self a nice 10Kva balanced isolation transformer to  feed the audio and 10mm thick earth bonding with screening, now your talking low background hash and fuzz, or better still have a bank of batteries the size of a small shed c/w an invertor.....think you are a dedicated audiophile yet?  :P
I'm still a noob.. A long long way to go yet before I reach audiophile status.. :lol:


Offline vitavoxdude

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #47 on: February 09, 2011, 07:19:58 PM »
Hi Treblid  ;D
Yes anything you can do to keep the soil moist around the earth stake(s) is good. (dripping taps are too expensive if you are paying the bill) I would also check the connection has not badly oxidised (rusted - corroded) as cheaper earth stakes are steel cored with a copper cladding.  I have the connections on mine covered in self amalgemating tape to exclude moisture and air, that way the connection does not start to break down once made.  There is usually a tally plate where the WA registered electrician stamps his number, thus meeting local regs for its implementation and testing.

RCD - residual current devices, hmmm depends on make and sensititiy, they measure an imbalance between the live and neutral from memory, unlike the ELCB which measures the leakage to earth.  If you have to ask about having potentially 'live' screens on mains hook ups never mind the RCD KICKING IN - I will have to come round and kick your arse personnaly real hard:'( Message understood?  Yes it should be insulated and you are more than likely breaking some paper shuffling beaurocrats rules regarding mains feeds!  ::)

The cheapest mains feed upgrade is to buy a rubber insulated 30 amp cable usually destined to run a higher current load industrially, its quite and ear opener what this simple and cheap change can make, trying to make you own cables is fine for interconnects and speaker feeds but when dicking around with mains voltages things start to get serious very quickly indeed and the potential consequences do not bear thinking about.  Please take this in the manner in which its intended!  ;D
V
We all like different things so lets all agree to disagree and if any common ground is found then worship it.  Mine is the KD hence being present on this forum.

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #48 on: February 09, 2011, 08:43:30 PM »
The DIY mains cable with the copper screen should be sleeved, any shorts to live or neutral could be very nasty indeed and the insurance would walk away rapidly.  Mains plugs are not fused here in Oz and if you've got dodgy old fuses then its good by Vienna........ :o
There's a fair amount of insulation.   The copper wires have double insulation to begin with,  and then I add heatshrink around the 3 wires.   I cant imagine the wire ever breaking through those layers.

But you can never be too careful I guess, something spiking through the sleeve into the A/N wire would be an issue.   Probably best to just have the foil shielding, and another layer of heatshrink around it.

I can add clear heatshrink to this one, to safeguard it, while retaining the glitzy appearance.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2011, 09:19:54 PM by ozmillsy »
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #49 on: February 09, 2011, 09:03:17 PM »
What...no EM radaition up your way, the whole globe is infested with the damn stuff. 
V,   I said "bugger all"  which is very different to "none".

I imagine Sydney city slickers suffer far more EM contamination,  than I cop up here in the sticks.

That said,  I still take the time to shield my cables.
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #50 on: February 09, 2011, 09:18:00 PM »
Steven told me once (some place in Sydney), but I didnt write it down.   [doh]   I'll ask him again, next time I see him.
That is the clipsal power plug you mentioned early in the thread? I wonder if I can get my mate to order that for me... Will check.... That's not for sale to the public in general?
Hang on,  are we talking magnets or plugs? 

The clipsal plugs can be ordered easily via any L&H store.  I use the 1439SHD 3 pin plug, and the 465CTR iec connector.  They have nice brass connectors on the A/N,  and easy access to solder the wires on. 

The ferrite magnets are another story.
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #51 on: February 17, 2011, 10:52:13 PM »
I've been doing testing of the various types of sleeving (I have 5 types),  and this is the only 1 that conducts !   It's caught me by surprise.

Even more interesting,  is that I have 2 types of sleeving that is copper coloured.  Both from the same Ebay seller,  but in different diameters.   The smaller size doesnt conduct,  this one does.     

This is a lesson learned, to always check the sleeving.    I wont be using this conductive type for any other power cords. 

The sleeving is only supposed to be cosmetic.   
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline kajak12

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still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline vitavoxdude

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #53 on: March 05, 2011, 08:42:09 PM »
Yes interesting indeed Mario. ;D
So some one took exception to the advertising and had an 'expert' come up with the answers.
These are the same people who claim a resistor is a resistor and all amps sound the same????

Russ Andrews cables are not screened from memory and not plaited tight; using only live and neutral is not a good remedy either.  Common mode chokes and LC filters will help as long as they do not kill off the current delivery too much.  Some like them, others do not.
I can say that Russ Andrews cable improves on the rubbish that comes with the kit at a premium, but that's how he is still in business after many years unlike others who did not charge 'flash' prices.  :'(
V
We all like different things so lets all agree to disagree and if any common ground is found then worship it.  Mine is the KD hence being present on this forum.

Offline treblid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #54 on: November 15, 2011, 04:21:28 PM »
* Clipsal Power Plug 1439SHD - $6 from my local L&H
Anybody knows where to buy this in perth? From L&H?  Do all L&H stock this?

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #55 on: November 15, 2011, 04:36:19 PM »
* Clipsal Power Plug 1439SHD - $6 from my local L&H
Anybody knows where to buy this in perth? From L&H?  Do all L&H stock this?

They may not stock it,  but they can all order them in for you.

Ringing them is the way to go.  Quote the product code.
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline treblid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #56 on: November 15, 2011, 04:41:49 PM »
They may not stock it,  but they can all order them in for you.

Ringing them is the way to go.  Quote the product code.
Will do, thanks..

I'm hoping to just order it online and be done with it... Google couldn't turn up anything... :(


Offline kajak12

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #57 on: November 15, 2011, 10:14:57 PM »
They may not stock it,  but they can all order them in for you.

Ringing them is the way to go.  Quote the product code.
Will do, thanks..

I'm hoping to just order it online and be done with it... Google couldn't turn up anything... :(


Treblid some clypsal plugs have 15 amp earth plugs (which i think the hd stands for heavy duty) do your research i have some here for 10amp power points
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline treblid

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #58 on: November 16, 2011, 01:01:07 AM »
Treblid some clypsal plugs have 15 amp earth plugs (which i think the hd stands for heavy duty) do your research i have some here for 10amp power points
Where did you get them from? IIRC the 1439SHD is 10A...


Offline ozmillsy

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Re: DIY Power Cable
« Reply #59 on: November 16, 2011, 05:59:53 AM »
Treblid some clypsal plugs have 15 amp earth plugs (which i think the hd stands for heavy duty) do your research i have some here for 10amp power points
Where did you get them from? IIRC the 1439SHD is 10A...



That's right, they are 10amp.   There isn't much difference between the hd and non-hd.   The ground is a different type of metal on the hd from memory.   Will check this later.
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.