USB Cable with Aluminum Shield Braid

Feb 01, 2010 4 Replies
W

I was fixing a mutilated cable for a friend's portable music/video player with a weird connector at the device end.



So I figured if I could get the connector shell open, I'd just use a new USB cable to replace the original cable which had a USB connector at the other end. The shell opened with an appropriate amount of pressure applied with a ChannelLock plier (with thick tape applied to the jaws).



After preparing the end with shrink tubing and splaying the conductors so they would be able to connect to the ridiculously small conacts inside the connector, I began to tin the leads with solder, but the shield braid wire would not tin.



With a magnifier, there was no visible pink copper color at the ends of the freshly cut strands.



I don't know where the USB cable came from, but the wrapper and a sticker on the cable are marked 14G000505709. The sticker also includes: ROHS Compliant.



The cable jacket is printed with AWM E101344 style 2725 60*C 30V Space Shuttle-D USB Revision 2.0.


-- Cheers, WB .............



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N

USB

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You can get aluminium solder but beware the flux is extremely corrosive. Use an old soldering iron tip to use it.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

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G

Wrap & twist some bare copper wire around the braid :-)

met vriendelijke groet, Gerard Bok
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W

Thanks for your reply. Adding a copper extension was a consideration, but there is too little space available.

I'll just use a cable with a real tinned copper shield.

-- Cheers, WB .............

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W

Thanks for your reply. You're correct about aluminum (or aluminium, some places) solders and fluxes.

I think finding a copper braid shielded cable should be the solution.

How hard could that be? (as they often say on Top Gear).

-- Cheers, WB .............

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