|
Is your USB cable too short,
too long or the wrong connection type? Here we'll show
you how to "mod" your USB cable easily and
inexpensive to fit your needs
Here are the
parts I will be using lined-up.
-Solder
Iron (optional)
-Electrical tape
-USB cable from a dead device
-Wire stripers
-Heat-shrink tubing (optional)
I just acquired a new USB
Macintosh keyboard that I want to use for my PC. Since
USB is a standard, keyboards and other devices work
on both MAC and PC's. However the length of the USB
cable was only 2.5 feet.
We will make
it much longer to fit my needs.
Since USB is
a standard, all USB cables are the same. They may just
have different "heads" on them, but the cords
are the same. Here in this picture (left to right) we
have type "A", type "B" and type
"Mini B". Type A is the most
common.
I had a USB
webcam that died, so I just cut off the USB cable and
used that. Always save your USB cables, even if the
device itself is dead.
Our first step
is to strip the USB cables from there shielding (the
outside plastic).
Here you can
see the inside. You will find more shielding which consists
of thin (hair like) silver wires. Pull this back and
cut them off. Under that layer you will find a "foil"
like shielding, remove this as well. Some cables you
will even find some "white hair", pull this
back and remove it. So basically, we are only interested
in the four wires inside - the RED,
BLACK, WHITE
and GREEN.
The red and
black are our power wires (5v and ground). While the
green and white are the data cables.
Now that the
four main wires that we need are exposed, we need to
strip the tips of those to get bare wires. At this point,
get your heat-shrink tubing and slide it over one of
the stripped ends. DON'T FORGET TO DO THIS NOW;
otherwise you won't fit the tubing over one of the "heads".
Go ahead and
solder one color at a time (Or, if
you don't have a solder iron just twist them together
securely). Once you get one color soldered, wrap
it with electrical tape (you don't want them touching
each other). Continue through the colors, matching color
for color.
You do not have
to use a solder iron, or heat-shrink tubing. You could
just twist wires and use the electrical tape, however
everybody will tell you this is "wrong". If
you do it this way, just make sure everything is good
and solid!
So at this point
all wires should be secured to each other and wrapped
in electrical tape. Now just slide the heat tube over
the area, heat with a heat gun or lighter. Or,
if you don't have heat-shrink tubing use more electrical
tape.
Finished. Now
I can actually use my new keyboard without hugging my
PC. -- > 2.5 feet
to 8.5 feet.
This process
can be applied for many different scenarios. Again,
if you have the wrong connection type and have extra
USB cable lying around, find the electrical tape and
wire strippers. Don't worry about USB 2.0
vs. USB 1.1 - it's all the same.
Related
links:
Peripheral
modifications.
Super
video modifications.
Burke~
|
