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Cable management


dan_uk

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Hello,

I just wanted to find out what you guys do with all the trailing cables. 

My setup will usually consist of:

25ft Power cable

60ft S-video cable (yeah I just bought a shorter one this thing is ridiculous)

Laptop power cable

25ft Controller cable for camera

Have all these cables running around in fields, which are more like swamps at the moment gets really irritating. I actually tripped up on my S-Video and almost broke my capture device!

Cleaning the mud off these after getting in is no fun either

I know an obvious solution is shorter cables but how short really? I don't want to be in a situation where my cables get snagged or pulled after a slew. 

http://www.cordpro.com/mini.html This looks like a great solution but only seems to be available from the US.

Other things I've looked at are empty cable reels, but these actually end up taking a lot more space.

Does anyone have a nice elegant solution that I don't know of yet? 

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First of all get a battery to power everything. Then run USB repeater cables in 15ft lengths on a hub, As for S-video? I never use than old connection can't help you there but i bet they're still expensive.

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Not knowing much about this, I think the first thing I would do is cable tie all the cables together at 1 metre of less intervals to stop any straying cables going all over the place. That would make rolling them up much easier. You could then use just about any type of a reel to store them, even up to a hose pipe reel if required. For cleaning as long as you can keep the ends in a waterproof bag or something you could simply wash most of the cables as they stand on the reel with lots of running water.

Just my thoughts.

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Thinking about it a lot of the cables go to different locations, I also forget that my cam also has a power cable too!

I am running off of 3 LiPo and 1 SLA battery right now, so 3 cables go to power, 2 from laptop to cam.

Sorry didn't mean for me to be lazy here and make you guys come up with a solution for me, but thought you may have come across the same dilemma already.

Forget to also mention i'm doing Video CCD at the moment rather than traditional imaging, 

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I use this stuff from a junction by the PC and power supply to the mount.  One 10m length contains cables for power for the mount, cameras, focuser and heaters, as well as USB for the mount, cameras, filter wheel and focuser. I think it is brilliant.

http://www.hilltop-products.co.uk/braided-knitted-glass-sleevings/expandable-braided-sleevings-hilflex-pg/hilflex-pg-10.html#.UufTlBY4npB

Chris

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I use this stuff from a junction by the PC and power supply to the mount.  One 10m length contains cables for power for the mount, cameras, focuser and heaters, as well as USB for the mount, cameras, filter wheel and focuser. I think it is brilliant.

http://www.hilltop-products.co.uk/braided-knitted-glass-sleevings/expandable-braided-sleevings-hilflex-pg/hilflex-pg-10.html#.UufTlBY4npB

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for this suggestion - it could certainly help sort my cables out!!

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I see two problems with tying cables up.

1- Tightly bound cables - stiff cables. Are the cables loose enough to ensure that the mount's movement isn't affected?

2- Using spiral wrap and braided sheaths means that its a PITA to add or change cables. I've tried both and ended up junking both as you have to unwrap the whole shebang if you need to swap a cable out.

I use the zip-up braided sheath, sourced off eBay. It's a bit too big...I 'd like something with a diameter of about 15mm, instead of the standard 30mm. The bid advantages of this stuff is that it's dead easy to add or change cables. It also holds the cables loosely, so cables can move in the sheath. The disadvantage is the the length can't be altered.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-1m-Zip-Cable-Tidy/dp/B0073ELCSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390986645&sr=8-1&keywords=zip+up+cable+tidy

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The trick with spiral wrap is not to use it as one length.

Short lengths make is secure but easy to remove.

Good point on not having everything too secure with the mount moving.

For my power cables I've used coiled three core mains leads for the areas that need to move.

RS Stock No. 744-0957

Lee

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I tried spiral wrap for a while, then got rid of it as it added too much bulk and stiffness. Also, it possibly added some weight on any dangling cables. I use cable ties, and run cables between the clamping knobs, or whatever they are called, on the EQ5 mount. 

After too many episodes of untangling cables when I connect up to start a session, I have now got into the tidy habit of, next day, loosely coiling up each cable, or tied group of cables, and fastening each with ties or bits of string , rather than just leaving them in a box where they can magically come to life and interweave themselves in complex patterns (they still try, the blighters, but not so easily).

Allan

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I use spiral wrap and don't have any problems with it at all:

- Wrapping and unwrapping cables can be a bit of a pain, but with planning you shouldn't need to be doing so on a daily or weekly basis (unless you are moving a lot of kit between different set-ups).

- First I cable tie the bundle at intervals of 10 - 20 cm or so.  This makes the rest of the process easy.  Then take the wrap and slide the cable bundle in to the 'slot' between the first two turns of the wrap. Hold the cable bundle and the end of the wrap in your left hand and use your right hand to pull the wrap slightly so the slot opens up and then pass the whole of the wrap around the cable bundle.

- What will help here is to make the wrap in to a hank like you would with rope, and perhaps even put it in a plastic bag so it feeds out a bit at a time.  Don't worry about getting the wrapping all neat and closed up yet, just keep passing the hank round and round the bundle and you should be successfully wrapping away.  After a bit of practice you can literally throw the hank of wrap around the cable and grab it again and get two or three turns on per second.

- When you get to the first of your cable ties, stop wrapping and tighten up the existing wrapped section.  Grab it in one hand and twist it so it tightens and push towards the end of the cable bundle.  Add any extra turns you need and then wind around once to pass the cable tie.  Then do the quick wrapping and tightening for each subsequent cable tie.  I can wrap a metre of cable in under a minute this way, plus maybe two minutes to add the cable ties in the first place.

The wrapped cable is stiff, but you can actually use that to your advantage to prevent snags.  On an EQ mount, what you should do is:

- Make different bundles to go to different places on the mount; I have one that goes to the cameras and anything else at the focuser end of the scopes.  I have another that goes to the NEQ6 control panel and one that goes around the other side of the mount head to where I have my dew heater/control box.  Plus there is a small bundle that goes from the controller to the dew heaters.  The first three of those bundles meet at the top of the tripod and are joined in to single larger 'rope' which goes back to the laptop in its own box.

-  The rope is attached to the tripod or the mount base using a stick on electrical tie-clip (you can get them in B&Q in the electrical section), you stick the clip on and it has a slot through which you feed a cable tie.  From that point you just need to make a loop to the mount head (the part that rotates in RA) where it is attached with a second clip and tie, OR if you need to separate the mount and tripod for transport, you should use thick stick-on velcro instead.  The loop needs to be long enough for the head to rotate the RA axis through 180 degrees in both directions, but no longer.

- From the mount head you can just make most of the cables short enough to reach the required sockets, on the control panel, heater controller, etc.  Since everything rotates together in RA, you do not need much slack here - just enough to make the connections.  All of the weight of the cable so far is held by the two clips and ties so nothing should be pulling on the sockets and connectors at all.

- The main exception is the cables to the cameras.  You split these off after the attachment on the mount head and make a second loop to the mid point of the OTA (between or on one of the tube rings or equivalent).  This loop needs to be long enough to allow the OTA to rotate 180 degrees in both directions on the Dec axis, but no longer than that.  Fix the loop using some sticky-back velcro since you want to unmount the OTA from time to time.  Now run the cables down (or up) the OTA to the focuser and fix again with velcro at the focuser end.

- Finally make a very small loop to the cameras; don't have too much slack so the weight does not pull on the connectors, but equally not too tight either since that would also pull.

- You can just make a single loop from the dew heater controller direct to the dew heaters as the cables are pretty small and light and shouldn't pull.  Again the loop needs to be long enough to allow full rotation in Dec.

The wrapped cable is heavier and stiffer, which prevents it from drooping and snagging on things like adjuster bolts, etc. but by using this multiple loop system the weight is distributed between multiple tie points, and there is very little or no pull on connectors, cameras, etc. and so less risk of disconnection or differential flexure.  You can also be sure that the mount is free to rotate in any direction without snags or running out of free cable.

The process for an EQ5 type of mount would be similar, but a bit easier since a lot of the connectors are on the fixed mount base rather than the rotating body part.  Hope this helps a bit.

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I've been thinking about this myself as I want to run the scope from indoors

I'm thinking along the lines of a multi-core, I'm a sound engineer and we use these to link the stage to the mixing desk
as I'm pretty handy at soldering I plan to get a couple of hobby boxes and some 32 core cable (3/4" Dia) and the relevant connectors

this will allow me to connect the Goto, USB (repeaters in each end) power and give me the ability to add an auto focus or other req as needed

the picture is a stage multicore but you get the idea

post-34443-0-31483900-1391179097.jpg

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