Author Topic: Cable type and wiring photos for 5 pin (Read 956 times)

mica · « **Reply #15 on:** March 25, 2015, 03:02:29 PM »

Email is on the way to ya!

charles_holmes · « **Reply #16 on:** March 31, 2015, 06:17:09 PM »

Just received the 60' red cable and Neutrik connectors, but man how do you tell which white wire from the other white and blue from the blue when trying to solder?!!

elwoodblue · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2015, 06:38:55 PM »

Continuity tester.
(got a battery and little light bulb?)

charles_holmes · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2015, 06:58:21 PM »

Ah!!Simple..yet effective..sniff..sniff..I love you man!...Yet one more question (after this statement) obviously I do not have an electrician's skill, but I'm not afraid to try basic stuff and I do not know what some things are called so...looking at the color photo of the 5pin wiring, what are those little clips called that connect to the pins? I need to purchase some. Thanks!!

charles_holmes · « **Reply #19 on:** March 31, 2015, 07:14:22 PM »

Rusty,
Ok..I'm stumped I didn't study basic wiring
I was too busy playing my guitar and bass. So..in laymen's terms (with 1st grade drawings) how do I hook up the 4 wires to the 5 plugs? Stumpo da bassman

keith_h · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2015, 07:17:07 PM »

Those aren't little clips. The wires are soldered into the cup. What you see in the picture looks to be heat shrink tubing used to reinforce the wire and insulate the connectors. The same thing could be done with plastic tubing. I don't bother with any of it as the connections don't get stressed due to the strain relief built into the connector housing.

Keith

edwin · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2015, 07:29:47 PM »

What Keith said. Using heat shrink to reinforce the connections is great, but I never do it, most people don't. Maybe I should, but I treat my cables pretty well. It's just like Alembic to do it absolutely perfectly.

Make very sure that you have each pin going to its corresponding pin (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc.). It doesn't much matter which wire you use for which pin, although pin 1 should be the shield, as long as you are consistent. You don't want to mix up the power supply voltage with the signal. On one connector, the pins go 1-5 left to right and it's the opposite on the other.

I love the smell of solder in the morning, it smells like....

rustyg61 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2015, 08:19:05 PM »

Chalie, what Edwin said is exactly what I did. Pin 1 for the shield then get a continuity tester or as I did, an ohm meter & make sure you have the same wire to the corresponding pin on the other end. You may need a magnifying glass to read the PIN numbers on the socket, but they are labeled. Once you get it built double & triple check the you have continuity from pin 1 to pin 1 on the other end, & pin 2 to pin 2, ect. Also check between each pin & the others to make sure there is not continuity. It is very easy for a stray strand of glob of solder to short out the adjacent pin & that would be a bad thing! It's tedious work, but not too complicated. Just take your time & check your work. You have to get the sockets pretty hot for the solder to bond to them. It should look like it is painted onto the lug, not laying on top of it where you can see a crack between the solder & the lug. If you don't get the lug hot enough the solder will bead up on top of it & not make a good bond.

Good luck!

edwin · « **Reply #23 on:** March 31, 2015, 09:07:06 PM »

I don't know if I'm telling you something you don't already know, but the easiest and best way to solder something like this is to tin the connections first. That means strip the wire and melt solder onto it, then melt solder into the cups in the connector. Then, when you solder them together, just put them together and heat both until the solder flows freely between them. Keep them very still until the solder hardens.

Putting them together and then trying to apply the solder at the same time guarantees and inferior connection. Tinning and connecting as above also ensures that you don't have too much extra solder swimming around and reduces the chance for solder bridges as Rusty warns about.

Go slow and have fun! It's very empowering to make your own cables and I haven't had a failure that wasn't due to direct abuse in decades. I can't say the same for commercial cabling.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #24 on:** April 01, 2015, 01:00:33 AM »

This may be an obvious question but I've not read it explicitly stated, so just wanted it categorically stated. If the pins were somehow wired wrongly so that power was applied to the bass in wrong places would the electronics fry or are there some sacrificial components in the bass/DS-5 to prevent serious damage to either? I would imagine a fuse would protect the DS-5.
But would the bass electronics survive?

terryc · « **Reply #25 on:** April 01, 2015, 02:29:20 AM »

I gather the IC chips blow first but putting 110/240V through anything designed for 18V is bound to cause terminal destruction

keith_h · « **Reply #26 on:** April 01, 2015, 05:13:54 AM »

The fuse is strictly for the AC voltage side of the DS5. Without a schematic of the Series electronics I cannot say conclusively of there would be damage if the +/- 18VDC were miswired. I can say there is a definite risk of damage so it pays to be careful when making you own cable. I use an ohm meter to check any cable I make for correct wiring and to ensure there are no shorts between terminals. As has been mentioned above a simple continuity tester can be used to accomplish the same thing.

Keith

charles_holmes · « **Reply #27 on:** April 23, 2015, 01:25:51 PM »

Hello all,
I just wanted to tahnk all of you for your invaluable information. Since I didn't have the tools to perform the soldering, I had my buddy Kenny Wittman hook me up! The 60' of cable is working exceptionally well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rustyg61 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 23, 2015, 03:01:56 PM »

Chalie, glad you got your cable built & it's working good! I love a happy ending!