splicing usb

[SeanO'Connell]

My PT's cable is rather short, and i have a bunch of extra usb cables lying around. so i tried splicing two usb cables together to see if i could. And im having problems... shouldnt you just be able to connect the positive and negative wires to eachother and not worry about the green and white wires(information wires im assuming) or do you need to connect all the wires to their corresponding mates even if your just using the usb cable for power?

 

[kcofohio]

Yes, red & black are the power wires. And the blue & white are for data. You didn't say what problems you are having. Most of the usb cables are either 28 or 30 awg. The longer the wires you have, the more resistance, the less it will be able to power your atty.

 

[kcofohio]

Did your original cable have all 4 wires? The ones I've seen only have had the 2 power wires.

 

[SeanO'Connell]

i made my pt so yes it had all 4 wires. My problem is that before i spliced my cable. it was making crazy vapor production off a 2 ohm carto. I spliced it and now i get little to no vapor production from the same carto. I only connected the positive and negative wires. one thing i did notice was that the usb cable i used to make it longer had smaller gauge pos. and neg. wires. maybe this is the problem?

 

[kcofohio]

Here is a cable that should be able to carry your load. 22awg power wire is what is listed.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=01K45BFFXMKJ0KGCTR22

$2 and free shipping.

 

[Quigsworth]

The wire size in your average USB cable was never meant to handle 1-2A... it's 28 awg at best in a 4 wire configuration so you have to de-rate it even more because of heat build, add to that that fact that we are using DC voltage which is notorious for v drop when driving a heavy loads...if you have an old house hold 2 wire extension cord laying around (it's probably #16 wire) cut the ends off and splice the USB conn ends on (splice as close to the USB conns as possible using a good silver solder)...it can be hard to wrap our heads around it sometimes cause we all wired car stereos at least once in our lives and it worked just fine but we're dealing with low DC volts/high current/small wire...it's a perfect storm for v drop

 

[SeanO'Connell]

ive got a 2 wire extension cord that is 16 awg x 20 would that work?? and usb conns?
so what your saying is basically replace the usb cord with the extension cord?

 

[Quigsworth]

ive got a 2 wire extension cord that is 16 awg x 20 would that work?? and usb conns?
so what your saying is basically replace the usb cord with the extension cord?

Yup, that'll work, I don't know about running 20ft of cable though (if that's what you meant by 16 awg x 20)...I'd say 4-5ft is reasonable, lol

Keep in mind, this is not a "perfect world" solution, the USB connector was never meant to pass that much current but it should at least address the v drop problem.

 

[SeanO'Connell]

ahah sorry it says 16 awg x 2C
whats the 2 c mean?

 

[Quigsworth]

2c, or 2 conductor, a lot of heavy duty cords are 3c, hot, neutral, ground

 

[SeanO'Connell]

2c, or 2 conductor, a lot of heavy duty cords are 3c, hot, neutral, ground

its just says 2C. and it is working BEAUTIFULLY!!!!! thanks a bunch Q

 

[Quigsworth]

That's what it's all about...happy vapin'

 

[SeanO'Connell]

now just to get jimbalny to make me a evercool vv box ^.^