Cable Sleeving Guide

[eliomys]

Hi everybody,

I've seen some very neat things on this thread. I'm really impressed.

I'm having a problem. I'm trying to build a system that needs something sturdier then the regular heat shrink tubes or boots to prevent my split cabels or pigtails from tearing the cable they come out of. I've seen this 'cable thing' on many prof audio breakaway cables, that would be perfect. To show you what I'm talking about, I provided a picture. The thing I need is the yellow plastic thing on the cable below.

Does anybody know what it is called, because I looked for it everywhere on the internet without succes. Has anybody used it or does one of you know where I can order them? I really would appreciate if anyone could help me.



______________________

UPDATE:

I found the part I was looking for. It is called a strain relief boot or a connector boot. It's usually used on pro BNC cables, but it suits other types as well. You can find it as the 'TecNec RG59 Cable Boot' or 'Canare Connector Boot CB04'.

Hope some of you mind find use for it.

[PropherCR]

Yipeeeee the First MDPC-X Sleever from Costa Rica XD!!! Awesome Nils!! I would take pictures... if I had a camera

[eoblack]

:]

[Jshay]

Oh wow man very nice guide. Thanks a lot.

[aka_GK]

eoblack, stunning pictures!

[8times0]

awsome pictures eoblack!

put some pitures up in here of your rig! cant wait to see that sleeving work in your system!

[Church]

I recall there being problem with less fine threaded sleeves, that original wire color shines through. Some solved it first puting insulating tape on top of wire, some replaced wires altogether. First seems unneccessary increasing thickness of wires, 2nd adds too much extra work.
So here comes my idea - how about "painting" wires before sleeving? It should be simplier to spray on wire, then do anything else. What do you guys think?
Problem comes - what paint would be ellastic enough to stick on wires and not chip off when wire is bent? Any comments? Some paint that partialy gets absorbed by wire isolating plastic layer?

[Alexandr0s]

Yup, that'd be vinyl paint. I've seen it used by sevaral people, and it gives an extremely clean look because with sleeving, the wires look a lot thicker. With paint, the thickness remains about the same. I'll try to dig up some pictures.

edit: found it.

[3dchipset]

Okay guys, I'm deciding if I should remove the capacitor or not for the custom sleeving. The Silverstone ST-75p (750 Watt) power supply has these 2200uf capacitors on the cables. I found out what they are used for:

To reduce electrical whine/buzz associated with high performance graphics card’s dynamic loading changes, 2200uF capacitors are attached to PCI-E connectors. This design also helps to maintain better voltage stability and improve ripple & noise performance.

It looks like it doesn't alter the voltage so removing the capacitor to sleeve the wires should still provide the necessary voltage to the video card (XFX 5870). I'm looking for help in deciding if I should go without the capacitor for the individual sleeving. Any thoughts?

[Alexandr0s]

Although it probably wouldn't hurt the card of performance, I would recommend against it, simply because it was put there for a reason, namely the ones you stated. I'd consider those valid reasons to keep the capacitator attached, but of course in the end, it's all up to you .

[overclocking101]

Okay guys, I'm deciding if I should remove the capacitor or not for the custom sleeving. The Silverstone ST-75p (750 Watt) power supply has these 2200uf capacitors on the cables. I found out what they are used for: It looks like it doesn't alter the voltage so removing the capacitor to sleeve the wires should still provide the necessary voltage to the video card (XFX 5870). I'm looking for help in deciding if I should go without the capacitor for the individual sleeving. Any thoughts?

no dont do that. most people move the capacitor further down the wire closer to the psu instead of the connector this way its not visible and still keeps the signal right. if you remove that you are liable to have noisy signal/ instability/ less or more power than is needed/safe

[Xien16]

Cut it away - why? because the PSUs AND GPUs of today stabilize their voltage on their own extremely good.
There are many caps in the PCU and after only 50cm an additional one isn't necessary with such good hardware...
Moving it down to the PSU? 100% senseless

And Alexandr0s, I don't want to attack you but something like speed limits are also "put there for a reason"

You also can take new cables instead of doing the dirty and "not 100% perfect" work of painting each wire:

[3dchipset]

Interesting responses. Xien16, You would remove the capacitor? I'm leaning toward that for the fact that as well as the card has it's own voltage regulators and I would assume it wouldn't be necessary. I figured it was for older graphic cards and not the new ones that are out on the market. I guess I can try to design two cables. The capacitor is on one of the yellows and one of the blacks. While the other 2 yellow are not connected. I find it odd how only one of the wires is connected to the cap. Seems like it wouldn't really be efficent the way it's connected.

[Xien16]

If one or two or all does not mind - they are connected on the graphic card PCB
But as I said before:
Technology is so good today that this caps are not necessary...
Just think about the the PSUs without any of these caps (under 7-800W) that can also power these cards.

If you want to know it in detail:
A capacitor can save energy (when the voltage goes up) and can give this energy away again (when voltage goes down)
A too weak PSU that runs at 11V couldn't get 12V through these caps. In this case you need another PSU.
Only if there is a short extreme peak it helps a little bit to hold the voltage at the same level.
But there still are enaugh caps in the PSU to manage the biggest GPU.

[3dchipset]

That's what I figured as well. I figured it was for the older cards out there. With the latest digital power converters on these cards, I figured they would easily handle any spikes or dips...

[8times0]

@ alexander0S aint that the regular psu of corsair? instead of that vynil painting?

i use tape before sleeving and it rocks! its a bit work but thats ok for me!

awsome pix Xien

[Szpara]

i just replaced mine, custom make it.

[Caddish]

I know the question has been asked but I can't find it so here it goes. I have a xfx 650w modular average length (a bit shorter than the corsair 650tx) I want to single sleave the 24pin + 8 pin + 2 x pci-e + 4 fan + HDA + 2 sata and bundle sleeve the 4 wire of the front panel connector. What length of sleeve should I expect.
I guessed one family pack + 5 meter sata sleeve + .70sata heat shrink + 10meter of another coolor + 1m of heat shrink.
Too much, not enough ?

Would be cool to add an approximate length recquired for each connector or at least a average system on the first post

[EDIT] Measured my corsair 650tx + fan and front panel cable and arrived at around 40m in case someone is interested

[bentleya]

[3dchipset]

If one or two or all does not mind - they are connected on the graphic card PCB
But as I said before:
Technology is so good today that this caps are not necessary...
Just think about the the PSUs without any of these caps (under 7-800W) that can also power these cards.

Well I created a custom cable for one of the 6-pin cables and no issues whatsoever. I would run 3DMark Vantage in a loop and carefully listen to the card and I have no whine with the cable. So all is good. Now going to work on the second cable. :-)

[Dark Prodigy]

Any of you (IN THE UNITED STATES)have some left over MDPC-X green SATA sleeve. I need 2.5m and about 6 in of green heatshrink to go with it. Much too small an order to place with Nils. Got some PayPal for you to ship to 33033.

PM ME! thanks.

[TomH999]

I think ive pretty much gone through the whole of this thread and some of the pictures are amazing, inspired me to sleeve my cables when I start building my own computer

[aoch88]

Does anyone knows how to get the sleeves in between different molex connectors from the PSU? Do I need to cut the molex connectors and crimp them again or is there a way to sleeve without having to cut anything?

[TopFuel1471]

I'm having some problems removing the sata plugs from a set of HX1000 wires. I don't want to break the connectors, but I can't get them apart. Tips?

[eoblack]

I love you MDPC-X