Cable/plug damage prevention.

[FirstSpear]

Howdy.
Damage to wire leads (cable/plug connections) occur mostly in one of two places: at the point of cable exit from the body of the plug due to inadequate strain relief, and inside the plug at the solder connections.
Strain relief is often either non-existent or is far too rigid, disallowing a gentle curve and allowing only sharp right-angle bends, which usually breaks the copper strands inside the inner insulation. Strain relief problems can be overcome to a large extent if addressed when the cable is new, by adding extra support using coil springs (from biros), Sugru, tape, etc.; anything that smooths away that harsh right-angle.
I've recently had problems with two USB to iPhone 30pin cables, as have thousands of other people - read the reviews on Amazon. With the first I suspect a cheap plug as when I opened it the soldered connections were good - I've yet to check for continuity. The second exhibited a wire snapped off one of the four solder connections.
These solder connections are tiny and very close together, and while I am capable of resoldering them, I'd rather stop the problem from happening in the first place. The space inside the plug is, relatively, very large, and there is plenty of room for the cores to move about enabling work-hardness of solder or copper. The inner insulated cores are not held rigidly inside the outer sleeve, which slides off easily; a situation necessary for stripping, and so linear and twisting movements of the inner cores will be transferred along the cable and into the the free ends inside the body of the plug. I'm wondering about filling the plug cavity with something that will set around the wires and the solder connections holding the whole join rigid. If the strain relief problem has been addressed, then this should increase the life of the cable greatly. But what to fill it with?
I'm thinking of filling the cavity without dismantling the plug's body by making a small hole and injecting something inside. The only syringes readily available are for refilling ink cartridges, and the needles are quite thick, and blunt, but would probably work. The only substance I can think of that would be liquid enough to actually exit the syringe and then set without loss of mass is transparent silicone sealant, and might be later removeable should that be desired for any reason; the coloured versions I've used have all been too viscous.
Any ideas or suggestions concerning materials or concept? Also, comments on the conductivity of these sealants welcome - I've read contradictory opinions regarding silicone in other circumstances.
I'm in the UK, so if suggesting materials, I would hugely appreciate details that allow me to recognise the substance, and not just the brand, which usually differs.
Ta muchly.

 

[(*steve*)]

One option is to place heatshrink over the plug and up the cable some distance.

Of course this only works effectively if the plug is fairly thin and the heatshrink has enough "shrink" in it to hold the cable.

Self amalgamating tape is another answer.

I hadn't thought of silicone sealant, but maybe you could use it in combination with heatshrink tubing (to stop it going everywhere). At least heatshrink comes in a variety of non-awful colours.

 

[FirstSpear]

Hi Steve, and thanks for responding. Yep, forgot to include self-amalgamating tape. Good stuff. The iPhone 30-pin plug is about an inch wide, so not suitable for heat shrink.
I was thinking of silicone sealant because it would be liquid enough to flow into the plug, and sufficiently viscous to not leak out too much, hence not thinking of heat-shrink - the body of the plug should contain it sufficient for it to set.
Why should I "phear the antipodes"? Only met a few Aussies, and they've been fine. Don't like those bloody kangaroos, though. Bastards on film always seem to be kicking even those feeding them. Ungrateful marsupials.

 

[(*steve*)]

Hi Steve, and thanks for responding. Yep, forgot to include self-amalgamating tape. Good stuff. The iPhone 30-pin plug is about an inch wide, so not suitable for heat shrink.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly that as I wrote it. It's probably an ideal case for sugru, but the stuff is so damn expensive for a single tiny packet.

Ah, there is also the thermoplastic that can be molded at around 50ºC. What's it called....Polymorph! (aka Polycaprolactone) Its biodegradability might be an issue though unless you can get some with UV stabilization.

I was thinking of silicone sealant because it would be liquid enough to flow into the plug, and sufficiently viscous to not leak out too much, hence not thinking of heat-shrink - the body of the plug should contain it sufficient for it to set.

The problem then becomes flexing of the cable after it comes out of the plug, unless you're talking about a mass of silicone around the plug to act as a strain relief.

Why should I "phear the antipodes"?

1. We spend our entire lives standing on our heads.
2. Everything is out to kill you.
3. I couldn't think of anything else at the time.

Only met a few Aussies, and they've been fine. Don't like those bloody kangaroos, though. Bastards on film always seem to be kicking even those feeding them. Ungrateful marsupials.

You should meet some of our snakes, spiders, sharks, jellyfish, ... (That's why we think kangaroos are cuddly)

Oh, and by the way, I love your portrait. An up-and-coming British artist I presume?

 

[FirstSpear]

Kangaroos cuddly? Not even pissed when everyone's yer best mate. Koalas now...

Take your point about the other "red in teeth and claw" things you got. Documentaries about Australia remind me of the Deathworld trilogy by Harry Harrison - everything, plants included, are out to kill them. Having said that, Australia is the only country in the world that still has a healthy bee population, and, consequently, the only country exporting them into a severely desertified world, beewise, that is. Respect.

I could lie and take the credit, but my portrait is by my (then) 7 year old granddaughter. I'll tell her you liked it. She'll be chuffed. Sadly, for me, the likeness is quite remarkable, but the smile is only childish wishful dreams.

Back to topic. I stripped the previous duff lead and recovered the plug casings (which are identical to the repairable one's - which I broke taking apart) intact. I'm thinking about moulding some {of that blue sticky plasticine-like stuff used for sticking posters of pop stars onto bedroom walls by hysterical teenage girls} around the connections and the free floating core ends before closing the casings. That stuff's got to be high resistance, surely? I haven't got any of it lying around, so if you have, and if time ever weighs heavy, do us a favour and stick your probes in it and tell me what resistance you get. It's also cheaper than t'other stuff of which we spoke, doesn't turn to concrete within 48 hours of opening, and so might be useful for life-extending repairs.

I'm surprised this topic hasn't elicited a greater response. On the Instructables website, someone described and illustrated braiding paracord around cables exiting plug casings to help reduce damage, and that has lots of replies.
Thank you for being a light in the darkness.

Some years ago I was somewhere - Greece, Turkey or Egypt, and shark steak was on the menu. I ordered it. It was tasteless - texture was OKish, like swordfish, but chewier, but it was absolutely tasteless. Nevertheless, I ordered it every other night just to get my own back - revenge-in-advance. I feel the same about Kangaroos. Eat them, and give the chickens, pigs, cows, and sheep a break. Some other years ago Tesco succumbed to British hypocritical animal fascism by agreeing to remove "exotic meats", including ostrich and kangaroo, amongst others, from their shelves. It's OK to eat some animals, but not some others perceived somehow to be superior to their usual flesh diet providers. Some people really do figuratively live with their heads firmly thrust up their fundaments. (Here's a laugh. Britain is in the EU, but doesn't share the currency, the Euro. Always those interviewed about adopting the Euro, spoke of their steadfast refusal to accept any foreign currency whatsoever. Snigger. See, we'd had foreign currency since the Roman empire, but the thickos didn't know that. We had £(pound), s(shilling), and d(pence) [Lsd]. The £ is a fancy "L" for the latin "libre", a unit of Roman currency, and the Latin word is still used to represent the British Pound across Europe in Exchange shops; Western Union, etc. The "s" was for the "sesterce", another Roman currency - and not "shilling", and the Penny, represented by the lowercase "d" was for "denarius", another, lower Roman currency.) Lol.

Thank you for listening. Next week Mister Ranty offers his opinions on - something else.

 

[(*steve*)]

Kangaroos cuddly? Not even pissed when everyone's yer best mate. Koalas now...

Here speaks a man who has never been pissed on by a Koala

Back to topic. I stripped the previous duff lead and recovered the plug casings (which are identical to the repairable one's - which I broke taking apart) intact. I'm thinking about moulding some {of that blue sticky plasticine-like stuff used for sticking posters of pop stars onto bedroom walls by hysterical teenage girls} around the connections and the free floating core ends before closing the casings. That stuff's got to be high resistance, surely? I haven't got any of it lying around, so if you have, and if time ever weighs heavy, do us a favour and stick your probes in it and tell me what resistance you get. It's also cheaper than t'other stuff of which we spoke, doesn't turn to concrete within 48 hours of opening, and so might be useful for life-extending repairs.

Blu-tac? That stuff gets very tacky when hot and does release oils. Probably not what I'd use.

I'm surprised this topic hasn't elicited a greater response. On the Instructables website, someone described and illustrated braiding paracord around cables exiting plug casings to help reduce damage, and that has lots of replies.

You could 3d-print something too. I'm not much into 3d printing, but it would probably be a fairly simple thing to do.

Some years ago I was somewhere - Greece, Turkey or Egypt, and shark steak was on the menu. I ordered it. It was tasteless - texture was OKish, like swordfish, but chewier, but it was absolutely tasteless. Nevertheless, I ordered it every other night just to get my own back - revenge-in-advance.

In our neck of the woods a brave politician decided to hang baited drum lined off beaches to catch sharks (which had eaten a few people). There were mass protests and comments along the lines of "If the sharks start coming out of the oceans and eating people in the streets, THEN it's time to start killing them". There was also a good article by a Bruce the shark giving his opinion about the human cull plan. The general view in Australia is "It's the ocean. There's sharks in it. It's not their fault if they think you are food. Live with it".

I feel the same about Kangaroos. Eat them, and give the chickens, pigs, cows, and sheep a break. Some other years ago Tesco succumbed to British hypocritical animal fascism by agreeing to remove "exotic meats", including ostrich and kangaroo, amongst others, from their shelves. It's OK to eat some animals, but not some others perceived somehow to be superior to their usual flesh diet providers.

Sadly, most kangaroo ends up in dog food. Kangaroos are limited by the availability of water in most parts of Australia. Pasturalists make more water available and then you get explosions of kangaroo numbers (the females of which are essentially permanently pregnant in order to take advantage of a "rare" opportunity to feed young). So there's *lots* more kangaroos than there once was.

The ones for human consumption are typically farmed, as are the emus. Both have very low fat meat and are an excellent source of low fat protein. As such they're also very difficult to cook. Both are making more and more of an appearance in regular supermarkets, but Kangaroo is still more easily obtained.

 

[shrtrnd]

There are potting kits available commercially if you're interested. I hate using the stuff because if I ever do want to go back in and work on the contacts, it's a pain to remove.
I'm not familiar with your specific type of connector, but If you plan to just do a permanent fiix where you don't expect to go back in and rework the connections, I'd use the
potting kit compound, or an industrial grade epoxy.